Real-time volume rendering of four-dimensional images based on three-dimensional texture mapping

A four-dimensional (4-D) image consists of three-dimensional (3-D) volume data that varies with time. It is used to express a deforming or moving object in virtual surgery or 4-D ultrasound. It is difficult to obtain 4-D images by conventional ray-casting or shear-warp factorization methods because of their time-consuming rendering process and the pre-processing stage necessary whenever the volume data are changed. Even when 3-D texture mapping is used, repeated volume loading is time-consuming in 4-D image rendering. In this study, we propose a method to reduce data loading time using coherence between currently loaded volume and previously loaded volume in order to achieve real-time rendering based on 3-D texture mapping. Volume data are divided into small bricks and each brick being loaded is tested for similarity to one that was already loaded in memory. If the brick passes the test, it is defined as 3-D texture by OpenGL functions. Later, the texture slices of the brick are mapped into polygons and blended by OpenGL blending functions. All bricks undergo this test. Using continuous deforming, 50 volumes are rendered in interactive time with SGI ONYX. Realtime volume rendering based on 3-D texture mapping is currently available for personal computers.