Generic Shader 3D is a template for quick shader development and tweaking in Fusion. We created it to avoid having to generate a full Visual C++ project for every random shader idea that we dream up. The tool provides the user with a large number of Fusion inputs that are passed as Cg parameters: booleans, floats, colors, materials, gradients, lights, and a transformation matrix. The user can also switch between the numbered shaders by adjusting a slider, which is implemented as a literal parameter so that only the selected code branch is compiled.

Once a shader proves to be useful and the required inputs are more or less locked-down, we typically convert it into a full-fledged 3D Fusion tool (expect more of these posted soon, by the way).

Download GenericShader3D 1.0

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We recently had a request for our Fusion plugin wizard for VS 2003, so here is a download link. Enjoy!

We’ve been adding CUDA support to many of our custom tools lately and finding speed-ups of 40x in some cases. This tool is an example of an idea that would be totally impractical (hence the krazy) without a highly parallel GPU-based approach. The algorithm takes each pixel in the input image, and finds the shortest distance (in RGB space) from it to the pixels in the “selection” image. This requires an every-pixel-to-every-pixel distance calculation, with the final shortest distance value compared to a threshold to determine whether or not to mask the pixel.

Download KrazyKey 1.0

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This week we’re talking about a tool that helps you position polyline masks more accurately.  The following diagram shows the idea we are exploring. Basically, perpendicular lines of interpolated samples are obtained at intervals along the length of the polyline, which then become the columns of the output image.

Sampling along polyline to generate output image

When isolating a object with a definite edge, the ideal output is a horizontal line at the exact center of the image, dividing the interior and exterior textures. The next three images show the tool in action on an image of Morning Glory Pool at Yellowstone National Park. This image has a high-contrast yellow-to-green edge along the bottom of the polyline (foreground of the image) and a yellow-to-gray edge along the top.

The next image shows what is happening conceptually. Interpolated samples are obtained along lines that are perpendicular to the polyline. The number of samples between key points is consistent, so the sampling is finer when the key points are closer to one another.

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This past October, I gave a talk for the Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society (EMBS) of the IEEE in New York City. The talk covers the design and evaluation of a device adding 3-D ultrasound scanning to a digital mammography (breast x-ray) system. The presentation centers on the specific application and device, but also touches on more general topics such as stereo image calibration and experimental design for evaluating needle placement accuracy. Note: the video takes a few seconds to buffer and begin playing.

REGISTERED 3-D ULTRASOUND and DIGITAL STEREOTACTIC
MAMMOGRAPHY for BREAST BIOPSY GUIDANCE

Matthew Irwin, MESc
IEEE EMBS New York
October 28, 2008

Large core needle biopsy is a common procedure used to obtain tissue samples when cancer is suspected in diagnostic breast images. The procedure is typically performed under image guidance, most commonly using freehand ultrasound or stereotactic mammography (SM). To utilize the advantages of both imaging modalities, we developed a biopsy device combining three-dimensional ultrasound (3DUS) and digital SM imaging with computer-aided needle guidance. This talk will discuss the design of our system, current methods in digital stereo X-ray and 3-D ultrasound imaging and validation experiments using tissue-simulating phantoms. A paper outlining this work was recently published: “Registered 3-D Ultrasound and Digital Stereotactic Mammography for Breast Biopsy Guidance”, M. R. Irwin, D. B. Downey, L. Gardi, and A. Fenster. IEEE Transactions on Medical Imaging, vol. 27, no. 3, pp. 391-401, Mar. 2008.

We’re releasing a simple tool today to help you reduce noise in ’09. We develop many 3D filtering tools at AT, but this one is a good candidate for release because it’s useful for video compositing.

Download Median In Time 1.0

MedianInTime performs a median filter over time for each pixel. The median filter kernel can be selected from sizes 3,5,7 or 9 (indicating the total number of frames in the sort). The tool calculates the median based either on the luminance or the RGB channels separately. This operation will generally reduce noise, but is also great for removing things that appear for just one or two frames such as rain drops, film artifacts, and subliminal advertising.

I rendered two examples to demonstrate the technique. The first video shows how objects moving quickly in relation to other content can be removed with the median filter. In this example the stars moving in this time lapse footage are removed (as well as the odd shooting star).

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Here is another quick productivity script for your rendering enjoyment. The script finds all of the savers in the current flow and allows you to enable/disable each of them with a checkbox. This is helpful if you want to compare the renders of multiple branches without hunting through that rats nest you call a comp.

SimbiontFusion adds the magic of DarkTree 3D procedural texture generation to a Fusion interface. DarkTree (DT) tweaks are mapped to Fusion inputs and can also be dynamically controlled on a pixel-by-pixel basis by connecting images from the comp. We’ve also included a mapping input that performs a UVW lookup based on RGB data, allowing you to apply DT textures to 3D geometry in post.

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When starting a new plugin project with Visual Studio, developers usually take one of three approaches:

1. Start a project from scratch using a standard type and customize.
2. Copy an earlier/sample plugin project and modify.
3. Use a wizard to setup include, linking, configuration, build settings and skeleton code.

The first two approaches are time-consuming and error-prone. #3 is certainly the better approach, but may only be worth your time if you will be producing a large number of plugins. If your application has a large enough community, there’s a good chance that a custom wizard is already available somewhere.

After getting tired of manually configuring Visual Studio Projects for every random plugin idea we’ve tried, I adapted the standard MFC DLL wizard to produce a Fusion 5 template. Microsoft’s Javascript-based wizard engine is definitely not the clearest collection of code that I’ve wandered through, but a little time invested here can save you repetitive overhead for every future project.

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This tool is the first release in a series of small productivity scripts for Fusion. The script allows you to quickly load the target of a Windows shortcut file for review in Fusion. To use the tool, simply drag any number of .LNK files into the Fusion flow and then activate this script. The path of all the loaders added while you were dragging and dropping will be replaced with the shortcut target.

UPDATE 2-Dec-2008: In order for Fusion to recognize windows shortcut (.LNK) files when you drag them into the flow, you need to add the following loader plugin to your Fusion installation. The plugin will allow you to have LNK “dummy loaders” that will be converted to their target media when the Convert all shortcut loaders script is run:

Windows Shortcut Dummy Loader v1.0