System for depicting surfaces using volumetric distance maps

摘要

A volumetric data representation for graphical objects encodes the distance of data elements to the nearest object surface, with means being provided for estimating the direction and magnitude of surface normals from the distance values. The subject system can be used to accurately reconstruct the normal direction of a slowly varying surface in volume sampled data for high quality Volume Rendering, accurate force reflection in haptic feedback, and accurate force calculation and object penetration estimation in physically-based graphics.