VOTS: VOlume doTS as a Point-Based Representation of Volumetric Data

We present Volume dots (Vots), a new primitive for volumetric data modelling, processing, and rendering. Vots are a point-based representation of volumetric data. An individual Vot is specified by the coefficients of a Taylor series expansion, i.e. the function value and higher order derivatives at a specific point. A Vot does not only represent a single sample point, it represents the underlying function within a region. With the Vots representation we have a more intuitive and high-level description of the volume data. This allows direct analytical examination and manipulation of volumetric datasets. Vots enable the representation of the underlying scalar function with specified precision. User-centric importance sampling is also possible, i.e., unimportant volume parts are still present but represented with just very few Vots. As proof of concept, we show Maximum Intensity Projection based on Vots.