Methods, systems, and computer readable media for flexible occlusion rendering
AssigneeUniversity of North Carolina
InventorsDavid Borland, John P. Clarke, Russell M. Yaylor, II
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Abstract
The invention relates to flexible occlusion rendering, including receiving a first set of three dimensional image data including image data for a surface of interest and image data for a region occluding the surface of interest from a desired viewpoint. The purpose of this invention is to improve occlusion rendering via imaging by locating the occluding surface of the incoming three-dimensional data and, and modifying the characteristics of this data, to show the surface that is being occluded so that the image includes viewing through the occlusion to the surface of interest.
Claims33
A method for flexible occlusion rendering comprising:
- receiving a first set of three dimensional image data including image data for a surface of interest and image data for a region occluding the surface of interest from a desired viewpoint;
- casting a plurality of rays from the viewpoint to the surface of interest;
- along each ray, identifying a local maximum in voxel intensity, and, rendering voxels on a near side of the local maximum in voxel intensity to be visible and rendering voxels on a far side of the local maximum in voxel intensity to be at least partially transparent, wherein the voxels rendered as visible define the surface of interest and the voxels rendered to be at least partially transparent define the region occluding the surface of interest;
- and
- displaying the voxels rendered along each ray to a user so that the user can view the surface of interest through the occluding region.
A system for flexible occlusion rendering, the system comprising:
- an occlusion determination module for receiving a first set of three dimensional image data including image data for a surface of interest and image data for a region occluding the surface of interest from a desired viewpoint, for casting a plurality of rays from the viewpoint to the surface of interest, and for, along each ray, identifying a local maximum in voxel intensity;
- and
- a rendering and display module for rendering voxels on a near side of the local maximum in voxel intensity to be visible, for rendering voxels on a far side of the local maximum in voxel intensity to be at least partially transparent, wherein the voxels rendered as visible define the surface of interest and the voxels rendered to be at least partially transparent define the region occluding the surface of interest and for displaying the voxels rendered along each ray to a user so that the user can view the surface of interest through the occluding region.
A computer readable medium having stored thereon executable instructions that when executed by the processor of a computer perform steps comprising:
- receiving a first set of three dimensional image data including image data for a surface of interest and image data for a region occluding the surface of interest from a desired viewpoint;
- casting a plurality of rays from the viewpoint to the surface of interest;
- along each ray, identifying a local maximum in voxel intensity, and, rendering voxels on a near side of the local maximum in voxel intensity to be visible and rendering voxels on a far side of the local maximum in voxel intensity to be at least partially transparent, wherein the voxels rendered as visible define the surface of interest and the voxels rendered to be at least partially transparent define the region occluding the surface of interest;
- and
- displaying the voxels rendered along each ray to a user so that the user can view the surface of interest through the occluding region.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.