Novel Hexahedral Meshing Algorithms

Objective:

• Develop and integrate novel hexahedral meshing algorithms into the NA-MIC kit

Progress:

• Base projection algorithms have been developed and will be integrated into the toolkit. The algorithms have been implemented in KWWidgets in IaFeMesh to simplify integration into Slicer3.
• The base code and algorithms have been brought into Slicer3 for integration within the GUI and MRML. Curt Lisle has been working on a this integration.
  1. The sort term goal is to get a single editable bounding box working within Slicer3 for the next release.
  2. Projection based morphing and mesh interpolation will be required.
  3. Include export to Abaqus format

• Develop mapped meshing techniques that include an FE based solution using ITK that registers a template mesh with a subject specific surface.
• Building of meshing code has now been turned on by default for the latest Slicer3 release.
  • Fully support all bounding box editing options
    1. Vertex manipulation
    2. Add
    3. Delete
    4. Split
    5. Merge
    6. Extrude
    7. Face manipulation
  • Allow the user to undo and redo operations - This should be supported by the inherent logic in the MRML scene description.
  • Extract mesh material properties from the images
  • Export to Abaqus format

To Do:

• Develop testing modules using the GUI framework being developed by Kitware.
• Refine integration with Slicer. This is mainly related to the handling of data objects between Slicer3 and the meshing module interface.

Publications:

• Grosland NM, Shivanna KH, Magnotta VA, Kallemeyn NA, DeVries NA, Tadepalli SC, Lisle C. IA-FEMesh: an open-source, interactive, multiblock approach to anatomic finite element model development. Comput Methods Programs Biomed. 94(1):96-107, 2009.

Key Investigators:

• Iowa: Nicole Grosland, Vincent Magnotta, Kiran Shivanna, Curt Lisle, and Steve Pieper

Links:

• Musculoskeletal Imaging, Modeling and Experimentation (MIMX)

Basic Bounding Box Widget Integrated into Slicer3. Editing of bounding box vertices is not yet working

Bounding Box Mesh Workflow shown in Slicer3

Mesh Display Properties

Display of only element sets of interest

Full Meshing Module Integration with Slicer3