Mark Dow
Space
Software
Space is a free MS
Windows (98,
2K, XP [Vista, W7 not tested]) application for the display, navigation,
rendering, editing,
and measurement of 3-D data sets. In many respects it serves the same
needs as a traditional 2-D image editor for 3-D data, but is organized
and
optimized for the particular requirements of handling 3-D data for
research purposes. The program provides fast display of arbitrarily
oriented planes through 3-D data, direct spatial correlation and
combining of multiple spatially coincident data sets, several image
processing operations, and an array of fully interactive display and
rendering options for visualization. All primary functions, display
elements
and user interaction elements are highly integrated.
Space is authored by Mark Dow and Greg
Scott, and is
currently in active, but slow, development. Space is freeware (in the free
lunch sense), but the source code is not publicly available.
The current beta-testing
versions will expire at the end of December 2010, but a functionally
equivalent and improved free version will be available before
and after that time. This expiration is a pain for users, but is
necessary to reduce bugs while maintaining uniform program behavior. A
non-expiring version is available on request (dow[at]uoregon.edu).
Download most
recent
(version .94i.1)
program:
Space_v.94i.1.zip (2 MB)
There’s no
installer, just unzip
the files to any directory. To run, double click the Space.exe file. A
registry entry will be created, but no other files are "installed".
File
formats supported by Space include:
-
SPM/Analyze 7.5
(.img/.hdr): 8 and 16 bit integer types, and 32 real numbers which are
converted to 16 bit integers.
-
Nifti-1 (.img/.hdr, nii)
[Note that the Nifti-1 specification has not been finalized, results
may vary]: 8 and 16 bit integer types, and 32 real numbers which are
converted to 16 bit integers. No scaling or transform information is
used for display.
-
MetaImage (.mhd/.raw): 8
and 16 bit signed or unsigned integer types, no scaling or transform
information
used for display. Local and multi-file data references and non-image
MetaObjects are not supported.
-
AVI animations (.avi):
read/write with common codices
-
Space Volume (.vol)
native format, 8 and 16 bit grayscale, 8 bit indexed, 24 bit RGB color
-
Most standard 2-D image
formats, with file stem numbering indicating serial images.
For DICOM files, use
MRIConvert,
or other DICOM conversion programs (see idoimaging).
MRIcro can convert many machine
specific 3-D formats to Analyze 7.5.
To write a 3-D Matlab array to a grayscale file readable by
Space, use
the Matlab script
write_Space_volume.m
Several program details and advanced
tools are still
being perfected, and a few ragged edges will be trimmed in the coming
months. The core operations are stable and well tested.
Comments, requests, and bug reports are
encouraged.
(dow[at]uoregon.edu).
Space was partially developed at the Lewis Center for
Neuroimaging and
Brain
Development Lab at the University
of Oregon
. Greg Scott, previously working at the Brain Development Lab at the
University of
Oregon and now in an MD/PhD program at OSHU, wrote the lion's share of
code for advanced rendering, multiple
layer interface tools, AVI/ANALYZE/NIFTI file read/write, movie
keyframing, 24 bit editing, transparent gzipping and much
more.
He can be contacted
directly at gscizz1979[at]gmail.com.