Whats New

Version 4.12

Fixed a bug where the OpenGL 3D rendering context was not being updated correctly when the setup window, about & disclaimer dialogs were moved or resized on the NVIDIA graphics card.

Version 4.11

Minor cosmetic changes to the colors used when drawing a plaque to improve visibility.
Plaque colors can now be changed and saved with the plaque file.
Added a menu with 16 predefined color sets, and a dialog for custom plaque colors.
Updated BEBIG email address in the installer html page.

Version 4.10

Changes in the Image window:
- Controls reorganized to support several new functions.
- The controls used for fundus photo calibration, and the image enhancement tools are now grouped for clarity.
- Added a "find" tool to the Image window. The find function automatically scrolls the window to center the currently selected calibration ruler.
- Added a "gamma" tool to the Image window. The gamma button switches the image enhancement sliders from "brightness & contrast" to "bias & gain" functions.
- Added 3 collage buttons to the fundus group. Use these buttons to indicate the number of individual photos from which a fundus image is composed. The collage buttons select between 1, 2 and 3 photos. For 3D retina texturing purposes, previous versions treated a fundus collage as if it were a single photo, centered on the posterior pole. This resulted in texture distortion increasing with radial distance from the posterior pole of the eye.
  In addition to the original markers for the posterior pole and optic disc, the fundus calibration ruler now supports up to two additional photo "center" markers which can be dragged to mark the center of the tumor or off-center photos. The posterior pole marker is always assumed to be the primary photo center, and is now labeled "pole" for clarity. These additional photo centers improve the quality of 3D retina texturing (only available when using OpenGL for rendering).
- Image window calibration rulers are no longer deactivated when switching to another window.
Changes in the Setup window:
- Added 3D rendering of the retinal surface.
- Added 3D rendering of dose to the retinal surface. User can choose between translucent and opaque isodose rendering.
- Added new controls for rendering of retina and optic nerve.
- Added new items to the View menu to support retinal dose rendering.
- Moved rendering controls from the bottom to a strip down the right side of the window.
- Rendering of the optic nerve and muscles no longer requires that scleral rendering be enabled.
- Added scroll bars to permit offseting the 3D image in the window.
- The maximum window size increased to 1024x768.
Changes in the 2D Dosimetry window:
- Improved memory management.
- Improved pan & zoom user interface.
- Improved cosmetics.
- The maximum window size increased to 1024x768.
General:
- Updated BEBIG corporate logos.
- Warning: Support for 680x0 processors dropped to enable upcoming move to MacOS X.
- Warning: Support for Quickdraw3D rendering removed to enable upcoming move to MacOS X. OpenGL drivers are now mandatory. OpenGL is automatically installed with MacOS 9.x and later, or is a free download for earlier MacOS versions.
- Fixed a cursor bug in the Plaque window.
- Improved cosmetics in the Plaque window.
- Improved cosmetics in the Edit Plaque Shell dialog.
- Various improvements in the internal handling of DICOM images imported using the "DICOM import component for Quicktime for MacOS" which can be licensed from Escape Information Services .
- Magnification in the Setup, Image, 2D Dosimetry and Retina windows can be set to an arbitrary value by control-clicking or double-clicking in the magnification display field at the lower left corner of these windows. Enter the desired magnification factor in the dialog which appears.
- A few users with very old hardware might need to add RAM to fully support the new maximum window sizes.

Version 4.07

Warning: This is the last version compatible with 680x0 processors and Quickdraw3D rendering.
Greatly improved handling of DICOM images using the "DICOM import component for Quicktime for MacOS" which can be licensed from Escape Information Services . The earlier "DICOM" import capability built into Plaque Simulator has now been renamed as "ACR-NEMA" since it did not support the full DICOM 3 file specification.

Version 4.06

Fixed a bug that caused the inventory system to crash if you changed isotope when editing an inventory entry.
Hopefully fixed a printing bug with HP inkjet printers.
Refined the alerts for opening old patient files and inventories.
Added a cross-check field for dose rate constant to the inventory system. This will (in the future) help to better identify the dosimetry conditions that were in place at the time an inventory was created.

Version 4.05

Added caution alerts and fixed some bugs for old plaques and inventories in which an isotope's default activity units have changed since the files were originally created, such as the I-125 (6711 COMS).
Fixed a bug where a fundus photo texture did not adjust correctly to changes in eye diameter when displayed in the 3D setup window.
Fixed some cosmetic bugs in the Image window's rulers and tools.
Slightly revised the polar source coordinates for the "built-in" COMS 20mm plaques to match RPC coordinates. These adjustments are of no clinical significance.

Version 4.04

Slightly revised the polar source coordinates for the "built-in" COMS 16 and 20mm plaques to match RPC coordinates. These adjustments are of no clinical significance.

Version 4.02

Reorganized all prescription related functions into a new Prescription (Rx) window. These functions had been distributed among 3 windows for historic reasons which no longer apply. This reorganization includes:
- Moving the dose calc option buttons (COMS,anisotropy,etc...) from Setup to Prescription.
- Dose calc options are now set automatically when selecting a "built-in" plaque.
- Folding the placement and removal date & time controls into Prescription.
- Moving the CAX and user point dose tables from the old Legend window into Prescription.
- Moving non dosimetry items, such as entering the patient name, from the Dosimetry menu into a new Plan menu on the menu bar.
- Simplifying many menus.
- Improving some icons.
- Improving printed documents.
The former Legend window is now renamed "Isodose" as it now only deals with issues related to isodose legends, lines, surfaces, or normalization .
Some functions previously available only from the menu bar now have faster button access in the revised Setup and Isodose windows. Specifically, the ability to lock the plaque position on the eye and to disable 2D plane autotracking in Setup, and color vs grayscale, and access to isodose legend files in the Isodose (formerly legend) window. A few other buttons have had their symbolic icons modified to better convey their purpose, and some menu items have also been retitled to better explain their purpose. More buttons now have help balloons.
Added automatic optimization of window locations on startup. The Setup, Plaque, Prescription, Isodose and Dose Matrix windows will be tiled to fit the main monitor size. The best size is a 21 in. or greater monitor set to 1152x870, or 1024x768 on a smaller monitor.
Added "zoom" controls to the Setup window.
Complete rewrite of the Treatment Plan document. It is now 2 pages instead of one, but much easier to read and includes more customizations such as optional CT and fundus images (double click on the document preview to customize).
Added a new document preference to designate a graphic file to replace the radiation safety survey graphic on page 2 of the new treatment plan document. This had previously required a copy & paste method and had severe size limits on the old single page document. The graphic can now be ANY Quicktime compatible graphic file (PICT,GIF,TIFF,JPG etc...) of any size. It is best, however, to keep the size to under 300x200 pixels. Numerous other minor tweaks to the treatment plan and other documents.
Document margins can now be set universally or individually.
Removed the isotope,tumor,dose and calculation mode summary dialogs which were originally intended to provide information for now obsolete COMS forms and replaced them with a new integrated Treatment Summaries document.
Complete rewrite of graphic tablet interface and added support for digitizing fundus photos and retinal diagrams using current generation Wacom graphics tablets such as the USB Intuos and Graphire.
Improved 2D & 3D tumor rendering. The tumor base now conforms to the inner surface of the eye and its shape can be either a conical peak or an elliptical dome. A digitized fundus image, if available, can be used to texture the tumor surface.
Plaques with 3D matrices are now renormalized instead of invalidated when opened from files and when implant time is changed so you don't have to recalulate the matrix. Plaques with 3D matrices can now be moved in Setup without invalidating the matrix.
Updated the built-in Pd-103 dose rate constant to match current AAPM recommendations.
Added ability to launch user's preferred web browser and open either a local copy of this guide (the local copy of the guide will be distributed on CD to licensed users) and/or to connect with Plaque Simulator's internet web site for the online guide.

Version 3.93

Updated the BEBIG telephone numbers.
The documents window now updates immediately when a user license key is installed.

Version 3.92

Fixed a depth-sorting bug in the OpenGL translucency code.
Continue the carbonizing process in preparation for MacOS X.
The "add one slot" menu item now offers the opportunity to set aplha,beta and tilt angles prior to creating the new source slot (previously a new slot was always installed at 0,0,0 and had to be dragged to new coordinates) and checks to see if a slot is already at those coordinates.
Added support for printing individual pages of multipage documents (such as the DVH) if a page range is entered in the print manager dialog. Previously, any setting other than "all" pages was ignored.
A "standard group" of documents can now be specified in the Documents preferences dialog and printed using a single item from the File menu. Individual documents may still be printed in the same way as in earlier versions.
Revised the entire user licensing process. On 1st launch, license conditions must be agreed to or the program immediately quits. If the license conditions are agreed to, a resource is modified with an 8 character PIN code and the agreement will no longer be asked for at launch time. The program now operates in a fully functional demonstration mode in which printed documents are clearly marked as "UNLICENSED". The user must then send their PIN code to BEBIG (preferably by email). BEBIG will return an 8 character "license key" and a serial number. The license key is specific to the PIN code, and the PIN code is specific to the date and time at which the license conditions were agreed to. Each time a new version of Plaque Simulator is installed a new PIN code is generated and a new license key will be required. Since the serial number is only used for documentation it can be reused when installing newer versions. If the user forgets their PIN code they can find it in the "User licenseÉ" dialog under the Apple menu. For now, a user may also simply copy the PIN code, its corresponding license key, and their serial number from a previously licensed version (3.92 or greater). If their previous version is less than 3.92 the user MUST obtain a license key from BEBIG.
To fully license Plaque Simulator go to the "User licenseÉ" dialog under the Apple menu. Enter your 8 character PIN code (this is filled in automatically), the 8 character license key, and the serial number in the appropriate fields. Click the Install button, and then the OK button. When the installed PIN code and license key are correct the "UNLICENSED" watermarks will no longer appear on documents.

Version 3.91

Added a dialog which automatically loads isotope, calculates the absolute dose calibration factor, and saves a plaque file when a new BEBIG Ru-106 plaque is created from the BEBIG plaque menu. Data from the BEBIG measurement and certificate sheets is required.
Fixed a bug where the 2D plane in the setup display would not resize properly when switching between transecting and equatorial surfaces.
A few more OpenGL rendering tweaks.
Begin carbonizing process for MacOS X.

Version 3.89

Fixed a bug that caused the cylindrical shells of sources in plaques that have been offset and wobbled to draw incorrectly.
Addressed a timing issue between the "Setup" document and OpenGL rendering which somtimes resulted in a small portion of the setup window not copying to the document properly.
Various refinements to the DVH calculation and plots. Both the eye and tumor dose volumes are now calculated and plotted simultaneously. DVH resolutions adjusted for faster processors. More control over plotting parameters.

Version 3.88

Added a faster sqrt() function to the PowerPC version. Replaced the asin() and acos() lookup tables which were used to accelerate the 68K version with faster PowerPC function calls.
Fixed a bug that prevented typing the year 2000 in the Rx Date&time window's year field. (the more commonly used up-down bumper controls worked fine)

Version 3.87

Fixed incorrect day of week in the Plaque Number menu.
Fixed a crashing bug when opening plaque files created by versions <3.28.

Version 3.86

Can now open DICOM files using Standard File as well as Navigation Services.
Added a DICOM images page to the user guide.

Version 3.85

Added support for 16 bit medical (ie CT & MR) images.
Added a window & level dialog for optimizing imported medical images.
Added a DICOM file format importer. (other medical image file formats will be added as needed)

Version 3.83

Another minor revision to the OpenGL 3D picking & feedback code.

Version 3.82

Revised and accelerated the OpenGL 3D picking & feedback code again.
Added a test for installation of OpenGL during bootup.
Changed the transparency dialog from modal to modeless and to use sliders with immediate feedback instead of text fields. The opaque/transparency button in the setup window now calls this dialog rather than changing between opaque and translucent displays directly. This consolidates all translucency adjustments into the one modeless dialog.
Moved the plaque rendering and isodose rendering menus under the view menu (instead of the setup menu) to consolidate all 3D rendering functions into one menu.
Simplified the code base by removing the option for alternate language documents.
Updated a few more user guide pages.

Version 3.81

Revised the OpenGL 3D picking & feedback code.
Changed the default 3D renderer from QD3D to OpenGL.
Updated image window brightness & contrast controls to use OS8 sliders and new icons.
Modified the disclaimer dialog and added its automatic display at startup.
Updated a number of these user guide pages.

Version 3.80

Revised the standard tumor dialog to support multiple tumors.
Added a height field to the std tumor dialog.

Version 3.78

Some minor tweaks to the 3D rendering.

Version 3.77

Added support for OpenGL.
Fixed some bugs in the QD3D & 680x0 rendering.
Added additional rendering modes for plaques & isodose surfaces.
Simplified the 3D rendering preferences.

Version 3.75

Added built-in resources for notched COMS plaques.

Version 3.74

Fixed a bug where source strength labels in the plaque loading window did not update immediately when changing implant date. Selecting a plaque file resets the implant date to when the plaque file was last saved. This is appropriate if the plaque contains seeds, but not if it is empty. This has been fixed.
Added Navigation Services recognition of file type 'MooV' for Quicktime 4.0 graphics import of 640x480 image files created by the XLR8 InterView USB video capture device.

Version 3.73

Nycomed/Amersham adopted the 1999 NIST I-125 standard on 7/26/99. This is now the default for new installations of Plaque Simulator. If you are updating from a previous version you must select it in preferences, save the preferences, and then quit and restart Plaque Simulator. The standard Nycomed/Amersham activity midpoints in the range 2.51 to 7.30 U (1.98 to 5.75 mCi) are now listed in the user's guide I-125 topic and in the inventory dialog as convenience.

Version 3.72

Fixed a bug which allowed previously calculated isodose lines to remain visible even though the implant date or time had changed.
Recompiled for generic PowerPC with latest CodeWarrior Pro 5.1

Version 3.71

Fixed a bad divider in the Dosimetry menu.
Fixed a sorting bug in the user guide topic list.
Removed QD3D alternate renderers menus.
Modified dose volume histogram (DVH) behavior.
The DVH document is now expressed as % of the selected volume of interest.
Tabulated DVH results now appear on a second page which may be previewed by clicking the page flipping buttons at the bottom of the Documents window.
Printing the DVH document will automatically print both pages.

Version 3.70

Fixed a bad link to the isotope summary dialog.

Version 3.69

Fixes a potential crashing bug when loading files via navigation services.

Version 3.68

Added ability to measure tumor height from a digitized ultrasound (US) image.
Added a sample US image to the "Sample Images" folder.
The images window has three new buttons. The first selects the US image buffer in the same manner as the CT and Fundus buttons operate. The second new button is a ruler to measure tumor height and diameter. The 3rd new button has no function in this version.
Another new button in the retinal diagram window's Tumor Height dialog copies the height measured on the US image into the height field. You can of course continue to enter tumor height manually as before.

Version 3.65

Added a resource with dose rate constants for I-125 revised Jan. 1 1999 NIST air-kerma calibration standard. (ex. model 6711 seeds changed from 0.88 to 0.98). To use the new constants go to the general preferences dialog, check NIST 1999 in the upper right corner, save preferences, quit and restart Plaque Simulator. NOTE: as of 5/99 Nycomed/Amersham has not yet changed to the new standards.
Also added "geometry" and "unique ID" parameters to the inventory data structure so the inventory files can be shared with RT Simulatorª brachytherapy.

Version 3.63

Fixed a bug in the inventory editing system that caused duplicate IDs.
Added color & opacity fields to the inventory data structure so inventory files can be shared with RT Simulatorª brachytherapy.

Version 3.61

Added support for the Quicktime 3.0 graphics importer. If Quicktime 3.0 or greater is installed, Plaque Simulator will now preview and open a large number of graphics image file formats including PICT, TIFF, JPEG, GIF and so on. Without Quicktime 3.0, only PICT format images are supported. Note: If you decide to resave an image after the calibration procedure, Plaque Simulator will convert it to PICT format (so you might want to make backup copies of your original CT and fundus images). Quicktime 3.0 is part of MacOS 8.5 or can be downloaded at no charge from Apple's web site and installed on earlier versions of MacOS.

Version 3.60

Fixed a cursor bug introduced in version 3.59 in the Date & Time setting window.

Version 3.59

Added support for the new MacOS 8.5 "navigation" file services including plaque and picture preview capability when opening files. A new preferences item permits the older "Standard File" interface to be used if desired.
Fixed a bug which occurred when multiple plaques were displayed in the plaque loading window.
Minor adjustments to the cursor display algorithms.

Version 3.58

Improved the interaction between date-time controls and edit text items in the isotope inventory & calendar dialogs. The date-time control is now deactivated properly when you click in another item.
Updated the user guide.

Version 3.57

Fixed a menu item color bug.
Fixed zoom location bug in documents window.
Removed redundant items from the image menu that are now handled by
buttons.
Added "crop to selection" capability to image menu.
Added user definable background color preferences for setup, plaque and retina windows.
Small images now center in the image window.
Patient Name & ID is now a stand-alone modal dialog.
Procedures for date & time of implant placement and removal are simplified and consolidated into a single methodology (calculation time is ALWAYS equal to the Rx time) with a MODELESS window that can be visible at all times. As you change the placement and removal times, dose to the Rx point and CAX/TAX tables in the legend window update automatically (as before), only now you can modify the legend display without having to close the date & time window.

Version 3.56

Fixed a crashing bug when opening & saving files under MacOS 8.5

Version 3.55

Modified the 2D dose plane drawing method in the QD3D setup window to lessen artifacts with ATI transparency drivers.

Version 3.54

Added capability to create Quicktime movies.

Version 3.53

Fixed flashing month popup menu in the calendar dialog.

Version 3.52

Fixed a bug in the master data folder scanning routine.

Version 3.51

Incorporated the OS8 "platinum" interface.
IMPORTANT: Changed file linking to use a master "Data Folder" - read the "Data Folder" topic.
Fixed a small error found when plotting isodoses on retinal diagrams.
Added tinted isodose displays. You can have isodose lines, tints, or both!
Some buttons now support contextual menus. These are indicated by the lower right corner of the button being "clipped". To access a contextual menu control-click on the button or click and hold for a few seconds. I recommend you program a two-button mouse (such as the "Kensington Mouse") to generate a "control-click" with the second button.
Misc. performance tweaks and bug fixes in the code.
Added full 3D cylindrical display of "seed" type sources to the QD3D PowerPC code. An empty slot is drawn as a line, a loaded source shows both the physical and dosimetric representations of the source as a line within a translucent cylindrical shell. The 68K code still draws sources as simple lines for speed.

Version 3.32

Improved code to prevent a crash which might occur in the event that all of Plaque Simulator's windows were "closed" and the program received an activate event.
Fixed some minor appearance glitches associated with activating & deactivating windows.

Version 3.31

Specific support for the ATI NexusGA 3D accelerator card. The original Apple 3D card (available 3/98 for < $100) and the ATI NexusGA are the presently recommended 3D cards for Plaque Simulator. The Apple card works very well but is comparatively slow and has limited texturing capability. The ATI card is newer, faster and has more texturing capability for future development but currently has problems with cursors and transparency. These problems are being addressed by ATI engineers. Updated drivers which fix many of the problems are available by special request. I am using the ATI card in my development system.
Misc. performance tweaks in the code.

Version 3.29

Improved cursor behavior when in background in a multitasking environment.
Can now be used with non-Apple brand 3D hardware accelerators.

Version 3.24

Improved 2D isodose plotting algorithm.

Version 3.23

Now allow the document window to exceed the paper size at 1:1 viewing. The image will be centered by default, or can be forced to the upper left via a general preferences setting .

Version 3.22

Fixed isotope inventory dialog to immediately update the available strength field when count or source strength change.
Revised the Slot Data dialog to eliminate editable text fields (editable fields were a debugging leftover).
Changed the BEBIG plaque source offsets from 0.10 to 0.12 mm.
Fixed a cosmetic bug in the Setup window.

Version 3.21

Fixed a bug in the treatment plan document that sometimes resulted in the wrong plaque name.
Fixed a bug in QD3D retina texturing.

Version 3.20

Fixed the bug that caused incorrect behavior when dragging the tumor apex on the retinal diagram.
Accelerated some retinal diagram drawing functions.
Added a new menu for selection of some USC standard plaques.
Revised the Plaque Number menu.
Revised the Plaque Table document.

Version 3.19

Fixed a bug that interfered with dragging plaques on the eye when using the non QD3D 3D renderer.
Added numeric readouts for alpha,beta & tilt angles when dragging sources on a plaque.
Fixed various graphic & dosimetric oversights resulting from the plaque lip now being drawn as the outside surface of the shell.
Added the front of the lip to the plaque detail.
Updated the model for the USC #9 plaque.
Updated the shell thickness & eyelet resource parameters for ROPES plaques.
Added a slight beige tint to sclera for better contrast with steel and silver plaques.
Consolidated the code & improved display of source data overlays.
Increased maximum permissible size of the plaque loading window.
Reorganized the Edit Plaque Shell dialog to increase the drawing area to 400x400 pixels (from 300x300) and yet still fit on a 640x480 monitor.

Version 3.18

Added the option to use a digitized frontal (concave) view picture of a plaque as the background in the Edit Plaque Shell dialog's perimeter editing box. The picture can be scaled and shifted but not rotated in this version. This simplifies building models of plaques with notches and irregular perimeters.
Added dragable rulers to the perimeter editing box.
Completed BEBIG plaque support.
Added display of the number of slots in a plaque to the Plaque loading window's status line.

Version 3.17

Fixed a bug that prevented eyelets from being installed in the shell editing dialog.
Added very preliminary versions of the BEBIG Ruthenium plaque shells.

Version 3.16

Fixed a bug in 3.14 that caused files not to open.
Added penumbra calc to slotted plaques.
Added preliminary versions of ROPES plaques.

Version 3.14

Converted some inadvertant asynchronous file manager calls to synchronous. The async calls could potentially cause crashes on some systems.
Added the option to maintain a secondary 2D dose matrix and switch between or overlay the dose matrices (for comparing two plans).
The partial visibility algorithm to can now be optionally deselected.
A rudimentary penumbra estimation added for circular plaques.
DO NOT use the penumbra calc. mode for clinical cases, this is still very much a work-in-progress.

Version 3.10

Changed COMS plaques to draw outer shell rather than inner shell surface, added a parameter for shell thickness.
Moved COMS parameters to STR# resources.
Revised COMS lip height limits.
Added COMS 10 mm and 22 mm plaques (incomplete).
Added a new isotope "T" parameter for acrylic carriers (formerly there was only a value for silastic carriers).
Revised CAX and TAX dose point calcs and structures to enable display of CAX and TAX points in the 3D setup. (formerly only displayed the user defined points)

Version 3.01 - 3.07

Modified bootup sequence code.
Fixed a bug in the ruler drawing of negative distances.
Added 3D graphics support for 680x0 processor
Improved drawing of 2D planar intersection with plaque and tumor.
Added lens and muscle attachment locations to eye model.
Lots of obscure bug fixes.

Version 3

Converted program to operate in 32 bit (millions of colors) mode.
Added support for QuickDraw 3D rendering system.
Added arc-ball interactive rotation of eye.
Lots of obscure bug fixes.

Version 2.59

Isotope summary dialog now modeless
User definable points reduced to 16 from 20 to simplify dialog.
Added command-drag scrolling to 2D planar isodose surfaces in the dosimetry window.

Version 2.57

Full TG43 implementation.
Anisotropy resources modified to use the TG43 F(r,¯) tables. NOTE: This results in roughly a 3% increse in dose due to differences between the TG43 F(r,¯) data and our previous.
Help topics added to the physics dose table dialogs.
Much of the user guide updated to current version.
Fixed more bugs in the user guide editing functions.
Fixed bugs in the Dose Table document
Updated QA topic.

Version 2.56

Major rewrite of the preferences interface.
New preferences file structure.
Clinic info moved from the Dose menu to a preferences dialog.

Version 2.54

Improved behavior of date-time controls.
Fixed some bugs in the user guide editing functions.

Guide Contents