A Distributed Three-dimensional Brain Visualization System

A three-dimensional reconstruction system for the visualization of the human brain is proposed. The visualization is achieved through computation on volumetric data obtained from two-dimensional Magnetic Resonance Images cross sections of the brain. In order to speed up processing of the large amounts of volumetric data, the system uses a CRAY Y-MP8/864 as an image processing and rendering engine. Resulting output is pipelined to a SUN workstation connected to a 24 bit framebuffer. By distributing the process across networks, the visual results can be obtained in a reasonably short time. The visualization system is being developed to aid clinicians and educators in understanding and disseminating information concerning the relationship between brain structures. This can be illustrated with different views of brain structures. With the fast processing speed provided by the supercomputer, the system is appropriate for biomedical education and clinical applications.