US Patent 8203553 Distributed calculation of images of volumetric objects

A method for calculating an image in the context of a volume visualization by ray casting using a plurality of computing nodes is provided. The method includes subdividing a volume that is to be visualized into subvolumes assigned to the plurality of computing nodes; assigning a subdivision of data to volume points and storing the subdivision of data in a memory associated with the plurality of computing nodes, the subdivision corresponding to the assignment of subvolumes to nodes; and computing at least one pixel by generating a ray leading through the volume, wherein computing includes taking into account points lying on the ray one after another.