DICOM Standards Committee

Status Update: Conversion of DICOM figures to xml electronic format

RSNA 2007November 29, 2007

James J. RogersCoastal Consulting Group, Ltd.

www.coastalcg.com

• 80 Figures have been converted (redrawn) from MSWord picture format to Adobe Illustrator:•

PS 3.1-2007 Part 1: Introduction and Overview (5 figures)

•

PS 3.2-2007 Part 2: Conformance (30 figures)

•

PS 3.3-2007 Part 3: Information Object Definitions (45 figures)

Status and Milestones

• 80 Figures have been converted (redrawn) from MSWord picture format to Adobe Illustrator:

•

PS 3.1-2007 Part 1: Introduction and Overview (5 figures)

•

PS 3.2-2007 Part 2: Conformance (30 figures)

•

PS 3.3-2007 Part 3: Information Object Definitions (45 figures)

• Developed an informal set of artwork rules. Rules improve reader comprehension and illustration-to-illustration consistency of...

•

Color scheme

•

Fonts and font-families

•

Lines, boxes, and diagrams

•

Relative placement of text to figure elements

Status and Milestones

• 80 Figures have been converted (redrawn) from MSWord picture format to Adobe Illustrator:

•

PS 3.1-2007 Part 1: Introduction and Overview (5 figures)

•

PS 3.2-2007 Part 2: Conformance (30 figures)

•

PS 3.3-2007 Part 3: Information Object Definitions (45 figures)

• Developed an informal set of artwork rules. Rules improve reader comprehension and illustration-to-illustration consistency of...

•

Color scheme

•

Fonts and font-families

•

Lines, boxes, and diagrams

•

Relative placement of text to figure elements

• Improved workflow efficiency for conversion from MSWord source artwork to final .svg file

• Note: “svg” is a language for describing 2D graphics in an xml-based file format; as such, “svg” and “xml” have previously been used interchangeably for this project (but “svg” is more correct...)

Status and Milestones

• 80 Figures have been converted (redrawn) from MSWord picture format to Adobe Illustrator:

•

PS 3.1-2007 Part 1: Introduction and Overview (5 figures)

•

PS 3.2-2007 Part 2: Conformance (30 figures)

•

PS 3.3-2007 Part 3: Information Object Definitions (45 figures)

• Developed an informal set of artwork rules. Rules improve reader comprehension and illustration-to-illustration consistency of...

•

Color scheme

•

Fonts and font-families

•

Lines, boxes, and diagrams

•

Relative placement of text to figure elements

• Improved workflow efficiency for conversion from MSWord source artwork to final .svg file

• Note: “svg” is a language for describing 2D graphics in an xml-based file format; as such, “svg” and “xml” have previously been used interchangeably for this project (but “svg” is more correct...)

• Final .svg artwork passes W3C markup validation test

Status and Milestones

RSNA’06 Proposed WorkflowCOMPLEX workflow as

proposed at RSNA’06, because...

• Adobe Illustrator makes use of a significant number of proprietary .xml extensions

• Adobe Illustrator does not generate W3C-compliant svg files (numerous errors)

• Inkscape is used to reprocess the Adobe Illustrator-generated svg artwork to fix the errors.

• Inkscape also does not generate W3C-compliant svg files (introduces new errors)

• Additional hand-editing required to create true W3C-complaint svg code

• Databasing (Subversion/FileMaker) as Document Control to store all the files

RSNA’07 Improved Workflow

Substantially more efficient workflow...

• Created a “DICOM nursery” file in Adobe Illustrator to consistently apply artwork rules (e.g., maximum figure size, color scheme, etc.)

• One “DICOM nursery” file for each DICOM PS standard, containing master artwork for all figures in a given standard

• Adobe Illustrator CS3 (released April ‘07) now generates W3C-compliant svg files

• Minor hand-editing enhances the W3C-compliant svg code (e.g., addition of <title>, <descr> tags, etc.)

• Simple nested folders, one for each DICOM standard (e.g., “PS3-x” naming convention), used to store all of the files, including the applicable “DICOM nursery”

RSNA’07 Workflow in Detail

Original MSWord source file

Redraw figure artwork in Adobe Illustrator, Inkscape, MSVisio or OmniGraffle

Move figure into Adobe Illustrator "DICOM Nursery" file, and apply artwork rules for consistencyExport into SVG format.Exported file is W3C svg compliant.Hand-edit SVG file - minor clean-up, add in <title> and <descr> tags.Confirm valid SVG file format using W3Cmarkup validation service (validator.w3.org).

Browser check random files.

Archive all files.

Artwork Rules (Example 1)

Before: After:

Artwork Rules (Example 2)

Before: After:

Artwork Rules Description

•Figure bounding box of neutral color prevents text encroachment

Artwork Rules Description

•Figure bounding box of neutral color prevents text encroachment

•Text is aligned with each Figure element

Artwork Rules Description

•Figure bounding box of neutral color prevents text encroachment

•Text is aligned with each Figure element

•Figure elements are aligned

Artwork Rules Description

•Figure bounding box of neutral color prevents text encroachment

•Text is aligned with each Figure element

•Figure elements are aligned

•Electronic-schematics style interconnections

Artwork Rules Description

•Figure bounding box of neutral color prevents text encroachment

•Text is aligned with each Figure element

•Figure elements are aligned

•Electronic-schematics style interconnections

•Font-size changes are the only allowed font attributes (e.g., no italics or bolding)

Artwork Rules Description

•Figure bounding box of neutral color prevents text encroachment

•Text is aligned with each Figure element

•Figure elements are aligned

•Electronic-schematics style interconnections

•Font-size changes are the only allowed font attributes (e.g., no italics or bolding)

•Color changes show element nesting

svg File Enhancements (Hand-editing)

In the svg created by the “DICOM nursery,” Adobe Illustrator defines font information (e.g., font-family) in-line with each <text> occurrence (even if no fonts are embedded in the document).

This font information is deleted, and replaced by a singular style definition, located in the <defs> element

Insert non-printing <title> element; use for Figure title.

Insert non-printing <descr> element; use for the DICOM standard that the Figure appears in.

What’s Next

1.The “DICOM nursery” is a newly developed tool. Many of the previously-drawn figures have not yet passed through it, and must be optimized for consistency before release to MITA

2.Need to determine how to handle diagnostic images (e.g., PS3.3-2007, Figure C.7.6.16-4 Example of multiple stacks)

3.Similarly, need to determine how to handle chart and scatter plot data. (Re-enter into MATLAB/Mathematica, plotted, then converted to xml?)

• 20 years’ diagnostic imaging industry experience - engineering, service, regulatory affairs, and FDA quality assurance (Picker, Hitachi, Aurora Imaging)

• NEMA Ultrasound Technical, Regulatory, and Legislative Cmtes (1991-1993)

• NEMA MR Regs & Legs Cmte (Chairman1995-2002); MR Technical Cmte (1991-2002); MR Section (1991-2002; Chairman 1995-2002)

• Non-voting participant NEMA MR Tech Cmte and MR Section (2002 - present); unofficial illustrator for NEMA MR standards

• Contract FDA regulatory affairs, clinical studies, and quality assurance (2002 - present); www.coastalcg.com

Who is... Jim Rogers?

THANK YOU !!