Software Framework of Medical Visualization Algorithms

Abstract

Real-time visualization algorithms which are fully integrated into software framework are of importance for the rapid development of medical visualization applications. This chapter gives an overview of different software frameworks for real-time visualization algorithms. These algorithms are fully integrated into some open-source freely-available software frameworks. First, we introduce the famous Visualization Toolkit (VTK), and we then describe some other specialized toolkits, for example, for image registration and segmentation, MAF (Multimod Application Framework) supported by an EC-funded project MULTIMOD. We discuss the majority of algorithms available that can be easily combined for rapid construction of visualization applications. Finally, we place emphasis on exploiting the characteristics of medical datasets for further utilizing the hardware-accelerated capabilities of modern graphics cards.