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RAWTOMINC(1)		       MINC User's Guide		  RAWTOMINC(1)

NAME
       rawtominc  -  converts  a  stream of binary image data to a minc	format
       file

SYNOPSIS
       rawtominc [options] output.mnc [[sz4] sz3] sz2 sz1

DESCRIPTION
       Rawtominc reads a stream	of binary data (byte, short,  long,  float  or
       double)	from  standard	input  (unless	the -input option is used) and
       writes it into the minc format file output.mnc. The user	specifies  the
       dimension  sizes	 from slowest varying to fastest varying. At least two
       dimensions must be given	(an image) but there can be up to  four.   Op-
       tions  give the user control over dimension names, data types and voxel
       to world	coordinate conversion. Vector type data	 (such	as  RGB	 pixel
       data) can be read in as well.

PIXEL VALUE SPECIFICATION
       Pixel  values are specified by a	type and a sign	(e.g. signed short in-
       teger). They are	also characterized by a	range of legal values. For ex-
       ample, many scanners produce images stored  with	 short	integer	 pixel
       values.	Some  have  values  in the range 0 to 4095, others 0 to	32000,
       others -32768 to	32767. This range is the valid range, specified	by the
       -range option (for floating point values, the valid range is the	 maxi-
       mum  and	 minimum  of  the whole	dataset). Rawtominc allows the user to
       specify both the	input type, sign and range as well as the output type,
       sign and	range (read short values, store	byte values, for example).

       There is	a further twist. Integer pixel values are generally  taken  to
       be  simply  scaled  pixel representations of real (meaningful) physical
       values. Floating	point values are taken to be the  real	value  itself.
       Thus  floating  point  values  are scanned for the maximum and minimum,
       since they could	be anything (they are stored in	the MINC variables im-
       age-max and image-min). Integer values, however,	are not	scanned	by de-
       fault, since their range	can be given by	an option. To  force  scanning
       of  integer  values  when  the  maximum and minimum are not known (some
       scanners	 produce  files	 with  variable	 ranges),   use	  the	option
       -scan_range.

WORLD COORDINATES
       World  coordinates  refer  to  millimetric coordinates relative to some
       physical	origin (either the  scanner  or	 some  anatomical  structure).
       Voxel  coordinates  are	simply	the indices into the image volume of a
       given voxel.  It	is worth describing briefly how	MINC  coordinate  con-
       versions	 work  since this will affect how successful the new MINC file
       will be.

       Each dimension of MINC image is specified by name - the spatial	dimen-
       sions  are  xspace,  yspace and zspace. The convention is that positive
       xspace coordinates run from the patient's left side to right side, pos-
       itive yspace coordinates	run from patient  posterior  to	 anterior  and
       positive	 zspace	coordinates run	from inferior to superior. For each of
       these spatial dimensions, the world coordinate conversion is  specified
       by  a pair of attributes: step and start.  The xspace world coordinate,
       for example, is calculated using	x = v*step + start, where x is	the  x
       world coordinate	and v is the voxel count (starting at zero).  Thus the
       magnitude  of  the step attribute specifies the distance	between	voxels
       and the sign of the step	attribute specifies  the  orientation  of  the
       axis.  Programs	will  use  this	information to display images with the
       correct aspect ratio and	orientation, so	make  sure  that  you  get  it
       right.  Many  scanners  store transverse	images with the	first pixel at
       the patient's anterior/right side, so it	would  be  necessary  to  give
       negative	 x  and	 y  step values.  Other	conventions have the opposite:
       first pixel at patient's	posterior/left,	so step	values	are  positive.
       Sometimes  the  first  slice is inferior, so the	z step should be posi-
       tive. Other times it is superior, so z step is negative.

       The image axes do not have to be	 aligned  with	the  world  coordinate
       axes. The axis directions are recorded in the file as direction cosines
       -  unit vectors - one for each spatial axis. In this case, the step and
       start attributes	described in the previous paragraph refer to distances
       along the axis, not to coordinates of the first voxel. This makes  them
       invariant under a change	of axis	direction (the whole coordinate	system
       can  in fact be rotated just by changing	the direction cosines).	If the
       coordinate of the first voxel is	known, then it can be converted	 (pro-
       jected) to a set	of start values	by using the -origin option.

OPTIONS
Dimension ordering
       -transverse
	      Transverse images	  : [[time] z] y x (Default)

       -sagittal
	      Sagittal images	  : [[time] x] z y

       -coronal
	      Coronal images	  : [[time] y] z x

       -time  Time ordered images : [[z] time] y x

       -xyz   Dimension	order	  : [[time] x] y z

       -xzy   Dimension	order	  : [[time] x] z y

       -yxz   Dimension	order	  : [[time] y] x z

       -yzx   Dimension	order	  : [[time] y] z x

       -zxy   Dimension	order	  : [[time] z] x y

       -zyx   Dimension	order	  : [[time] z] y x

       -dimorder dim1,dim2[,dim3[,dim4]]
	      Specify  an  arbitrary  dimension	order, given by	an comma-sepa-
	      rated list of between 2 and 4 dimension names.

       -vector size
	      Gives the	size of	a vector dimension (always the fastest varying
	      dimension). Default is no	vector dimension.

Input data type	and range
       -byte  8-bit integer values (default).

       -short 16-bit integer values.

       -int   32-bit integer values.

       -long  Superseded by -int.

       -float Single-precision floating	point values.

       -double
	      Double-precision floating	point values.

       -signed
	      Values are signed	integers (default for short and	long). Ignored
	      for floating point types.

       -unsigned
	      Values are unsigned integers (default  for  byte).  Ignored  for
	      floating point types.

       -range min max
	      specifies	 the  valid range of pixel values. Default is the full
	      range for	the type and sign. This	option is ignored for floating
	      point values.

       -real_range min max
	      specifies	the real range of image	values that corresponds	to the
	      pixel values of option -range. Default is	to not store the  real
	      image  minimum and maximum. If -scan_range is used, then the im-
	      age minimum and maximum corresponding to the scanned pixel mini-
	      mum and maximum are calculated and stored. This  option  is  ig-
	      nored for	floating point values.

       -swap_bytes
	      Input  values  (either  -short or	-int) need to be converted be-
	      tween Motorola (big-endian) and Intel (little-endian) data  for-
	      mat.  If "short" input is	specified, adjacent bytes are swapped.
	      If  "int"	 input	is  specified,	inner and outer	byte pairs are
	      swapped.	This option has	no effect with other input types.

Output data type and range
       -obyte Store 8-bit integer values (default is input type).

       -oshort
	      Store 16-bit integer values (default is input type).

       -oint  Store 32-bit integer values (default is input type).

       -olong Superseded by -oint.

       -ofloat
	      Single-precision floating	point values (default is input type).

       -odouble
	      Double-precision floating	point values (default is input type).

       -osigned
	      Values are signed	integers (default for short and	long). Ignored
	      for floating point types.	If output type is not specified,  then
	      default is input sign type.

       -ounsigned
	      Values  are  unsigned  integers  (default	for byte). Ignored for
	      floating point types. If output type is not specified, then  de-
	      fault is input sign type.

       -orange min max
	      specifies	 the  valid range of pixel values. Default is the full
	      range for	the type and sign. This	option is ignored for floating
	      point values. If output type and sign are	 not  specified,  then
	      the default is the input range.

Scanning integers for range
       -noscan_range
	      Do  not  scan integer values for their minimum and maximum - as-
	      sume that	the -range option gives	the appropriate	range of pixel
	      values (default).	 No rescaling of pixel values is done  (unless
	      the output type differs from the input type) and the created im-
	      ages  are	 assumed  to have a real (not pixel value) minimum and
	      maximum of zero and one.

       -scan_range
	      Integer values are scanned for their minimum and maximum.	 Pixel
	      values  are  rescaled to give the	full range of pixel values and
	      the real minimum and maximum are set to the  pixel  minimum  and
	      maximum  (unless -real_range is used). This should be equivalent
	      to converting the	input to a floating point type and reading  it
	      in  with	-float -oshort (for example) assuming that -real_range
	      is not used.

Writing	output file
       -2     Create MINC 2.0 format output files.

       -clobber
	      Overwrite	existing minc file (default).

       -noclobber
	      Don't overwrite existing minc file.

Reading	from input file
       -input inputfile
	      Read input data from inputfile instead of	standard input.

       -skip length
	      Skip the first length bytes of the input.

World coordinate conversion
       -xstep xstep
	      Step size	for x dimension	(default = none).

       -ystep ystep
	      Step size	for y dimension	(default = none).

       -zstep zstep
	      Step size	for z dimension	(default = none).

       -xstart xstart
	      Starting coordinate for x	dimension (default = none). This is  a
	      distance parallel	to the axis.

       -ystart ystart
	      Starting	coordinate for y dimension (default = none). This is a
	      distance parallel	to the axis.

       -zstart zstart
	      Starting coordinate for z	dimension (default = none). This is  a
	      distance parallel	to the axis.

       -xdircos	x1 x2 x3
	      Direction	cosines	for x dimension	(default = none).

       -ydircos	y1 y2 y3
	      Direction	cosines	for y dimension	(default = none).

       -zdircos	z1 z2 z3
	      Direction	cosines	for z dimension	(default = none).

       -origin o1 o2 o3
	      Specify  the  spatial coordinates	of the first voxel. If the di-
	      rection cosines are not given or are the default ones, this  op-
	      tion  will  give	the  same results as using the -start options.
	      Otherwise, the coordinate	is projected parallel to the  axes  to
	      determine	the appropriate	start values.

Frame time and length specification
       -frame_times t1,t2,t3,...
	      Specify the start	of each	time frame. The	number of values given
	      must  be	equal to the length of the time	dimension specified on
	      the command line.	All of the values given	must be	in  one	 argu-
	      ment  (no	 spaces	 between  them,	or the string must be quoted).
	      Separation by spaces instead of commas is	permitted.

       -frame_widths w1,w2,w3,...
	      Specify  the  length  of	each  time  frame.  The	 comments  for
	      -frame_times apply here as well.

       To  set the start and step values for a functional file with a constant
       frame times, use	the -dattribute	flag described below as	follows:

	   -dattribute time:step=1 -dattribute time:start=0

Imaging	modality
       -nomodality
	      Do not store modality type in file (default).

       -pet   PET data.

       -mri   MRI data.

       -spect SPECT data.

       -gamma Data from	a gamma	camera.

       -mrs   MR spectroscopy data.

       -mra   MR angiography data.

       -ct    CT data.

       -dsa   DSA data

       -dr    Digital radiography data.

Attribute specification
       -sattribute variable:attribute=value
	      Specify that variable should be created  with  string  attribute
	      set  to  value.  The complete specification, including variable,
	      attribute	and value, should be contained in only one argument to
	      the program - quoting  may  be  needed  for  strings  containing
	      blanks.

       -dattribute variable:attribute=value :
	      Like  -sattribute, but for specifying double-precision attribute
	      values.

       -attribute variable:attribute=value
	      Like -sattribute or -dattribute, except that the type is	chosen
	      by  first	trying to interpret the	value as double	precision - if
	      that fails, then the value is assumed to be a string.

Generic	options
       -help  Print summary of command-line options and	exit.

       -version
	      Print the	program's version number and exit.

AUTHOR
       Peter Neelin

COPYRIGHTS
       Copyright (C) 1993 by Peter Neelin

			 $Date:	2005-02-09 19:27:18 $		  RAWTOMINC(1)

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