Cell-based first-hit ray casting
André Neubauer, Lukas Mroz, Helwig Hauser, Rainer Wegenkittl · 2002
Cell-based first-hit ray casting, a new technique for fast perspective volume visualization, is presented in this paper. This technique, based on the well known ray casting algorithm, performs iso-surfacing and supports interactive threshold adjustment. It is accelerated by the reduction of average ray path lengths to only a few steps per pixel. The volume is divided into cubic sub volumes. Each sub volume that is intersected by an iso-surface is projected to the image plane. A local ray casting step within the sub volume is performed for each pixel covered by the projection. Cell-based first-hit ray casting is perfectly suited whenever fast perspective iso-surfacing is required.