Volume Rendering: the added value of Stereo in real-life Applications

Volume rendering is a well known visualization technique for volumetric scalar data. Several publications already described the acceleration of this technique when using the graphical processing unit (GPU). This enables real-time viewpoint manipulations which, in turn, facilitates the interpretation. Stereo, where two slightly different images are generated for each eye, proved to be a valuable addition to this. Mostly because, apart from shading and motion parallax, stereo is one of the most important depth cues available in this context. We have written a fully object-oriented C++ framework that contains software for both GPU accelerated volume rendering and stereo image generation. Using this, the benefits of stereo are presented in a qualitative fashion. One example show how it helps doctors with the examination of CT scans, a second illustrates the benefits for other applications, here the analysis of volume data originating from material science simulations.