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Brain peeling: viewing the inside of a laminar three-dimensional solid

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Abstract

We describe a 3D surface-tracking algorithm that is used to detect the interior laminar surfaces of a solid shell. Each of these surfaces is called a “peel”. Successive peels may be generated, thus representing the solid shell by its tangential layers. This algorithm is based on voxel surface-tracking methods and solves the problems associated with transforming a surface-tracking algorithm into a “brain peeler”. We also discuss the properties of the voxel surfaces produced by this algorithm. Using the connectivity properties of these objects, we are able to convert voxel representations into polyhedral representations without human interaction. We illustrate this work with a high-resolution reconstruction of a monkey visual cortex. Additional application domains of this work are in areas in which there is a natural laminar structure to a 3D solid, such as in geophysics (earth strata).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Computational Neuroscience Laboratories, Department of Psychiatry, New York University School of Medicine, 550 First Avenue, 10016, New York, NY, USA

    Carl Frederick & Eric L. Schwartz

  2. Department of Computer Science, Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences, New York University, 715 Broadway, 10003, New York, NY, USA

    Eric L. Schwartz

Authors
  1. Carl Frederick
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  2. Eric L. Schwartz
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Supported by System Development Foundation, AFOSR 85-0341, and the Nathan S. Kline Psychiatric Research Center

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Frederick, C., Schwartz, E.L. Brain peeling: viewing the inside of a laminar three-dimensional solid. The Visual Computer 6, 37–49 (1990). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01902628

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01902628

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