3D DataSets

Learn about three dimensional data and how to work with it

3D Data

Contrary to its two dimensional counter part, three-dimensional (3D) data comes in several shapes.

• Mesh: A mesh is structural build of a 3D model based on polygons. Every point in a mesh represents a point in space called vertex. This point is itself connected to two or more vertices, thus creating a base geometry shape such as triangles and quads. Connecting multiple triangles together, they form a three dimensional structure that can be displayed on a monitor.

• Point Cloud: A point cloud is a set of geo-referenced points. They provide high-resolution data without the distortion sometimes present in 3D mesh models and are commonly used in industry-standard software.

• Volume Data: In a nutshell, volume data is a set of 2D sliced images that stack together forming a regular pattern assembling a 3D structure. Most of the time this type of data is acquired by a CT, MRI, or MicroCT scanner.

• Height Elevation Data: This type of data is used to display terrains. Usually one of the channels in the data contains information on a displacement or height from the floor of a surface.

3D data software

1. Paraview

2. Imaris (Licensed)

3. Blender

4. Inkscape

5. Open Scene Graph

6. SDL

7. AutoDesk Maya (Licensed)

8. MinVR

9. BioBlender

10. Rino 3D (Licensed)