iso2mesh is a free matlab/octave-based mesh generation and processing toolbox. It can create 3D tetrahedral finite element (FE) mesh from surfaces, 3D binary and gray-scale volumetric images such as segmented MRI/CT scans. Creation of high-quality surface and tetrahedral meshes from volumetric images has been a challenging task. There are very limited software and resources available for this purpose. Commercial tools, such as Mimics and Amira, are both expensive and limited in functionalities. Iso2mesh was developed as a free alternative to these expensive commercial tools and provides researchers a highly flexible, modular and streamlined image-based mesh generation pipeline. Intuitive interfaces and rich functionalities allow one to enjoy a wide range of mesh-based analyses, ranging from 3D volumetric image pre-processing (hole-filling, thinning and thickening), surface mesh modeling (extraction, remeshing, repairing, and smoothing) to volumetric mesh creation. iso2mesh can convert 3D image stacks into quality surface and tetrahedral meshes. Another core feature of iso2mesh is surface mesh processing. A surface mesh is the bridge between a voxelated image and a tetrahedral mesh, and is the foundation for successful 3D mesh generation. Finally, iso2mesh also excels in the rich set of mesh analysis and inquiry functions. For both surface and tetrahedral meshes, iso2mesh can report the element volume (or area), mesh quality metrics, node connectivity and neighbors, interior edges and boundaries, surface norms, element centroids, etc.

iso2mesh is an open-source software developed by Qianqian Fang. He is currently an Assistant Professor in the Dept. of Bioengineering at Northeastern University. The algorithm behind this software is detailed in the following paper:

• Qianqian Fang and David Boas, "Tetrahedral mesh generation from volumetric binary and gray-scale images," Proceedings of IEEE International Symposium on Biomedical Imaging 2009, pp. 1142-1145, 2009