Version 20.

0 – Release Notes

L-10630-02
 Release notes 6/2017 | L—10630 Revision 2 For Mimics Medical 20.0 1

Regulatory Information
The Medical edition of the Mimics Innovation Suite currently consists of the following
software components: Mimics Medical 20.0 and 3-matic Medical 12.0 (released in 2017).
Mimics Medical (hereafter ‘Mimics’) is intended for use as a software interface and image
segmentation system for the transfer of imaging information from a medical scanner such as
a CT scanner or a Magnetic Resonance Imaging scanner to an output file. It is also used as
pre-operative software for simulating/evaluating surgical treatment options. Mimics is not
intended to be used for mammography imaging.
3-matic Medical (hereafter ‘3-matic’) is intended for use as software for computer assisted
design and manufacturing of medical exo- and endo-prostheses, patient specific medical and
dental/orthodontic accessories and dental restorations.

Usage of the software signifies your acceptance of the above. Please refer to the Instructions
For Use for more information.

Manufactured in June 2017 by

Materialise NV
Technologielaan 15
3001 Leuven, Belgium
Phone: +32 16 39 66 11
www.materialise.com

© 2017 Materialise NV. All rights reserved.

Release notes 6/2017, L-10630 Revision 2 - Mimics Medical 20.0.0.691

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 Release notes 6/2017 | L—10630 Revision 2 For Mimics Medical 20.0 2

Contents

Introduction ............................................................................................................................................... 3
Mimics Base............................................................................................................................................... 3
Segmentation Improvements................................................................................................................ 3
2.1.1 Thresholding................................................................................................................................ 3
2.1.2 Manual mask editing .................................................................................................................... 3
2.1.3 Other segmentation improvements ............................................................................................... 6
New Project Wizard and Project Information ......................................................................................... 6
Other changes in Base......................................................................................................................... 7
Scripting..................................................................................................................................................... 7
Scripting API........................................................................................................................................ 8
Console............................................................................................................................................... 8
Editor .................................................................................................................................................. 8
Command line interface ....................................................................................................................... 8
Muscle Segmentation ................................................................................................................................ 8
C&V Segmentation and Mass Segmentation............................................................................................. 9
FEA/CFD..................................................................................................................................................... 9
Resolved issues......................................................................................................................................... 9
Known issues ............................................................................................................................................ 9
System Requirements.............................................................................................................................. 10
Minimum system requirements ........................................................................................................... 10
Recommended system requirements.................................................................................................. 10

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 Release notes 6/2017 | L—10630 Revision 2 For Mimics Medical 20.0 3

Introduction
Mimics Medical 20.0 introduces exciting new features and improvements on your favorite tools
to further optimize your workflows.

The Base module was updated with several segmentation improvements.

• You can create better initial masks with the crop box functionality that was added to the
Thresholding tool.
• Manual editing of masks is now more precise and convenient with the improved Edit
Mask and Multiple Slice Edit tools, and the introduction of the 3D Interpolate tool.
Moreover, these tools now have a uniform user interface, shortcuts for easy adaptation
of thresholds, and ability to save multiple preset thresholds.
• Smoother 3D Objects can be obtained due to the addition of a new custom option for
Calculate Part (previously called Calculate 3D).

The Base module also contains an improved layout for the New Project Wizard and supports
nested DICOM tags.

You can now automate your workflows using the new Scripting module. You can access
Mimics objects and features through a native Python API. Scripting your own workflows is
made easier via a built-in script editor, an integrated Python console, and extensive API
documentation. You can even execute scripts without having to launch Mimics via the
command line interface.

A new Muscle Segmentation module is available, allowing you to semi-automatically segment

many muscles in one go, rather than segmenting them all one-by-one.

Note that Mimics Medical 20.0 is compatible with Mimics 14.0 and later. Compatibility with
older releases is not supported anymore.

Mimics Base

Segmentation Improvements
The Base module was updated with several segmentation improvements.

2.1.1 Thresholding

The Thresholding tool was extended with a crop box feature, allowing you to more easily create
good initial masks. The crop box is convenient in default views as well as in reslice views (in
MPR views, the borders of the crop box automatically align with the reslice plane).
The tool also has new shortcuts for fast adaptation of the lower and upper thresholds while
you are inspecting the images.

2.1.2 Manual mask editing

Manual mask editing is more precise and convenient than ever before with the improved Edit
Mask and Multiple Slice Edit tools, and the introduction of the 3D Interpolate tool.

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• The Edit Mask tool was extended with a clipping feature. You can set a clipping box to
facilitate editing, which allows you to restrict modifications to a particular area of the
mask without affecting other parts of the mask. In MPR views, the borders of the
clipping box automatically align with the reslice plane.
When used in Threshold mode, the tool now also shows a preview of the thresholded
result inside the cursor (available for the Ellipse and Rectangle cursor type).

• The Multiple Slice Edit tool is now easier and more efficient to use. You no longer
need to set the viewport in which you want to edit, as the tool now automatically detects
in which viewport you start drawing. The new Auto Interpolate option allows you to
immediately see the result of the interpolation as you are drawing on the slices. In
Threshold mode, a real time preview of the threshold is now also available.

• A new tool called 3D Interpolate was added. Usage of the tool is similar to that of
Multiple Slice Edit. However, while Multiple Slice Edit only allows input in one of the 2D
viewports (e.g. only in Axial view), the 3D Interpolate tool allows input in all three 2D
viewports. The more input slices are marked, the more detailed the interpolation will
become. This facilitates the creation of freeform spherical objects.

Example of a segmentation of the heart myocardium. The input slices (red) are marked in all
2D viewports. The 3D viewport shows the input before interpolation:

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3D Preview of the mask after interpolation (output of the 3D Interpolate tool):

Note that if you want to mark on only one of the 2D viewports (e.g. Axial view) then you
could use Multiple Slice Edit as well as 3D Interpolate, but Multiple Slice Edit will
typically be more efficient in such cases, especially on large image sets.

The above tools (Edit Masks, Multiple Slice Edit and 3D Interpolate) now also have a uniform
user interface. There also are several enhancements to make the tools more convenient when

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 Release notes 6/2017 | L—10630 Revision 2 For Mimics Medical 20.0 6

used in Threshold mode, such as ability to save multiple preset thresholds and shortcuts for
fast adaptation of the lower and upper thresholds while you are inspecting the images.

2.1.3 Other segmentation improvements

The Calculate Part tool (previously called Calculate 3D) was extended with a new custom
option for obtaining smoother parts (3D objects).

The mask-based setting is the default setting and is identical to that of the previous release.
The voxel-based setting is new.
With the mask-based setting, the algorithm for part generation will internally make use of the
lower and upper threshold of the mask. However, if these thresholds are not relevant anymore
(e.g. due to heavy manual editing or Boolean operations on the mask), this can create parts
suffering from staircasing. In such cases, the voxel-based setting can yield smoother results.
A new option was introduced for configuring the Mask 3D Preview feature. In Edit >
Preferences > 3D Settings, you can specify whether you want to use a preview that is optimized
for accuracy (identical to the preview of Mimics 19) or a preview optimized for speed (faster
preview at the cost of some accuracy).

New Project Wizard and Project Information

The New Project Wizard has an improved layout, allowing you to see a maximum of
information on one screen. This facilitates selection of studies, initial screening of images, etc.
You can resize the different panels to your preferred dimensions (drag the edge of a panel to
resize it).

When switching between studies is non-instantaneous, a progress wheel is now shown on the
images panel and the DICOM tags panel.

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Further improvements were done to the New Project Wizard and Project Information tools:
• Ability to define custom tabs (via the ‘+’ icon). You can add and delete tags from such
a tab as desired. This allows you to create tabs containing specifically those tags
relevant for your workflow.

• Support for nested DICOM tags (those are tags that have other tags as children and
hence form a tree structure):

• Support for DICOM tags whose value is slice-dependent.

Other changes in Base

The terminology ‘3D objects’ is replaced by ‘Parts’ (in accordance with 3-matic). This change
in terminology is visible throughout Mimics:
• the ‘3D Objects’ tab in Project Management tabs is now called ‘Parts’,
• the ‘Calculate 3D’ tool is now called ‘Calculate Part’,
• etc.
Other minor changes:
• The default background color of the 3D viewport is now white (it can be changed via
Edit > Preferences > 3D Settings).
• The tools in the 3D Tools menu had minor renamings.
• The visualization of analytical planes was updated (the control points of a plane are
now only shown when the plane is selected).
• The naming convention of Measurements and Analysis objects in the Project
Management tab was updated (previously, the name sometimes contained two spaces
such as ‘Plane 1’ while now names always contain a single space such as ‘Plane 1’).

Scripting
Mimics now contains a Python scripting module, providing access to Mimics objects and
features, through an API compliant with Python coding conventions. Mimics’ scripting
capabilities come out-of-the box, including Python 3.5 readily installed, a comprehensive built-
in console as well as a user-friendly editor. This allows convenient script generation for
automation of repetitive tasks and batch processing.
Features of the Python scripting module are:
• Access to Mimics objects and features through a native Python API
• Extensive API documentation
• A comprehensive console (including auto-completion)

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• A built-in easy to use script editor (including auto-completion and auto-indentation)

• Ability to run scripts from the Windows command line
• Integration with the popular Python 3.5 distribution
• Compatibility with installed Python 3.5 distributions and packages (e.g. NumPy etc)

Scripting API
The Mimics Python scripting API is developed consistent with Python code conventions,
making it an easy to read and intuitive API. An extensive scripting guide is available in the help
menu, which includes introductory tutorials as well as a complete overview of the API, to kick-
start the design of Python scripts.

Console
The Python console offers quick access to the entire API of Mimics and includes a command
history and support for auto-completion.

Editor
The built-in Python editor is a lightweight editor that includes support for auto-completion, auto-
indentation and syntax highlighting. It enables seamless creation and editing of scripts.

Command line interface

The command line interface of Mimics takes a script as input, which can be executed in the
foreground or background. In this way fully automated workflows as well workflows requiring
manual input are supported. It also enables to link Mimics to other software applications such
as 3-matic, finite element packages, etc.

Muscle Segmentation
This release introduces a brand new module for Muscle Segmentation. The module allows you
to semi-automatically segment many muscles in one go, rather than segmenting them all one-
by-one.
To use the tools, you need a set of atlases, which are pre-segmented cases containing a mask
for every muscle of your interest. To segment a new case, you’ll first define a mask containing
all muscles (left picture below). The Muscle Segmentation tool will then automatically segment
this mask into multiple submasks, one per muscle as in the atlases (right picture below).

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C&V Segmentation and Mass Segmentation

Minor improvements were done in these modules: the Coronary, CT Heart and CT Bone tools
were extended with shortcuts for fast adaptation of the thresholds.

FEA/CFD
The Import and Export features that were placed under the FEA menu in previous releases
are now under the File menu instead.

Resolved issues
Several issues present in previous releases have now been resolved. This includes:
• Segment – Edit Masks:
o Short lags or freezing when using the tool, and issues with left-handed mouse
settings
o Not remembering custom set threshold values correctly (solved with a new
method for threshold presets)
o Not possible to limit your editing to a specific part of a mask (solved by
introduction of a clipping box)
• Segment – Thresholding: When applying thresholding with the ‘fill hole’ option on
projects with variable distance between slices, not all holes in the mask are filled.
• Floating license server: Issues when using a floating license server with high server
traffic

Known issues
This release contains a number of known issues:
• View – Project Management: Upon launching a new Mimics session, it can happen
that the layout of the Project Management tabs looks distorted and some tabs are not
visible. In that case, you can reset the layout via View > Project Management > Reset
Project Management Layout.
• Segment – Thresholding: On projects with Gantry tilt, the crop box of the
Thresholding tool by default does not cover the entire image stack (it does not cover
the topmost slice). (Issue 440799)
• Scripting: When running scripts with the log panel turned off, the user will not be able
to see any errors produced by the script. Hence, for scripting users, it is recommend to
always have the log panel on (View > Log panel). (Issue 480881)
• Scripting Library: The Scripting Library menu shows all *.py files present in the
scripting directory set in Edit > Preferences > Scripting. This has a limit to 100 files. If
more than 100 files are present in the directory they will not be registered in the
Scripting Library menu.

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• 3D Rendering settings: In exceptional cases, driver incompatibilities can cause

Mimics to crash at the end of the New Project Wizard or when opening an existing
Mimics project (= at the moment of activating the renderer). The problem can be solved
by changing the Mimics settings. To do so, launch Mimics (without opening any project),
go to Edit > Preferences > 3D Settings and change the renderer to 'Software'. (Issue
486139)
• Temporary files: Mimics stores temporary files in the ‘AppData’ folder of Windows
(folders named ‘Mimics ,’ in C:\Users\USERNAME\AppData\Local\Temp\Mimics). If
such files are deleted (for instance as the result of running disk cleanup applications)
while working on a Mimics project, the project might become corrupt. It is strongly
recommended to not delete such files while Mimics is running. (Issue 261013)
• Segment - Cardiovascular - CT Heart: Results of CT Heart are influenced by the
setting Compress images in memory in Edit > Preferences > General. Results are often
better when compress images is turned off. (Issue 413082)
• Segment – Pulmo – Cut Airway: On specific cases, it can occur that the part produced
by Cut Airway has floating voxels, which need to be removed manually. (Issue 483946)

System Requirements

Minimum system requirements

Software Hardware
Windows® 7 SP1 – 64bit Intel® Core™ 2 Duo / AMD Athlon™ X2 AM2 or equivalent
Internet Explorer® 10 4 GB RAM
PDF viewer DirectX® 11.0 compliant graphics card with 1 GB RAM

5 GB free hard disk space

Resolution of 1280x1024

Note: Mac® users can install MIS using Boot Camp® in combination with a supported Windows OS.

Recommended system requirements

Software Hardware
Windows® 7 SP1 – 64bit Third generation Intel® Core™ i5/i7 or equivalent
Internet Explorer® 10 16 GB RAM
PDF Viewer DirectX® 11.0 compliant AMD Radeon™ / NVIDIA® GeForce® card
with 2 GB RAM
20 GB free hard disk space
Resolution of 1680x1050 or higher

Note: Other qualifications may apply. When working with datasets larger than 1GB the system should comply
with the recommended system requirements. Advanced segmentation tools such as Smart Expand and
Coronary segmentation require hardware as specified in the recommended requirements even for smaller
datasets.

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It is recommended to use our software within a hardware and/or network environment in which
cyber security controls have been implemented including anti-virus and use of firewall.

The following operating systems were used to test Mimics Medical 20.0:

• Windows 7 Professional 64-bit (with SP1)

• Windows 8.1 Professional 64-bit (with Update 1)

• Windows 10 Pro 64-bit

Mimics Medical is software and does not degrade in performance. Its lifetime is determined by
commercial requirements, obsolescence of its techniques or obsolescence caused by changes
in its host environment (refer to above requirements). Support can in any case not be
guaranteed beyond 7 years after the release of this particular version of the software.

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