Hybrid Latents -- Geometry-Appearance-Aware Surfel Splatting

We introduce a hybrid Gaussian-hash-grid radiance representation for reconstructing 2D Gaussian scene models from multi-view images. Similar to NeST splatting, our approach reduces the entanglement between geometry and appearance common in NeRF-based models, but adds per-Gaussian latent features alongside hash-grid features to bias the optimizer toward a separation of low- and high-frequency scene components. This explicit frequency-based decomposition reduces the tendency of high-frequency texture to compensate for geometric errors. Encouraging Gaussians with hard opacity falloffs further strengthens the separation between geometry and appearance, improving both geometry reconstruction and rendering efficiency. Finally, probabilistic pruning combined with a sparsity-inducing BCE opacity loss allows redundant Gaussians to be turned off, yielding a minimal set of Gaussians sufficient to represent the scene. Using both synthetic and real-world datasets, we compare against the state of the art in Gaussian-based novel-view synthesis and demonstrate superior reconstruction fidelity with an order of magnitude fewer primitives.

Multi-Layer Gaussian Splatting for Immersive Anatomy Visualization

In medical image visualization, path tracing of volumetric medical data like CT scans produces lifelike three-dimensional visualizations. Immersive VR displays can further enhance the understanding of complex anatomies. Going beyond the diagnostic quality of traditional 2D slices, they enable interactive 3D evaluation of anatomies, supporting medical education and planning. Rendering high-quality visualizations in real-time, however, is computationally intensive and impractical for compute-constrained devices like mobile headsets. We propose a novel approach utilizing GS to create an efficient but static intermediate representation of CT scans. We introduce a layered GS representation, incrementally including different anatomical structures while minimizing overlap and extending the GS training to remove inactive Gaussians. We further compress the created model with clustering across layers. Our approach achieves interactive frame rates while preserving anatomical structures, with quality adjustable to the target hardware. Compared to standard GS, our representation retains some of the explorative qualities initially enabled by immersive path tracing. Selective activation and clipping of layers are possible at rendering time, adding a degree of interactivity to otherwise static GS models. This could enable scenarios where high computational demands would otherwise prohibit using path-traced medical volumes.

Shaping the Future through Innovations: From Medical Imaging to Precision Medicine

Medical images constitute a source of information essential for disease diagnosis, treatment and follow-up. In addition, due to its patient-specific nature, imaging information represents a critical component required for advancing precision medicine into clinical practice. This manuscript describes recently developed technologies for better handling of image information: photorealistic visualization of medical images with Cinematic Rendering, artificial agents for in-depth image understanding, support for minimally invasive procedures, and patient-specific computational models with enhanced predictive power. Throughout the manuscript we will analyze the capabilities of such technologies and extrapolate on their potential impact to advance the quality of medical care, while reducing its cost.