[vtkusers] Solid Voxelization with VTK

Elvis Stansvik elvis.stansvik at orexplore.com
Thu Jun 14 01:46:26 EDT 2018


2018-06-14 3:21 GMT+02:00 Berti Krüger <berti_krueger at hotmail.com>:

> Hi Elvis,
>
> thanks for jumping in. As you can see in David's response you were right
> or at
> least close with your assumptions.
>
Yep, you can always trust David to have all the nitty gritty details. He's
the friendly VTK ninja around here :)

Elvis

>
> Regards
>
> Berti
>
> Am 11.06.2018 um 08:50 schrieb Elvis Stansvik:
>
> Den mån 11 juni 2018 08:33Berti Krüger <berti_krueger at hotmail.com> skrev:
>
>> Hi David,
>>
>> thank you very much for all your help and for all the effort.
>>
>> I am sorry, but i am an absolute beginner with VTK and for me it is
>> really hard to find informations / documentation / explanations beyond the
>> doxygen class documentation about the advanced visualization/manipulation
>> operations in VTK (the VTK User Manual sadly only covers the very basics).
>>
>> So thanks again for all your clarifications and all your help so far.
>>
>> I replaced the visualization part of my pipeline with your code which
>> makes it so much clearer, shorter and better in terms of the visualization.
>> And it is also easy enough so that even i get it :-)
>>
>> Unfortunately when i extend the simple cone source voxelization example i
>> attached the last time by using general STL meshes via the vtkSTLReader, i
>> get missing voxels in the visualization. To be sure that the problem is
>> indeed in the visualization part and not in the voxelization part i used
>> *binvox*, a mature voxelization program (http://www.patrickmin.com/
>> binvox/ ) to do the voxelization and the code you suggested for the
>> visualization of the vtkImageData via VTK.
>>
>>
>> Using this setup the Utah Teapot looks like this (the handle and other
>> thin parts of the mesh are missing in the visualization):
>>
>> [image: Teapot missing voxels]
>>
>>
>> For surface-only-voxelized meshes there even more voxels missing (the
>> example here is the Stanford Bunny which has only been surface voxelized):
>>
>> [image: bunny surface voxelization visualization]
>>
>> What i don't get is that the visualization code is as simple as it gets:
>>
>>     vtkNew<vtkThreshold> selector;
>>     selector->SetInputData(voxelImage);
>>     selector->ThresholdByUpper(1.0);
>>     selector->Update();
>>
>>     vtkNew<vtkDataSetMapper> mapper;
>>     mapper->SetInputConnection(selector->GetOutputPort());
>>     mapper->ScalarVisibilityOff();
>>     mapper->StaticOn();
>>
>> When i understand it correctly, then we simply visualize every cell
>> (voxel) whose threshold is equal or greater than 1.0 which means we
>> visualize (filter) all voxels which are set (in my vtkImageData voxels
>> which are set are 1, voxels which are not set 0) and the vtkDataSetMapper
>> maps these to graphic primitives and this does the rest of the
>> visualization. Not much to do wrong here and that basically should do the
>> trick but it doesn't.
>>
>> *Any idea why this does not work correctly all the time and has problems
>> with thin parts?*
>>
> I'm just jumping in from the side here, and I'm by no means a VTK expert.
> But I think what you're seeing is simply due to how VTK does volume
> rendering. It interpolates the given data points, which means you need at
> least two data points to get a voxel.
>
> I'm guessing that at the resolution you're doing the voxelization here,
> your teapot handle is simply too thin to result in even a single voxel.
>
> Think of your data points as a grid of fenceposts. You'll get a voxel in
> the middle of each 2x2x2 cluster of posts.
>
> Someone correct me if I'm wrong here.
>
> HTH,
> Elvis
>
>>
>>
>> I therefore tried another approach by using the vtkGlyph3DMapper based on
>> the example code from
>> <https://www.vtk.org/Wiki/VTK/Examples/Cxx/Visualization/Glyph3DMapper>
>>
>> https://www.vtk.org/Wiki/VTK/Examples/Cxx/Visualization/Glyph3DMapper :
>>
>>
>>     vtkNew<vtkPoints> points;
>>
>>     for (int x = 0; x < dims[0]; x++)
>>     {
>>       for (int y = 0; y < dims[1]; y++)
>>       {
>>         for (int z = 0; z < dims[2]; z++)
>>         {
>>           char* pixel = static_cast<char*>(voxelImage->GetScalarPointer(x,
>> y, z));
>>
>>           if(pixel[0] == 1) // if the voxel is set (1) in the voxel image
>>             points->InsertNextPoint(x, y, z);
>>         }
>>       }
>>     }
>>
>>     vtkNew<vtkPolyData> polydata;
>>     polydata->SetPoints(points);
>>
>>     vtkNew<vtkPolyData> glyph;
>>
>>     vtkNew<vtkCubeSource> cubeSource;
>>
>>     vtkNew<vtkGlyph3DMapper> glyph3Dmapper;
>>     glyph3Dmapper->SetSourceConnection(cubeSource->GetOutputPort());
>>     glyph3Dmapper->SetInputData(polydata);
>>     glyph3Dmapper->Update();
>>
>>     actor->SetMapper(glyph3Dmapper);
>>
>>
>> The visualization with this approach is a bit slower (probably because it
>> does no backface culling of the backfaces of the cube polygons) but it
>> seems to work correctly even with surface only voxelized meshes:
>> [image: bunny ok][image: teapot]
>>
>>
>> I attached a simple working vtk demo with both visualizations and
>> integrated voxelized meshes (no external data files or other dependencies)
>> as a simple cmake/vtk compileable project (
>> *PolyDataToImageDataVisualizationVoxel*). Maybe it might help other vtk
>> users in the future.
>>
>> *Are there any other possibilities (maybe faster) to do the visualization
>> with vtk ?*
>>
>>
>>
>> Now having a visualization that seems to work, i tried this visualization
>> with the suggested voxelization code from the vtk examples here
>> https://lorensen.github.io/VTKExamples/site/Cxx/PolyData/
>> PolyDataToImageData/
>>
>> and while the voxelization is lighting-fast and some example meshes did
>> get correctly voxelized, i also had a lot of meshes whose voxelizations had
>> misclassified voxels (e.g. voxels are set where voxels should not have been
>> set and the opposite (holes)) like with the Utah Teapot here:
>>
>> [image: teapot errors][image: teapot errors 2][image: teapot errors3]
>>
>> The problem is that for my project i have to find paths through the voxel
>> image. So miscIassified voxels would lead to either wrong paths found
>> (paths which do not really exist like in the first image) or maybe to a
>> situation where no path can be found because of holes.
>>
>> I attached a compileable cmake/vtk example (
>> *PolyDataToImageDataVisualizationSTL*) together with some small example
>> stl-mesh-files (teapot etc.) using the example code from the vtk example
>> repository for showing the problem with the given approach there.
>>
>>
>> *Is it possible by tweaking the vtk PolyDataToImageData example code to
>> always get a correct voxelization or is another approach needed?*
>>
>>
>> If you or anybody else has ideas / suggestions i would really be glad.
>> Thank for reading if you managed to get this far and have not fallen
>> asleep and thank you very much in advance.
>>
>>
>> Regards
>>
>> Berti
>>
>>
>> Am 06.06.2018 um 01:49 schrieb David Gobbi:
>>
>> Hi Berti,
>>
>> The correct pad filter to use for this is "vtkImageConstantPad", not
>> "WrapPad", but padding really isn't necessary.  Neither is the use of cell
>> scalars, it's more appropriate to use point scalars when working with image
>> data since each voxel is represented as a point scalar.
>>
>> The threshold should be set like this, for a threshold halfway between
>> your "inval" and "outval":
>>
>>   selector->ThresholdByUpper(0.5*(startLabel + endLabel));
>>
>> The lookup table wasn't correctly set. Calling SetRange() does not set
>> the number of entries in the lookup table (by default, the lookup table has
>> 256 entries).
>>
>>   lut->SetTableRange(0, 1);
>>   lut->SetNumberOfColors(2);
>>
>> Also, your color for "1" was transparent, whereas it has to be opaque in
>> order to properly see a scalar-colored cone.
>>
>>
>>
>> I stripped the visualization part of your pipeline down to the
>> following.  No padding is done, the thresholding uses point scalars, no
>> shifting, and no lookup table (instead, I call ScalarVisibilityOff() and
>> set the color via the actor's property object).  I replaced
>> vtkPolyDataMapper with vtkDataSetMapper, which automatically skins the data.
>>
>>
>>   unsigned char startLabel = outval;
>>   unsigned char endLabel = inval;
>>
>>   vtkNew<vtkThreshold> selector;
>>   // the call to SetInputArrayToProcess() isn't necessary, the default is
>> fine
>>   //selector->SetInputArrayToProcess(0, 0, 0,
>>   //                                 vtkDataObject::FIELD_
>> ASSOCIATION_POINTS,
>>   //                                 vtkDataSetAttributes::SCALARS);
>>   selector->SetInputData(voxelImage);
>>   selector->ThresholdByUpper(0.5*(startLabel + endLabel));
>>   selector->Update();
>>
>>   vtkNew<vtkDataSetMapper> mapper;
>>   mapper->SetInputConnection(selector->GetOutputPort());
>>   mapper->ScalarVisibilityOff();
>>
>>   vtkNew<vtkActor> actor;
>>   actor->SetMapper(mapper);
>>   actor->GetProperty()->SetColor(0.0, 1.0, 0.0);
>>
>>
>> An image of the resulting cone is attached.
>>
>>  - David
>>
>>
>> On Tue, Jun 5, 2018 at 1:26 AM, Berti Krüger <berti_krueger at hotmail.com>
>> wrote:
>>
>>> Hi David,
>>>
>>>
>>> thank you very much for your help.
>>>
>>>
>>> I tried the example from your link. Unfortunately the result is same as
>>> using the vtkVoxelModeller:
>>>
>>>
>>> [image: Screenshot result voxelization]
>>> I get only a voxelization of the surface. The interior of the voxelized
>>> cone is still hollow and not filled with voxels (at least this is implied
>>> by the visualization).
>>>
>>>
>>> For the visualization i use Bill Lorensen's example code from here:
>>>
>>> https://lorensen.github.io/VTKExamples/site/Cxx/Medical/
>>> GenerateCubesFromLabels/
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> I have attached this small example which compiles with VTK 8.1 to show
>>> the issue. It basicly only consist of the example code from your link (
>>> https://lorensen.github.io/VTKExamples/site/Cxx/PolyData/
>>> PolyDataToImageData/) and the visualization code from the  Bill
>>> Lorensen's example from the link above. I have not changed much.
>>>
>>>
>>> Any idea what is going wrong or what can i do get also voxelization of
>>> the interior (solid voxelization)?
>>>
>>>
>>> Thank you very much in advance.
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> Regards
>>>
>>>
>>> Berti
>>> ------------------------------
>>> *Von:* David Gobbi <david.gobbi at gmail.com>
>>> *Gesendet:* Montag, 28. Mai 2018 23:13
>>> *An:* Berti Krüger
>>> *Cc:* vtkusers at vtk.org
>>> *Betreff:* Re: [vtkusers] Solid Voxelization with VTK
>>>
>>> Hi Berti,
>>>
>>> If its a triangulated surface that you want to fill with voxels, use
>>> vtkPolyDataToImageStencil:
>>> https://lorensen.github.io/VTKExamples/site/Cxx/PolyData/
>>> PolyDataToImageData/
>>>
>>> If its a mesh of 3D elements and you want to sample the elements to
>>> create voxels, try vtkResampleToImage.
>>>
>>>  - David
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> On Mon, May 28, 2018 at 4:41 PM, Berti Krüger <berti_krueger at hotmail.com
>>> > wrote:
>>>
>>> Hello Everyone.
>>>
>>> For my Project i have to voxelize a 3D-Triangle-Mesh. I already found the
>>> vtkVoxelModeller which, while somewhat slow (only around 200 Triangles
>>> per
>>> second), works, but only voxelizes the outer shell where the mesh
>>> boundary
>>> triangles are. The inner part of the mesh stays hollow.
>>>
>>> Is there some way to get solid voxelization of 3D-Triangle-Meshes out of
>>> the
>>> box with VTK ?
>>>
>>>
>>> Thank you very much in advance,
>>>
>>> Berti
>>>
>>>
>>
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