Abstract
Creating and rendering intermediate geometric primitives is one of the approaches to visualize data sets in 3D space. Some algorithms have been developed to construct isosurface from uniformly distributed 3D data sets. These algorithms assume that the function value varies linearly along edges of each cell. But to irregular 3D data sets, this assumption is inapplicable. Moreover, the depth sorting of cells is more complicated for irregular data sets, which is indispensable for generating isosurface images or semitransparent isosurface images, if Z-buffer method is not adopted.
In this paper, isosurface models based on the assumption, that the function value has nonlinear distribution within a tetrahedron are proposed. The depth sorting algorithm and data structures are developed for the irregular data sets in which cells may be subdivided into tetrahedra. The implementation issues of this algorithm are discussed and experimental results are shown to illustrate potentials of this technique.
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This project is supported by National Natural Science Foundation of China.
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Zhou, Y., Tang, Z. Constructing isosurfaces from 3D data sets taking account of depth sorting of polyhedra. J. of Compt. Sci. & Technol. 9, 117–127 (1994). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02939493
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02939493