Volume Raycasting Sampling Revisited

Abstract

We investigate the effects of practical sample placement strategies when solving the volume rendering integral for interactive volume raycasting with fixed step lengths for each ray. Different sample placements have been used in previous work but they have not been compared with respect to their correctness or visual quality. In this work, the different sampling strategies are presented visually and practical implementation details are provided using algorithmic descriptions of each strategy. A thorough analysis based on comparisons with analytic solutions and real-world data shows that visual artifacts, especially at volume borders, can appear if samples are not placed correctly. Our analysis and comparison results in a sample placement strategy that easily can be integrated into existing implementations, has no impact on performance, and decreases visual artifacts of the rendered image compared to other fixed step size sample strategies.