System and methods for image segmentation in N-dimensional space

A system and methods for the efficient segmentation of globally optimal surfaces representing object boundaries in volumetric datasets is provided. An optical surface detection system and methods are provided that are capable of simultaneously detecting multiple interacting surfaces in which the optimality is controlled by the cost functions designed for individual surfaces and by several geometric constraints defining the surface smoothness and interrelations. The graph search applications use objective functions that incorporate non-uniform cost terms such as “on-surface” costs as well as “in-region” costs.