Volume-enclosing surface extraction

In this paper we present a new method, which allows for the construction of triangular isosurfaces from three-dimensional data sets, such as 3D image data and/or numerical simulation data that are based on regularly shaped, cubic lattices. This novel volume-enclosing surface extraction technique, which has been named VESTA, can produce up to six different results due to the nature of the discretized 3D space under consideration. VESTA is neither template-based nor it is necessarily required to operate on 2×2×2 voxel cell neighborhoods only. The surface tiles are determined with a very fast and robust construction technique while potential ambiguities are detected and resolved. Here, we provide an in-depth comparison between VESTA and various versions of the well-known and very popular Marching Cubes algorithm for the very first time. In an application section, we demonstrate the extraction of VESTA isosurfaces for various data sets ranging from computer tomographic scan data to simulation data of relativistic hydrodynamic fireball expansions.

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► VESTA can produce up to six different types of surfaces due to the nature of the discretized 3D space under consideration.
► VESTA surfaces are constructed rapidly and 100% robustly, i.e., accidental holes will never be generated.
► VESTA continuously transforms initial surfaces of the boundary faces of selected voxels into isosurfaces.
► VESTA is not limited to the processing of 2×2×2 cells and it therefore minimizes the generation of redundant information.