A Mixed Reality Framework for Interactive Realistic Volume Rendering with Dynamic Environment Illumination

Interactive volume data visualization using a mixed reality (MR) system is increasingly popular in the research and development field of computer graphics. Due to sophisticated requirements of user interaction and vision when using head-mounted display (HMD) devices, the conflict between the realisticness and efficiency of direct volume rendering (DVR) is yet to be resolved for MR applications. We develop an MR visualization framework that can support inter-active realistic volume rendering and integrated it into a prototyping MR system. This MR system can display high-quality volume ren-dering effects that synchronously reflect dyanamic illumination of surrounding environment in real time. The comparative analysis shows that our MR visualization framework helps provide users intu-itive perception of displayed volumetric structures as they naturally exist in the real-world environment.