Real-time three-dimensional visualization of standard light microscope image sequences for microassembly

In this paper we present a novel method to visualize a sequence of standard light microscope images in 3D for teleoperated microassembly. This method increases the depth of field of the microscope images over 60 times. A volume rendering approach is used to construct the images by making use of the functionality built into current 3D graphics hardware. Through the use of this hardware, the views can be constructed at interactive rates. Two views can be constructed simultaneously to construct stereo pairs for a 3D display. This method greatly assists the operator of a microassembly system by providing the same type of visual feedback that is available during macroassembly