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From: rmr@tove.cs.umd.edu (Randy M. Rohrer)
Newsgroups: comp.graphics.visualization
Subject: Re: Marching Cubes
Message-ID: <33495@mimsy.umd.edu>
Date: 24 Apr 91 20:40:55 GMT
References: <3871@texsun.Central.Sun.COM>
Sender: news@mimsy.umd.edu
Reply-To: rmr@tove.cs.umd.edu (Randy M. Rohrer)
Organization: U of Maryland, Dept. of Computer Science, Coll. Pk., MD 20742
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In article <3871@texsun.Central.Sun.COM> langston@omega.Central.Sun.COM (Jim Langston Sun ASE - MidWest ) writes:
>
>Has anyone heard of the above mentioned ...
>
>It is my understanding that it done by GE Research,
>it is suppose to be a package, that will develop
>geometry for a Voxel.
>
> 

          Marching Cubes is a 3D iso-surface construction
algorithm for volumetric data. Given a desired threshold,
the algorithm constructs a representative iso-surface
for that threshold by comparing adjacent slice pairs
and interpolating between the sampled data. It produces a
list of triangles (and normals) that represent the iso-surface.
This list of triangles can then be passed on to any polygonal
renderer for shaded display.

       Ref:      "Marching Cubes: A High Resolution 3d
                 Surface Construction Algorithm", 
                 William Lorenson and Harvey E. Cline,
                 Computer Graphics (Proceedings of
                 SIGGRAPH '87), Vol. 21, No. 4, July 1987,
                 pp. 163 - 169.


This technique for visualization is often called
"surface rendering" as opposed to "volume rendering".
Note that there is a companion algorithm called
Dividing Cubes that generates 3D points to represent
the iso-surface (this is mentioned in the above paper).

        Marching Cubes is pretty straight-forward
and easy to understand and implement. Someone posted
a public domain version last year in comp.graphics.
The Ape system contains a module called "onion" that
uses this algorithm.


                          Hope this helps,

                          Randy Rohrer