Maximum Intensity Projection Using Splatting in Sheared Object Space

Abstract

In this paper we present a new Maximum Intensity Projection (MIP) algorithm which was implemented employing splatting in a shear-warp context. This algorithm renders a MIP image by first splatting each voxel on two intermediate spaces called "worksheet" and "shear image". Then, the maximum value is evaluated between worksheet and shear image. Finally, shear image is warped on the screen to generate the result image. Different footprints implementing different quality modes are discussed. In addition, we introduced a line encoded indexing speed-up method to obtain interactive speed. This algorithm allows for a quantitative, predictable trade-off between interactivity and image quality.