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In medical applications of computer graphics -- including surgical simulation,
treatment planning, and outcome prediction -- there is a need to model both
rigid bodies and deformable, soft tissues. The voxel-based object models of
Volume Graphics
provide a way to represent the interior structure of
heterogeneous, deformable tissues. In addition, it is possible to use
3D medical image data directly with this representation without requiring
the approximation of edges and surfaces. This project investigates
physically realistic manipulation of voxel-based objects. We propose a voxel-based biomechanical model for muscle deformation using finite element method (FEM) and volume graphics. Hierarchical voxel meshes are reconstructed from filtered segmented muscle images followed by FEM simulation and volume rendering. Physiological muscle force is considered and linear elastic muscle models for both static and dynamic cases are simulated by FEM. Local deformation optimization with modal analysis for higher resolution muscle volumetric animation, which allows accurate prediction of muscle deformation changes, has been applied. Voxel-based wireframe, polygon surface rendering and volume rendering techniques are applied to show real-time muscle deformation processes as well as realistic animations. In particular, we are currently studying:
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