An Evaluation of Reconstruction Filters for Volume Rendering
Stephen R. Marschner, Richard J. Lobb · 1994
To render images from a three-dimensional array of sample values, it is necessary to interpolate between the samples. This paper is concerned with interpolation meth-ods that are equivalent to convolving the samples with a re-construction filter; this covers all commonly used schemes, including trilinear and cubic interpolation. We first outline the formal basis of interpolation in three-dimensional signal processing theory. We then pro-pose numerical metrics that can be used to measure filter characteristics that are relevant to the appearance of im-ages generated using that filter. We apply those metrics to several previously used filters and relate the results to isosurface images of the interpolations. We show that the choice of interpolation scheme can have a dramatic effect on image quality, and we discuss the cost/benefit tradeoff inherent in choosing a filter. 1