Patent ID: 8384712

Claim:
A method for imaging a three-dimensional volume of seismic-data traces representing a waveform volume, which comprises: creating a three-dimensional sampling probe, wherein the sampling probe comprises a subvolume of the waveform volume; drawing at least a portion of an image of the sampling probe on a display device using a graphics accelerator, the image comprising an intersection of the sampling probe and the waveform volume, wherein the drawing comprises: retrieving texture coordinates (s, t) for a pixel in the display device that intersects the portion of the image of the sampling probe; coloring the pixel with a preset trace color if a first trace amplitude texture coordinate (S) is equal to the pixel texture coordinate (s) or if a second trace amplitude texture coordinate (S′) is equal to the pixel texture coordinate (s); coloring the pixel with a preset background color if the second trace amplitude texture coordinate (S′) is greater than the pixel coordinate (s); repeating the coloring steps if an iteration count is less than a desired seismic data trace overlap; repeating each drawing step for each pixel in the display device that intersects the portion of the image of the sampling probe; and repeating the drawing step in response to movement of the sampling probe within the waveform volume so that as the sampling probe moves through the waveform volume, the image of the sampling probe is redrawn at a rate sufficiently fast to be perceived as moving in real time.