Amira Stacked Slices .ASI File Description

Surfer imports images in the Amira Stacked Slices format. One or more images are imported from separate files as specified by a description file. The description file can be created by the user or by another application. The recommended (though not mandatory) file name extension is .ASI.

File Description

The description file is an ordinary text file. Any lines in the file that begin with a pound (#) character are assumed to be comments and are ignored. Any other lines must adhere to the format described below.

Typically the file begins with a comment line that reads

# Amira Stacked Slices

Next comes the optional "pathname" line. If present, this line specifies the pathname of the directory where the image files are located. If the pathname line is not present, the software assumes the image files are located in the same directory as the description file.

 

Example 1

pathname c:\MyPictures

Next comes the optional "pixelsize" line. If present, this line specifies the spacing of the lattice nodes for each pixel in application units.

Example 2

pixelsize 0.1. 0.1

If the pixelsize line is not present, the default size is one unit per pixel.

Next comes the image list consisting of one or more lines, each of which specifies the file name of an image file to load. Each of these lines can also optionally specify an application Z position for each image slice.

Example 3

picture1.jpg 10.0

picture2.bmp 11.0

picture3.jpg 12.0

picture4.tif 15.0

The above example loads four image slices positioned at 10, 11, 12, and 15 units along the Z axis.

If the z positions are not given with the image file names, the default z positioning, which uses the larger of the x pixel size and y pixel size as the amount to space between each slice on the z axis, is used.

If the z positions are uniformly spaced, the imported lattice is of the "uniform" lattice type.

Finally, the file ends with a line containing the word "end."

Example 4: Description File

# Amira Stacked Slices

 

# Directory where image files live

pathname c:\MyPictures

 

# Pixel Size

pixelsize 0.5 0.5

 

# Image List

slice1.jpg 1.6

slice2.jpg 1.8

slice3.jpg 2.0

 

# Mark the end of the description file

end

The image files to which the description file refers may include any of the image file formats supported by the other filters, such as .JPG, .BMP, .PNG, .TGA, and so on.

Loading .ASI Files

Amira Stacked Slices .ASI files can be loaded to create a grid based map (i.e. Home | New Map | Contour) with the Open Grid dialog, or when using the functions in the Grid menu.

Import Options Dialog

No import options dialog is displayed.

Import Automation Options

No import options are available.

Import Restrictions/Limitations

Note that the images referenced by any particular description file must all be of the same width and height (in pixels) and have the same color depth (in bits per pixel). If any referenced image differs in dimensions or color depth from the others, an error message displays and the import does not complete.

See Also

File Format Chart