We describe a new method for visualising tensor fields us- ing a textured mapped volume rendering approach, tensor-splatting. We use an image order method to calculate the 2D Gaussian splats or foot- prints of the projected 3D Gaussians at an arbitrary number of standard deviations from the centroid. These footprints are then mapped and com- posited front to back to the view plane by texture mapping within the framebuffer pipeline to effect a volume rendering. One of the features of tensor-splatting is that opacity transfer control, which can be used to emphasise the tensor shape, can be achieved trivially by hardware ac- celeration because it requires only remapping the opacity and colour of the composited texture splats. We illustrate our method on MR diffusion weighted tensor data.
['Abhir Bhalerao', 'Carl-Fredrik Westin']
Tensor Splats: Visualising Tensor Fields by Texture Mapped Volume Rendering