Create Volume

The Create tool generates a new blank volume object with user-defined properties. This is useful for creating custom volumes for testing, simulations, or as templates for manual editing.

Accessing the Tool

1. Navigate to the Image tab in the ribbon.
2. Click Create in the General section.

Parameters

Image Dimensions

Define the size of the volume in voxels (pixels):

Parameter	Description	Range
X (pixels)	Width of the volume	2 – 102,400
Y (pixels)	Height of the volume	2 – 102,400
Z (pixels)	Depth (number of slices)	2 – 102,400

Image Spacing

Define the physical size of each voxel in millimeters:

Parameter	Description	Default
X (mm)	Voxel width	1.0
Y (mm)	Voxel height	1.0
Z (mm)	Slice thickness	1.0

tip

Set spacing values to match your target data. For example, a typical CT scan might use 0.5 × 0.5 × 1.0 mm spacing.

Voxel Type

Select the data type for storing voxel intensity values:

Type	Range	Memory per Voxel
Unsigned 8-bit	0 – 255	1 byte
Unsigned 16-bit	0 – 65,535	2 bytes
Signed 16-bit	-32,768 – 32,767	2 bytes
Float 32-bit	±3.4×10³⁸	4 bytes

info

Choose the smallest data type that accommodates your intensity range to minimize memory usage. Medical imaging typically uses Signed 16-bit for CT/MRI data.

Workflow

1. Open the Create tool from the Image tab.
2. Enter the desired X, Y, and Z dimensions in pixels.
3. Set the spacing values to define the physical voxel size.
4. Select an appropriate voxel type based on your intensity requirements.
5. Click Apply to create the volume.

The new volume appears in the Object Browser with all voxels initialized to zero (black).

Memory Considerations

warning

Large volumes consume significant memory. A 512 × 512 × 512 volume using 16-bit voxels requires approximately 256 MB of RAM. Verify available system memory before creating very large volumes.

Approximate memory formula:

$$\text{Memory (bytes)} = X \times Y \times Z \times \text{bytes per voxel}$$

Use Cases

• Template creation: Build a blank canvas for manual drawing or painting operations.
• Testing and development: Generate synthetic data for algorithm testing.
• Placeholder volumes: Create empty volumes to receive data from scripting operations.

Scripting

This operation is available via the Python scripting API using create_blank_volume().

import ScriptingApi as api

app = api.Application()
volume_operations = app.get_volume_operations()

volume_name = volume_operations.create_blank_volume(
    "MyVolume",
    [256, 256, 100],        # dimensions [x, y, z]
    [0.5, 0.5, 1.0],        # spacing [x, y, z] in mm
    api.VoxelDataType.Signed16Bit
)

See the VolumeOperations API Reference for details.