An optical model for translucent volume rendering and its implementation using the preintegrated shear-warp algorithm

In order to efficiently and effectively reconstruct 3D medical images and clearly display the detailed information of inner structures and the inner hidden interfaces between different media, an Improved Volume Rendering Optical Model (IVROM) for medical translucent volume rendering and its implementation using the preintegrated Shear-Warp Volume Rendering algorithm are proposed in this paper, which can be readily applied on a commodity PC. Based on the classical absorption and emission model, effects of volumetric shadows and direct and indirect scattering are also considered in the proposed model IVROM. Moreover, the implementation of the Improved Translucent Volume Rendering Method (ITVRM) integrating the IVROM model, Shear-Warp and preintegrated volume rendering algorithm is described, in which the aliasing and staircase effects resulting from under-sampling in Shear-Warp, are avoided by the preintegrated volume rendering technique. This study demonstrates the superiority of the proposed method.