A Comparative Study of Mipmapping Techniques for Interactive Volume Visualization

Sebastian Maisch Ulm University Robin Skanberg Ulm University Timo Ropinski Ulm University

Journal of WSCG, 2016

Abstract

Many large scale volume visualization techniques are based on partitioning the data into bricks, which are stored and rendered using mipmaps. To generate such mipmaps, in most cases an averaging is applied, such that an area in a lower mipmap level is presented by the areas average in the next higher mipmap level. Unfortunately, this averaging results in the fact that mipmaps are not feature-preserving, as details are often lost. In this paper, we discuss and compare mipmap modification schemes which have been developed to support feature-preserving reconstruction during rendering. In particular, we focus on reconstruction schemes which are capable to support anisotropic and non-linear reconstruction, as these are promising to preserve features that are often sacrificed by averaging. The presented techniques are discussed in detail and are thoroughly compared in a quantitative and qualitative analysis. We will discuss their impact on performance, memory footprint and visual quality with respect to feature preservation. Based on the made findings we present guidelines for generating and using mipmaps in various visualization scenarios.

Bibtex

content_copy
@article{maisch2016mipmaps,
	title={A Comparative Study of Mipmapping Techniques for Interactive Volume Visualization},
	author={Maisch, Sebastian and Skanberg, Robin and Ropinski, Timo},
	year={2016},
	journal={Journal of WSCG},
	volume={24},
	pages={35--42},
	issue={2}
}

Figures

Example 1: Aneurism
Figure 1: Anisotropic Reconstruction
Example 1: Aneurism
Figure 2: Plain Mipmapping
Example 1: Aneurism
Figure 3: Aneurism - Original
Example 1: Aneurism
Figure 4: Exponential Reconstruction
Example 2: Scull visualisation
Figure 5: Anisotropic Reconstruction
Example 2: Scull visualisation
Figure 6: Original
Example 2: Scull visualisation
Figure 7: Exponential Reconstruction
Example 2: Scull visualisation
Figure 8: Plain Mipmapping