Accessing Volumetric Data using Iterators

In this section we will show how to access the volumetric data effectively using iterators. Iterator's are OpenVL's mechanism for giving access to the volumetric data stored in a volume. The iterators used in OpenVL are similar in concept to the generic iterators used in the standard template library (STL), but are very different in implementation and usage. In OpenVL, the iterator is basically a class that has direct access to the volumetric data stored inside the volume. The iterator interface is very elaborate compared to the generic iterators used by STL. We have chosen an elaborate interface because we feel that accessing a volumetric data is a complex task compared to accessing the data that STL usually stores.

The iterator interface is properly documented and is available under API Reference from the OpenVL website. In this document we will look at some commonly used iterator functionality.