2. ctagg

This utility can be used to aggregate the density readings from all scans in a CT-scanner’s output into a simple CSV file, suitable for plotting in a variety of applications. File formats supported include TXM files (”.txm”), VGI files (”.vgi” with an equivalently named ”.vol” file), or TIFF stacks (specify one of the TIFF filenames and all equivalently sized TIFFs in the directory will be loaded as part of the stack). If no output filename is specified, output will be written to a file with the same name as the input but with a ”.csv” extension.

2.1. Synopsis

ctagg [-h] [--version] [-q] [-v] [-l FILE] [-P]
      [-s START[:STOP[:STEP]]] [-f NUM]
      input [output]

2.2. Description

-h, --help

show this help message and exit

--version

show program’s version number and exit

-q, --quiet

produce less console output

-v, --verbose

produce more console output

-l FILE, --log-file FILE

log messages to the specified file

-P, --pdb

run under PDB (debug mode)

-s START[:STOP[:STEP]], --slice START[:STOP[:STEP]]

specifies the index(es) of image(s) to extract from the scan in Python slice notation, e.g. 0:50 to extract the first 50 images, 50: to extract all images from the 50th onward, or ::5 to extract every 5th image. Defaults to all images

-f NUM, --filter NUM

any counts below the specified filter level will be excluded from the CSV output

2.3. Examples

Extract all density measurements from scan1.txm into scan1.csv:

$ ctagg scan1.txm

Extract density measurements from every 10th slice in scan1.txm into preview.csv:

$ ctagg --slice ::10 scan1.txm preview.csv

Extract density measurements from the first slice in scan1.vgi into first.csv (this assumes a corresponding file named scan1.vol exists in the same directory as scan1.vgi):

$ ctagg --slice :1 scan1.vgi first.csv

Extract density measurements from every third slice of the TIFF stack which includes slice001.tiff, ignoring densities below 10 into quick.csv, printing verbose progress messages to the console:

$ ctagg -v --slice ::3 --filter 10 slice001.tiff preview.csv

When processing TIFF stacks, simply specify the name of one of the TIFF images in the stack. The utility will automatically locate all other TIFF images that exist in the same directory and which have the same resolution as the specified TIFF. The images will be arranged in the stack in alphabetical order by filename.

2.4. Known Issues

Our understanding of several of the formats above is limited (in particular TXM and VGI+VOL), specifically in terms of the data types supported within these files. If you encounter a file which does not work with CT Utils, please file a bug report so that we can enhance the suite.