Perception-Based Transparency Optimization for Direct Volume Rendering

• Published in: IEEE transactions on visualization and computer graphics Vol. 15; no. 6; pp. 1283 - 1290
• Main Authors: Chan, Ming-Yuen, Wu, Yingcai, Mak, Wai-Ho, Chen, Wei, Qu, Huamin
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States IEEE 01.11.2009; The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc. (IEEE)
• Subjects: Computer Graphics; Diagnostic Imaging; Direct volume rendering; Image enhancement; Image Processing, Computer-Assisted - methods; Image quality; Image resolution; layer perception; Opacity; Optimization; Psychology; Rendering; Rendering (computer graphics); Robustness; Shape measurement; Transfer functions; User-Computer Interface; Visual; Visual perception; Visualization
• ISSN: 1077-2626; 1941-0506
• DOI: 10.1109/TVCG.2009.172

The semi-transparent nature of direct volume rendered images is useful to depict layered structures in a volume. However, obtaining a semi-transparent result with the layers clearly revealed is difficult and may involve tedious adjustment on opacity and other rendering parameters. Furthermore, the visual quality of layers also depends on various perceptual factors. In this paper, we propose an auto-correction method for enhancing the perceived quality of the semi-transparent layers in direct volume rendered images. We introduce a suite of new measures based on psychological principles to evaluate the perceptual quality of transparent structures in the rendered images. By optimizing rendering parameters within an adaptive and intuitive user interaction process, the quality of the images is enhanced such that specific user requirements can be met. Experimental results on various datasets demonstrate the effectiveness and robustness of our method.