Convert dicom color images to palette color
dcmquant [options] dcmfile-in dcmfile-out
The dcmquant utility reads a DICOM color image, computes a palette color look-up table of the desired size for this image (based on the median cut algorithm published by Paul Heckbert) and converts the color image into a DICOM palette color image.
dcmfile-in DICOM input filename to be converted dcmfile-out DICOM output filename to be written
-h --help
print this help text and exit
--version
print version information and exit
--arguments
print expanded command line arguments
-q --quiet
quiet mode, print no warnings and errors
-v --verbose
verbose mode, print processing details
-d --debug
debug mode, print debug information
-ll --log-level [l]evel: string constant
(fatal, error, warn, info, debug, trace)
use level l for the logger
-lc --log-config [f]ilename: string
use config file f for the logger
input file format:
+f --read-file
read file format or data set (default)
+fo --read-file-only
read file format only
-f --read-dataset
read data set without file meta information
input transfer syntax:
-t= --read-xfer-auto
use TS recognition (default)
-td --read-xfer-detect
ignore TS specified in the file meta header
-te --read-xfer-little
read with explicit VR little endian TS
-tb --read-xfer-big
read with explicit VR big endian TS
-ti --read-xfer-implicit
read with implicit VR little endian TS
frame selection:
+F --frame [n]umber: integer
select specified frame
+Fa --all-frames
select all frames (default)
compatibility:
+Mp --accept-palettes
accept incorrect palette attribute tags
(0028,111x) and (0028,121x)
median cut dimension selection:
+Dr --mc-dimension-rgb
max dimension from RGB range (default)
+Dl --mc-dimension-lum
max dimension from luminance
median cut representative color selection:
+Cb --mc-color-avgbox
average colors in box (default)
+Cp --mc-color-avgpixel
average pixels in box
+Cc --mc-color-center
select center of box
color palette creation:
+pw --write-ow
write Palette LUT as OW instead of US
+pe --lut-entries-word
write Palette LUT with 16-bit entries
+pf --floyd-steinberg
use Floyd-Steinberg error diffusion
+pc --colors number of colors: 2..65536 (default 256)
number of colors to quantize to
SOP Class UID:
+cd --class-default
keep SOP Class UID (default)
+cs --class-sc
convert to Secondary Capture Image
(implies --uid-always)
SOP Instance UID:
+ua --uid-always
always assign new UID (default)
+un --uid-never
never assign new UID
output file format:
+F --write-file
write file format (default)
-F --write-dataset
write data set without file meta information
output transfer syntax:
+t= --write-xfer-same
write with same TS as input (default)
+te --write-xfer-little
write with explicit VR little endian TS
+tb --write-xfer-big
write with explicit VR big endian TS
+ti --write-xfer-implicit
write with implicit VR little endian TS
post-1993 value representations:
+u --enable-new-vr
enable support for new VRs (UN/UT) (default)
-u --disable-new-vr
disable support for new VRs, convert to OB
group length encoding:
+g= --group-length-recalc
recalculate group lengths if present (default)
+g --group-length-create
always write with group length elements
-g --group-length-remove
always write without group length elements
length encoding in sequences and items:
+e --length-explicit
write with explicit lengths (default)
-e --length-undefined
write with undefined lengths
data set trailing padding (not with --write-dataset):
-p= --padding-retain
do not change padding
(default if not --write-dataset)
-p --padding-off
no padding (implicit if --write-dataset)
+p --padding-create [f]ile-pad [i]tem-pad: integer
align file on multiple of f bytes and items on
multiple of i bytes
The level of logging output of the various command line tools and underlying libraries can be specified by the user. By default, only errors and warnings are written to the standard error stream. Using option --verbose also informational messages like processing details are reported. Option --debug can be used to get more details on the internal activity, e.g. for debugging purposes. Other logging levels can be selected using option --log-level. In --quiet mode only fatal errors are reported. In such very severe error events, the application will usually terminate. For more details on the different logging levels, see documentation of module 'oflog'.
In case the logging output should be written to file (optionally with logfile rotation), to syslog (Unix) or the event log (Windows) option --log-config can be used. This configuration file also allows for directing only certain messages to a particular output stream and for filtering certain messages based on the module or application where they are generated. An example configuration file is provided in <etcdir>/logger.cfg).
All command line tools use the following notation for parameters: square brackets enclose optional values (0-1), three trailing dots indicate that multiple values are allowed (1-n), a combination of both means 0 to n values.
Command line options are distinguished from parameters by a leading '+' or '-' sign, respectively. Usually, order and position of command line options are arbitrary (i.e. they can appear anywhere). However, if options are mutually exclusive the rightmost appearance is used. This behaviour conforms to the standard evaluation rules of common Unix shells.
In addition, one or more command files can be specified using an '@' sign as a prefix to the filename (e.g. @command.txt). Such a command argument is replaced by the content of the corresponding text file (multiple whitespaces are treated as a single separator unless they appear between two quotation marks) prior to any further evaluation. Please note that a command file cannot contain another command file. This simple but effective approach allows to summarize common combinations of options/parameters and avoids longish and confusing command lines (an example is provided in file <datadir>/dumppat.txt).
The dcmquant utility will attempt to load DICOM data dictionaries specified in the DCMDICTPATH environment variable. By default, i.e. if the DCMDICTPATH environment variable is not set, the file <datadir>/dicom.dic will be loaded unless the dictionary is built into the application (default for Windows).
The default behaviour should be preferred and the DCMDICTPATH environment variable only used when alternative data dictionaries are required. The DCMDICTPATH environment variable has the same format as the Unix shell PATH variable in that a colon (':') separates entries. On Windows systems, a semicolon (';') is used as a separator. The data dictionary code will attempt to load each file specified in the DCMDICTPATH environment variable. It is an error if no data dictionary can be loaded.
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