Surface smoothing for enhanced 3D medical visualization

Christopher Siege; Paul F. Hemler; David J. Vining

doi:10.1117/12.273938

7 May 1997 Surface smoothing for enhanced 3D medical visualization

Christopher Siege, Paul F. Hemler, David J. Vining

Proceedings Volume 3031, Medical Imaging 1997: Image Display; (1997) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.273938
Event: Medical Imaging 1997, 1997, Newport Beach, CA, United States

Abstract

This paper presents four methods for enhancing the visual appearance of surface-rendered anatomical objects while preserving the original geometry and topology of the underlying model. The methods consist of generating normal vectors for each vertex in a surface mesh by image gradient and cross-product operations. THe normal vectors are then modified to alter lighting effects and make the surfaces appear smoother. This is accomplished using various filtering techniques that replace each original vertex normal by a weighted value. Normal vectors affect the visualization of the surface mesh because lighting models utilize the vertex normals when generating an image from a given viewpoint. Our methods alter the normal vectors in order to smooth the surfaces for easier diagnosis using medical images.

Citation Download Citation

Christopher Siege, Paul F. Hemler, and David J. Vining "Surface smoothing for enhanced 3D medical visualization", Proc. SPIE 3031, Medical Imaging 1997: Image Display, (7 May 1997); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.273938

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