Issue No. 01 - March (1996 vol. 2)
ISSN: 1077-2626
pp: 73-84
ABSTRACT
<p><b>Abstract</b>—We present the "Near Optimal IsoSurface Extraction" (NOISE) algorithm for rapidly extracting isosurfaces from structured and unstructured grids. Using the <it>span space</it>, a new representation of the underlying domain, we develop n isosurface extraction algorithm with a worst case complexity of <tmath>$O\left ({\sqrt n} + k\right )$</tmath> for the search phase, where <it>n</it> is the size of the data set and <it>k</it> is the number of cells intersected by the isosurface. The memory requirement is kept at <it>O</it>(<it>n</it>) while the preprocessing step is <it>O</it>(<it>n log n</it>). We utilize the span space representation as a tool for comparing isosurface extraction methods on structured and unstructured grids. We also present a fast triangulation scheme for generating and displaying unstructured tetrahedral grids.</p>
INDEX TERMS
Isosurface extraction, unstructured grids, span space, kd-trees.
CITATION

Y. Livnat, H. Shen and C. R. Johnson, "A Near Optimal Isosurface Extraction Algorithm Using the Span Space," in IEEE Transactions on Visualization & Computer Graphics, vol. 2, no. , pp. 73-84, 1996.
doi:10.1109/2945.489388