Bundle Visualization Strategies for HARDI Characteristics

In this paper we present visualization approaches for HARDI-based neuronal pathway representations using fiber encompassing hulls. We introduce novel bundle visualization techniques to indicate characteristics, such as information about tract integrity and multiple intra-voxel diffusion orientations. To accomplish this task, we developed an intra-bundle raycasting approach and use color mappings to encode diffusion characteristics on the bundle’s surface. Additionally, we implemented a slicing approach using a plane orthogonal to the centerline of a bundle which reveals intra-bundle diffusion characteristics as well as the local bundle shape. With the presented approaches, we simultaneously reveal features of fiber bundles such as integrity or information about the underlying diffusion profile as well as context information, the shape of a current tract.