Editing Volume rendering (section)

===Texture-based volume rendering===
[[Image:CTSkullImage.png|250px|thumb| A volume rendered cadaver head using view-aligned [[texture mapping]] and [[diffuse reflection]]]]
Many 3D graphics systems use [[texture mapping]] to apply images, or textures, to geometric objects.  Commodity PC [[graphics cards]] are fast at texturing and can efficiently render slices of a 3D volume, with real time interaction capabilities. [[Workstation]] [[GPU]]s are even faster, and are the basis for much of the production volume visualization used in [[medical imaging]], oil and gas, and other markets (2007). In earlier years, dedicated 3D texture mapping systems were used on graphics systems such as [[Silicon Graphics]] [[InfiniteReality]], [[Hewlett-Packard|HP]] Visualize FX [[graphics accelerator]], and others. This technique was first described by [[Bill Hibbard]] and Dave Santek.<ref name=HS89>Hibbard W., Santek D., [http://www.ssec.wisc.edu/~billh/p39-hibbard.pdf "Interactivity is the key"], ''Chapel Hill Workshop on Volume Visualization'', University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, 1989, pp.&nbsp;39–43.</ref>

These slices can either be aligned with the volume and rendered at an angle to the viewer, or aligned with the viewing plane and sampled from unaligned slices through the volume.  Graphics hardware support for 3D textures is needed for the second technique.

Volume aligned texturing produces images of reasonable quality, though there is often a noticeable transition when the volume is rotated.