Introduction

The ImFusion Suite is a rapid prototyping software for working with medical images. It is built on top of the ImFusion SDK and therefore provides a rich and powerful toolbox of processing, analysis, and visualization algorithms. A plugin architecture allows for dynamically extending the set of functionality.

The main user interface is separated into several sections:

1. The Data widget showing an overview of all loaded data.

2. The views section showing 2D, MPR, and 3D visualization of the currently selected data.

3. The Annotation Widget providing functionality to annotate images with elements such as labels, lines, etc.

4. The Algorithm Dock providing space for the GUI elements of individual algorithms run on the loaded data.

Loading Data

All supported data formats can be loaded via the Import menu in the top menu bar. Usually this leads to a filesystem browser from which you can select the files to import. Certain data formats provide a dedicated GUI with additional options, such as the DICOM browser enabling you to scan entire directory structures recursively or connecting to a PACS instance on the network.

Alternatively, you can also use drag-and-drop to load existing data into the Suite. The software will use the file extension to determine the file format and forward it to the corresponding loader.

After importing, all the loaded data will be added to the Data widget (1) which serves two main purposes:

• Selection of one or multiple images that are to be shown in the views (indicated by the eye icon in the left-most column).

• Selection of one or multiple images and run algorithms on them (indicated by the highlighted background color).

More information about the DataWidget can be found on the dedicated page.

Views / Visualization

All images that are set visible in the Data widget are automatically shown in the view section (2) of the Suite. Depending on their type/structure, the images are distributed to one or multiple of the following views:

• 2D images and 2D image-sets are shown in a dedicated 2D view.

• 3D images and 3D image-sets are shown in 3 orthogonal MPR views (slice rendering) and in a 3D view (volume rendering).

More information about the views can be found on the dedicated page.

Annotations

The Annotations widget (3) enables you to place various annotation objects on top of images or other data, for example meshes. Annotations can be used for annotating purposes as well as for measuring.

More information about the annotations can be found on the dedicated page.

Running Algorithms on Data

The majority of the ImFusion Suite functionality is implemented through the concept of an Algorithm. Algorithms are modular building blocks operating on input data, performing processing and/or analysis tasks, and optionally providing new output data.

To run an algorithm on one or multiple images you must first select the images in the Data widget (1). For algorithms that do not need any input, make sure that no items are selected. Then, you can use the Algorithms button in the menu bar to launch the Algorithm Browser. This browser shows a list of all compatible algorithms and allows for filtering based on the name and documentation. Alternatively, you can also directly right-click on the data in the Data widget to show a context menu listing the set of available algorithms that can be run on the selected input data. Selecting one entry will launch the corresponding algorithm.

Note

Some algorithms will show a small beaker icon next to their name indicating the experimental/research nature of the algorithm. This suggests that the algorithm may be somewhat unrefined – for example, it might only handle specific use cases or may not have been thoroughly tested across a wide range of input data.

Some algorithms will run without further input from the user and directly provide the output/result. However, the majority of them will first spawn a new “Controller UI” that is shown in the algorithm dock on the left-hand side (4). In this UI, you can configure algorithm-specific settings and eventually launch computation.

It is possible to run multiple algorithms and keep their controllers open at the same time.