New Image reconstruction software

About

Reconstruct is a Windows (Win32) application for montaging, aligning, tracing, measuring, and reconstructing objects from serial section images. The software is designed for microscopy in which section resolution is much finer than section thickness, such as transmitted electron microscopy (EM) where the resolution is a few nanometers while the section thickness is many tens of nanometers.

Reconstruct can easily handle series with hundreds of very large, high-resolution section images. In a typical application, entire EM negatives are scanned at 1000 dpi using a conventional desktop scanner. This produces large image files more than 10 Mb in size. These files are saved as Bitmaps or TIFFs, usually with a number in the filename indicating the section number. The image files are then imported into Reconstruct using a multi-file import operation.

Reconstruct facilitates image cropping, scaling and alignment. Multiple images can be placed side-by-side to make a montage of a section from a mosaic of images. The alignment of adjacent sections can be rapidly compared by either blending the two sections or by flickering between them. Sections can be moved while blended using the arrow and function keys. However, it is usually easier to align the images by putting a few points into correspondence. This can be done by entering point traces alternately on adjacent sections and then selecting a menu command to generate the correct alignment. Reconstruct aids in the calibration of image size. Images taken at different magnifications can be combined, calibrated and aligned. Reconstruct provides tools for tracing and editing of objects on sections. Objects can be surfaced from the traces and previewed in an OpenGL-based 3D scene window. The 3D scene can be saved as a bitmap or as a VRML file (file formats).

For more information on the current functionality of Reconstruct read the full program documentation.

Want to know more...

http://synapses.bu.edu/tools/index.htm

Download

Reconstruct was created with funding, in part, from the National Institutes of Health and the Human Brain Project under grants (P30 HD 18655, R01 MH/DA 57351, and R01 EB 002170).

Permission to use, copy, and redistribute Reconstruct is granted without fee under the terms of the GNU General Public License version 2 as published by the Free Software Foundation.

This software is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY, including the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. For details read the terms of the GNU General Public License when installing the software.

---

Binary executable download:

Version 1.1.0.0 with Help Manual and example.ser (7.9Mb exe) [Updated July 30, 2007]

System Requirements:
Microsoft Windows (95/98/2000/NT/XP/Vista)
Pentium processor
12 Mb of disk space for program files
at least 128 Mb of RAM

Read Quick Start to get started using the software.

The latest updates to the software can be downloaded from the Users Group.

Source: Synapse group, Boston University