Automating transfer function design for comprehensible volume rendering based on 3D field topology analysis

This paper describes initial results of a 3D field topology analysis for automating transfer function design aiming at comprehensible volume rendering. The conventional Reeb graph-based approach to describing topological features of 3D surfaces is extended to capture the topological skeleton of a volumetric field. Based on the analysis result, which is represented in the form of a hyper Reeb graph, a procedure is proposed for designing appropriate color/opacity transfer functions. Two analytic volume datasets are used to preliminarily prove the feasibility of the present design methodology.