Valmor de Almeida wrote:

Hello List,

Some raw image data from a x-ray CT scan come out in an unfamiliar format to me. The file name with extension is filename.ct. Is it possible to read the data directly with GIMP? If not, would it be possible to write a module in GIMP for it? if so, how would I go about doing writing it?

Which CT scanner did you use? Many CT scanners have propriatary formats (especially old ones). New scanners use a format called DICOM. You can get tools for reading dicom (and some propriatary formats) from http://www.dclunie.com/dicom3tools.html If it isn't there, you can try the FAQ for alt.image.medical which can be found at:
http://www.dclunie.com/medical-image-faq/html/ which will describe how to read many propriatary medical image formats.

If it still isn't there, you can try NIHImage (which only runs on macs) or ScionImage (a port of NIHImage for windows).

If you are still desperate, most medical image formats store their data at the end of the file, so seek to the end of the file, guess your matrix size, try reading the data, and displaying it on the screen. If you are lucky, it will work. When guessing, even powers of 2 are common matrix sizes (aka, 256x256, 128x128) and the storage size is usually 8 or 16 bits per pixel monochrome, and little-endian and big-endian are both common.

--
Dan

Hi,

Daniel Rogers writes:

Which CT scanner did you use? Many CT scanners have propriatary formats (especially old ones). New scanners use a format called DICOM. You can get tools for reading dicom (and some propriatary formats) from http://www.dclunie.com/dicom3tools.html

GIMP-2.0 comes with a plug-in to read and write the DICOM file format.

Sven

Hi,

Valmor de Almeida writes:

Some raw image data from a x-ray CT scan come out in an unfamiliar format to me. The file name with extension is filename.ct. Is it possible to read the data directly with GIMP?

Well, did you try? I am not aware of a plug-in that reads this but you might just try it out. Perhaps it's just a standard format with an obscure file extension.

If not, would it be possible to write a module in GIMP for it? if so, how would I go about doing writing it?

If you have documentation about the file format, you can of course write a GIMP plug-in for it. Have a look at one of the dozens of file plug-ins that come with the GIMP source code. You might also find the information at http://developer.gimp.org/ helpful.

Sven