A Low-Cost, Linux-Based Virtual Environment for Visualizing Vascular Structures

The analysis of morphometric data of the vasculature of any organ requires appropriate visualization methods to be applied due to the vast number of vessels that can be present in such data. In addition, the geometric properties of vessel segments, i.e. being rather long and thin, can make it difficult to judge on relative position, despite depth cues such as proper lighting and shading of the vessels. Virtual environments that provide true 3-D visualization of the data can help enhance the visual perception. Ideally, the system should be relatively cost-effective. Hence, this paper describes a Linux-based virtual environment that utilizes a 50 inch plasma screen as its main display. The overall cost of the entire system is less than $3,500 which is considerably less than other commercial systems. The system was successfully used for visualizing vascular data sets providing true three-dimensional perception of the morphometric data