Patent ID: 9659405
Date: 2017-05-23
CPC Classifications: A61B,G06T

Claim:
1. An image processing apparatus comprising data receiving circuitry configured to receive a volumetric imaging data set which is representative of a volume, the volume comprising a region of interest; and lighting circuitry configured to place a virtual light source outside the region of interest, and to apply a lighting simulation process to simulate light from the virtual light source; wherein the applying of the lighting simulation process is at least partially different for a first lighting region than for a second lighting region, the first lighting region comprising at least part of the volume outside the region of interest and the second lighting region comprising at least part of the region of interest, and wherein the lighting simulation process comprises casting a plurality of rays from the virtual light source and wherein, for each of the plurality of rays, applying the lighting simulation process is at least partially different for a first portion of the ray than for a second portion of the ray, wherein at least part of the first portion of the ray is within the first lighting region and at least part of the second portion of the ray is within the second lighting region, and wherein applying the lighting simulation process for each ray comprises determining irradiance at each of a plurality of sample points along the second portion of the ray and at least one of a) and b): a) calculating no irradiance for the first portion of the ray; b) determining irradiance at each of a plurality of sample points along the first portion of the ray, wherein the irradiance is based on a reduced absorption.