Rastered volume renderer and manipulator
A method for visualizing two-dimensional data with three-dimensional volume enables the end user to easily view abnormalities in sequential data. The two-dimensional data can be in the form of a tiled texture with the images in a set row and column, a media file with the images displayed at certain images in time, or any other way to depict a set of two-dimensional images. The disclosed method takes in each pixel of the images and evaluates the density, usually represented by color, of the pixel. This evaluation allows the user to set threshold values and return accurate representations of the data presented, instead of a culmination of all data along a ray trace.
1. A method for displaying sequential two-dimensional data referenced to a three-dimensional representation, the method comprising:
converting two-dimensional images into two-dimensional image textures;
rendering the two-dimensional image textures onto render targets;
stamping the render targets onto sequentially tiled textures;
modifying the colors of each tiled texture based on user-defined parameters; and
setting texture parameters in master tiled material and adding the master tiled material to a mesh;
virtually projecting arbitrary rays into the mesh from a face of a virtual camera and displaying, on a display, returned ray values from an intersection of the arbitrary rays with color pixels from the mesh.
2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the step of virtually projecting arbitrary rays into the mesh from a face of a virtual camera and displaying, on a display, returned ray values from an intersection of the arbitrary rays with color pixels from the mesh further comprises determining, based on the rays' z-axis positions, a tile from a tile set to be sampled for color and opacity.
3. The method of claim 2 , further comprising marching the rays along in fixed-step increments.
4. The method of claim 3 , further comprising creating a user view that allows the user to view only information returned from user-determined thresholds.
5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the returned ray values are displayed on the display in full opacity, and wherein where no color is returned on a returned ray, nothing is rendered on the display.
6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the returned ray values are displayed on the display at a user-defined opacity between fully transparent and fully opaque.
7. The method of claim 1 , wherein each tiled texture comprises a section of the mesh, and the spaces between each tiled texture are blended.
8. The method of claim 1 , wherein the step of stamping render targets onto sequentially tiled textures further comprises drawing images onto a larger texture in a grid pattern, in order of height, creating a grid of sequential images.
9. The method of claim 8 , wherein the step of stamping render targets onto sequentially tiled textures further comprises referring the grid of sequential images to create a stacked image volume.
10. The method of claim 1 , wherein the step of stamping render targets onto sequentially tiled textures further comprises creating a sequence of grids ordered by height, to create a stacked image volume.
11. The method of claim 1 , wherein the step of modifying the colors of each tiled texture based on user-defined parameters further comprises determining, for each pixel, whether a pixel color value is within a user-defined color range and coloring the pixels that are within the user-defined color range and leaving the pixels that are not within the user-defined color range invisible.