3D RGB image compression for interactive applications

This paper presents a new 3D RGB image compression scheme designed for inte ractive real-time applications. In designing our compression method, we hav e compromised between two important goals: high compression ratio and fast random access ability, and have tried to minimize the overhead caused durin g run-time reconstruction. Our compression technique is suitable for applic ations wherein data are accessed in a somewhat unpredictable fashion, and r eal-time performance of decompression is necessary. The experimental result s on three different kinds of 3D images from medical imaging, image-based r endering, and solid texture mapping suggest that the compression method can be used effectively in developing real-time applications that must handle large volume data, made of color samples taken in three- or higher-dimensio nal space.