Accelerated IsoContouring of Scalar Fields

With the increasing size of typical 2D and 3D data, e cient computational methods are becoming increasingly crucial for achieving desired levels of interactivity. Computation of isocontours from scalar data is a particularly critical task for comprehensive visualization of volume data. In the case that the volume is discretized by a mesh of volumetric cells, the extraction of an isocontour consists of two primary phases: triangulation of a particular cell and the search for all intersected cells. In this chapter we will review and contrast the primary algorithmic approaches which have been suggested in the literature.