DeVIDE 9.8 released

I am extremely happy to be able to announce the release of DeVIDE 9.8!

Major changes include:

• The DRE: the DeVIDE Runtime Environment is a complete Python distribution including cmake, swig, Python, wxPython, numpy, matplotlib, gdcm, VTK and ITK.  The DeVIDE application makes use of this runtime environment, and now you can too!
• WrapITK 0.3.0: The latest generation ITK pure-swig wrappings have been included.
• Multi-threaded VTK wrappings.
• Release on 4 platforms: Linux 32, Linux 64, Windows 32, Windows 64.

Read the 9.8 Release Notes, then go to the downloads page to get yours!

Let me know how it goes in the comments to this blog posting and on the mailing list, or report some bugs using the issue tracker.

9.8 imminent: The Biggest Release Ever

Thanks to the summer quiet, I’ve been able to put a whole lot of work into the next DeVIDE release.  This is going to be a biggie, by far the most significantly updated release.

Some highlights:

• The DeVIDE Runtime Environment (DRE): Develop and run your own applications based on the same components as DeVIDE itself.
• WrapITK 0.3.0: Thanks to the great work of Gaëtan Lehman, the new ITK wrappings have been improved in almost all respects.
• VTK Python wrappings now multi-threaded.

Read the current changelog for the 9.8 release by clicking here.

I’m going to branch within the next few days and then iron out the usual pre-release bugs.  I’ll release as soon as possible thereafter.

P.S. I almost forgot!  For the first time EVAR, there will also be a release on Windows 64!  See below for the proof:

DeVIDE 9.1 released

Finally, another release is out the door.  The fact that it took this long ( 8.5 was released in June of 2008 ) is a testament to my general level of business the past months.

In any case, 9.1 contains oodles of new goodies, most of which you’ll probably never notice.

Read the release notes for more information and a summary of the changes since the previous release.  Then get your source code or binaries (for Windows, Linux x86 or Linux x86_64) from the download page.

Let me know how it goes in the comments to this blog posting and on the mailing list, or report some bugs using the issue tracker.

DVN file format completely overhauled

I prefer posts on this blog with pretty pictures, but I’m going to have to make an exception in this case.

As I was refactoring (mostly renaming) throughout the DeVIDE code base, I got bitten again by the fact that the DVN file format for saving DeVIDE networks is based on Python pickling, and hence each DVN file is to a certain extent dependent on the presence of certain objects in DeVIDE itself.  This means that backward compatibility is really hard to maintain.  In addition, even the ASCI pickle format (I was using the binary version for cross-platform reasons) is not very human friendly.

As I really like refactoring stuff, I redesigned the DVN file format this afternoon.  It is now human-readable and editable, far more robust and well separated from any DeVIDE internals.  See the difference in this simple example: before vs. after.  Cool eh?

This will be the new default from the next release onwards.  Fear not, there is a relatively straight-forward way to convert your old DVN networks to the new format.  You will need a DeVIDE 8.5 installation.  Simply load up the network you want to convert in DeVIDE 8.5, then run this snippet in the main Python Shell.  The DVN file it writes will be compatible with future releases, starting with the up and coming 8.9.

We have a Transfer Function editor!

Thanks to a short piece of code (and here’s my modified version) published by Stou S, I’ve finally been able to make that transfer function editor module in DeVIDE!  This means that you can now have Much More Fun with the VolumeRender module, which I’ve also improved with more configurable parameters and better defaults.

If any of you have a flair for making beautiful CT transfer functions and would be willing to help, let me know.  I would like to ship DeVIDE 8.9 with good built-in transfer function presets.

Screencast: How to write DICOM data

I’ve made a screencast demonstrating the DICOM writing functionality in DeVIDE.  Click on the preview below to watch:

For those of you needing a refresher, DICOM stands for Digital Imaging and Communications in Medicine.  Due to the integration of the brilliant GDCM2 library, DICOM can browse, read and write these datasets.

DeVIDE 8.5 released

After 3.5 months, 287 source commits and even some bug fixes, the second open source release of DeVIDE, version 8.5, is finally available!

Read the release notes for more information and a summary of the changes since the previous release.  Then get your source code or binaries (for Windows, Linux x86 or Linux x86_64) from the download page.

Let me know how it goes in the comments to this blog posting and on the mailing list, or report some bugs using the issue tracker!

Come and get your pre-8.5 test release!

I’ve cut some test binaries for the 8.5 release for which I’d really appreciate any feedback that you might have.  I’m planning to release the real 8.5 in a few days, these test binaries are pretty close to the final thing.  They are available on the Current Test Releases page for Windows 32, Linux x86 and Linux x86_64.

See the current changelog for a list of changes since 8.2.

Please let me know how it goes in a comment to this post, on the mailing list, or by filing a bug!

DeVIDE 8.5 pre-release status update

This is a quick update on the status of the delayed 8.5 release.  With the help of Jorik, Stef, Gerwin and Eric (talk about ganging up on a bug), I managed to fix the last major showstopper bug.  This, together with my chronic lack of time issues, was the primary reason for the release delay.  I’ve been able to spend some time the last few days (nights, to be honest) and plan to branch for 8.5 soon.  If all goes according to plan, I hope to get 8.5 release out the door within a week or two at the outside.

I’ve made a very short screencast in which you can see the Graph Editor appearance updates and also the connection feedback:

Screencast of new DICOMBrowser in 8.5

I’ve put up a screencast show-casing the new DICOMBrowser functionality in the soon-to-be-released DeVIDE 8.5. Every new release will feature some new cool functionality, and in 8.5 it’s the new DICOM support. Based on GDCM2 (Mathieu Malaterre is my hero), there’s a new DICOMReader (superseding the venerable DCMTK-based dicomRDR module), as well as the DICOMBrowser and DICOMWriter. Click on the image below to see the browser in action:

You can take a look at a continuously updated list of all the outstanding 8.5 issues by clicking here.