Incremental volume rendering using hierarchical compression

Includes bibliographical references.The research has been based on the thesis that efficient volume rendering of datasets, contained on the Internet, can be achieved on average personal workstations. We present a new algorithm here for efficient incremental rendering of volumetric datasets. The primary goal of this algorithm is to give average workstations the ability to efficiently render volume data received over relatively low bandwidth network links in such a way that rapid user feedback is maintained. Common limitations of workstation rendering of volume data include: large memory overheads, the requirement of expensive rendering hardware, and high speed processing ability. The rendering algorithm presented here overcomes these problems by making use of the efficient Shear-Warp Factorisation method which does not require specialised graphics hardware. However the original Shear-Warp algorithm suffers from a high memory overhead and does not provide for incremental rendering which is required should rapid user feedback be maintained. Our algorithm represents the volumetric data using a hierarchical data structure which provides for the incremental classification and rendering of volume data. This exploits the multiscale nature of the octree data structure. The algorithm reduces the memory footprint of the original Shear-Warp Factorisation algorithm by a factor of more than two, while maintaining good rendering performance. These factors make our octree algorithm more suitable for implementation on average desktop workstations for the purposes of interactive exploration of volume models over a network. This dissertation covers the theory and practice of developing the octree based Shear-Warp algorithms, and then presents the results of extensive empirical testing. The results, using typical volume datasets, demonstrate the ability of the algorithm to achieve high rendering rates for both incremental rendering and standard rendering while reducing the runtime memory requirements

Internet-based Medical Data Rendering and Image Enhancement Using Webgl and Apache Server

Internet-based medical data visualization has wide applications in distributed medical collaborations and treatment. It can be achieved through volume rendering technique, which is a key method for medical image exploration and has been applied to the clinical medical fields such as disease diagnosis and image-guided interaction.In this project, we implement some medical data processing and optical mapping methods for web-based medical data visualization and image enhancement. The Web Graphics Library (WebGL) is used with JavaScript for rendering 3D graphics in a web browser. WebGL supports GPU based volume rendering which is an efficient tool for visual analysis of medical data, which involves vertex shaders and fragment shaders. The vertex shader provides space coordinates, and the fragment shader provides color.Network-based volume rendering is used to visualize data in a 3D form. An image processing method is implemented to transfer the 3D dataset into multiple slices of 2D image data and WebGL is employed to render 3D medical data in web browsers. Volume rendering is accomplished using the volume ray casting algorithm implemented with WebGL2. We collect new medical data and process them to fit the web-based rendering environment. The submitted work will explain the process of preparing and loading medical data suitable to be rendered. All the visualized data can be enhanced with the developed methods to emphasize the image feature of interest. We also add new control points for optical mapping and rendering medical data in a web browser in real-time. The software platform is running on Apache Web Server for network-based data visualization. The developed image enhancements and property control methods can improve medical data visualization on web browsers, which will be helpful for internet-based medical data analysis and exploration, as well as medical diagnosis and treatment.https://ir.library.illinoisstate.edu/ursit/1000/thumbnail.jp

Uma arquitetura baseada em padroes abertos para visualizaçao científica via internet aplicada à medicina

Orientadora : Klaus de GeusDissertaçao (mestrado) - Universidade Federal do ParanáResumo: A visualização científica aplicada à medicina tem sido muito explorada nos últimos anos. O uso da Internet como meio de comunicação impulsionou o desenvolvimento de aplicações distribuídas de visualização de volumes para imagens médicas. A maioria dessas aplicações é baseada em arquiteturas fortemente acopladas, as quais dificultam sua acessibilidade e integração com outras aplicações. Este trabalho apresenta uma arquitetura para desenvolvimento de serviços de renderização de volumes de imagens médicas, utilizando padrões abertos para computação distribuída via Internet. Esta arquitetura permite uma maior acessibilidade e integração entre as organizações provedoras de serviços de renderização volumétrica e seus clientes.Abstract: Scientific visualization applied to medicine has been strongly explored in the last years. The use of the Internet as a means of communicating impelled the development of distributed volume visualization applications for medical images. Most of these applications are based on strongly coupled architectures, which implies in difficulties on issues such as accessibility and integration with other applications. This work presents an architecture for the development of volume rendering services for medical images, using open patterns for distributed computing via Internet. This architecture allows for larger accessibility and integration between the volumetric rendering services providers and their customers

VisIVOWeb: A WWW Environment for Large-Scale Astrophysical Visualization

This article presents a newly developed Web portal called VisIVOWeb that aims to provide the astrophysical community with powerful visualization tools for large-scale data sets in the context of Web 2.0. VisIVOWeb can effectively handle modern numerical simulations and real-world observations. Our open-source software is based on established visualization toolkits offering high-quality rendering algorithms. The underlying data management is discussed with the supported visualization interfaces and movie-making functionality. We introduce VisIVOWeb Network, a robust network of customized Web portals for visual discovery, and VisIVOWeb Connect, a lightweight and efficient solution for seamlessly connecting to existing astrophysical archives. A significant effort has been devoted for ensuring interoperability with existing tools by adhering to IVOA standards. We conclude with a summary of our work and a discussion on future developments

A framework for realistic 3D tele-immersion

Meeting, socializing and conversing online with a group of people using teleconferencing systems is still quite differ- ent from the experience of meeting face to face. We are abruptly aware that we are online and that the people we are engaging with are not in close proximity. Analogous to how talking on the telephone does not replicate the experi- ence of talking in person. Several causes for these differences have been identified and we propose inspiring and innova- tive solutions to these hurdles in attempt to provide a more realistic, believable and engaging online conversational expe- rience. We present the distributed and scalable framework REVERIE that provides a balanced mix of these solutions. Applications build on top of the REVERIE framework will be able to provide interactive, immersive, photo-realistic ex- periences to a multitude of users that for them will feel much more similar to having face to face meetings than the expe- rience offered by conventional teleconferencing systems

Software Defined Media: Virtualization of Audio-Visual Services

Internet-native audio-visual services are witnessing rapid development. Among these services, object-based audio-visual services are gaining importance. In 2014, we established the Software Defined Media (SDM) consortium to target new research areas and markets involving object-based digital media and Internet-by-design audio-visual environments. In this paper, we introduce the SDM architecture that virtualizes networked audio-visual services along with the development of smart buildings and smart cities using Internet of Things (IoT) devices and smart building facilities. Moreover, we design the SDM architecture as a layered architecture to promote the development of innovative applications on the basis of rapid advancements in software-defined networking (SDN). Then, we implement a prototype system based on the architecture, present the system at an exhibition, and provide it as an SDM API to application developers at hackathons. Various types of applications are developed using the API at these events. An evaluation of SDM API access shows that the prototype SDM platform effectively provides 3D audio reproducibility and interactiveness for SDM applications.Comment: IEEE International Conference on Communications (ICC2017), Paris, France, 21-25 May 201