A medical image data visualization system comprising: an input device connected to a source of 3D medical imaging data; an output device connectable to a display; and a processor (220, 304, 500, 500') connected to the input and the output devices and configured to: receive a 3D dataset representative of a volume of imaged biological tissue; crop the volume at a selected slice plane; generate a foreground image comprising a 2D image of bodily structures at the selected slice plane; generate (326, 328) first and second color volume renderings (510, 518) of the cropped volume from a same viewing perspective, wherein the first and second color volume renderings are associated with respective first and second different color maps; blend the first and second color volume renderings to produce a background image; and combine the foreground image and the background image to produce a composite medical image, wherein the processor (220, 304, 500, 500') is configured to produce a first single-channel image and a second single-channel image, the first and second single-channel images comprising a grayscale depth map image and a grayscale luminance image respectively, and to map, using a 2D color map, pixel values of the first and second single-channel images to a multi-channel image corresponding to the second colored volume rendering, wherein the depth map image is generated based on estimating, for each pixel in the first single-channel image, a distance from a viewing plane to the first encountered non-zero value in the 3D dataset at the given pixel, and wherein generating the first color volume rendering comprises applying a physical model of light propagation through biological tissue to the cropped volume and encoding output values from the model in a further multi-channel image. an input device connected to a source of 3D medical imaging data; an output device connectable to a display; and a processor (220, 304, 500, 500') connected to the input and the output devices and configured to: receive a 3D dataset representative of a volume of imaged biological tissue; crop the volume at a selected slice plane; generate a foreground image comprising a 2D image of bodily structures at the selected slice plane; generate (326, 328) first and second color volume renderings (510, 518) of the cropped volume from a same viewing perspective, wherein the first and second color volume renderings are associated with respective first and second different color maps; blend the first and second color volume renderings to produce a background image; and combine the foreground image and the background image to produce a composite medical image, wherein the processor (220, 304, 500, 500') is configured to produce a first single-channel image and a second single-channel image, the first and second single-channel images comprising a grayscale depth map image and a grayscale luminance image respectively, and to map, using a 2D color map, pixel values of the first and second single-channel images to a multi-channel image corresponding to the second colored volume rendering, wherein the depth map image is generated based on estimating, for each pixel in the first single-channel image, a distance from a viewing plane to the first encountered non-zero value in the 3D dataset at the given pixel, and wherein generating the first color volume rendering comprises applying a physical model of light propagation through biological tissue to the cropped volume and encoding output values from the model in a further multi-channel image. receive a 3D dataset representative of a volume of imaged biological tissue; crop the volume at a selected slice plane; generate a foreground image comprising a 2D image of bodily structures at the selected slice plane; generate (326, 328) first and second color volume renderings (510, 518) of the cropped volume from a same viewing perspective, wherein the first and second color volume renderings are associated with respective first and second different color maps; blend the first and second color volume renderings to produce a background image; and combine the foreground image and the background image to produce a composite medical image, wherein the processor (220, 304, 500, 500') is configured to produce a first single-channel image and a second single-channel image, the first and second single-channel images comprising a grayscale depth map image and a grayscale luminance image respectively, and to map, using a 2D color map, pixel values of the first and second single-channel images to a multi-channel image corresponding to the second colored volume rendering, wherein the depth map image is generated based on estimating, for each pixel in the first single-channel image, a distance from a viewing plane to the first encountered non-zero value in the 3D dataset at the given pixel, and wherein generating the first color volume rendering comprises applying a physical model of light propagation through biological tissue to the cropped volume and encoding output values from the model in a further multi-channel image.