The Volume Slicing Display (VSD)

Summary

We introduce a method and a prototype system for interactive exploration of volumetric data using a tangible screen, called the Volume Slicing Display. The system tracks the shape and the position of a passive screen (a piece of plexiglas or paper) using a custom monocular high-speed vision system (Vision Chip) or using ARToolkit markers in a more recent setup conceived to be built from off-the-shelf hardware; then one or more projectors on the room project the corresponding slice of a 3D virtual object on that surface in real time. This experimental interface will enable multiple users to feel as if 3D virtual objects co-exist in real space, as well as to explore them interactively using cheap passive projection surfaces (plexiglas or even paper).

Old system using vision chip	System using markers	Volume visualization
3d annotation	...running without a projector	Zooming using a 'phydget'

Coupling our Vision Chip system with a source of structured light we can also acquire the shape of a deformable screen in real time [see ref. 2], thus enabling the definition of arbitrarily shaped "cutting surfaces" (in this sense, this project extend the goal of the Khronos Projector interface). The ARToolkit markers also serve as buttons setting different interaction modes.

Movies

Passive screen prototype using artoolkit markers (2008)

• Volume view
  
  
• Using a separate "marker widget" on the screen for zooming
  
  
• Using a simple paper sheet for slicing and projection
  
  
• Running without projector on a computer screen
  
  
• Older demos: early prototype with four marker-switches
  
  
• prototype shown at Laval Virtual
  
  

Old prototype using vision chip and LEDs in corners of the plexiglas screen (2006)

• Video demo
  
  
• Lemon Slices
  
  
• Body Slices
  
  

References

1. Ito T., Cassinelli A., Komuro T. and Masatoshi Ishikawa, 3D Object Representation Using a Tangible Screen, Proc. of the SICE2006 conference. [PDF-820KB]
2. Yoshihiro Watanabe, Takashi Komuro, and Masatoshi Ishikawa: 955-Fps Real-Time Shape Measurement of a Moving/Deforming Object Using High-Speed Vision for Numerous-Point Analysis, 2007 IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA'07) (Roma, 2007.4.11) / Proceedings, pp. 3192-3197. [PDF] ^*IEEE
3. A. Cassinelli and M. Ishikawa, Volume Slicing Display, exhibited at LAVAL VIRTUAL 2009, 22-26 April 2009. Awarded a prix in the section Medicine and Health.
4. A. Cassinelli and M. Ishikawa, Volume Slicing Display, SIGGRAPH ASIA 2009, Emerging Technologies, Yokohama (2009). Emerging Technologies Catalog, p.88. [pdf], supplemental material [PDF-1.2MB]
5. Cassinelli, A., Watanabe, Y., and Ishikawa, M.: The Volume Slicing Display: a tangible interface for slicing and annotation of volumetric data, (invited paper), Optics & Photonics Japan 2011 (OPJ 2011) Symposium (Recent Advance of Digital Opto-electronic Systems and Their Great Applications), Osaka, Nov. 29, (2011) [PDF-1MB], presentation [PDF-11MB].