View-dependent peel-away visualization for volumetric data

Abstract

In this paper a novel approach for peel-away visualizations is presented. Newly developed algorithm extends existing illustrative deformation approaches which are based on deformation templates and adds new component of view-dependency of the peel region. The view-dependent property guarantees the viewer unobstructed view on inspected feature of interest. This is realized by rotating deformation template so that the peeled-away segment always faces away from the viewer. Furthermore the new algorithm computes the underlying peel template on-the-fly, which allows animating the level of peeling. When structures of interest are tagged with segmentation masks, an automatic scaling and positioning of peel deformation templates allows guided navigation and clear view at structures in focus as well as feature-aligned peeling. The overall performance allows smooth interaction with reasonably sized datasets and peel templates as the implementation maximizes utilization of computation power of modern GPUs.