Monday, October 3, 2011

Reaction: Marching Cubes: A high resolution 3D surface construction algorithm

This paper expects the reader to have prior knowledge about the medical field. In my opinion, the authors should have elaborated about the field in the introduction. However after a bit of self initiated research and reading further ahead in the paper, the proposed algorithm technique does look promising.

The authors have concentrated only on three methods of image acquisition viz. CT, MR and SPECT. But there is not much reasoning as to support why this is done. The remaining steps for the 3D applications give an overview in a very generic manner. The discussion on the various surface construction methods like the connected contour algorithm, cuberille approach has been well cited and explained. The paper however highlights only their shortcomings and thereby stressing upon the importance of the marching cube algorithm.

The algorithm uses the “divide and conquer” approach quite wisely. Reading through the algorithm, we understand that idea proposed behind the algorithm is quite simple but does lead to an elaborate and comprehensive discussion. The entire set of possibilities is broken down to 14 patterns due to symmetry and the authors have well illustrated the patterns and delved into the discussions on the same. The authors have performed further enhancements to the algorithm in terms of its efficiency and functionality.

The case studies discussed with each of the three methods were quite interesting. It does give a good amount of information about the subject being observed but however the exact working of the algorithm should have been discussed a bit more on these. There is no mention about how the number of triangles on each of the surface has been calculated.

For concluding, the authors have discussed the marching cube algorithm in quite a detail. However the paper should have discussed a bit more about the actual field and implementation details.

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