6.8. Import and Export

6.8.1 Export structure and surface

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Functionality is available in the Pro edition
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To export a structure to a series of DICOM images, click the Export segmented structure button. The series will be stored in the local storage and will be available on the Series Panels for this study.

To export a surface, click the Export mesh button, in the dialog box that appears, select the file type (ply, obj or stl) and save the mesh.

To move the reference point (the point relative to which the model can be deformed in the Vector graphics editors) to the geometrical center of the mesh, click the arrow to the right side of the button, click Export surface parameters... and in the dialog box that appears, check the Center mesh box.

To use the patient’s coordinates when exporting, click the arrow on the right side of the button, click Export surface parameters... and in the dialog box that appears, check the Use patient coordinates box.

You need to be aware that when the surface is printed by a 3D printer, errors may occur for the following reasons:

The surface accuracy depends on the voxel size; the margin of error cannot be smaller than the voxel size.
The boundaries of the structure for which the surface is created depend on the color palette for the initial volume. If a wrong palette is chosen, some tissues that are needed may become invisible, while some negligible tissues may become visible.
The boundaries between tissues characterized by different density values may be blurred because of the physical principles behind the tissue scanning technology. The margin of error may be up to several voxels.
The surface accuracy is subject to antialiasing and depends on the polygon count.

6.8.2 Import surface

To import a surface, click the Import surface button , in the dialog box that appears, select the file and press Open.

To use the patient’s coordinates, click the arrow on the right side of the button, click Import surface parameters... and in the dialog box that appears, check the Use patient coordinates box.

To align the centers of the imported surface and the model when importing, click the arrow on the right side of the button, click Surface Import Parameters... and in the dialog that appears, check the Add to the center box.

To move the imported surface manually, activate the tool Surface positioning and move the surface on the plane of the screen, holding the left mouse button.

To create a segmented structure for a surface, select the imported surface on the segmented structure panel and press Create segmented structure by surface on the segmented structure panel.