IUBio

3-D rat brain model

Thomas Trusk, PhD ttrusk at its.mcw.edu
Wed Oct 6 11:44:11 EST 1993


In article <15887 at bonzo.ed.ac.uk> kate at cogsci.ed.ac.uk (Kate Jeffery) writes:
>In article <28o4s0$hac at news.u.washington.edu> dfitts at carson.u.washington.edu
>(Douglas Fitts) writes:
>>Sorry, can't help.  I actually tried this once, coding in reference
>>points from Paxinos & Watson in 3-D ......>... Anyway, I got something I
>>could rotate, all right, but it looked nothing like the brain.  The 
>>successive slides of P&W aren't really closely aligned, it seems...
>>If someone has a line on a really good effort at this please be sure to 
>>post it.  It's likely to be general interest -- and I mean a *PC* 
>>version, not a Hypercard stack on a MAC, I think there is already a
>>MAC version out.

>Yes a couple of people have mentioned a package on the Mac called
>BrainBrowser, although it sounds like it would need to be converted
>from a series of slices to a 3-D model. The Paxinos and Watson atlas
>was constructed from over a hundred brains so the smoothing would be a
>formidable task. What is really needed is someone with the patience to
>sit down and slice and draw a single brain. Any anatomists out there
>could be tempted?! From the replies I've had it sounds like there
>might be a healthy market...

>**************************************************************************
>Kate Jeffery, Dept. of Pharmacology, University of Edinburgh, Scotland UK
>**************************************************************************

As an anatomist, first, and a computer-junkie, second, I would love to tackle 
a problem such as this. Here are the caveats as I see them: 
1. Time/materials expense. Although I, and likely a large number of labs, 
possess the tools to complete such a job, the money needed for this 
project would be required UP FRONT.  I'm fairly sure that a good job cannot be 
done in one's spare time with their own funds, thus backing of SOME kind is 
necessary.  I know a number of publishers are sometimes willing to invest in 
such projects. The problem, as always, is having enough data to convince them 
their investment will pay off. 
2. I envision a 3D display that can be rotated, sliced in any plane, 
interrogated by mouse pointer, etc. These are fairly complex tasks that will 
require high-end computers for non-frustating execution speeds. The user 
may require AT LEAST a 486-33 MHz, or a MAC IIfx, or a UNIX box.  In my 
experience these requirements always raise the price of the product and 
decrease the potential market.  The point here is that the product must be in 
a form that would be of value to the widest audience.  That means low cost and 
machine-independence.  

Any other thoughts on developing such a project?


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*Thomas Trusk, PhD                   *                                     *
*Dept. of Cellular Biology & Anatomy *  I'm a peripheral visionary.        *
*Medical College of Wisconsin        *  I can see into the future...       *
*Milwaukee, WI  53226                *  Just way off to the side.          *
*MaBellNet: (414) 257-8504           *                                     *
*INTERNET: ttrusk at its.mcw.edu        *                  Steven Wright      *
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