Volume deformation based on model-fitting surface extraction

Over the last decade, visualization techniques for 3-dimensional volumetric models, especially those that can be performed on PC hardware platforms, have attracted intensive attention in the research communities. The rapid evolution on PC computers, specialist hardware, and even gaming consoles have accelerated this trend and seen the volume model-based applications being greatly extended from industrial design, medical simulation, to entertainment usage and beyond. As part of the effort, the interactive manipulation of the appearance of volume models, often referred as volume deformation, has become a research hots-pot due to its potentials in revealing the models' internal structures and material characteristics. This paper reports an innovative volume deformation method based on a self-extracting mechanism for the so-called “control lattice” from the “surface” of a volume model, which can then be applied on the entire model or a specifically segmented part of it based on user requirements. The detail level of the extracted control lattice can be customized based on Active Surface algorithms for ensuring the interactive rate and the final resolution for a particular application.