Maximum Intensity Projection at Warp Speed

Information

• Publication Type: Technical Report
• Workgroup(s)/Project(s): not specified
• Date: December 1999
• Number: TR-186-2-99-24
• Keywords: real-time rendering, maximum intensity projection, volume visualization

Abstract

Maximum Intensity Projection (MIP) is a volume rendering technique which is used to extract high-intensity structures from volumetric scalar data. At each pixel the highest data value encountered along the corresponding viewing ray is determined. MIP is commonly used to extract vascular structures from medical MRI data sets, i.e., angiography. The usual way to compensate for the loss of spatial and occlusion information in MIP images is to view the data from different view points by rotating them. As the generation of a MIP is usually non-interactive, this is done by calculating multiple images offline and playing them back as an animation.

In this paper a novel algorithm is proposed which is capable of interactively generating Maximum Intensity Projection images even on low-end hardware using parallel projection. Two methods for preprocessing data and removing voxels which will due to their neighborhood never contribute to a MIP are discussed. The remaining voxels are stored in a way which guarantees optimal cache coherency regardless of the viewing direction. For use on low-end hardware, a preview-mode is included which renders only the more significant parts of the volume during user interaction. Furthermore we demonstrate the usability of our data structure for extensions of the MIP technique like MIP with depth-shading and Local Maximum Intensity Projection (LMIP).

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BibTeX

@techreport{Mroz-1999-MIP,
  title =      "Maximum Intensity Projection at Warp Speed",
  author =     "Lukas Mroz and Andreas K\"{o}nig and Eduard Gr\"{o}ller",
  year =       "1999",
  abstract =   "Maximum Intensity Projection (MIP) is a volume rendering
               technique which is used to extract high-intensity structures
               from volumetric scalar data. At each pixel the highest data
               value encountered along the corresponding viewing ray is
               determined. MIP is commonly used to extract vascular
               structures from medical MRI data sets, i.e., angiography.
               The usual way to compensate for the loss of spatial and
               occlusion information in MIP images is to view the data from
               different view points by rotating them. As the generation of
               a MIP is usually non-interactive, this is done by
               calculating multiple images offline and playing them back as
               an animation.  In this paper a novel algorithm is proposed
               which is capable of interactively generating Maximum
               Intensity Projection images even on low-end hardware using
               parallel projection. Two methods for preprocessing data and
               removing voxels which will due to their neighborhood never
               contribute to a MIP are discussed. The remaining voxels are
               stored in a way which guarantees optimal cache coherency
               regardless of the viewing direction. For use on low-end
               hardware, a preview-mode is included which renders only the
               more significant parts of the volume during user
               interaction. Furthermore we demonstrate the usability of our
               data structure for extensions of the MIP technique like MIP
               with depth-shading and Local Maximum Intensity Projection
               (LMIP).",
  month =      dec,
  number =     "TR-186-2-99-24",
  address =    "Favoritenstrasse 9-11/E193-02, A-1040 Vienna, Austria",
  institution = "Institute of Computer Graphics and Algorithms, Vienna
               University of Technology ",
  note =       "human contact: technical-report@cg.tuwien.ac.at",
  keywords =   "real-time rendering, maximum intensity projection, volume
               visualization",
  URL =        "https://www.cg.tuwien.ac.at/research/publications/1999/Mroz-1999-MIP/",
}