title: TINA manual landmarking tool: software for the precise digitization of 3D landmarks.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Interest in the placing of landmarks and subsequent morphometric analyses of shape for 3D data has increased with the increasing accessibility of computed tomography (CT) scanners. However, current computer programs for this task suffer from various practical drawbacks. We present here a free software tool that overcomes many of these problems.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The TINA Manual Landmarking Tool was developed for the digitization of 3D data sets. It enables the generation of a modifiable 3D volume rendering display plus matching orthogonal 2D cross-sections from DICOM files. The object can be rotated and axes defined and fixed. Predefined lists of landmarks can be loaded and the landmarks identified within any of the representations. Output files are stored in various established formats, depending on the preferred evaluation software.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The software tool presented here provides several options facilitating the placing of landmarks on 3D objects, including volume rendering from DICOM files, definition and fixation of meaningful axes, easy import, placement, control, and export of landmarks, and handling of large datasets. The TINA Manual Landmark Tool runs under Linux and can be obtained for free from http://www.tina-vision.net/tarballs/.
authors.affiliation: Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Biology, Department for Evolutionary Genetics, August-Thienemann-Str. 2, 24306 Plön, Germany.
authors.forename: Anja C
authors.initials: AC
authors.lastname: Schunke
authors.affiliation: Imaging Science and Biomedical Engineering, School of Cancer and Imaging Sciences, University of Manchester, Stopford Building, Oxford Road, Manchester M13 9PT, UK.
authors.forename: Paul A
authors.initials: PA
authors.lastname: Bromiley
authors.affiliation: Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Biology, Department for Evolutionary Genetics, August-Thienemann-Str. 2, 24306 Plön, Germany.
authors.forename: Diethard
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Tautz
authors.affiliation: Imaging Science and Biomedical Engineering, School of Cancer and Imaging Sciences, University of Manchester, Stopford Building, Oxford Road, Manchester M13 9PT, UK.
authors.forename: Neil A
authors.initials: NA
authors.lastname: Thacker