Traditionally, say 15 years ago, three-dimensional image analysis (aka computer vi sion) and three-dimensional image synthesis (aka computer graphics) were separate fields. Rarely were expert

Traditionally, say 15 years ago, three-dimensional image analysis (aka computer vi sion) and three-dimensional image synthesis (aka computer graphics) were separate fields. Rarely were expert

The images produced by means ofcomputers have invaded our daily lives. One has but to see the "identification logos" of most television broadcasts or some advenisement "spots" to be convinced of this. This proves that the synthesis ofimages has reached maturity. The progress that has been made in the last few years allows one to predict the use ofrealistic illustrations in more and more domains ofapplication. It is thus understandable that more and more people seek to understand how these images are produced. Such a person may be an amateur who likes to understand in a general way the processing involved, or he may be a computer scientist who wants to develop some new application using graphics procedures. This book by Michel Bret meets these desires by giving a complete overview of the techniques of image synthesis by computer. The different stages of the creation of a numerical image are explained in detail, and they are accompanied by descriptions of the most modem methods. Thus the geometrical models that are described go from those with plane polygonal facets, via surfaces of all types, to systems of panicles. Visualization is treated in complete detail, and due attention is given to all the various roads that lead to a realistic image: simple projections on the basis of wire-frame models, the elimination of hidden pans, and fmally the modelling oflight and its effects.

This book is a detailed description of the basics of three-dimensional digital image processing. A 3D digital image (abbreviated as “3D image” below) is a digitalized representation of a 3D object or an entire 3D space, stored in a computer as a 3D array. Whereas normal digital image processing is concerned with screens that are a collection of square shapes called “pixels” and their corresponding density levels, the “image plane” in three dimensions is represented by a division into cubical graphical elements (called “voxels”) that represent corresponding density levels. Inthecontextofimageprocessing,in manycases3Dimageprocessingwill refer to the input of multiple 2D images and performing processing in order to understand the 3D space (or “scene”) that they depict. This is a result of research into how to use input from image sensors such as television cameras as a basis for learning about a 3D scene, thereby replicating the sense of vision for humans or intelligent robots, and this has been the central problem in image processing research since the 1970s. However, a completely di?erent type of image with its own new problems, the 3D digital image discussed in this book, rapidly took prominence in the 1980s, particularly in the ?eld of medical imaging. These were recordings of human bodies obtained through computed (or “computerized”) tomography (CT),imagesthatrecordednotonlytheexternal,visiblesurfaceofthesubject but also, to some degree of resolution, its internal structure. This was a type of image that no one had experienced before.

This book is a detailed description of the basics of three-dimensional digital image processing. A 3D digital image (abbreviated as “3D image” below) is a digitalized representation of a 3D object or an entire 3D space, stored in a computer as a 3D array. Whereas normal digital image processing is concerned with screens that are a collection of square shapes called “pixels” and their corresponding density levels, the “image plane” in three dimensions is represented by a division into cubical graphical elements (called “voxels”) that represent corresponding density levels. Inthecontextofimageprocessing,in manycases3Dimageprocessingwill refer to the input of multiple 2D images and performing processing in order to understand the 3D space (or “scene”) that they depict. This is a result of research into how to use input from image sensors such as television cameras as a basis for learning about a 3D scene, thereby replicating the sense of vision for humans or intelligent robots, and this has been the central problem in image processing research since the 1970s. However, a completely di?erent type of image with its own new problems, the 3D digital image discussed in this book, rapidly took prominence in the 1980s, particularly in the ?eld of medical imaging. These were recordings of human bodies obtained through computed (or “computerized”) tomography (CT),imagesthatrecordednotonlytheexternal,visiblesurfaceofthesubject but also, to some degree of resolution, its internal structure. This was a type of image that no one had experienced before.