long ClipVolumeData ( vtkImageData *result, vtkImageData *data, vtkDataSet *element)   // version 1.0
{
	vtkImplicitDataSet *ids 			 = vtkImplicitDataSet::New();
	vtkImageReslice *reslice 			 = vtkImageReslice::New();
	vtkImplicitFunctionToImageStencil *stencilCreator = vtkImplicitFunctionToImageStencil::New();
	double spacing[3], origin[3], bounds[6], Pcenter[3];
	int    newbox[6], extent[6];
	

	//compute the new bounding box
	element->ComputeBounds();
	element->GetBounds(bounds);
	
	data->GetSpacing(spacing);										       
	data->GetWholeExtent(extent);
	data->GetOrigin(origin);


	newbox[0]=(int)((bounds[0]-origin[0])/spacing[0])+extent[0];
	newbox[1]=(int)((bounds[1]-origin[0])/spacing[0])+extent[0];
	newbox[2]=(int)((bounds[2]-origin[1])/spacing[1])+extent[2];
	newbox[3]=(int)((bounds[3]-origin[1])/spacing[1])+extent[2];
	newbox[4]=(int)((bounds[4]-origin[2])/spacing[2])+extent[4];
	newbox[5]=(int)((bounds[5]-origin[2])/spacing[2])+extent[4];
	
	//transform the dataset into a function which returns 1 if a given point is inside the volume, setOutValue otherwise
	ids->SetDataSet(element);
	ids->SetOutValue(10.0);
	
	//pass all the necessary information to the "cookie cutter"
	stencilCreator->SetOutputOrigin(origin);
	stencilCreator->SetOutputSpacing(spacing);
	stencilCreator->SetOutputWholeExtent(newbox);
	stencilCreator->SetInput(ids);
	double stencilCreator_Threshold = 5.0;  		//the values below threshold will be considered as background
	stencilCreator->SetThreshold(stencilCreator_Threshold);
	
	//Clip the data
	reslice->ReleaseDataFlagOn();
	stencilCreator->ReleaseDataFlagOn();
	reslice->TransformInputSamplingOff();
	reslice->SetInputConnection(0,data->GetProducerPort());
	double reslice_background_level = 2.;
	reslice->SetBackgroundLevel(reslice_background_level);
	reslice->SetOutputSpacing(spacing);
	reslice->SetOutputOrigin(origin);
	reslice->SetOutputExtent(newbox);
	//reslice->Update();
	regionVolume=vtkImageData::New();
	regionVolume->DeepCopy(reslice->GetOutput());
	regionVolume->SetSource(NULL);
	
	//Set the values outside the finite element to the background value
	reslice->SetStencil(stencilCreator->GetOutput());
	vtkTimerLog *timerClip = vtkTimerLog::New();
	timerClip->StartTimer();
	timerClip->MarkStartEvent("before update");
	reslice->Update();
	timerClip->MarkEndEvent("after update");
	timerClip->StopTimer();
	timerClip->DumpLog("logClip");
	regionVolume->ComputeBounds();
	result->DeepCopy(reslice->GetOutput());

	ids->Delete();
	reslice->Delete();
	stencilCreator->Delete();
	return 0;

}