ROI Analysis Widget Help
Overview
The function of this widget is as a data analysis tool. Pixel values
at the crosshair location and pixel values along a line between 2 crosshair
locations can be obtained. In addition, histograms statistics on a volume
subset of the image data can be obtained.
Please see the help for the Edit Crosshairs Widget (from the Edit menu
in the DAVE Master Widget) for information about how to position the
crosshair.
Data Analysis
The data voxel value at the crosshair location is shown in the green,
red and blue boxes near the top of the widget. The green box is for data from
the green image and the red box is for data from the red image (if specified on
the command line). The blue box for data from the blue image. If you have
used the series widget to change which images are red, green, or blue, then
the roi widget similarly changes. So whatever is the currently displayed
image in the specific color is what gets analyzed. Values in a region of
interest can also be examined (see below).
By default crosshair values are for integer
voxel locations (see "Trilinear Interpolation" below). Also, values are always
taken from the highest resolution (i.e., initial) image, regardless of
which resolution is currently being rendered in the window. This may cause a
discrepancy between what is seen and what is reported in some cases. Also, the
integer rounding may mean that when you try to position the crosshair by picking
with the cursor (see above) it may not go the the exact cursor location.
Specifying a Region of Interest
Either a line or a box in three dimensions can be specified by selecting
two points with the crosshair. The two points either specify the start and end
of a line segment or the diagonally opposite corners of a box. Click on "Box"
or "Line" to specify which type of region is desired.
The box is inclusive of the end coordinates (e.g., a box from 0,0,0 to 2,2,2
has x,y, and z dimensions of 3). Once the crosshair is
positioned at the desired location, click on "Accept Pt 1" or "Accept Pt 2" to
specify that the current location should be used in the definition of the
region of interest. The distance between point 1 and point 2 is displayed in
the "Distance" box. This distance is in pixels and assumes the spacing in
x,y, and z are all the same (I think).
The region of interest can be translated to the current cursor position
by clicking on "Trans ROI". If two data sets were given to DAVE, the data set
which should be analyzed can be chosen by clicking on "Image 1" or "Image 2".
Inspecting Values along a Line
Once a line has been specified, clicking on "Recalc" will recalculate
the voxel values along the line and display them in a graph. Position 0 is at
the "Point 1" end of the line segment. The crosshair can be moved to a
position along the line by clicking on the arrows under the graph. A yellow
triangle points to the position on the graph which corresponds to the
crosshair position.
The values along the line are calculated as follows. First the line
segment is clipped so that any portion of it which lies outside the data volume
is thrown away. Then steps of unit pixel length are taken along it.
(No z magnification is applied ??). Typically this will result in a position
at a noninteger location (i.e., a position in between voxels). This position
is rounded to the nearest integer, and the data value at that voxel is then
graphed. Since lines are rarely of integer length, there is usually one small
small step which is taken at the end to ensure that the endpoint of the line
segment is also graphed (so the last data value may be at different spacing
along the line than the others).
Trilinear Interpolation
By choosing "ROI Trilinear Interp" from the menu "Region of Interest
Histogram" (which pops up when you hold down the right mouse button when the
cursor is over that title bar along the top of the widget) you remove the
constraint that only the voxel values at integer locations are reported. When
interpolation is specified, then the actual noninteger locations are used and
data values are obtained by trilinear interpolation from the 8 voxels which
surround the point.
Inspecting Values in a Box
Once a box has been specified, clicking on "Recalc" will recalculate
a histogram based upon voxel values within the box. As mentioned above,
the box is inclusive of the end coordinates (e.g., a box from 0,0,0 to 2,2,2
has x,y, and z dimensions of 3). All statistics are based upon the initial
image resolution (so even if you are viewing in lower resolution the numbers
will be correct). Num voxels is the number of voxels in the region.
ymax at #1 with val #2 means that the histogram has a maximum at intensity #1
(in original image values) with a number of counts of #2.
Additional statistics are printed to stdout (so they should show up in
whichever window you started DAVE from).
Recalc
Pressing this will cause the current image to be used to recalculate
the image histogram or line intensity values. If the values are current, the
recalc button will be green. If the image has changed (via the time series
widget) or the position of the endpoints has changed, but the values have
NOT yet been recalculated, the button will not be green. Note: the voxel
intensity at the cursor position gets updated automatically; the histogram
or line intensity values only get updated when recalc is pressed.
NOTE: All voxel values are by default based upon 8 bit scaled values.
The 8 bit values are rescaled back to (approximately) the original
values by multiplying them by the scale factor and adding back in the
black level. This means that the values are only approximate.
If the -t command line option is used, then the actual precise data
values will be used, not rescaled values.
Copyright 1995 by Lawrence M. Lifshitz and the University of
Massachusetts Medical School. All rights reserved.