Image registration

Fast4DReg is a Fiji macro for drift correction for 2D and 3D video and is able to correct drift in all x-, y- and/or z-directions. Fast4DReg creates intensity projections along both axes and estimates their drift using cross-correlation based drift correction, and then translates the video frame by frame. Additionally, Fast4DReg can be used for alignment multi-channel 2D or 3D images which is particularly useful for instruments that suffer from a misalignment of channels.

Relate is a correlative software package optimised to work with EM, EDS, EBSD, & AFM data and images.  It provides the tools you need to correlate data from different microscopes, visualise multi-layered data in 2D and 3D, and conduct correlative analyses.

• Combining data from different imaging modalities (e.g. AFM, EDS & EBSD)

• Interactive display of multi-layer correlated data

• Analytical tools for metadata interrogation

• Documented workflows and processes

Correlate

• Import data from AZtec using the H5oina file format
• Import AFM data
• Correlate both sets of data using intuitive image overlays and image matching tools
• Produce combined multimodal datasets

Visualise

• 2D display of multi-layered data
• 3D visualisation of topography combined with AFM material properties, EM images, and EDS & EBSD map overlays
• Customisation of colour palettes, data overlays, image rendering options, and document display
• Export images and animations

Analyse

• Generate profile (cross section) views of multimodal data
• Measure and quantify data across multiple layers
• Analyse areas via data thresholding using amount of x-ray counts, phase maps, height, or other material properties.
• Select an extensive range of measurement parameters
• Export analytical data to text or CSV files

Correlia is an open-source ImageJ/FIJI plug-in for the registration of 2D multi-modal microscopy data-sets. The software is developed at ProVIS - Centre for Correlative Microscopy and is specifically designed for the needs of chemical microscopy involving various micrographs as well as chemical maps at different resolutions and field-of-views.

ModularImageAnalysis (MIA) is an ImageJ plugin which provides a modular framework for assembling image and object analysis workflows. Detected objects can be transformed, filtered, measured and related. Analysis workflows are batch-enabled by default, allowing easy processing of high-content datasets.

MIA is designed for “out-of-the-box” compatibility with spatially-calibrated 5D images, yielding measurements in both pixel and physical units.  Functionality can be extended both internally, via integration with SciJava’s scripting interface, and externally, with Java modules that extend the MIA framework. Both have full access to all objects and images in the analysis workspace.

Workflows are, by default, compatible with batch processing multiple files within a single folder. Thanks to Bio-Formats, MIA has native support for multi-series image formats such as Leica .lif and Nikon .nd2.

Workflows can be automated from initial image loading through processing, object detection, measurement extraction, visualisation, and data exporting. MIA includes near 200 modules integrated with key ImageJ plugins such as Bio-Formats, TrackMate and Weka Trainable Segmentation.

Module(s) can be turned on/off dynamically in response to factors such as availability of images and objects, user inputs and measurement-based filters. Switches can also be added to “processing view” for easy workflow control.

MIA is developed in the Wolfson Bioimaging Facility at the University of Bristol.

ClearMap is a toolbox for the analysis and registration of volumetric data from cleared tissues.

It was initially developed to map brain activity at cellular resolution in whole mouse brains using immediate early gene expression. It has since then been extended as a tool for the qunatification of whole mouse brain vascualtur networks at capilary resolution.

It is composed of sevral specialized modules or scripts: tubemap, cellmap, WobblyStitcher.

ClearMap has been designed to analyze O(TB) 3d datasets obtained via light sheet microscopy from iDISCO+ cleared tissue samples immunolabeled for proteins. The ClearMap tools may also be useful for data obtained with other types of microscopes, types of markers, clearing techniques, as well as other species, organs, or samples.

This Fiji plugin is a python script for CLEM registration using deep learning, but it could be applied in principle to other modalities. The pretrained model was learned on chromatin SEM images and fluorescent staining, but a script is also provided to train an new model, based on CSBDeep. The registration is then performed as a feature based registration, using register virtual stack plugin (which extract features and then perform RANSAc. Editing the script in python gives access to more option (such as the transformation model to be used, similarity by default. Images need to be prepared such that they contain only one channel, but channel of ineterst (to be transformed with the same transformation) can be given as input, and Transform Virtual Stack plugin can be used as well.

QuantiFish is a quantification program intended for measuring fluorescence in images of zebrafish, although use with images of other specimens is possible. This package is geared towards analysis of fluorescent infection models. The software is designed to automate processing of images of single fish, and outputs results as a .csv file. Alongside measures of total fluorescence above a threshold, this package also introduces several measures for dissemination and distribution of fluorescence throughout the specimen.

Epina ImageLab is a Microsoft Windows-based multisensor imaging tool for processing and analyzing hyperspectral images. It is a modular system consisting of a basic engine, a graphical user interface, a chemometrics toolbox and optional user-supplied modules. It supports the most important spectroscopic imaging techniques, such as UV/Vis, infrared, Raman, THz, optical emission/absorption, and mass spectrometry. On top of that Epina ImageLab enables the user to merge hyperspectral images with maps of physical properties and conventional high-resolution color photos. 

Align two images using intensity correlation, feature matching, or control point mapping

Together, Image Processing Toolbox™ and Computer Vision Toolbox™ offer four image registration solutions: interactive registration with a Registration Estimator app, intensity-based automatic image registration, control point registration, and automated feature matching. 

Automated workflow for performing multiview reconstruction of large multiview, multichannel, multiillumination time-lapse SPIM data on a high performance computing (HPC) cluster or on a single workstation. 

This python toolbox performs registration between 2-D microscopy images from the same tissue section or serial sections in several ways to achieve imaging mass spectrometry (IMS) experimental goals.

This code supports the following works and enables others to perform the workflows outlined in the following works, please cite them if you use this toolbox:

• Advanced Registration and Analysis of MALDI Imaging Mass Spectrometry Measurements through Autofluorescence Microscopy, 10.1021/acs.analchem.8b02884

• Next Generation Histology-directed Imaging Mass Spectrometry Driven by Autofluorescence Microscopy, 10.1021/acs.analchem.8b02885

The Binary Pattern Dictionary Learning (BPDL) package is suitable for image analysis on a set/sequence of images to determine an atlas of a compact region. In particular, the application can be maping gene activation accross many samples, brain activations in a time domain, etc.

BIRL stands for "Benchmark on Image Registration methods with Landmark validation". BIRL is a cross-platform framework for comparison of image registration methods with landmark validation (registration precision is measured by user landmarks). The project contains a set of sample images with related landmark annotations and experimental evaluation of state-of-the-art image registration methods.

Some key features of the framework:

• automatic execution of image registration of a sequence of image pairs
• integrated evaluation of registration performances using Target Registration Error (TRE)
• integrated visualization of performed registration
• running several image registration experiment in parallel
• resuming unfinished sequence of registration benchmark
• handling around dataset and creating own experiments
• rerun evaluation and visualisation for finished experiments

Set of Tools for super resolution microscopy

It is an interactive front-end visualization for registration software based on Elasix (VTK/ITK)

Non linear registration intensity based for MRI brain exams. To be applied after FLIRT

FLIRT (FMRIB's Linear Image Registration Tool) is a fully automated robust and accurate tool for linear (affine) intra- and inter-modal brain image registration.

FLIRT comes with a main GUI as well as three supporting guis:

• ApplyXFM - for applying saved transformations and changing FOVs
• InvertXFM - for inverting saved transformations
• ConcatXFM - for concatenating saved transformations

SimpleITK provides a simplified interface to ITK in a variety of languages. A user can either download pre-built binaries, if they are available for the desired platform and language, or SimpleITK can be built from the source code. Currently, Python binaries are available on Microsoft Windows, GNU Linux and Mac OS X. C# and Java binaries are available for Windows. We are also working towards supporting R packaging.

Python/C++ port of the ImageJ extension TurboReg/StackReg written by Philippe Thevenaz/EPFL.

A python extension for the automatic alignment of a source image or a stack (movie) to a target image/reference frame.

Align_slices in stack utilized the template matching function cvMatch_Template to do slice registration(alignment) based on a selected landmark.
This function will try to find the landmark or the most similar image pattern in every slice and translate each slice so that the landmark pattern will be the same position throughout the whole stack. It could be used to fix the drift of a time-lapse image stacks.

Source code: link

Input data: image stack
output data: image stack

This ImageJ plugin contains two functions. The first one is the cvMatch_Template. It implements the template matching function from the OpenCV library. The second function Align_slices in stack utilized the previous matching function to do slice registration(alignment) based on a selected landmark. 

For more details, refer to the page of each component. 

cvMatch_Template

Align Slices in Stack

Elastix is a toolbox for rigid and nonrigid registration of (medical) images.

Elastix is based on the ITK library, and provides additional algorithms for image registration. 

The software can be run as a single-line command, making it easy to include in larger scripts or workflows. The user needs to edit a configuration file that contains all relevant parameters for registration: transformation model, metric used to comapre images, optimization algorithm, mutliscale pyramidal representation of images...

Nowadays elastix is accompanied by SimpleElastix, making it available in other languages like C++, Python, Java, R, Ruby, C# and Lua.

CaPTk is a software platform for analysis of radiographic cancer images, currently focusing on brain, breast, and lung cancer. CaPTk integrates advanced, validated tools performing various aspects of medical image analysis, that have been developed in the context of active clinical research studies and collaborations toward addressing real clinical needs. With emphasis given in its use as a very lightweight and efficient viewer, and with no prerequisites for substantial computational background, CaPTk aims to facilitate the swift translation of advanced computational algorithms into routine clinical quantification, analysis, decision making, and reporting workflow. Its long-term goal is providing widely used technology that leverages the value of advanced imaging analytics in cancer prediction, diagnosis and prognosis, as well as in better understanding the biological mechanisms of cancer development.

Reconstruct big images from overlapping tiled images on a Spark cluster.

The code is based on the Stitching plugin for Fiji https://github.com/fiji/Stitching

Working version of a simple GUI frontend for CMTK image registration tools in Fiji

The MIPAV (Medical Image Processing, Analysis, and Visualization) application enables quantitative analysis and visualization of medical images of numerous modalities such as PET, MRI, CT, or microscopy. Using MIPAV's standard user-interface and analysis tools, researchers at remote sites (via the internet) can easily share research data and analyses, thereby enhancing their ability to research, diagnose, monitor, and treat medical disorders.

ANTs computes high-dimensional mappings to capture the statistics of brain structure and function.

Image Registration

Diffeomorphisms: SyN, Independent Evaluation: Klein, Murphy, Template Construction (2004)(2010), Similarity Metrics, Multivariate registration, Multiple modality analysis and statistical bias

Image Segmentation

Atropos Multivar-EM Segmentation (link), Multi-atlas methods (link) and JLF, Bias Correction (link), DiReCT cortical thickness (link), DiReCT in chimpanzees

A software toolkit for computational morphometry of biomedical images, CMTK comprises a set of command line tools and a back-end general-purpose library for processing and I/O.

The command line tools primarily provide the following functionality: registration (affine and nonrigid; single and multi-channel; pairwise and groupwise), image correction (MR bias field estimation; interleaved image artifact correction; EPI unwarping), processing (filters; combination of segmentations via voting and STAPLE; shape-based averaging), statistics (t-tests; general linear model).

TeraStitcher is a free tool that enables the stitching of Teravoxel-sized tiled microscopy images even on workstations with relatively limited resources of memory (<8 GB) and processing power. It exploits the knowledge of approximate tile positions and uses ad-hoc strategies and algorithms designed for such very large datasets. The produced images can be saved into a multiresolution representation to be efficiently visualized (e.g. Vaa3D-TeraFly) and processed.

SliceMap

Whole brain tissue slices are commonly used in neurobiological research for analyzing pathological features in an anatomically defined manner. However, since many pathologies are expressed in specific regions of the brain, it is necessary to have an annotation of the regions in the brain slices. Such an annotation can be done by manual delineation, as done most often, or by an automated region annotation tool.

SliceMap is a FIJI/ImageJ plugin for automated brain region annotation of fluorescent brain slices. The plugin uses a reference library of pre-annotated brain slices (the brain region templates) to annotate brain regions of unknown samples. To perform the region annotation, SliceMap registers the reference slices to the sample slice (using elastic registration plugin BUnwarpJ) and uses the resulting image transformations to morph the template regions towards the anatomical brain regions of the sample. The resulting brain regions are saved as FIJI/ImageJ ROI’s (Regions Of Interest) as a single zip-file for each sample slice.

More information can also be found in "SliceMap: an algorithm for automated brain region annotation", Michaël Barbier, Astrid Bottelbergs, Rony Nuydens, Andreas Ebneth, Winnok H De Vos, Bioinformatics, btx658, https://doi.org/10.1093/bioinformatics/btx658

The Multiview Reconstruction software package enables users to register, fuse, deconvolve and view multiview microscopy images. The software is designed for lightsheet fluorescence microscopy (LSFM), but is applicable to any form of three or higher dimensional imaging modalities like confocal timeseries or multicolor stacks. 

The BigDataViewer is a re-slicing browser for terabyte-sized multi-view image sequences. BigDataViewer was developed with multi-view light-sheet microscopy data in mind and integrates well with Fiji's SPIMage processing pipeline.

Bigwarp is a tool for manual, interactive, landmark-based deformable image alignment. It uses the BigDataViewer for visualization and navigation, and uses a Thin Plate Spline implemented in Java to build a deformation from point correspondences.

The BigStitcher is a software package that allows simple and efficient alignment of multi-tile and multi-angle image datasets, for example acquired by lightsheet, widefield or confocal microscopes. The software supports images of almost arbitrary size ranging from very small images up to volumes in the range of many terabytes, which are for example produced when acquiring cleared tissue samples with lightsheet microscopy.

Vaa3D is a handy, fast, and versatile 3D/4D/5D Image Visualization and Analysis System for Bioimages and Surface Objects. It also provides many unique functions that you may not find in other software. It is Open Source, and supports a very simple and powerful plugin interface and thus can be extended and enhanced easily.

Vaa3D is cross-platform (Mac, Linux, and Windows). This software suite is powerful for visualizing large- or massive-scale (giga-voxels and even tera-voxels) 3D image stacks and various surface data. Vaa3D is also a container of powerful modules for 3D image analysis (cell segmentation, neuron tracing, brain registration, annotation, quantitative measurement and statistics, etc) and data management. This makes Vaa3D suitable for various bioimage informatics applications, and a nice platform to develop new 3D image analysis algorithms for high-throughput processing. In short, Vaa3D streamlines the workflow of visualization-assisted analysis.

Vaa3D can render 5D (spatial-temporal) data directly in 3D volume-rendering mode; it supports convenient and interactive local and global 3D views at different scales... it comes with a number of plugins and toolboxes. Importantly, you can now write your own plugins to take advantage of the Vaa3D platform, possibly within minutes!

This is an example workflow of how to perform automatic registration by

- first detecting spots in both images using wavelet segmentation (with different scale according to the image scale)

- second using Ec-Clem autofinder to register both images

Click on a block to know more about a tool. Non referenced tools are non clickable.

quote:

Elastix cite{Klein2010} is an open source, command-line program for intensity-based registration of medical images that allows the user to quickly configure, test, and compare different registration methods. SimpleElastix is an extension of SimpleITK cite{Lowekamp2013} that allows you to configure and run Elastix entirely in Python, Java, R, Octave, Ruby, Lua, Tcl and C# on Linux, Mac and Windows. The goal is to bring robust registration algorithms to a wider audience and make it easier to use elastix, e.g. for Java-based enterprise applications or rapid Python prototyping.

Python example

import SimpleITK as sitk
resultImage = sitk.Elastix(sitk.ReadImage("fixedImage.nii"), sitk.ReadImage("movingImage.nii"))

Automatic registration in 2D or 3D based on detection or binary mask. Takes images with detections already done on it.

This plugin allows to compute a similarity (translation/rotation/scaling and flipping) transform from pair of points. It is updating the transformed image interactively such that the user get immediate feedback. The transformation is saved and can be applied to any other stack/image. Non rigid deformation can also be applied in 2D or 3D.

3D/3D,2D/3D or 3D /2D can be handled .

3D ROI are enabled, and can be checked with the 3D vtk view (size of ROI can be changed using the ROI stroke width).

Some prealignment by rotating in 3D the volume is possible.

Transformations can be applied directly or combined through Block Protocols (search for apply transformation).

It's also provide information about the predicted Error (based on statistical prediction), either as a full color mapping, either on each points used as landmarks, and error on the discrepancy in position between points.

There are video tutorials available in the web.

The Virtual Brain Explorer (ViBE-Z) is a software that automatically maps gene expression data with cellular resolution to a 3D standard larval zebrafish (Danio rerio) brain. It automatically detects 14 predefined anatomical landmarks for aligning data. It also offers a database and atlas. The ViBE-Z database, atlas and software are provided via a web interface. A data preparation step is needed in order to provide the right input data and format.

The MorphoLeaf application allows you to extract the contour of multiple leaf images and identify their biologically-relevant landmarks. These landmarks are then used to quantify morphological parameters of individual leaves and to reconstruct average leaf shapes. MorphoLeaf is developed by the Modeling and Digital Imaging and the Transcription Factors and Architecture teams of the Institut Jean-Pierre Bourgin, INRA Versailles, France, and the Biophyscis and Development group at RDP, Lyon.

Free-D (http://free-d.versailles.inra.fr/) is a 3D reconstruction and modeling software. It is multiplatform, free (but not open source) tool for academic research and teaching.

Here is how to proceed, using Free-D:

1. Segmentation:

* load (a collection of) individual 3d stacks

* (optional for serial sections) perform a 2D registration to align image slices

* segment/reconstruct 3D contours using snakes

* segment 3D spots

2. Construct average cell:

* normalize the contours to compute a average cell, by registering/warping 3D contours/surfaces

3. Quantification:

* project each individual cell to the average one

* build density maps to analyze (cartography)

A few notes for current software version (till 10/2016):

* input file format: tiff (not able to import bioformats)

* currently results are saved in customized format, but there is an exportor to convert this format into fiji readable one

* import already generated contours is on the software's TODO list

This ImageJ plugin aligns the slices of a stack just like the stackreg plugin on which it is built. It allows to save the transformations and to apply them to another stack. It furthermore allows to register two stacks.

Rigid registration of time series in 3D. A video tutorial is available (be careful of sounds, the video automatically starts!): [Sample Drift Correction Following 4D Confocal Time-lapse Imaging](http://www.jove.com/video/51086/sample-drift-correction-following-4d-co…)

A Jython script using the plugin : Register Virtual Stack Slices It takes a sequence of image slices stored in a folder, and delivers a list of registered image slices (with enlarged canvas). One of the images in the sequence can be selected by the user as reference and it will remain intact. The plugin can perform 6 types of image registration techniques: - Translation - Rigid (translation + rotation) - Similarity (translation + rotation + isotropic scaling) - Affine - Elastic (via bUnwarpJ with cubic B-splines) - Moving least squares All models are aided by automatically extracted SIFT features.

Amira is 3D visualization and analysis software for life sciences.
 

" Amira software is a powerful, multifaceted 3D platform for visualizing, manipulating, and understanding life sciences data from computed tomography, microscopy, MRI, and many other imaging modalities. 
With incredible speed and flexibility, Amira software enables advanced 3D imaging workflows for specialists in research areas ranging from molecular and cellular biology to neuroscience and bioengineering. "

An ImageJ macro for correcting frame drift occurred during image acquisition.

It often happens that you have an image sequence that shows problematic drifting of image frame and at the same time you have some landmarks that could be used for correcting the drift. This ImageJ macro allows you to Manually track the landmark using ImageJ Manual Tracking Plugin. Using the coordinates recorded in the Result window, each frame is shifted back so that the landmark stays in a single place.

ITK is an open-source, cross-platform system that provides developers with an extensive suite of software tools for image analysis.

Developed through extreme programming methodologies, ITK employs leading-edge algorithms for registering and segmenting multidimensional data. It is widely used and contributed in the medical imaging field.

Strengths

Highly optimized C++, well commented Consistently updated (new) algorithms many tools and softwares are built upon it connected with VTK Insight Journal (open code and sample data) Extensive list of examples & tutorials

Limitations

yet detached from the bioimage analysis world hard to use for end users without development skills

Imaris is a software for data visualization, analysis, segmentation and interpretation of 3D and 4D microscopy images. It performs interactive volume rendering that lets users freely navigate even very large datasets (hundreds of GB). It performs both manual and automated detection and tracking of biological “objects” such as cells, nuclei, vesicles, neurons, and many more. ImarisSpots for example is a tool to detect “spherical objects” and track them in time series. Besides the automated detection it gives the user the ability to manually delete and place new spots in 3D space. ImarisCell is a tool to detect nuclei, cell boundaries and vesicles and track these through time. ImarisFilament is a module that lets users trace neurons and detect spines. For any detected object Imaris computes a large set of statistics values such as volume, surface area, maximum intensity of first channel, number of vesicles per cell etc. These values can be exported to Excel and statistics software packages. The measurements can also be analyzed directly within ImarisVantage which is a statistics tool that provides the link back to the 3D objects and the original image data. Strengths: - good visualization - user friendly interface - reads most microscopy file formats - image analysis workflows are very easy to apply - interactive editing of objects to correct errors during automatic detection - large data visualization (hundreds of GB)