The VolumePro 1000 family of 3D real-time volume rendering hardware boards are second generation products built on their predecessor, VolumePro 500. Introduced in September 2001, VolumePro 1000 products represents a significant technological advancement in the area of 3D computer graphics. VolumePro technology provides both real-time 3D performance for large volume datasets and unsurpassed image quality without compromise.

VolumePro is a scalable rendering solution where multiple chips or cards can work in parallel in a system to manage larger memory or processing needs including the ability for distributed rendering. Embedded geometry allows for either opaque or translucent polygon objects to be embedded directly within the volume data. VolumePro 1000 is offered with up to 4GB of volume memory on a single PCI card, allowing users to load extremely large datasets.

VolumePro technology makes possible real-time performance for volume sizes of 512³. Image quality is unsurpassed based on TeraRecon's XY image-order algorithm. Flexible voxel formats allow for powerful image segmentation, fusion, and difference. Support for perspective volume rendering for fly-through applications and stereo projection is included.

VolumePro technology is the optimum solution for high-performance visualization applications, including medical imaging, seismic interpretation, scientific visualization, or cluster computing. Introduced in September 2001 and upgraded in 2002 and 2005, VP1000 uses a second generation ASIC, proceeding VolumePro 500. VolumePro 1000 is the only commercially available hardware volume-rendering solution available, and has been well accepted by the market for its real-time performance and outstanding reliability.

VP1000SJ: Single ASIC Hardware Board

VP1000SJ is a half-size PCI card with a single ASIC per board. Users can choose 512MB, 1GB, or 2GB of on-board volume memory, depending on the volume size of the application. The VP1000SJ is powered by the PCI bus. No power cables are required.

VP1000J: Single ASIC Hardware Board

VP1000J is a full size PCI card with a single ASIC and 4GB per board. VP1000 comes powered in 2 ways: 1) powered by the PCI bus - no power cables are required; or 2) with a supplied power cable connected to the PC power module or a power external supply.

Ease of integration is assured with TeraRecon's software development toolkit for Windows, Solaris, and Linux platforms. VolumePro boards are sold to world class manufacturers in medical, seismic, scientific, research, super-computing, and other advanced visualization application areas.

• Real-time performance for volumes up to 512³
• Stores between 256MB and 2Gbyte of volume memory on a single PCI board
• Ability to embed opaque and translucent polygon surfaces within the volume data
• 8-, 16-, and 32-bit voxels on up to four customizable channels
• Full size PCI card uses 64-bit, 66Mhz for faster data downloading
• Concurrent volume updating and rendering
• Arbitrary super-sampling in all three dimensions
• Classification and interpolation in either order
• Introducing x-y image order rendering for superior image quality
• Up to 8K voxels in any dimension in one pass
• Support for super-volumes and multiple board implementations
• Ignores voxels not contributing to visible sample for improved performance
• Depth and image filtering based on opacity, gradient direction, and gradient magnitude
• Gradient lighting applied to every sample point to make samples look like surfaces

Cluster Computing:

PCs have all the computer elements necessary for solving complex problems and doing visualization formerly reserved for the most expensive workstations. When they reach their individual resource limits, they can be clustered to achieve much higher levels of performance and visualization - the PC becomes a node. 4 to 32 node clusters are becoming quite common and clusters using hundreds of PCs are not uncommon. For all these varied applications, VolumePro technology is the ideal solution for achieving the performance and enhancing the image quality of the visualization task.

The key processes required to render the 3D volumes into a 2D image are:

• Casting the rays through the volume
• Assigning color and opacity values to the sample points
• Calculating gradients and assigning lighting to the image
• Summing up all the color and opacity values to create the image

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