Multiple Transparent Material-enriched Isosurfaces

Kanodia, R.L., Linsen, L., and Hamann, B.

Abstract:
Isosurface extraction is a standard method for visualizing scalar volume data by rendering a specific material boundary.<br />
Multiple transparent isosurfaces can be used to visualize multiple material boundaries but still fail to capture any data in between the boundary layers.<br />
In this paper, we describe how isosurfaces can be enriched with surrounding material information.<br />
Visualizing surrounding material exposes information of the scalar field's change in density.<br />
Visualizing multiple material-enriched isosurfaces leads to a more thorough volumetric impression, thus, approximating results from direct volume rendering.<br />
The visualization of multiple transparent isosurfaces requires a back-to-front rendering of the triangulated surface components.<br />
The order of the surfaces' triangles is imposed by the location of the tetrahedra they are extracted from,<br />
which allows for a fast multiple isosurface extraction algorithm.<br />