Stereoscopic Volume Rendering

In this paper we describe the extension of a parallel, distributed, direct volume renderer for use with a novel auto-stereoscopic display. We begin by briefly describing the target application of our research, radiation therapy planning, why we believe that stereoscopic viewing may be helpful for this, and the design of our DVR system. We then report on some of the problems we have encountered, and the results we have obtained in experiments. These demonstrate that stereoscopic viewing is beneficial for perceiving depth in transparent DVR images. We illustrate the application of the system to the visualisation of prostate cancer treatment plans. Finally, we describe the use of head-tracking to implement 3D stereo look-around.