A method of generating a template image 214 includes: receiving an input from a user representing identifications of an object in different respective slices of a volumetric image 210; using the input to determine a volume-of-interest (VOI) that includes voxels in a subset of the volumetric image; and determining the template image using at least some of the voxels in the VOI, wherein the act of determining the template image comprises performing a forward projection of the at least some of the voxels in the VOI using a processor.