Provided by: dcmtk_3.6.8-6_amd64 
NAME
dcmp2pgm - Read DICOM image and presentation state and render bitmap
SYNOPSIS
dcmp2pgm [options] dcmimage-in [bitmap-out]
DESCRIPTION
The dcmp2pgm utility renders a monochrome DICOM image under the control of a grayscale
softcopy presentation state object into a monochrome bitmap with 8 bits/pixel. The bitmap
is stored either as 'Portable Gray Map' (PGM) or as a DICOM secondary capture image
object. If no presentation state is read from file, a default presentation state is
created. The utility allows one to read a configuration file of the Softcopy Presentation
State Viewer upon startup. In this case, the settings from the configuration file
affecting the rendering of the presentation state are used, e.g. a correction of the gray
scale range according to Barten's model (DICOM part 14) can be performed if the
characteristic curve of the display system is available and defined in the configuration
file.
PARAMETERS
dcmimage-in input DICOM image ('-' for stdin)
bitmap-out output DICOM image or PGM bitmap
OPTIONS
general options
-h --help
print this help text and exit
--version
print version information and exit
--arguments
print expanded command line arguments
-q --quiet
quiet mode, print no warnings and errors
-v --verbose
verbose mode, print processing details
-d --debug
debug mode, print debug information
-ll --log-level [l]evel: string constant
(fatal, error, warn, info, debug, trace)
use level l for the logger
-lc --log-config [f]ilename: string
use config file f for the logger
processing options
-p --pstate [f]ilename: string
process using presentation state file
-c --config [f]ilename: string
process using settings from configuration file
-f --frame [f]rame: integer
process using image frame f (default: 1)
output format
-D --pgm
save image as PGM (default)
+D --dicom
save image as DICOM secondary capture
output options
+S --save-pstate [f]ilename: string
save presentation state to file
NOTES
Limitations
Please note that the dcmp2pgm tool does not render all aspects that are defined by the
Grayscale Softcopy Presentation State (GSPS) object but only those that are supported by
the underlying DCMTK classes. In particular, textual and graphical annotations will not be
visible in the output image. The reason is that these aspects of a GSPS object are
typically rendered by DICOMscope, the graphical user interface that is put on top of the
related DCMTK classes and written in Java.
Also concepts that were introduced after the initial definition of the GSPS IOD (see
Supplement 33) are ignored. This includes Supplement 120 with its extended features like
e.g. Compound Graphics.
LOGGING
The level of logging output of the various command line tools and underlying libraries can
be specified by the user. By default, only errors and warnings are written to the standard
error stream. Using option --verbose also informational messages like processing details
are reported. Option --debug can be used to get more details on the internal activity,
e.g. for debugging purposes. Other logging levels can be selected using option --log-
level. In --quiet mode only fatal errors are reported. In such very severe error events,
the application will usually terminate. For more details on the different logging levels,
see documentation of module 'oflog'.
In case the logging output should be written to file (optionally with logfile rotation),
to syslog (Unix) or the event log (Windows) option --log-config can be used. This
configuration file also allows for directing only certain messages to a particular output
stream and for filtering certain messages based on the module or application where they
are generated. An example configuration file is provided in <etcdir>/logger.cfg.
COMMAND LINE
All command line tools use the following notation for parameters: square brackets enclose
optional values (0-1), three trailing dots indicate that multiple values are allowed
(1-n), a combination of both means 0 to n values.
Command line options are distinguished from parameters by a leading '+' or '-' sign,
respectively. Usually, order and position of command line options are arbitrary (i.e. they
can appear anywhere). However, if options are mutually exclusive the rightmost appearance
is used. This behavior conforms to the standard evaluation rules of common Unix shells.
In addition, one or more command files can be specified using an '@' sign as a prefix to
the filename (e.g. @command.txt). Such a command argument is replaced by the content of
the corresponding text file (multiple whitespaces are treated as a single separator unless
they appear between two quotation marks) prior to any further evaluation. Please note that
a command file cannot contain another command file. This simple but effective approach
allows one to summarize common combinations of options/parameters and avoids longish and
confusing command lines (an example is provided in file <datadir>/dumppat.txt).
ENVIRONMENT
The dcmp2pgm utility will attempt to load DICOM data dictionaries specified in the
DCMDICTPATH environment variable. By default, i.e. if the DCMDICTPATH environment variable
is not set, the file <datadir>/dicom.dic will be loaded unless the dictionary is built
into the application (default for Windows).
The default behavior should be preferred and the DCMDICTPATH environment variable only
used when alternative data dictionaries are required. The DCMDICTPATH environment variable
has the same format as the Unix shell PATH variable in that a colon (':') separates
entries. On Windows systems, a semicolon (';') is used as a separator. The data dictionary
code will attempt to load each file specified in the DCMDICTPATH environment variable. It
is an error if no data dictionary can be loaded.
FILES
<etcdir>/dcmpstat.cfg - sample configuration file
COPYRIGHT
Copyright (C) 1998-2023 by OFFIS e.V., Escherweg 2, 26121 Oldenburg, Germany.