Volumerather

Volumerather is a neologism used in discussions of data representation and visualization to describe a preference for volumetric forms of data over surface- or mesh-based representations. In practice, volumerather denotes approaches that treat data as a three-dimensional field stored as volumetric grids, such as voxel arrays or continuous fields, and that are analyzed or visualized directly in three dimensions rather than being converted to surfaces for rendering or interpretation.

The term combines "volume" with "rather" and appears mainly in informal online discussions and niche technical writings. It is not part of standard technical vocabularies, and its precise meaning varies by context and author.

In computer graphics and medical imaging, volumerather is used to describe workflows that preserve volumes through processing pipelines, employing volume rendering techniques such as ray casting or volume ray marching, and sometimes avoiding explicit surface extraction. In analytical sciences, it can describe data pipelines that keep volumetric representations for simulations, tomography, or fluid dynamics.

The term is informal and nonstandard; readers should look for explicit definitions in each source. Related concepts include volume rendering, voxel, scalar and vector fields, and surface-based rendering.