Projects/Slicer3/2007 Project Week Support for Unstructured Grids
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Key Investigators
- Isomics: Steve Pieper, Alex Yarmarkov, Curtis Lisle
- BWH: Nicole Aucoin
- Kitware: Will Schroeder
Objective
Our objective is to integrate VTK Unstructured Grid datatypes into Slicer3.
Approach, Plan
The external collaboration "Automated FE Mesh Developmen"t brings Finite Element modeling and processes to the NA-MIC kit and Slicer3. The collaboration has developed standalone applications that use unstructured grids for rendering Finite Element models with colors assigned dynamically according to the out of the VTK Mesh Quality filter.
Our plan for the project week is to use the previously developed Mesh Quality Viewer to examine attributes needed for unstructured grid rendering in MRML classes. We will prototype extensions to MRML and to Slicer3 that allow us to read in and render unstructured grid meshes in Slicer3.
Progress
(Accomplishment #1) A command line module was developed for Slicer3 which uses the VTK pipeline from the standalone viewer to process unstructured grids and enter them in the Slicer3 scene as traditional polygonal models. Please see the picture at right of the module running in Slicer3.
(Accomplishment #2) A design for generalization of the MRML class hierarchy was developed to allow unstructured grids to be natively used in Slicer3. This implementation will go into Slicer over the coming months after development and testing is complete.
Our project achieved the goals set out at the beginning of the week. Our effort also designed "groundwork" to ease further model datatype extensions to Slicer3 in the future.
References
- Pebay, Thompson, Shepherd, Lisle, Grosland, Magnotta, "New Applications of the Verdict Library for Standardized Mesh Verification", submitted to the 16th International Meshing Roundtable, October 2007, Seattle, Washington
- Knupp P.M. (2003). Finite Elements in Analysis and Design, 39, 217–241
