Patent ID: 6999078
Filing Date: 2006-02-14
Classification: G06T

Abstract:
1. A method of forming a perspective rendering from a voxel data set, comprising: (a) raycasting at least one ray from a predetermined location into a voxel space, by sampling points along said ray in a space defined by said voxel data set; (b) accumulating the effect of opacity along a path of the ray, using opacity values at said sampling points, into a ray storage value; (c) associating points along the cast ray with material classes; (d) determining if a ray passes from a point in a first material class to a point in a second material class; (e) if the ray is determined to pass between material classes, accumulating a lighting contribution of a surface, associated with a boundary between the two classes, into said ray storage value; (f) repeating at least (a), (b), (d), and (e) for a plurality of cast rays; and (g) forming a perspective rendering from said ray storage values.