f3d - a file format an tools for storage an manipulation of volumetric data sets

Different file formats for storage and manipulation of volumetric data exist today, but none of them has been accepted as a standard by the volume visualization and volume graphics communities until now. This paper tries to change this situation by proposing a new, freely available file format f3d, which, as we believe, fulfills the demands of research and educational environments. We hope that this new format will be accepted by the above mentioned communities and thus will provide a basis for improved communication between different groups and applications.