Methods of voxel data rendering for visualizing on multi-layer volumetric displays

For the visualization of naturally observable 3D scenes with a continuous range of observation angles on a multi-plane volumetric 3D display, specific data processing and rendering methods have to be developed and tailored to match the architecture of a display device. As one of the most important requirements is a capability of providing real-time visual feedback, the data processing pipeline has to be optimized for effective execution on general consumer-grade hardware. In this work technological aspects and limitations of volumetric 3D display based on a static multi-planar projection volume have been analyzed in the context of developing an effective real-time capable volumetric data processing pipeline. Basic architecture of data processing pipeline has been developed and tested. Initial results showed a very slow performance for the execution on central processing unit. Based on these results, the data processing pipeline was optimized to utilize acceleration of graphics processing unit (GPU), which resulted in a substantial decrease of execution times, reaching the goal of real-time capable volumetric refresh rates.