The Problem of Visualization

Generating high-quality animations from scientific data has always been problematic. Converting a block of data into a format useful for professional animation and modeling packages such as Softimage or any of the Alias|Wavefront packages previously required hours of work and more than a little programming knowledge.

With the Mayo Clinic's software package Analyze_AVW, data can be converted from three-dimensional blocks of data into polygonal surfaces. These surfaces can then be exported in data formats that can be read by other software packages, including the previously mentioned animation tools.

The process still requires some understanding of the fundamentals of how the data gets mapped to a surface. But with some trial and error, even the novice user can generate quality surfaces with some rapidity.

This technical report presents step by step the technique for transforming three-dimensional blocks of data into three-dimensional surfaces. A sample dataset will be loaded, a surface generated, and the rendering saved into a format suitable for importing into Softimage. The surface will then be loaded into Softimage and a simple animation will be generated.

It is assumed that the reader has some familiarity with both Analyze_AVW and Softimage. This report will not discuss other data analysis options available in Analyze_AVW, particularly the process of segmenting the data prior to surface generation, nor will it discuss what to do with the surface once imported into Softimage beyond trivial animation. These topics are the subject of many other books.

Throughout this technical report, the terms Analyze, Analyze_AVW, and Analyze_PC refer to the same software - Analyze_AVW 2.5 - except where noted. The terms "soft" and "Softimage" refer to Softimage version 3.8, except where noted.

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