Difference between revisions of "Allocating Memory in MIPAV"

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Revision as of 15:43, 8 February 2012

Allocating memory in MIPAV

When you run MIPAV for the first time you must specify the amount of memory that you would like to allocate, so that MIPAV can take the full advantage of the memory resources available in your machine.

1 Select Help > Memory allocation in the MIPAV window. The Change JavaRuntime Memory Allocation dialog box opens. See Figure 3.
2 Change the maximum heap size number so that it reflects the maximum amount of memory that should be allocated.
In a Microsoft Windows system, you can specify a maximum to 1.2 or 1.3 Gb. If additional memory is needed, MIPAV allocates it until the memory reaches the maximum heap size that you specify.
3 Click OK to close the dialog box.

Figure 3. Change Java-Runtime Memory Allocation dialog box

ChangeMemoryAllocation.jpg


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You must restart of MIPAV for the changes to take effect. To exit MIPAV, select File > Exit. Then, restart the software.

To allocate additional memory

The first step is to view how much memory is currently being used and to free needlessly reserved memory. Then, if necessary, you may need to allocate additional memory.

To determine how much memory is currently being used by MIPAV
1 Select Help > Memory Usage in the MIPAV window. The Memory Monitor dialog box appears ([MIPAV_QuickStart.html#2605386 Figure 4]).
When MIPAV performs a function, such as visualizing an image file, it uses memory. When the function completes (i.e., the visualized image closed), you can manually free the memory so it can be used for another function.
The Memory Monitor dialog box shows how much memory is allocated and how much memory has been used. The vertical bar on the right of the window displays a pictorial representation of the ratio of allocated memory or amount of memory used. The chart shows the memory usage for the past 3 minutes and 45 seconds. The chart is updated every second.
If you want to constantly monitor your memory resources, you can leave the Memory Monitor dialog box open on your desktop. Otherwise, close it.
2 Click Free memory to free memory.
Figure 4. Memory Monitor dialog box


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If you need more memory, you can allocate virtual memory or disk swap space if there is free space on your hard drive. For instructions on how to do this, refer to the documentation for your system. If you cannot assign more virtual memory or disk swap space, you may need to install additional memory.

To manually free the memory

As Java-based programs run, they often leave old variables, objects, or constructors in memory. For instance, if you delineate a VOI, the coordinates of the contours may remain in memory even after you close the image. Java provides a method called the garbage collector (or memory recycling) that automatically freeing objects that are no longer referenced by the program and clears all unnecessarily reserved memory. Generally, the software does this automatically when free memory becomes very limited. However, you can run the garbage collector at any time to free memory by clicking the Memory Usage button. Refer to [MIPAV_QuickStart.html#2610559 Figure 5].

To allocate additional memory,

Repeat the steps described in [MIPAV_QuickStart.html#2606046 "Allocating memory in MIPAV" on page 11].

Figure 5. Running the garbage collector to free the memory in MIPAV


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MemoryUsageBut.jpg



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Opening and loading image files

MIPAV displays images in windows, or frames, that you can move or arrange around the desktop ([MIPAV_QuickStart.html#2620880 Figure 6]). You can display as many image datasets as needed as long as your computer has enough allocated memory.
Note: The amount of memory required depends on the number of image datasets that are open and the size of each image file. For more information, refer to [MIPAV_QuickStart.html#2605340 "Managing memory resources" on page 10].

You can either open or load an image file. When you open an image file, MIPAV displays the image in a new image window. Loading an image file imports the file into an image window in which another image file is open. In other words, two image files share a common image window.

Understanding image windows

An image window ([MIPAV_QuickStart.html#2620880 Figure 6]) consists of a title bar and an image itself.

Figure 6. An image window


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QuickStart ImageWindow.jpg



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The title bar displays:
the image file name, e.g. "3DHead";
the number of the current slice and the total number of slices in the dataset, e.g. 62/124;
the magnification level, e.g. M:1.0.
The number of the current slice is also shown in the lower left corner of the image.

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You can move an image window around your desktop by clicking the title bar and dragging the window to a new location.

Sometimes, depending on the view, a toolbar or menu bar also appears in the image window. For example, the image window using the light box view contains a toolbar and menu bar. See also [MIPAV_QuickStart.html#2628867 "Displaying images using the lightbox view" on page 26].

Image A and Image B

In MIPAV, the first image opened in an image window (see [MIPAV_QuickStart.html#2620613 "Understanding image windows" ]) is referred to as Image A. When you load, or import, a second image in the same window, MIPAV refers to the second image as Image B.

Supported formats

You can use MIPAV to open or load files of a variety of medical and generic graphics and multimedia file formats. [MIPAV_AppCSupportedFormats.html#1330116 Table 1] lists the format, extension, and whether MIPAV can read or write files of a particular format. The extension, which is the last few characters of a file name including the period, indicates the file format. For example, in the file name DOE255.ima, the extension .ima indicates that the file is stored in DICOM format. In the table, the Read column indicates that MIPAV can display image files of a particular format. When a file is read, it is stored in main memory so that MIPAV can access it. The Write column means that MIPAV can copy the data from the memory to a storage destination, such as your hard disk. In this context, write is synonymous with save.

For more information on file formats, the list of supported formats and other information, refer to Appendix C: [MIPAV_AppCSupportedFormats.html#1256636 "Supported formats" ][MIPAV_AppCSupportedFormats.html#1330116 Table 1 on page 563].



Image Browser

You can select the image formats to display using the File > Open Image(A) > Image Browser menu. This opens the Choose Image Filter dialog box. In this dialog box, use the check boxes to select the image types which you would like to use in MIPAV.


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ChooseImageFilter.jpg



|- | Select All | Selects all image types. |- | Clear | rowspan="1" colspan="2" | Removes selection. |- | OK | rowspan="1" colspan="2" | Applies the image type selection to MIPAV. |- | Cancel | rowspan="1" colspan="2" | Disregards any changes you made in this dialog box and closes the dialog box. |- | rowspan="1" colspan="3" |

Figure 7. Choose Image Filter dialog box

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