NAME

       mincblob - calculate blobs from minc deformation grids

SYNOPSIS

       mincblob [<options>] <in1>.mnc

DESCRIPTION

       mincblob will calculate simple statistical metrics of a minc deformation grid file related
       to local volume change. The  input  deformation  grid  files  are  typically  produced  by
       minctracc.

       There  are  currently  4  deformation  grid  metrics  to  choose from: trace, determinant,
       translation and magnitude. The first two relate to different  estimates  of  local  volume
       change  the  third is a measure of how consistent movement is in a direction but without a
       local change in volume. The last calcuates the magnitude of the local deformation  vector.
       These  metrics  are  all  calculated  with  respect  to a vectors immediate neighbours. No
       smoothing of the field is performed as part of this calculation so if a smooth results  is
       desired input grid files should be first smoothed or blurred.

OPTIONS

       Note  that  options  can be specified in abbreviated form (as long as they are unique) and
       can be given anywhere on the command line.

General options

       -clobber
              Overwrite an existing file.

       -noclobber
              Don't overwrite an existing file (default).

       -verbose
              Print out extra information (more than the default).

              -trace Compute the areas  within  the  deformation  field  that  equate  to  volume
              increase  or decrease (+ve or -ve dilation) Dilation is defined as the trace of the
              deformation field Thus it should range between -1..1 with -1 being compression  and
              1  being  dilation.  This  measure  while  fast  is  essentially  a  sum of partial
              derivatives in all three directions.

       -determinant
              This computes the same metric as -trace but with  greater  accuracy  as  the  local
              Jacobian  matrix is first estimated. The first order determinant of the Jacobian is
              then returned.

       -translation
              Compute  the  areas  within  the  deformation  field  that  equate  to  translation
              Translation  is defined as: trans = arccos( A.B / |A|.|B| ) * e^- (|A|-|B|) Thus it
              should range between 0..1 with 1 being "translation".

       -magnitude
              Compute the magnitude of the local deformation vector.

Generic options for all commands:

       -help  Print summary of command-line options and exit.

       -version
              Print the program's version number and exit.

AUTHOR

       Andrew Janke

COPYRIGHTS

       Program: Copyright © 2000 by Andrew Janke

       Man page: Copyright © 2001 by Peter Neelin

                                   $Date: 2004-05-20 21:52:09 $                       MINCBLOB(1)