Volume visualization in VRML

Volume visualization has become an invaluable visualization tool. A wide variety of data sets coming from medical applications (e. g. MRI, CT or 3D ultrasound) or geological sensory information are represented as structured volume grids. In many application it is fa-vorable to access the data sets from the net and explore the volume on a typical PC. Modern graphics hardware makes volume render-ing at interactive rates possible. However, protocols for exchange of 3D graphics content such as VRML97 are not equipped to process volume data. This paper presents an approach using 2D/3D textures and standard rendering hardware, which allows real-time rendering of volume and polygonal data in VRML applications. The proposed environment enables the user to navigate through - and interact with - the VRML scene, combining volume and surface model data sets.