A system and method for creating a surface for an arbitrary segment of a three-dimensional data set are presented. In exemplary embodiments according to the present invention the method includes initially identifying a set of surface voxels of the segment. For each voxel in the set information as to which of its neighbors are inside voxels can be obtained, and the results can be utilized to determine the location and direction of a polygonal surface dividing the voxel. The surface can then be obtained by connecting all of the polygonal surfaces. In exemplary embodiments according to the present invention the polygonal surfaces can comprise triangles. In exemplary embodiments according to the present invention the surface can be displayed in either a wireframe mode or a solid mode. In exemplary embodiments according to the present invention mesh reduction can be implemented to reduce the number of polygons in the final surface. In exemplary embodiments of the present invention the volume bounded by the mesh surface can be calculated. Additionally, if the mesh surface generated is not a closed surface, as when, for example, the segmented object has been cropped prior to generation of the mesh surface, any 'holes' within it can be closed by a mesh and then the volume can be calculated. |