Open AccessVolume visualization of capillary vessel systems
Author(s) -
Handels H,
Breuer U,
Roß Th,
Szabó K
Publication year - 1996
Publication title -
bioimaging
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 1361-6374
pISSN - 0966-9051
DOI - 10.1002/1361-6374(199603)4:1<6::aid-bio2>3.0.co;2-p
Subject(s) - volume rendering , visualization , computer vision , ray casting , computer science , artificial intelligence , rendering (computer graphics) , computer graphics (images) , zoom , image processing , image resolution , voxel , optics , lens (geology) , image (mathematics) , physics
Image processing methods and volume visualization algorithms for three‐dimensional display of capillary vessel systems in light microscopic images are presented. The methods developed are applied to the blood vessel system of the organum vasculosum laminae terminalis, a neurohemic region in rat brain. A set of subimages is acquired for each section and composed automatically into one image with increased resolution. Image processing algorithms are applied to segment the capillaries in the 3‐D image data set. Three‐dimensional visualizations of the vessel systems are generated using ray casting in combination with a voxel‐oriented object representation. Natural illumination effects are simulated with Phong's illumination model. Shadow casting facilitates the realistic display of illumination and shadow effects in 3‐D images. Interactive object manipulations including clipping, rotation and zooming enable the visualization of the spatial structure of capillary vessels from different positions. Visualization algorithms were parallelized and vectorized to speed up the time consuming rendering process.