Table of contents:
There are 3 types of importers:
- Raw importer
- Used for importing raw binary datasets.
- These datasets can optionally have a header, followed by raw 3D data in various formats (int, uint, etc.).
- Image file importer
- Used for importing a single file dataset.
- Supported formats: VASP, NRRD; NIFTI
- Image sequence importer
- Used for importing sequences datasets, where each slice maybe be stored in a separate file (multiple files per dataset).
The RawDatasetImporter imports raw datasets, where the data is stored sequentially. Some raw datasets contain a header where you can read information about how the data is stored (content format, dimension, etc.), while some datasets expect you to know the layout and format.
To import a RAW dataset, do the following:
// Create the importer
RawDatasetImporter importer = new RawDatasetImporter(filePath, initData.dimX, initData.dimY, initData.dimZ, initData.format, initData.endianness, initData.bytesToSkip);
// Import the dataset
VolumeDataset dataset = importer.Import();
// Spawn the object
VolumeObjectFactory.CreateObject(dataset);
The RawDatasetImporter constructor takes the following parameters:
- filePath: File path to the dataset.
- dimX, dimY, dimZ: The dimension of the dataset.
- contentFormat: The format of the content. Possible values: Int8, Uint8, Int16, Uint16, Int32, Uint32.
- endianness: The byte endianness of the dataset.
- skipBytes: Number of bytes to skip before reading the content. This is used in cases where the dataset has a header. Some raw datasets formats store information about the dimension, format and endianness in a header. To import these datasets you can read the header yourself and pass this info to the RawDatasetImporter constructor. The skipBytes parameter should then be equal to the header size.
All this info can be added to a ".ini"-file, which the importer will use (if it finds any). See the sample files (in the "DataFiles" folder for an example).
To import single-file datasets, such as VASP/PARCHG, NRRD and NIFTI, you can use one of the image file importers. You can manually create an instance of your desired importer, or you can simply use the ImporterFactory
class, which will select one for your desired file format.
Example:
IImageFileImporter importer = ImporterFactory.CreateImageFileImporter(ImageFileFormat.NRRD);
VolumeDataset dataset = importer.Import(file);
VolumeRenderedObject obj = VolumeObjectFactory.CreateObject(dataset);
Possible parameters to ImporterFactory.CreateImageFileImporter:
- ImageFileFormat.NRRD (requires SimpleITK)
- ImageFileFormat.NIFTI (requires SimpleITK)
- ImageFileFormat.VASP
The available importer implementations are:
- ParDatasetImporter: For VASP/PARCHG.
- SimpleITKImageFileImporter: For NRRD and NIFTI. Works on Windows and Linux (and hopefully MacOS too).
For more information about NRRD support, see the page about SimpleITK.
To import an image sequence dataset, such as DICOM, you can manually create an instance of one of the image sequence importers or simply use the ImporterFactory
class, which will select one for you.
Example:
// Get all files in DICOM directory
List<string> filePaths = Directory.GetFiles(dir).ToList();
// Create importer
IImageSequenceImporter importer = ImporterFactory.CreateImageSequenceImporter(ImageSequenceFormat.DICOM);
// Load list of DICOM series (normally just one series)
IEnumerable<IImageSequenceSeries> seriesList = importer.LoadSeries(filePaths);
// There will usually just be one series
foreach(IImageSequenceSeries series in seriesList)
{
// Import single DICOm series
VolumeDataset dataset = importer.ImportSeries(series);
VolumeObjectFactory.CreateObject(dataset);
}
These importers can import one or several series. In most cases there will only be one series. However, in DICOM each DICOM slice can be associated with a "series". This allows you to store several datasets in the same folder.
Supported formats:
- ImageSequenceFormat.DICOM
- ImageSequenceFormat.ImageSequence
The available importer implementations are:
- SimpleITKImageSequenceImporter: For DICOM (see SimpleITK.md for more info.)
- DICOMImporter: For DICOM. Uses OpenDICOM library, and works on all platforms. This is the default when SimpleITK is disabled.
- ImageSequenceImporter: For image sequences (directory containing multiple image files, typically JPEG or PNG)
The SimpleITK-based importer is the recommended way to import DICOM datasets, as it supports JPEG compression. See the SimpleITK documentation for information about how to enable it. Once enabled, ImporterFactory.CreateImageSequenceImporter will automatically return an importer of type SimpleITKImageSequenceImporter
.
Most of the importers also support asynchronous import. This is very useful for VR/AR applications where you defnitely don't want the import to freeze the whole application for too long.
To do async import, create and run an async Task that calls the Async
version for the importer factory's import methods. Below is an example:
private static async Task DicomImportDirectoryAsync(IEnumerable<string> files)
{
using (ProgressHandler progressHandler = new ProgressHandler(new EditorProgressView()))
{
progressHandler.StartStage(0.2f, "Loading DICOM series");
IImageSequenceImporter importer = ImporterFactory.CreateImageSequenceImporter(ImageSequenceFormat.DICOM);
IEnumerable<IImageSequenceSeries> seriesList = await importer.LoadSeriesAsync(files, new ImageSequenceImportSettings { progressHandler = progressHandler });
progressHandler.EndStage();
progressHandler.StartStage(0.8f);
int seriesIndex = 0, numSeries = seriesList.Count();
foreach (IImageSequenceSeries series in seriesList)
{
progressHandler.StartStage(1.0f / numSeries, $"Importing series {seriesIndex + 1} of {numSeries}");
VolumeDataset dataset = await importer.ImportSeriesAsync(series, new ImageSequenceImportSettings { progressHandler = progressHandler });
progressHandler.EndStage();
}
progressHandler.EndStage();
}
}
You can optionally pass in a progress handler, which is used to track the progress of the async import. The ProgressView
is used to display the progress, either in the Unity Editor or in your own GUI. In the above example we use the EditorProgressView
, which will show a progress bar in the editor - but you can also create your own.