The most basic form of volume visualization the 3mensio SDK™ offers is the ability to define three-dimensional planes through the volume, and to map the image that would appear on the plane on the screen. When the planes are aligned with the direction in which the scan is performed, it is possible to reconstruct the original slices. However, it is also possible to place the planes at arbitrary orientations. This is known as multi-planar reformation, or MPR.

The SDK also lets you specify a window level that maps from the scalar voxel values (typically measured in Hounsfield units for medical data) to screen pixel intensity. This window level can be modified at runtime in an operation that is conceptually similar to adjusting the brightness and contrast of the image. It can be used to highlight specific structures in the dataset such as bone, fat, or tissue.