Ilustrative Neuroimaging

The use of sophisticated imaging techniques for examination and research of the brain is common practice in the neurosciences and medicine. An appropriate visualization integrating different data modalities can provide an expert with new insights into known data. However, developing a visualization that integrates all relevant information and is easy to grasp at the same time is a challenge.

In this project, we solve this problem with illustrative rendering methods, which mimic hand-drawn graphics of anatomy atlases and exploit their advantages. The idea is to apply techniques, such as silhouettes, hatching and halftoning, to illustrate shape and spatial relationships and focus on important features, while irrelevant details (e.g. irregularities on the surface) are omitted. The result is a visualization system incorporating anatomical (MRI) and functional (fMRI, DTI) data as depicted in Figure 1. The user gains insight into brain anatomy (shape of the cortex, different cortical areas), its activity (fMRI activation areas) and the pathways of nerve fibers from a single visualization. Especially the combined visualization of the brain activity and the nerve fibers connecting the active areas permits a deeper insight into the functioning of the brain.
The efficient implementation on the GPU, enables the user to interact with the visualization in real-time. Further tools to simplify data exploration, such as clipping, distance measurements and annotations have been implemented. Suitable applications are in the area of neuroscience as well as an interactive anatomy atlas for medical students.