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ImageSurfer 2: n-Dimensional Volume Explorer (nDive)

nDive_dentriticiso_dentritic

This tutorial shows you how to visualize volume data in the form of particles. Again, I will use the dentritic spine dataset as an example.

  1. Follow this isosurface tutorial to get to the point where the spines are displayed in isosurfaces.
  2. In the main menu, click Tools -> Manage Custom Filters…. When a dialog popups, click Import, and import the file ‘nDive.xml’ from the ‘plugins’ folder under ImageSurfer2. On a Mac, the path is ImageSurfer2.app/Contents/MacOS/plugins/nDive.xml. Close the dialog. ImageSurfer will remember this filter even if you close the program, so you only have to import at the very first time.
  3. Now in the Pipeline Browser, make sure Contour is selected, and then click Filters -> Alphabetical -> nDive to apply the nDive filter.
  4. In the Property panel, there should be two options for the nDive filter: Maximum Number of Points and Set Scale Factor. If you only see one of them, click the little gear icon near the panel’s upper-right corner to display both.
  5. We won’t be able to see anything yet because the particles are too small. To scale them up, set the Scale factor from 0.1023 to 10.
  6. Now you should be able to see the particles filling out the space where the spine is. You can adjust Maximum number of Points to change the density of those particles, and adjust Set Scale Factor to change the size of each particle.