GPU-based cell projection for interactive volume rendering

We present a practical approach for implementing the Projected Tetrahedra (PT) algorithm for interactive volume rendering of unstructured data using programmable graph-ics cards. Unlike similar works reported earlier, our method employs two fragment shaders, one for computing the tetra-hedra projections and another for rendering the elements. We achieve interactive rates by storing the model in texture memory and avoiding redundant projections of implementa-tions using vertex shaders. Our algorithm is capable of ren-dering over 2.0 M Tet/s on current graphics hardware, mak-ing it competitive with recent ray-casting approaches, while occupying a substantially smaller memory footprint. 1. Introduction and Relate