djh@munnari.UUCP (06/04/87)
If you can help with the following request, I would be happy to pass on the information ... David Hornsby, Comp. Sci. University of Melbourne. djh@munnari.oz.au djh%munnari.oz.au@seismo.css.gov (seismo,mcvax,pyramid,ukc,prlb2,ucbvision)!munnari!djh -------- I am writing to enquire about the available software options for multilevel 3-D representations on the Macintosh. The planned application will allow the drawing of actual areas of interest from 2-D photographic CAT (computerized axial tomographic) scans of the brain onto predrawn and saved templates. The program must then be able to transform these levels into a smoothed 3-D representation of the whole brain, with the area of interest able to be highlighted in different ways, eg: as a shaded area, with the external surface of the brain in a more transparent form. The actual digital data of the CAT scan does not need to be manipulated directly, but I envisage that a standard 2-D film picture of each level could be projected onto, say, a tablet for direct tracing. The program therefore would only need to allow data entry via this or some comparable method. Object mapping would be preferable but is not essential. Once drawn onto, say, 8 levels of the brain (as the CAT scanner depicts the brain anyway) then the program would need to reconsruct the total 3-D picture with the highlighted area(s) of interest, and be able to rotate this representation around any of the 3 axes in space. A further feature, not essential but desirable, would be the ability then to take other slices at different orientations. The cost should not be prohibitive, ie: less than $1000 or so. Additional information which may be of use in tracking down a possibility is that one University in Canada is rumored to have developed such a program just for CAT scan application, but apart from the province of Ontario I have no further details to help locate this. The program MiniCad 3-D is another possibility but may have far too many unnecessary features for our application. Thank you for your help with this matter, Yours sincerely, David Darby, MB, BS, MRACP Neurology Research Fellow Department of Neurology Austin Hospital.