Algorithmic aspects of converting surface mesh data to volumetric images

Abstract

In image analysis, some processes might imply a change or conversion in the structure of the data. The structure types will depend on the processing method and applications, and can consist of pixel data, point sets, finite elements, vector fields, implicit surfaces, graphs, basic shapes (spheres, cylinders, or cubes), etc. The work presented here discusses the problem of converting a triangulated surface mesh to a 3D image, a need that arises for example when using active surface-type segmentation methods of 3D images, shape-fitting, or combining data from laser surface scanning with 3D imaging. During the course of numerous projects, two main classes of mesh-to-image conversions have appeared: those identifying voxels (pixels in a 3D image) that intersect the mesh, or voxels that are contained in the mesh, supposing it defines a closed surface