Correcting segmented surfaces to align with a rendering of volumetric data

1. A computer-implemented method comprising the steps of:

deriving a surface comprising segments from volumetric data by obtaining a signed distance field referencing said segments to said volumetric data;

presenting, in a virtual reality user interface, at least a part of said segmented surface overlaid on at least a part of the volumetric data from which the segmented surface originates;

determining a portion of said surface that does not align to the volumetric data;

obtaining a signed distance value as a surface generation error for said portion, wherein the signed distance value indicates noncompliance of said segmented surface with the volumetric data from which the segmented surface originates;

interactively adjusting the signed distance field for at least one of the segments using the signed distance value so that the presented surface aligns more accurately with the presented volumetric data on which the surface is overlaid in the virtual reality user interface; and

saving the interactively adjusted at least one of the segments in a data file separately from a data file of the volumetric data.

2. The computer-implemented method according to claim 1 , wherein the surface is generated manually and/or automatically from the volumetric data.

3. The computer-implemented method according to claim 1 , wherein the surface is manipulated by a tool adapted to reference the surface to the presented volumetric data, wherein the tool uses a signed distance field technique to reference the surface to the presented volumetric data.

4. The computer-implemented method according to claim 1 , wherein a de-novo segmentation of original volumetric data is performed at least semi-automatically in order to obtain the presented volumetric data.

5. The computer-implemented method according to claim 1 , wherein the method includes a method of fitting the surface to the volumetric data.

6. The computer-implemented method according to claim 1 , wherein the adjusting of the signed distance field for the at least one of the segments includes use of a signed distance field technique to manipulate the surface to align with the volumetric data rendered in the virtual reality user interface, wherein the surface is in spatial coordination with the volumetric data.

7. The computer-implemented method according to claim 6 , wherein the signed distance field technique indicates a direction of manipulation that results in the presented surface complying with the presented volumetric data.

8. The computer-implemented method according to claim 6 , wherein a positive/negative or a negative/positive distance of the signed distance field technique indicates that at least one point in the surface is outside/within a target area in a rendered image based on the volumetric data.

9. The computer-implemented method according to claim 6 , wherein the signed distance field technique uses the signed distance value.

10. The computer-implemented method according to claim 1 , wherein the adjusting of the surface to comply with the volumetric data includes direct rendering of the volumetric data in a first rendering pass to obtain a rendering volume, rendering the surface in a second rendering pass to obtain a rendered surface, and integrating the rendered volume from the first pass with the rendered surface from the second pass with a surface manipulation tool, wherein the surface manipulation tool includes a signed distance field technique.

11. The computer-implemented method according to claim 10 , wherein the first and second rendering passes are performed sequentially and/or independently.

12. The computer-implemented method according to claim 10 , wherein the rendered surface is spatially aligned with the rendered volume based on an index established when the rendered surface was derived from the rendered volume.

13. The computer-implemented method according to claim 10 , wherein the rendered surface and the rendered volume are mixed in the virtual reality user interface based on depth information associated with at least one of the data of the surface and the volumetric data.

14. The computer-implemented method according to claim 1 , wherein the adjusting of the signed distance field for the at least one segment of the surface includes converting the surface to a signed distance field representation, performing adjustments based on the signed distance field representation so that the surface is substantially aligned with a surface of the volumetric data.

15. The computer-implemented method according to claim 1 , wherein the method comprises generating the surface from the volumetric data, rendering the surface and the volumetric data, determining portions of the surface that do not align to the volumetric data, applying a signed distance field technique to at least a portion of the surface that does not align to the volumetric data, adjusting the surface based thereon, and saving the adjusted surface.

16. A data processing system comprising means for carrying out the steps of the method according to claim 1 .

17. A computer program stored on a non-transitory computer-readable medium, the computer program comprising instructions which, when the program is executed by a processor, cause the processor to carry out the steps of the method according to claim 1 .

18. A non-transitory computer-readable medium comprising instructions which, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to carry out the steps of the method according to claim 1 .

19. The computer-implemented method according to claim 1 , further comprising manipulating the determined portion in three dimensions by at least one of enlarging, shrinking, joining, separating, contouring, bending or shaping, at least one of said surface segments.