Split View vs. Maximised View
The Disect Pro workspace
On start-up the Disect Pro workspace displays the four-window view shown below:
Conventional menus and toolbars are shown along the top of the display, while the left side of the display contains the control panel. The remainder of the workspace displays either the four-way view shown above, or a maximised view containing just one of the four windows.
Switching between split view and maximised view
Split view enables the synchronisation between the 2D and 3D views to be observed when scrolling or roaming. Any of the four views can be maximised by two different methods:
Select the required view configuration by clicking on the corresponding toolbar icon as indicated by the arrow in the above screenshot,
Use the view menu to select by name the required view.
The following screenshot shows an example of the Disect Pro workspace after selecting the lower right-hand 2D view to maximise its size in the workspace:
The Control Panel
Control panel usage
The control panel is visible when Disect Pro is launched, to the left of the main window.
NB – You can choose to hide the control panel by switching to presentation view.
There are five functional areas in the control panel. With the exception of the summary section, the other sections may be collapsed or expanded by clicking with the left mouse button on the section title. As you change viewing modes in Disect Pro, these sections may expand or collapse automatically to provide the best selection of features. You can override this behaviour by clicking on the section title at any time. From top to bottom the sections are:
Textual information about the selected file
Mouse middle button function
Window level and width adjustment
Cut plane control
2D slice selection
The first area of the control panel is a textual information area. This shows, for example, the patient name and hospital identifier (unless anonymised as shown in the example), the cursor position on the current slice when roaming or scrolling, the length of the ruler line in measurement mode, and the grey scale level. If no data has been loaded, this section does not appear.
The mouse mode selection panel lists the selections available for the function of the middle mouse button. All of these functions are applied by holding the middle mouse button down on the image you wish to effect and then dragging the mouse to apply the effect. Refer to the mouse conventions section for a complete listing of mouse actions, as well as how to use a 2-button mouse or a track pad.
The window level and width adjustment controls consist of two vertical sliders labeled L and W (for Level and Width), two text boxes in which the level and width may be entered directly, a drop-down list populated with common presets for window settings (for bone, lung, brain etc.) and a default button to restore the default settings. The default settings are contained in the data set and are determined by the scanner settings at the time when the scan is performed. If you adjust the window level / width using the mouse function these controls will reflect the current selection. There is also a button labeled Advanced which displays a histogram of the intensity levels present in the data and allows you to select the window level and width graphically.
The cut-plane control section will be automatically expanded when you select cut-plane view in the menu toolbar. This section allows you to selectively disable individual cut-planes, to rotate all cut-planes around the data centre, or to manipulate the orientation of the cut-planes in 3D using the mouse.
At the bottom there are three horizontal slider controls, each of which determines which 2D slice is shown in the relevant 2D view. These controls may be used instead of the scroll or roam functions and are always synchronised automatically, whatever method of navigation you choose.
Mouse Conventions
General Principles
Disect Pro can be controlled by mouse (3-button/scroll wheel and 2-button) as well as a track pad. The user-actions for each of these is slightly different, though the effect of those actions on the displayed images is identical. The instructions below deal with each case separately for clarity.
3-button (scroll wheel) mouse
The general principles for using a 3-button mouse are:
- Anything that results in a displayed image being moved (i.e. panned or rotated) is achieved using the LEFT mouse button.
- Access to the shortcut pop-up menu (or context menu) is via the RIGHT mouse button.
- All other actions – windowing, zooming, scrolling, roaming, measuring, MPR adjustment, cut-planes etc – are achieved using the MIDDLE mouse button.
2-button mouse
Holding down the “shift” key while using the left mouse button emulates all the actions described above for the middle/scroll-wheel button. Releasing the “shift” key restores the left mouse button for normal use.
Touchpad
To activate touchpad control open the EDIT menu and select “Options”. In the dialog box (below) that appears tick the box for “Use touchpad for cutting control”.
Touchpad control differs from 2-button mouse control only in that the left button need not be held down while interacting with or moving the image. Instead it need only be clicked once at the beginning of the interaction, after which interacting with the images continues until the left button is clicked once more. At that point the interaction ceases and the normal modality of the left button is restored.
IMPORTANT
For simplicity all subsequent sections in these help notes implicitly assume a 3-button mouse. Whenever reference is made to the ‘middle button’ to effect a particular action, apply the conversions/conventions described above in order to use a 2-button mouse or touchpad.