Digital Visualization
Mark D. Sutton, Imran Alexander Rahman, Russell J. Garwood · 2013
Many possible workflows exist for converting data into virtual or physical models; those for tomographic data are more various and complex. Registered tomographic datasets are essential for most visualization techniques; their requirements are outlined, and methods for registration discussed. One alternative subsequent to this, vector surfacing, involves the tracing of outlines and their subsequent conversion to triangle meshes; it is now rarely used. Volume reconstruction, where pixels of tomograms are treated as three-dimensional voxels, is normally preferred. Volumes can be virtually ‘prepared’ to improve accuracy. They may be rendered directly, or through isosurfacing to generate a triangle mesh. Surface-based data may also be directly rendered or converted to a triangle mesh. Triangle meshes can be post-processed, and subsequently visualized using graphics hardware, ray tracing or three-dimensional printing. Selected visualization software packages are described, and the selection of data types and file formats for dissemination are discussed. Three visualization case studies are presented.