Patent ID: 8633929

Claim:
A method of rendering interior surfaces of a 3D volumetric object to be viewed from an external viewpoint, said method comprising: inputting at least one image data set acquired from an external imaging device, the image data set being representative of a 3D volumetric object, into a programmable digital computer having a processor; processing said at least one image data set, using said programmable digital computer, to render a near external image surface S 1 of said 3D volumetric object, a near internal image surface S 2 of said 3D volumetric object, a far internal image surface S 3 of said volumetric object, and a far external image surface S 4 of said volumetric object with respect to an external viewpoint being spatially external to said 3D volumetric object, wherein each of said image surfaces S 1 -S 4 is rendered as a plurality of polygon members, and wherein a definition of each of said plurality of polygon members with respect to said external viewpoint includes a normal vector and a z-order; displaying each of said image surfaces S 1 -S 4 on a display device operatively connected to said programmable digital computer, where said near external surface S 1 is visible from a perspective of said external viewpoint; transforming said image surfaces S 1 -S 4 , using said programmable digital computer, by inverting a normal vector of each of said plurality of polygon members of said image surfaces S 1 -S 4 to form first transformed image surfaces S 1 ′-S 4 ′; displaying each of said first transformed image surfaces S 1 -S 4 ′ on said display device; transforming said first transformed image surfaces S 1 ′-S 4 ′, using said programmable digital computer, by inverting a z-order of each of said plurality of polygon members of said first transformed image surfaces S 1 -S 4 ′ to form second transformed image surfaces S 1 ″-S 4 ″; and displaying each of said second transformed image surfaces S 1 ″-S 4 ″ on said display device, where one of said first transformed near internal surface S 2 ′ and said second transformed far external surface S 4 ″ is visible from a perspective of said external viewpoint.