Advanced Line Visualization for HARDI

Abstract

Diffusion imaging is a non-invasive technique providing information about neuronal connections. Contrary to diffusion tensor imaging (DTI), high angular resolution diffusion imaging (HARDI) is able to model the diffusion pattern in more detail. Tractography approaches reconstruct fiber pathways and result in line representations, approximating the underlying diffusion behavior. However, these line visualizations often suffer from visual clutter and weak depth perception more than reconstructions resulting from DTI, since multiple fibers potentially run within one voxel. In this approach illustrative rendering methods such as depth-dependent halos and ambient occlusion for line data are presented in combination with crucial tract information such as the direction and integrity for HARDI-based fiber representations.