About the vis File

Each PLUNC treatment plan has a companion vis file that records the display attributes of the beams and
anastructs, set by the user on the attribute panels.

For a plan with only one image, this file contains a single line of numbers such as:

4 0 1 5 0 2 1 4 0 5 3 1 1 2 1 0 0 10 1 4 -5 0 1 -10 1
Beam Attributes Anastruct Attributes

This set of numbers consists of two groups: the beam attribute settings, and the anastruct attribute settings.
The size of each group varies with the number of beams or anastructs in the group.

Beam Attributes Group

The following table shows the structure of the sample beam attributes group.

Beam 1 Beam 2 Beam 3 Beam 4

No. Beams Color Visibility Color Visibility Color Visibility Color Visibility
4 0 1 5 0 2 1 4 0

The subgroups for each beam appear in order of beam creation. This is the same order seen on beam lists in
the PLUNC user interface. The number of elements in the beam group equals 2N + 1, where N is the first
number in the vis file, and is also the number of beams.

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About the vis File

Color Settings. The following table shows the number/color relationships for the color settings.
Number 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
Color Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan White Black

Visibility Settings. The visibility is set to 0 for invisible beams, 1 for visible beams.

In this example, the four beams are displayed in red (0), cyan (5), blue (2), and magenta (4), when visible.
Only the first and third beams are visible (1), while the second and fourth beams are not (0).

Anastruct Attributes Group

The anastruct group of numbers immediately follows the beam group in the vis file. The following table
shows the structure of the sample anastruct attributes group. “Sp./Sh.” stands for spacing and shading.
“Vis.” stands for visibility.

Anastruct 1 Anastruct 2 Anastruct 3 Anastruct 4 Anastruct 5

Number of Sp./ Sp./ Sp./ Sp./ Sp./

Anastructs Color Sh. Vis. Color Sh. Vis. Color Sh. Vis. Color Sh. Vis. Color Sh. Vis.
5 3 1 1 2 1 0 0 10 1 4 -5 0 1 -10 1

The subgroups for each anastruct appear in alphabetical order of the anastruct names. This is the same order
seen on anastruct lists in the PLUNC user interface. The number of elements in the anastruct group equals
3X + 1, where X is the first number in the anastruct group, and is also the number of anastructs.

Color and Visibility Settings. These settings have the same meaning as for beams, explained above.

Spacing and Shading Settings. The absolute value of this number represents the spacing between displayed
contours. A setting of 1 displays contours for every CT slice. A setting of 2 displays contours for every sec-
ond slice, and so on. A negative sign indicates that PLUNC will display a shaded (solid) surface between
each displayed contour line and the next contour line. If the setting is less than -1, the anastruct appears as
alternating solid and empty bands. If the setting is equal to -1, the anastruct appears solid.

In this example, the first anastruct is yellow (3), with contour lines for every CT slice (1), and visible (1).
The second anastruct is invisible (0). However, if visible, it would be blue (2), with contour lines for every
CT slice (1). The third anastruct is red (0), with contour lines for every 10th CT slice (10), and visible (1).
The fourth anastruct is invisible (0). However, if visible, it would be magenta (4), with a solid band every 5th
CT slice (-5). The fifth anastruct is green (1), with a solid band every 10th CT slice (-10), and visible.

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About the vis File

Multiple Images
When multiple images are used in a plan, the vis file includes the anastruct settings from all images. Anas-
truct groups for additional images are appended in order of the image numbers. If we add two images with
two anastructs each to our example, the new vis file contains the following line:

4 0 1 5 0 2 1 4 0 9 3 1 1 2 1 0 0 10 1 4 -5 0 1 -10 1 2 1 1 3 1 1 4 1 1 5 1 1
Beam Group Image 1 Anastruct Group Image 3 Anastruct Group

Total Number of Anastructs Image 2 Anastruct Group

The vis file has changed in the following ways:

• The total number of anastructs has changed from 5 to (5+2+2) = 9.
• The anastruct group for Image 2 (2 1 1 3 1 1) follows the anastruct group for Image 1.
• The anastruct group for Image 3 (4 1 1 5 1 1) follows the anastruct group for Image 2.

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About the vis File

4 December 2005