L.S.
I think it would be good to attract users that are currently using
DTI studio (i.e. clinical scientists). As the functionality of
DTIStudio and JIST only partly overlaps, it is important for these
users to be able to read the data generated by JIST using
DTIStudio. This would allow for 1) easier comparison of DTIStudio
results with JIST results, 2) performing tasks that are currently
not supported in JIST (i.e. ROI-based fiber selection), 3)
generally making the transition from DTIStudio to JIST
smoother.
DTIStudio is very picky with its input formats, to say the least.
Getting it to read in a 4-D tensor or 1st eigenvector file is not
pleasant at all, even if you are willing to figure it out and write
an intermediate program for it. It is really easy to play the
'blame-game' in this case, as some of the problems are due
DTIStudio's flawed implementation of file handling (little/big
endian, .nii reading, etc, etc.). It is however something that JIST
*can* accommodate for, and it would allow a lot of 'naive' users to
make the step to JIST.
So what I propose is a module that takes in:
-Different types of diffusion related data, such as FA,
FA-colormaps, vector field, tensor fields, fiber collections, ROI
collections.
-an output directory
-DTIStudio version number (if needed)
,and writes out all these files in the format that comes native to
DTI studio, with the correct extensions, in the directory of the
users choice.
I'm aware that some of this functionality is already present in the
modules "fiber-tracker", and "Format Vector Volume", but would be
helpful to have it all in one module.
I would like to hear your thought on this before I have a stab at
this myself.
thanks for your time,
Daniel
