SRView SRView
SRView is a viewing and analysis tool for 3D medical images. It
is designed for research with images from the small-matrix modalities: MRI,
CT, PET, ultrasound. It also supports 4D data sets -- three spatial
dimensions and one time dimension -- of the type obtained from functional
MRI and PET studies. SRView uses the NIAAA image file format. It can
import DICOM, AFNI, Analyze format images. It can export AFNI and
Analyze format images. SRView's special strengths are its easy-to-learn
user interface and its flexibility for the addition of new features and
analyses. It runs on UNIX systems, including Linux and Macintosh OS X (with
X Window manager), and requires no special video hardware.
SRView calls CpMed, a stand-alone Unix command-line image translator developed by SRI, for some image translations. Calls to CpMed can be made from SRView scripts. CpMed can do image conversion between the NIAAA, DICOM, AFNI, and flat image file formats.
SRView source code includes CpMed. You may Download
and use this software under a GNU license.
Three Orthogonal Views. Images are displayed in three orthogonal views organized into three quadrants of a window. Cross reference lines in each view indicate the slice location currently shown in the other two views. Handles on the cross reference lines can be grabbed and dragged to select slice locations. The coordinates and pixel value at the mouse cursor are read out continuously in a message area under the display.
Image Array Window. The Image Array Window displays multiple 2D image slices at successive z or t values. Click on any image in the Array Window to display it in the ThreeView Window.
Image Rotation. The image can be interactively rotated by dragging over a slice view in a circular motion; the rotation will be about the normal to the plane of the slice. These interactive rotations do not alter the data set, just the display of the data. A new data set rotated as shown in the display can be created once the desired rotation is found. Nearest neighbor and cubic spline interpolation are options, and the user can also specify the desired image sampling intervals and matrix dimensions for the new image.
ROI Creation and Editing. Arbitrarily shaped ROIs (polygons) can be drawn on any slice. The ROIs can be assigned to named groups so that they can be referenced and processed by group. ROIs can be edited by dragging points or whole ROIs, adding points, and deleting points.
Mask Creation and Editing. Mask images can be created automatically from sets of ROIs drawn on an image. Masks can also be created and edited manually using painting and erasing tools. Masks can be applied to an image for display as an opaque color, a transparent color wash, or as cropping of the masked area.
Time Dimension Viewing. If the image has a time dimension, a slider will appear along the bottom edge of the display with which the user can select a time point for the display. Functions such as rotation, ROI creation and editing, and mask creation and editing work as usual on the three spatial dimensions of whatever time point has been selected.
Time Plotting. A time plotting tool can be selected that automatically opens a plot window and makes a plot of pixel values along the time dimension at the current cursor location. The plotted values can be saved to a file.
DICOM and AFNI Images. Images in DICOM and AFNI format can be opened. Entire series of DICOM formatted 2D slices can be opened at once and placed into a single 3D image. AFNI format images can be exported.
Scripting. A Tcl/Tk interpreter is built into SRView. The user can write scripts using the Tcl/Tk scripting language and have them executed by SRView. This provides a way to add new functionality and automate analyses without having to modify the SRView application. A collection of custom Tcl/Tk commands have been added to SRView's interpreter to allow manipulation of SRView through scripts. Additionally, SRView provides a mechanism for Tcl/Tk scripts to appear as items in its "Scripts" menu, where they can be invoked simply by selecting them.
These features and others are described in more detail in the User's Manual. The manual is written
in HTML format for easy navigation.
New features are constantly being added to SRView to support the research
needs of the user community. If you think SRView might be good
for your research project, but is missing some feature you need, ask us
about it (woltz@synergyresearch.com).
We may already be implementing that feature for someone else, or we may
be able to add it for you at a very reasonable cost.
Source code for SRView is written in C++ and Tcl/Tk. Source code is available under a GNU license. A copy of this license in contained in the archive you download using the following link(s):
SRView for Mac OS X version 10.4 (March 2006). Requires Tcl/Tk (included) and Xcode.
Contact Lawrence Woltz (woltz@synergyresearch.com)
for comments or support. SRView is funded by the SRView user community.
SRView was written in 1998 by Dr. Kyle Hedges for Drs. Dan Hommer and
Dan Rio of the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism of NIH,
Bethesda, MD. Dr. Woltz is continuing code development for SRView
and CpMed.
Disclaimer. SRView and CpMed have not been tested or approved for any clinical use. Neither the authors or NIH accept liability for errors in these programs or manuals.