Sorting and hardware assisted rendering for volume visualization

Abstract

We present some techniques for volume rendering unstructured data. Interpolation between vertex colors and opacities is performed using hardware assisted texture mapping, and color is integrated for use with a volume rendering system. We also present an O(n{sup 2}) method for sorting n arbitrarily shaped convex polyhedra prior to visualization. It generalizes the Newell, Newell and Sancha sort for polygons to 3-D volume elements.