Related Software & Links

Here are some alternatives to Dendrometer, and some other resources Dendrometer users might find useful.

Other Vectorization Systems

Mevin
Platform: MacOS
Cost: free
Comments: This is a combination of NIH Image scripts and Java scripts. NIH Image is used to vectorize dendrites; the script automatically computes the proper diameter when you "swab" it with the line tool. The output file can be fed to a Java script which converts it to VRML for visualization. It's a very nice package which makes good use of existing tools.
A similar set of NIH macros is available here.
xvoxtrace + xdend
Platform: Unix + X-Windows
Cost: free
Comments: xvoxtrace is a contour-tracing program. A volume in Analyze format is loaded, and contours are traced plane by plane. Contours are grouped into objects (identified on-screen by color), which can be exported to rendering tools or to xdend. xdend takes this contour data and computes various measurements, e.g., length, surface area, and volume, for branchy dendrite-like objects.
Analyze + xdend
Platform: Unix + X-Windows
Cost: $$$
Comments: If the dendrites are of high contrast, they can be roughly masked with Analyze, then traced automatically in xdend. I haven't actually seen this, and I'm not sure if Analyze is really needed (or if any masking would suffice), but it's worth looking into. Ideally, Analyze could be avoided, because it is extremely difficult to use.

MacVol
Platform: MacOS
Cost: free
Comments: A MacOS interface to the VolPack volume rendering library. Still under development, but includes support for AppleScripting and PICS file format. Performance is good, but it requires large amounts of RAM.

http://www.strout.net/dendrometer/links.html
Last Updated: 2/01/97 . . . . . . Joe Strout