Verve

Abstract

The design principles of a hardware acceleratorfor volume rendering are described. The architecture represents a voxel subsystem which interfaces easily to any existing workstation. Host requirements are low since it contains a multiport memory holding the complete data set and all arithmetic units needed to perform an effective visualization.Our approach aims at virtual reality by providing some"real-world" examination techniques. The user (e.g., a physician) is enabled to analyze the data set from an arbitrary viewpoint and, even more, to"walk through" the volume model. For a realistic impression, the machine produces perspective projections, supports the illumination by non-parallel light comingfrom a freely movable point light source and provides depth cueing. The objects are Phong shaded at a rate of 107 operations/s and can be displayed semitransparently. One unit achieves interactive speed: for real-time operation only a small number of units (typically 4-16) must be placed in parallel.