Nicer-slicer-dicer: an interactive volume visualization tool
Patrick J. Moran · Proceedings of SPIE, the International Society for Optical Engineering/Proceedings of SPIE · 1994
Nicer-Slicer-Dicer (NSD) is a new, interactive tool for volume visualization. In addition to single scalar volumes, NSD can visualize multivariate and time series data. NSD achieves high rendering rates by compositing slice planes back-to-front while blending pixels through the use of alpha buffering hardware. This technique introduces some small artifacts, but it works remarkably well with large data sets where voxels represent small areas in image space. The plane compositing technique also allows one to generate an isosurface and volume rendering simultaneously by interleaving planes and isosurface polygons.