Method for selective volume visualization via texture mapping

• US 6,181,348 B1
• Filed: 09/22/1997
• Issued: 01/30/2001
• Est. Priority Date: 09/22/1997
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Siemens Medical Solutions USA Incorporated (Siemens AG)
• Original Assignee: Siemens Corporate Research Incorporated (Siemens AG)
• Inventors: Geiger, Bernhard
• Primary Examiner(s): Powell, Mark R.
• Assistant Examiner(s): GOOD JOHNSON, MOTILEWA
• Application Number:
  US08/935,229
• Time in Patent Office: 1,226 Days
• Field of Search: 345/430, 345/429, 345/424, 345/423, 345/425
• US Class Current: 345/583
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 17/10 Constructive solid geometry [CSG] using solid primitives, e.g. cylinders, cubes

Abstract

A method for rendering volume data as texture maps on top of polyhedral surfaces is provided. Initially, a region of interest (roi) to be rendered must be selected. The selection of a region of interest is done using simple segmentation. The polyhedral surface of this segmentation is used to sample the volume data at a specified depth. The result of the sampling is converted into texture maps that are rendered on the segmented surface.

Claims

1. A method for volume rendering, comprising the steps of:

selecting a region of interest (roi) to be rendered;

generating a polyhedral model of a surface of the selected region of interest;

calculating 2 dimensional texture maps for polygons comprising the polyhedral model,

wherein the step of calculating comprises

allocating a 2 dimensional texture image from an initial polygon generated by the polyhedral model;

interpolating a normal at each vertex for the initial polygon;

sampling a plurality of layers of parallel polygons at a predetermined depth along the interpolated normals; and

converting the sampled data into a texture map; and

rendering the calculated texture maps on the polyhedral model.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein said step of rendering the texture maps further comprises the step of compositing of the calculated layers into the texture image.

3. The method according to claim 1, wherein said step of converting further comprises the steps of:

resampling the data volume along the triangles; and

composing a texture map from the plurality of layers of sampled triangles.

4. A method for volume rendering, comprising the steps of:

selecting a region of interest (roi) to be rendered;

generating a polyhedral model of a surface of the selected region of interest;

calculating 2 dimensional texture maps for polygons comprising the polyhedral model,

wherein the step of calculating comprises

allocating a 2 dimensional texture image from an initial polygon generated by the polyhedral model;

interpolating a normal at each vertex for the initial polygon;

sampling a plurality of layers of parallel polygons at a predetermined depth along the interpolated normals; and

converting the sampled data into a texture map; and

rendering the calculated texture maps on the polyhedral model;

wherein said step of generating a polyhedral model is based on a three-dimensional Delaunay triangulation process.

5. A method for volume rendering, comprising the steps of:

selecting a region of interest (roi) to be rendered;

generating a polyhedral model of a surface of the selected region of interest;

calculating 2 dimensional texture maps for polygons comprising the polyhedral model,

wherein the step of calculating comprises

allocating a 2 dimensional texture image from an initial polygon generated by the polyhedral model;

interpolating a normal at each vertex for the initial polygon;

sampling a plurality of layers of parallel polygons at a predetermined depth along the interpolated normals; and

converting the sampled data into a texture map; and

rendering the calculated texture maps on the polyhedral model;

wherein said step of converting further comprises the steps of;

resampling the data volume along the polygons; and

composing a texture map from the plurality of layers of sampled polygons; and

wherein said step of composing can be performed using maximum intensity projection (MIP).

6. A method for volume rendering, comprising the steps of:

selecting a region of interest (roi) to be rendered;

generating a polyhedral model of a surface of the selected region of interest;

calculating 2 dimensional texture maps for polygons comprising the polyhedral model,

wherein the step of calculating comprises

allocating a 2 dimensional texture image from an initial polygon generated by the polyhedral model;

interpolating a normal at each vertex for the initial polygon;

sampling a plurality of layers of parallel polygons at a predetermined depth along the interpolated normals; and

converting the sampled data into a texture map; and

rendering the calculated texture maps on the polyhedral model;

wherein said step of converting further comprises the steps of;

resampling the data volume along the polygons; and

composing a texture map from the plurality of layers of sampled polygons; and

wherein said step of composing can be performed using minimum intensity projection (MINIP).

7. A method for volume rendering, comprising the steps of:

selecting a region of interest (roi) to be rendered;

generating a polyhedral model of a surface of the selected region of interest;

calculating 2 dimensional texture maps for polygons comprising the polyhedral model,

wherein the step of calculating comprises

allocating a 2 dimensional texture image from an initial polygon generated by the polyhedral model;

interpolating a normal at each vertex for the initial polygon;

sampling a plurality of layers of parallel polygons at a predetermined depth along the interpolated normals; and

converting the sampled data into a texture map; and

rendering the calculated texture maps on the polyhedral model;

wherein said step of converting further comprises the steps of;

resampling the data volume along the polygons; and

composing a texture map from the plurality of layers of sampled polygons; and

wherein said step of composing can be performed by adding corresponding pixel intensity values of layers of sampled polygons.

8. A program storage device readable by a machine, tangibly embodying a program of instructions executable by the machine to perform method steps for volume rendering, the method comprising the steps of:

selecting a region of interest (roi) to be rendered;

generating a polyhedral model of a surface of the selected region of interest;

calculating 2 dimensional texture maps for polygons comprising the polyhedral model,

wherein the step of calculating comprises

allocating a 2 dimensional texture image from an initial polygon generated by the polyhedral model;

interpolating a normal at each vertex for the initial polygon;

sampling a plurality of layers of parallel polygons at a predetermined depth along the interpolated normals; and

converting the sampled data into a texture map; and

rendering the calculated texture maps on the polyhedral model.

9. The program storage device of claim 8, wherein the instructions for selecting a region of interest comprise instructions for performing segmentation.

10. The program storage device of claim 8, wherein the instructions for generating a polyhedral model comprise instruction for performing a three-dimensional Delaunay triangulation process.

11. The program storage device of claim 8, wherein the instructions for converting the sampled data into a texture map comprise instruction for performing the steps of:

resampling the volume data along the polygons; and

composing a texture map from the plurality of layers of sampled polygons.

12. The program storage device of claim 11, wherein the instructions for performing the step of composing comprise instructions for performing a maximum intensity projection (MIP).

13. The program storage device of claim 11, wherein the instructions for performing the step of composing comprise instructions for performing a minimum intensity projection (MINIP).

14. The program storage device of claim 11, wherein the instructions for performing the step of composing comprise instruction for adding corresponding pixel intensity values of layers of sampled polygons.

15. A method for volume rendering using texture mapping, comprising the steps of:

generating a polyhedral model of a surface of a region of interest, wherein the polyhedral model comprises a plurality of polygons;

interpolating a normal for each vertex of at least one polygon of the polyhedral model;

sampling texture data of parallel layers corresponding to the polygon within a specified distance from the surface using the interpolated normals; and

rendering a texture map on the polyhedral model using the sampled texture data.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein the step of rendering comprises the steps of:

resampling texture data of selected one of the parallel layers; and

composing the texture map from the texture data of each selected parallel layer.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein the step of composing is performed using a maximum intensity projection (MIP).

18. The method of claim 16, wherein the step of composing is performed using a minimum intensity projection (MINIP).

19. The method of claim 16, wherein the step of composing is performed by adding corresponding pixel intensity values of each selected parallel layer.

20. A program storage device readable by a machine, tangibly embodying a program of instructions executable by the machine to perform method steps for volume rendering using texture mapping, the method comprising the steps of:

generating a polyhedral model of a surface of a region of interest, wherein the polyhedral model comprises a plurality of polygons;

interpolating a normal for each vertex of at least one polygon of the polyhedral model;

sampling texture data of parallel layers corresponding to the polygon within a specified distance from the surface using the interpolated normals; and

rendering a texture map on the polyhedral model using the sampled texture data.