CompuServe Messages

There is really no way to take the raw data files from MRI or CT and convert them into a 3ds or dxf format. The main reason is that each company has its own proprietary format and therefore you cant access it. There is some standardization beginning but it is not in the near future. If you want to get some 3d data from the actual scans there is a way to do it for the pc, you cannot, however, take that data into 3d studio. There is a program called spyglass which will allow you to take consecutive slices of the scan(ie- a mri of the head in the axial plane will take about 14-16 3-5mm slices)convert the actual slices into gif files, whichever way you want to, direct screen capture, scanning, video etc. You then have to reposition each gif file so that if all images are placed on the same plane the reference points stay exactly in the same spot. These gif files are then brought into spy glass and depending on the pixel values you can then render, raytrace, the areas which you want to discern. It is not done in real time but it works out pretty well. You can also animate it and apply false colors. We do some of this for our projects and are currently working with one of the imaging vendors to allow us to directly register the image files so we can import them directly into spy glass. Very, very tedious. Hope this helps. Sam Coor Medical Media