Patent ID: 7327363

Claim:
An image processing apparatus for generating a display image by volume rendering, comprising: a reader for reading and storing volume data of a three-dimensional object to be processed into a predetermined storage; a first setting part for setting a plurality of reference planes; a first generator for generating a reference distance map indicative of distribution of distances between said three-dimensional object and a reference plane included in said plurality of reference planes for each reference plane included in said plurality of reference planes; a second setting part for setting an actual projection plane onto which said three-dimensional object is projected in said volume rendering; and a second generator for converting two or more distance maps out of a plurality of reference distance maps generated by said first generator into two or more converted distance maps in accordance with a positional relation between two or more reference planes corresponding to said two or more distance maps and said actual projection plane and executing integration of said two or more converted distance maps, thereby generating a distance map for visualization indicative of distribution of distances between said three-dimensional object and said actual projection plane.