Volume Wires: A Framework for Empirical Nonlinear Deformation of Volumetric Datasets

We introduce a new framework for non-linear, non-reconstructive deformation of volumetric datasets. Traditional techniques for deforming volumetric datasets non-linearly usually involve a reconstruction stage, where a new deformed volume is reconstructed and then sent to the renderer. Our intuitive sweep-based technique avoids the drawbacks of reconstruction by creating a small attribute field which defines the deformation, and then sending it with the original volume dataset to the rendering stage. This paper also introduces acceleration techniques aimed at giving interactive control of deformation in future implementations.