BrainPainter

BrainPainter visualizes brain structures and biomarkers by mapping numerical region-wise data to colored cortical and subcortical 3D renderings for neuroimaging research.

Key Features:

• Format flexibility: Accepts a list of numbers corresponding to output colors for each brain region instead of requiring specialized neuroimaging file formats (contrasting with outputs from Freesurfer, SPM, or 3D Slicer).
• Structural coverage: Renders both cortical and subcortical structures to provide a holistic view of the entire brain.
• Dynamic visualizations: Generates time-resolved outputs such as movies that depict the propagation of pathology across brain regions over time.
• Blender-based rendering and customization: Leverages Blender capabilities including particle simulations, motion graphics, UV unwrapping, raster graphics editing, raytracing, and illumination effects for customized 3D visualizations.

Scientific Applications:

• Atrophy visualization: Visualizes degrees of atrophy by interpolating along user-defined color gradients, applied in studies of conditions such as Alzheimer's disease.
• Pathology progression mapping: Illustrates progression of pathology in neurodegenerative diseases, including Alzheimer's disease and Huntington's disease, across cortical and subcortical regions using dynamic renderings.

Methodology:

Uses a list-based input where numerical values map to region colors and renders cortical and subcortical 3D visualizations using Blender features such as particle simulations, motion graphics, UV unwrapping, raster graphics editing, raytracing, and illumination effects.