An efficient voxel-based visualization system from an implicit skeletal surface characterization

This paper presents a new algorithm of volume rendering based on a dual rep resentation of data. The algorithm improves both the image generation speed and its quality. Two shape descriptors are used to characterize the object : a Euclidean distance transform (EDT) and a digital Euclidean skeleton. Th e EDT is used at one point in time to accelerate the image generation and c ompute the skeleton of the shape, whilst the skeleton is used as tin initia lization of the processing of the implicit surface. The goal is to build an interactive system of visualization for the analysis of volumetric data, e ither in the setting of a qualitative exploration or as a guide for qualita tive measurements. The speed of treatment together with goon visualization should give the feasibility to achieve a 3D survey of a natural object in a n interactive manner. The method has been successfully applied to both synt hetic and real data. Copyright (C) 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.