A framework for fusion methods and rendering techniques of multimodal volume data

Many different direct volume rendering methods have been developed to visualize 3D scalar fields on uniform rectilinear grids. However, little work has been done on rendering simultaneously various properties of the same 3D region measured with different registration devices or at different instants of time. The demand for this type of visualization is rapidly increasing in scientific applications such as medicine in which the visual integration of multiple modalities allows a better comprehension of the anatomy and a perception of its relationships with activity. This paper presents different strategies of direct multimodal volume rendering (DMVR). It is restricted to voxel models With a known 3D rigid alignment transformation. The paper evaluates at Which steps of the rendering pipeline the data fusion must be realized in order to accomplish the desired visual integration and to provide fast re-renders When sonic fusion parameters are modified. In addition, it analyses how existing monomodal visualization algorithms can be extended to multiple datasets and it compares their efficiency and their computational cost. Copyright (C) 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.