Two-dimensional colored projection image from three-dimensional image data
View Patent ↗A projection image of an object is colored using three-dimensional image data. This may be particularly useful in radiographic imaging applications, for example. In one embodiment, a colored synthetic image is rendered from a colored three-dimensional image of an object, and color components of pixels of the synthetic image are used to determine color components, or color values, for corresponding pixels of a projection image depicting a similar view of the object as the synthetic image. In this way, the two-dimensional projection image is colored similarly to the colored three-dimensional image. For example, the projection image may be colored based upon density (if the three-dimensional image is colored based upon density) so aspects of the object that attenuate a similar amount of radiation but have different densities may be colored differently.
1. A method, comprising:
performing an examination of an object via radiation to yield a two-dimensional projection image of the object and a three-dimensional image of the object, the two-dimensional projection image indicative of a degree of attenuation experienced by at least a portion of the radiation for a desired view of the object;
rendering a colored two-dimensional synthetic image of the object from the three-dimensional image of the object, the colored two-dimensional synthetic image depicting the object from the desired view;
and
coloring the two-dimensional projection image based upon the colored two-dimensional synthetic image to generate a colored two-dimensional projection image of the object depicting the object from the desired view,
at least some of the method implemented at least in part via a processor.
2. The method of claim 1 , comprising coloring one or more voxels of the three-dimensional image based upon a composition of the object to generate a colored three-dimensional image.
3. The method of claim 2 , the rendering comprising rendering the colored two-dimensional synthetic image from the colored three-dimensional image.
4. The method of claim 1 , the coloring comprising coloring a first pixel of the two-dimensional projection image based upon one or more color components of a first pixel of the colored two-dimensional synthetic image to generate the colored two-dimensional projection image, wherein the first pixel of the colored two-dimensional synthetic image is in spatial correspondence with the first pixel of the two-dimensional projection image.
5. The method of claim 4 , the coloring a first pixel of the two-dimensional projection image comprising:
extracting red-green-blue (RGB) components for the first pixel of the colored two-dimensional synthetic image;
converting the RGB components for the first pixel of the colored two-dimensional synthetic image to hue-saturation-value (HSV) components for the first pixel of the colored two-dimensional synthetic image; and
determining at least one HSV component for the first pixel of the two-dimensional projection image as a function of the HSV components for the first pixel of the colored two-dimensional synthetic image.
6. The method of claim 5 , comprising determining a value component of the at least one HSV component for the first pixel of the two-dimensional projection image as a function of an intensity of the first pixel of the two-dimensional projection image.
7. The method of claim 5 , comprising determining a hue component of the at least one HSV component for the first pixel of the two-dimensional projection image as a function of a hue component of the HSV components for the first pixel of the colored two-dimensional synthetic image.
8. The method of claim 5 , comprising determining a saturation component of the at least one HSV component for the first pixel of the two-dimensional projection image as a function of a saturation component of the HSV components for the first pixel of the colored two-dimensional synthetic image.
9. The method of claim 8 , wherein the saturation component of the at least one HSV component for the first pixel of the two-dimensional projection image is a function of an intensity of the first pixel of the two-dimensional projection image.
10. The method of claim 1 , comprising, before the coloring, sharpening at least one of the three-dimensional image, the colored two-dimensional synthetic image, or the two-dimensional projection image.
11. The method of claim 1 , the performing an examination comprising performing a computed tomography (CT) examination of the object.
12. An apparatus, comprising:
a color generator component configured to:
receive a two-dimensional projection image of an object under examination and a colored two-dimensional synthetic image of the object under examination, the two-dimensional projection image indicative of a degree of attention experienced by radiation for a desired view of the object and the colored two-dimensional synthetic image rendered based upon a three-dimensional image of the object; and
color a first pixel of the two-dimensional projection image using color components of a first pixel of the colored two-dimensional synthetic image to generate a colored two-dimensional projection image.
13. The apparatus of claim 12 , the color generator component comprising:
an extraction component configured to extract at least some color components from the first pixel of the colored two-dimensional synthetic image; and
a color assignment component configured to assign one or more color components to the first pixel of the two-dimensional projection image as a function of the at least some color components extracted from the first pixel of the colored two-dimensional synthetic image.
14. The apparatus of claim 13 , wherein:
the at least some color components are red-green-blue (RGB) components, and
the apparatus comprises a RGB to hue-saturation-value (HSV) conversion component configured to convert the RGB components to HSV components.
15. The apparatus of claim 13 , the color assignment component configured to assign a saturation component of the one or more color components as a function of at least one of a saturation component of the at least some color components extracted from the first pixel of the colored two-dimensional synthetic image or an intensity component of the first pixel of the two-dimensional projection image.
16. The apparatus of claim 12 , comprising a three-dimensional image processor component configured to color a first voxel of the three-dimensional image based upon a composition of a portion of the object represented by the first voxel to generate a colored three-dimensional image.
17. The apparatus of claim 16 , comprising a rendering component configured to render the colored two-dimensional synthetic image from the colored three-dimensional image.
18. The apparatus of claim 12 , wherein the color generator component is part of a three-dimensional imaging modality.
19. A method, comprising:
generating a three-dimensional image of an object and a two-dimensional projection image of the object based upon an examination using radiation, the two-dimensional projection image indicative of a degree of attenuation experienced by at least a portion of the radiation for a desired view of the object;
rendering a colored two-dimensional synthetic image of the object from the three-dimensional image, the colored two-dimensional synthetic image depicting the object from the desired view;
extracting red-green-blue (RGB) components from a first pixel of the colored two-dimensional synthetic image;
converting the RGB components to hue-saturation-value (HSV) components for the first pixel of the colored two-dimensional synthetic image; and
computing at least one HSV component for a first pixel of the two-dimensional projection image using one or more of the HSV components for the first pixel of the colored two-dimensional synthetic image to generate a colored two-dimensional projection image,
at least some of the method implemented at least in part via a processor.
20. The method of claim 19 , the computing comprising:
setting a hue component of the at least one HSV component for the first pixel of the two-dimensional projection image equal to a hue component of the HSV components for the first pixel of the colored two-dimensional synthetic image;
determining a value component of the at least one HSV component for the first pixel of the two-dimensional projection image as a function of an intensity component of the first pixel of the two-dimensional projection image; and
determining a saturation component of the at least one HSV component for the first pixel of the two-dimensional projection image as a function of a saturation component of the HSV components of the first pixel of the colored two-dimensional synthetic image.