Provided by: dcmtk_3.6.7-9.1build4_amd64 
NAME
dcmp2pgm - Read DICOM image and presentation state and render bitmap
SYNOPSIS
dcmp2pgm [options] dcmimage-in [bitmap-out]
DESCRIPTION
The dcmp2pgm utility renders a monochrome DICOM image under the control of a grayscale softcopy
presentation state object into a monochrome bitmap with 8 bits/pixel. The bitmap is stored either as
'Portable Gray Map' (PGM) or as a DICOM secondary capture image object. If no presentation state is read
from file, a default presentation state is created. The utility allows one to read a configuration file
of the Softcopy Presentation State Viewer upon startup. In this case, the settings from the configuration
file affecting the rendering of the presentation state are used, e.g. a correction of the gray scale
range according to Barten's model (DICOM part 14) can be performed if the characteristic curve of the
display system is available and defined in the configuration file.
PARAMETERS
dcmimage-in input DICOM image
bitmap-out output DICOM image or PGM bitmap
OPTIONS
general options
-h --help
print this help text and exit
--version
print version information and exit
--arguments
print expanded command line arguments
-q --quiet
quiet mode, print no warnings and errors
-v --verbose
verbose mode, print processing details
-d --debug
debug mode, print debug information
-ll --log-level [l]evel: string constant
(fatal, error, warn, info, debug, trace)
use level l for the logger
-lc --log-config [f]ilename: string
use config file f for the logger
processing options
-p --pstate [f]ilename: string
process using presentation state file
-c --config [f]ilename: string
process using settings from configuration file
-f --frame [f]rame: integer
process using image frame f (default: 1)
output format
-D --pgm
save image as PGM (default)
+D --dicom
save image as DICOM secondary capture
output options
+S --save-pstate [f]ilename: string
save presentation state to file
NOTES
Limitations
Please note that the dcmp2pgm tool does not render all aspects that are defined by the Grayscale Softcopy
Presentation State (GSPS) object but only those that are supported by the underlying DCMTK classes. In
particular, textual and graphical annotations will not be visible in the output image. The reason is that
these aspects of a GSPS object are typically rendered by DICOMscope, the graphical user interface that is
put on top of the related DCMTK classes and written in Java.
Also concepts that were introduced after the initial definition of the GSPS IOD (see Supplement 33) are
ignored. This includes Supplement 120 with its extended features like e.g. Compound Graphics.
LOGGING
The level of logging output of the various command line tools and underlying libraries can be specified
by the user. By default, only errors and warnings are written to the standard error stream. Using option
--verbose also informational messages like processing details are reported. Option --debug can be used to
get more details on the internal activity, e.g. for debugging purposes. Other logging levels can be
selected using option --log-level. In --quiet mode only fatal errors are reported. In such very severe
error events, the application will usually terminate. For more details on the different logging levels,
see documentation of module 'oflog'.
In case the logging output should be written to file (optionally with logfile rotation), to syslog (Unix)
or the event log (Windows) option --log-config can be used. This configuration file also allows for
directing only certain messages to a particular output stream and for filtering certain messages based on
the module or application where they are generated. An example configuration file is provided in
<etcdir>/logger.cfg.
COMMAND LINE
All command line tools use the following notation for parameters: square brackets enclose optional values
(0-1), three trailing dots indicate that multiple values are allowed (1-n), a combination of both means 0
to n values.
Command line options are distinguished from parameters by a leading '+' or '-' sign, respectively.
Usually, order and position of command line options are arbitrary (i.e. they can appear anywhere).
However, if options are mutually exclusive the rightmost appearance is used. This behavior conforms to
the standard evaluation rules of common Unix shells.
In addition, one or more command files can be specified using an '@' sign as a prefix to the filename
(e.g. @command.txt). Such a command argument is replaced by the content of the corresponding text file
(multiple whitespaces are treated as a single separator unless they appear between two quotation marks)
prior to any further evaluation. Please note that a command file cannot contain another command file.
This simple but effective approach allows one to summarize common combinations of options/parameters and
avoids longish and confusing command lines (an example is provided in file <datadir>/dumppat.txt).
ENVIRONMENT
The dcmp2pgm utility will attempt to load DICOM data dictionaries specified in the DCMDICTPATH
environment variable. By default, i.e. if the DCMDICTPATH environment variable is not set, the file
<datadir>/dicom.dic will be loaded unless the dictionary is built into the application (default for
Windows).
The default behavior should be preferred and the DCMDICTPATH environment variable only used when
alternative data dictionaries are required. The DCMDICTPATH environment variable has the same format as
the Unix shell PATH variable in that a colon (':') separates entries. On Windows systems, a semicolon
(';') is used as a separator. The data dictionary code will attempt to load each file specified in the
DCMDICTPATH environment variable. It is an error if no data dictionary can be loaded.
FILES
<etcdir>/dcmpstat.cfg - sample configuration file
COPYRIGHT
Copyright (C) 1998-2022 by OFFIS e.V., Escherweg 2, 26121 Oldenburg, Germany.
Version 3.6.7 Mon Apr 15 2024 18:40:35 dcmp2pgm(1)