Materialise Mimics

Medical

Version 21.0 – Release Notes

 Mimics Medical 21.0 Release Notes 2

Regulatory Information
The Medical edition of the Mimics Innovation Suite currently consists of the following
software components: Mimics Medical 21.0 and 3-matic Medical 13.0 (released in 2018).
Mimics Medical (hereafter ‘Mimics’) is intended for use as a software interface and image
segmentation system for the transfer of imaging information from a medical scanner such as
a CT scanner or a Magnetic Resonance Imaging scanner to an output file. It is also used as
pre-operative software for simulating/evaluating surgical treatment options. Mimics is not
intended to be used for mammography imaging.
3-matic Medical (hereafter ‘3-matic’) is intended for use as software for computer assisted
design and manufacturing of medical exo- and endo-prostheses, patient specific medical and
dental/orthodontic accessories and dental restorations.

Usage of the software signifies your acceptance of the above. Please refer to the Instructions
For Use for more information.

Manufactured in June 2018 by

Materialise NV
Technologielaan 15
3001 Leuven, Belgium
Phone: +32 16 39 66 11
www.materialise.com

Copyright 2018 Materialise N.V. - Release Notes 06/2018 L-10802 revision 02 - Manufactured by Materialise N.V.
Materialise nv I Technologielaan 15 I 3001 Leuven I Belgium I [email protected] I materialise.com
 Mimics Medical 21.0 Release Notes 3

Contents
Regulatory Information ............................................................................................ 1
Contents .................................................................................................................... 3
1 What’s New ........................................................................................................ 4
1.1. Base module – New UI ........................................................................................ 4
1.2. Base module – 4D data and Multi stack ............................................................... 6
1.3. Base module – Handling images ......................................................................... 8
1.4. Base module – Segmentation .............................................................................. 9
1.5. Base module – Other improvements ...................................................................10
1.6. Base module – File compatibility .........................................................................10
1.7. Analysis module .................................................................................................11
1.8. Simulation module ..............................................................................................12
1.9. Design module ....................................................................................................12
1.10. Scripting module .............................................................................................12
1.11. C&V Segmentation module .............................................................................13
2 Known issues .................................................................................................. 13
2.1. Base module - General .......................................................................................13
2.2. Base module - Segmentation ..............................................................................14
2.3. Base module – 4D and Multi stack functionality ..................................................15
2.4. Other modules ....................................................................................................15
3 System Requirements ..................................................................................... 16
3.1. Minimum requirements .......................................................................................16
3.2. Recommended Requirements ............................................................................16
4 Contact Information ........................................................................................ 17
Appendix A - Change Log ...................................................................................... 17
Appendix B - Overview of moved features (New UI) ........................................... 20
Appendix C - Practical hints for 4D data and multi stack data ........................... 22

Copyright 2018 Materialise N.V. - Release Notes 06/2018 L-10802 revision 02 - Manufactured by Materialise N.V.
Materialise nv I Technologielaan 15 I 3001 Leuven I Belgium I [email protected] I materialise.com
 Mimics Medical 21.0 Release Notes 4

If you had an Alpha or Beta release of Mimics Medical 21.0 installed before, you need to first
uninstall it before installing this final version. Go to Control Panel → Programs and Features,
find the temporary releases (look for “Materialise Mimics …”) and double-click to uninstall. Only
then install the final release to avoid issues with its installation and use.
Note that Mimics Medical 21.0 is compatible with Mimics 14.0 and later. Compatibility with
older releases is not supported anymore.

1 What’s New
This release features three highlights:
 The user interface of Mimics Medical was updated for better usability.
 The Analysis, Simulation and Design modules have been extended, making Mimics
Medical a better toolbox for planning and virtual surgery.
 Mimics Medical now supports importing and working with multiple image series, such
as 4D CT scans, in a single project.

Below is an overview of these three highlights and other major changes in this release, grouped
per module. Appendix A (‘Change Log’) gives a more schematic overview of changes. For
details on how to use a new feature in practice, please see the reference guide (Help >
Manual).

1.1. Base module – New UI

Ribbon-style UI
Mimics Medical has a new user interface (UI). The old menu- and toolbar-based UI is replaced
by a more modern ribbon-style UI.
Example of one tab of the ribbon (‘File’ tab):

The new UI lets you more easily access the tools and discover new tools. Commonly used
tools are placed in the Quick Access bar, which is part of the Title bar.

Furthermore, you can use ‘My Tab’ to customize Mimics Medical to your workflow. Go to ‘My
Tab’, press ‘Edit Tab’ and populate the tab with the tools of your preference.

Copyright 2018 Materialise N.V. - Release Notes 06/2018 L-10802 revision 02 - Manufactured by Materialise N.V.
Materialise nv I Technologielaan 15 I 3001 Leuven I Belgium I [email protected] I materialise.com
 Mimics Medical 21.0 Release Notes 5

Note that to gain more screen space, the ribbon can be collapsed.
With this UI update, several tools were reordered in the UI (moved or renamed). Some
examples are: Preferences, Contour Editing, Project Information and Scripting Library.
Appendix B contains a look-up table of all moved or renamed tools and where to find these
tools in the new UI. It also lists a few tools that were removed from Mimics Medical.

Project Management
The UI of the Project Management (PM) area was updated to improve usability and make
better use of the available screen space.
 New look and feel of the PM tabs.
 ‘Smart visibility’ concept: Certain PM tabs are now hidden when they don’t contain
any objects and are shown automatically when the first object in the tab is created. It
can be toggled via View > Project Management > Smart visibility mode.
 New ‘Objects’ tab, which combines the three former tabs for Parts, STLs and Analysis
Objects into one single tab. Compared to the former Parts tab, the number of columns
shown has been reduced. The following properties are no longer displayed in a
separate column.
Triangle visibility Now a global setting (set for all parts at once), set via the

icon in the 3D viewport toolbar, or via View >

Show/Hide Triangles.
Quality Now controlled via ‘Properties’ of the part
Photo Visible Now controlled via ‘Properties’ of the part

 New filtering concept in the ‘Objects’ tab. Trigger filtering via the icon and a filter
bar appears. You can filter on name by typing any string in the filter bar, or filter on
object type by typing certain keywords. Supported keywords for searching on object
type include: part, stl, primitive, analytical, point, line, etc.
 Objects in PM tabs can now be sorted not only alphabetically but also in chronological
order of creation.

o
o To change the sorting order, click on the ‘Name’ column (the icon next to name
indicates the sorting order, the clock icon means chronological sorting).
 New features for use in 4D or ‘multi stack’ projects: new PM tab ‘Images’ and extra
column ‘Images’ in most existing PM tabs. See Section 1.2 for details.

Copyright 2018 Materialise N.V. - Release Notes 06/2018 L-10802 revision 02 - Manufactured by Materialise N.V.
Materialise nv I Technologielaan 15 I 3001 Leuven I Belgium I [email protected] I materialise.com
 Mimics Medical 21.0 Release Notes 6

Other UI changes
 Contrast and Volume Rendering were moved out of the Project Management area into
the Bottom Panel, next to the log window.

 It is now possible to undock any of the 2D or 3D viewport panes and the Volume
Rendering or Contrast panes. Click on the blue arrow in the upper-right corner of the
pane.

You can then move the pane as you wish (e.g. put it on a second screen, or dock it
back to Mimics in another position).
To go back to the original layout, use View > Layouts > Reset.
 It is also possible to rearrange the 2D viewports via the drop-down menu in the upper-
left corner of each viewport. Click on the downward arrow next to the view name (e.g.
‘Axial’)

 New indicators on the 2D viewport, showing the image name and view name (they can
be toggled via View > Indicators)
 New layouts (see View > Layouts)

1.2. Base module – 4D data and Multi stack

In Mimics Medical 21.0, you can import and store multiple series (or ‘image stacks’) in a single
Mimics project. For instance, you can import an entire 4D CT cardiac scan at once. In this
way, you can shift between phases quickly, visualize the dynamics of the heart in Mimics, and
eventually select the right phases for further analysis more easily. While the focus is on 4D
CT, other applications involving multiple image stacks are supported too (e.g. pre-op post-op
workflows).
Tools and Concepts
The following tools and concepts were introduced in order to support 4D and multi stack data.

Copyright 2018 Materialise N.V. - Release Notes 06/2018 L-10802 revision 02 - Manufactured by Materialise N.V.
Materialise nv I Technologielaan 15 I 3001 Leuven I Belgium I [email protected] I materialise.com
 Mimics Medical 21.0 Release Notes 7

 The new import wizard (File > New Project) allows you to import multiple series into
a single .mcs project. Sorting of the series was improved.
 A new tab in the Project Management area, the ‘Images’ tab, allows you to inspect all
the series in your project, visualize a series or delete some series. In the Images tab,
you can select a series as the active series, which is the series that all operations will
be executed on.
 The Cine Loop tool allows you to play a movie of the images over the heart cycle, to
see the dynamics of the heart. See View > Cine Loop.
 While the regular Cine Loop tool plays a movie of the 2D images, for users having the
Scripting module it is also possible to create a movie of 3D parts, to visualize for
instance the beating heart in 3D. A script is included upon installation in
MedData\Scripts (for info, see Help > Scripting Guide, Tutorial 11).
 A new column ‘Images’ was introduced in most existing Project Management tabs,
which allows you to link each object to a certain series (e.g. link a mask or part to
the series that it was segmented from).
 New image layouts allow you to visualize two or three series side-by-side. See View
> Layouts:

Example of the “2D by 2D” view:

Copyright 2018 Materialise N.V. - Release Notes 06/2018 L-10802 revision 02 - Manufactured by Materialise N.V.
Materialise nv I Technologielaan 15 I 3001 Leuven I Belgium I [email protected] I materialise.com
 Mimics Medical 21.0 Release Notes 8

 An overlay mode allows you to visualize object linked to one series on top of the
images of another series.
 New tools allow you to save a subpart of your project, or extend your project with
more series. With File > Save Subproject As you can indicate the series of your
interest and save all data regarding only these series. With File > Add Images, you
can import more images into your project. With File > Import > Project, you can add
the entire content of a project on top of your current project.
Note that the amount of RAM needed to properly work with a certain .mcs project increases as
you import more image series into the project (if all image series have the same dimensions,
amount of RAM needed grows linearly with the number of image series in the project).

1.3. Base module – Handling images

Import and Export of Images
The import wizard (File > New Project) has been updated. The new wizard allows you to
select and import the series of your interest in less clicks. This is achieved by a more careful
selection of log messages, by applying the default orientation automatically when available
(without asking explicit confirmation as in previous versions), and by a new hierarchical
visualization of the selected series.
Example of the Patients – Studies – Series hierarchy:

Furthermore, the list of input options to be entered in the import wizard is reduced:
 The option to choose between ‘Strict DICOM 3.0’ and ‘Non-strict DICOM’ 3.0 is
removed from the UI, as the choice is now made automatically.
 The different compression methods (Lossless, CT, Cut Air, etc) have been removed
from the UI and the Preferences.
Note that the image information that was included under File > Project Information in previous
Mimics releases is now available elsewhere: go to the ‘Images’ Project Management tab,
select an image stack and show Properties.

Copyright 2018 Materialise N.V. - Release Notes 06/2018 L-10802 revision 02 - Manufactured by Materialise N.V.
Materialise nv I Technologielaan 15 I 3001 Leuven I Belgium I [email protected] I materialise.com
 Mimics Medical 21.0 Release Notes 9

Apart from import, also export of images with overlaid objects to DICOM has been improved:
the tool File > Export > Dicom now has an improved implementation (UI was not changed).

Anonymization of Images
The former Anonymize Project tool, now available under File > Anonymize, was entirely
reimplemented. The tool follows NEMA’s PS3.15 standard, Appendix E (link). By default, the
tool anonymizes with the Basic Application Level Confidentiality Profile. However, checkboxes
in the dialog of the tool allow you to retain more data or clean more data as desired.

Furthermore, the tool allows you to choose for every DICOM tag individually whether to use
the proposed anonymization or to replace the tag with your own custom-defined value instead
(e.g. a custom anonymized patient ID).

1.4. Base module – Segmentation

Two new tools are available in the Segment menu:
 Segment > Smart Fill fills holes in a given mask. The tool can be used in two stages.
First, you can fill the mask automatically taking into account a certain size of holes
using ‘Global Fill Holes’. Next, you can fine-tune the result with ‘Local Mark Hole’.
As compared to the already existing Cavity Fill tool, Smart Fill can for instance also
close holes that are not fully enclosed (not strictly cavities) and allows for more fine-
grained control.
 Segment > Trace Thin Structure allows you to delineate thin structures such as a
nerve or an annulus. The tool produces a spline as output (the spline is placed in the
‘Objects’ Project Management tab). From this spline, a mask can be calculated using
Segment > Calculate Mask from Object.
Additionally, a button Segment > New Mask was added, to create a new mask by means of
thresholding (this creates a mask with thresholding in one operation, instead of having to first
create an empty new mask and then apply thresholding to it).
Segment > Split Mask was enhanced with extra log messages with information about the
memory required for the operation.

Copyright 2018 Materialise N.V. - Release Notes 06/2018 L-10802 revision 02 - Manufactured by Materialise N.V.
Materialise nv I Technologielaan 15 I 3001 Leuven I Belgium I [email protected] I materialise.com
 Mimics Medical 21.0 Release Notes 10

1.5. Base module – Other improvements

The new tool File > Project Metadata allows you to define any custom-defined metadata and
store it inside the .mcs project. Examples of such metadata could be a custom patient ID, case
comments, etc. The tool allows you to add, modify and delete metadata.

Note that the Scripting module (Section 1.10) additionally allows you to not only store metadata
on the level of the project, but also attach metadata to objects in the project.
The View > Fluoroscopy tool was improved with a faster simulation for better usability.

1.6. Base module – File compatibility

The internal file format of .mcs projects was updated. There is upward compatibility, so projects
created in previous Mimics versions can be opened in Mimics 21.0. There is no direct
downward compatibility: projects created in Mimics 21.0 cannot be opened in older versions.

If you need to do so anyway, first do File > Save As in Mimics 21.0 and choose the appropriate
file format.

Note that in case of ‘multi stack’ projects (cf. Section 1.2), this will only save the data related
to one series, the active series.

Copyright 2018 Materialise N.V. - Release Notes 06/2018 L-10802 revision 02 - Manufactured by Materialise N.V.
Materialise nv I Technologielaan 15 I 3001 Leuven I Belgium I [email protected] I materialise.com
 Mimics Medical 21.0 Release Notes 11

1.7. Analysis module

Working with analytical primitives such as landmarks, anatomical axes, anatomical planes or
cutting planes is a crucial part of any preoperative planning. Mimics Medical 21.0 has an
improved Analysis modules for creating a planning in a handful of clicks, while you can
constantly refer to the images to check your planning.
The Analyze menu has an entirely new structure.

Methods for drawing analytical primitives are separated, to allow for quick access. More
advanced methods for creating analytical primitives have been grouped in the new tool Create
Primitives. This tool allows you to create multiple primitives in a sequence. You first choose
the type of primitive to be created, then the creation method, and then the required inputs.
Inputs, such as the Origin and Normal in the below example, can be selected from the 2D or
3D viewports, from the ‘Objects’ Project Management tab, or from the drop-downs in the dialog.

Fitting of primitives on polylines has been removed and is replaced by the more convenient
method of fitting of primitives on parts or surfaces. Concretely, the Create Primitives tool
supports fitting of primitives via marking surfaces.

Apart from new tools for creating primitives, the Properties pages of analytical primitives in
the Project Management tab were restyled. Planes, spheres and cylinders can now be made
transparent via Properties. Also splines have new visualization options. For details, see the
Change Log in Appendix A.

Copyright 2018 Materialise N.V. - Release Notes 06/2018 L-10802 revision 02 - Manufactured by Materialise N.V.
Materialise nv I Technologielaan 15 I 3001 Leuven I Belgium I [email protected] I materialise.com
 Mimics Medical 21.0 Release Notes 12

To facilitate interactive positioning of implants, the Move and Rotate tools (available in the
Base module) were improved. You can now use analytical points to define the
translation/rotation axis or the rotation pivot point. The access the tools, right-click on a part or
STL in the Project Management tabs.

1.8. Simulation module

Some tools of this module were moved to another location in the UI, see Appendix B.
A new tool Cut With Plane was added, which cuts a part with an analytical plane. Users having
the Analyze module can construct the cutting plane using any of the methods available in the
Analyze module. Users not having the Analyze module can create a cutting plane via the Cut
With Plane tool (plane through 3 points).
The Cut With Polyplane and Cut With Curve tools were extended with an option ‘Split result’,
for better ease of use.
The Mirror tool now works with regular analytical planes instead of dedicated Mirror Plane
objects. This has the advantage that users having the Analyze module can define the mirror
plane using any of the methods available in the Analyze module. Users not having the Analyze
module can create a mirror plane via the Mirror tool as in earlier Mimics versions (plane through
3 points).
The Draw/Manipulate Nerve tool has been removed and replaced by Segment > Trace Thin
Structure. See Section 1.4. Accordingly, the Nerve object type was removed as well.

1.9. Design module

Previously, the Design module contained 3-matic features only. Now, the module contains the
following Mimics features, all available from the 3D Tools menu.
 Hollow (new tool, similar to the existing Hollow tool of 3-matic)
 Cut With Plane (see previous section)
 Cut With Polyplane
 Cut With Curve
 Cut Orthogonal To Screen

1.10. Scripting module

Mimics Medical was updated with a “listener” that allows to execute scripts from external
editors such as PyCharm, Eclipse and Visual Studio. This allows the user to benefit from
the full power of such advanced editors, such as autocomplete, help information and
debugging. More information on how to set this up is in the ‘External IDE’ section of the
Scripting Guide (available via Help > Scripting Guide).
Extra Python APIs were added. They are mostly focused on already mentioned topics, such
as creation of analytical primitives, metadata, and support for 4D and multi stack projects. For
a list of all added, removed or modified APIs, see the ‘API Change Log’ in the Scripting Guide.
Minor changes in the scripting module:
 The Script Library is now underneath the Script menu.

Copyright 2018 Materialise N.V. - Release Notes 06/2018 L-10802 revision 02 - Manufactured by Materialise N.V.
Materialise nv I Technologielaan 15 I 3001 Leuven I Belgium I [email protected] I materialise.com
 Mimics Medical 21.0 Release Notes 13

 The built-in Script Editor and Console now support auto-completion of object names.
Example:

Python scripts written for previous versions of Mimics Medical should be re-validated by the
user before being applied with Mimics Medical 21.0.

1.11. C&V Segmentation module

The Advanced Segment > 4D CT Heart tool was improved with a new algorithm and new UI.
The tool is intended for the left heart only.
The Advanced Segment > CT Heart tool was enhanced with extra log messages with
information about the memory required for the operation.

2 Known issues
2.1. Base module - General
 File > Anonymize: Anonymization is not possible on projects or image series that do
not contain DICOM tags (such as projects created with import of 'raw' images). Note
that certain Mimics operations also remove the DICOM tags (such as Image > Crop
Images and Image > Reslice Images). For this reason, it is recommended to anonymize
the project (if desired) before applying such operations, for instance by anonymizing
the project immediately after import of the images.
 File > Preferences: After turning on the setting 'Always ask to reduce images when
loading' (in the 'General' section of Preferences), opening an existing project with
existing objects (such as masks) will cause these objects to be deleted from the project.
(Issue 569019)
 When performing workflows or running scripts that produce a lot of output to the log
panel, Mimics can eventually start to lag. Clearing the log panel restores the normal
performance. (Issue 605016)
 When a tool displays a pop-up warning dialog window, always close the warning dialog
window first before closing the tool dialog window. Closing the tool dialog window first
can lead to crashes. (Issue 610322)
 File > New Project: When importing images without a default orientation, the Change
Orientation dialog is shown. Always apply the orientation and exit the Change
Orientation dialog before saving the project. The same holds for cases with Gantry tilt:
always apply the Gantry tilt correction and exit the Gantry Tilt dialog before saving.
Failure to do so can lead to various issues. (Issue 516262)
 File > Save Project As: It is not possible to save a project with the same file name as a
folder in the same location. (Issue 584571)
 The MIS installer automatically installs Python 3.5.2 in the folder ‘C:\Program
Files\Common Files\Materialise\Python\3.5.2’. Upon uninstallation of MIS, Python
3.5.2 might not be uninstalled automatically.

Copyright 2018 Materialise N.V. - Release Notes 06/2018 L-10802 revision 02 - Manufactured by Materialise N.V.
Materialise nv I Technologielaan 15 I 3001 Leuven I Belgium I [email protected] I materialise.com
 Mimics Medical 21.0 Release Notes 14

 Several visualization issues can occur on high resolution monitors. (Issue 545901,
546080)
 Losing the license while the PC is locked can cause issues. It is recommended to
always save your project when halting your work on the project and locking the PC.
(Issue 585437)
 If you experience problems with the layout of Mimics, please use View > Layouts >
Reset. (Issue 595898)
 File > Preferences: Pixel Unit preferences (Hounsfield or Grayvalues) are not
remembered between Mimics sessions. (Issue 503774)
 When using open GL rendering and drawing ‘Thin structures’ or Splines in the 3D
viewport, some visual artifacts might occur. You can switch to another rendering
method via File > Preferences > 3D Settings. (Issue 604078)
 Running Mimics Medical in Windows ‘compatibility mode’ might slow-down the
application. To check if Mimics Medical is run in compatibility mode, right-click on the
'MimicsMedical.exe' in the installation folder (Program files) to see Properties, go to the
'Compatibility' tab and check the setting. (Issue 611923, 612870)

 If you had an Alpha or Beta release of Mimics Medical 21.0 installed before, you need
to first uninstall it before installing this final version. When not doing this, several issues
can occur.
 When installing 3-matic Medical using the MIS installer and then trying to install 3-matic
Medical via the ‘standalone’ 3-matic installer, or vice versa, issues can occur. Always
uninstall one version before installing another version.

2.2. Base module - Segmentation

 Segment > Calculate mask from Object: If the object spans the entire image stack
including the top-most and bottom-most slice, the calculated mask in the top-most and
bottom-most slice might not be optimal. Care needs to be taken to visually check the
content of the mask in these slices. (Issue 523043)
 Segment > Calculate mask from Object: The thresholds set for the calculated mask
might not be optimal and might need to be manually adapted. (Issue 584976)
 Segment > 3D LiveWire: Contour points cannot be removed with the Del key. Instead,
remove points by clicking with the right mouse button. (Issue 600484)
 Segment > Thresholding: On projects with Gantry tilt, the crop box of the Thresholding
tool by default does not cover the entire image stack (it does not cover the topmost
slice). (Issue 440799)
 Segment > Edit Masks: When working in Threshold mode on large datasets with the
preview inside the cursor turned on, performance might be lower. Turn off the preview
inside the cursor for better performance. (Issue 592834)

Copyright 2018 Materialise N.V. - Release Notes 06/2018 L-10802 revision 02 - Manufactured by Materialise N.V.
Materialise nv I Technologielaan 15 I 3001 Leuven I Belgium I [email protected] I materialise.com
 Mimics Medical 21.0 Release Notes 15

 Segment > 3D Interpolate: 'Redo' (after 'Undo') does not work for marking operations
if Auto-interpolate is on. (Issue 602966)

2.3. Base module – 4D and Multi stack functionality

 If the name of an image series is blank (displayed as 'n/a' in the 'Images' Project
Management tab), it is recommended to manually assign an appropriate name (via
clicking on the image series in the 'Images' tab) to avoid confusion between different
image series.
 File > New Project: When importing multiple image series and several image series
have 'same table position', the warning for 'same table position' is only shown for the
first such image series. (Issue 535869)
 File > Save As: When using 'Save As' to older Mimics format, certain objects are not
saved, in particular objects that are assigned to the active image series but have a link
to an object from a non-active image series. (Issue 565700)
 File > Save As: When using the option 'Save images compressed as Jpeg' only the
active image series is saved compressed as Jpeg (other image series are saved in the
default way). (Issue 565417)
 File > Save Screenshot: Unexpected behaviour can occur when saving screenshots in
certain multi-stack layouts. It is advised to check the content of the screenshots. (Issue
599977)
 File > Preferences: For multi-stack projects containing CT images as well as MRI
images, the Pixel unit (Hounsfield or Grayvalues) in Preferences does not change
automatically to Grayvalues after activating the MRI image set. (Issue 598540)

2.4. Other modules

 Analyze > Create Primitives: When fitting primitives to a Part or marked surfaces of a
Part, the fitting might be influenced by the triangulation of the Part. It is advised to
always visually check for a proper fit. (Issue 594335)
 Analyze > Create Primitives: When fitting primitives to marked surfaces of a Part,
rendering issues might occur when using the OpenGL renderer. You can specify
another renderer via File > Preferences > 3D Settings. (Issue 548075)
 Analyze: It is advised to never copy-paste analytical primitives between projects with
different units (millimeter projects, micrometer projects, nanometer projects). (Issue
585579, 585587)
 Advanced Segment > CT Heart: Results of CT Heart are influenced by the setting
‘Compress images in memory’ in Edit > Preferences > General. Results are often better
when compress images is turned off. (Issue 413082)
 Advanced Segment > Pulmonary: Fissure objects are not automatically linked to the
active image stack (Issue 585241)
 FEA > Create Voxel Mesh: No progress is being shown during calculation. It is advised
to not interrupt Mimics during calculation. (Issue 602805)
 Scripting: When running scripts with the log panel turned off, the user will not be able
to see any errors or log output produced by the script. Hence, for scripting users, it is
recommend to always have the log panel on (View > Log panel). (Issue 480881)

Copyright 2018 Materialise N.V. - Release Notes 06/2018 L-10802 revision 02 - Manufactured by Materialise N.V.
Materialise nv I Technologielaan 15 I 3001 Leuven I Belgium I [email protected] I materialise.com
 Mimics Medical 21.0 Release Notes 16

3 System Requirements
3.1. Minimum requirements
Software Hardware

Windows® 7 SP1 – 64bit Intel® Core™ 2 Duo / AMD Athlon™ X2 AM2 or equivalent
Internet Explorer® 10 4 GB RAM

PDF viewer DirectX® 11.0 compliant graphics card with 1 GB RAM

.NET framework 4.5.2 (or higher) 5 GB free hard disk space

Resolution of 1280x1024

Note: Mac® users can install MIS using Boot Camp® in combination with a supported Windows OS

3.2. Recommended Requirements

Software Hardware

Windows® 7 SP1 – 64bit Third generation Intel® Core™ i5/i7 or equivalent

Internet Explorer® 10 16 GB RAM

PDF Viewer DirectX® 11.0 compliant AMD Radeon™ / NVIDIA®

GeForce® card with 2 GB RAM
.NET framework 4.5.2 (or higher). 20 GB free hard disk space

Resolution of 1680x1050 or higher

Note: Other qualifications may apply. When working with datasets larger than 1GB the system should comply with
the recommended system requirements. Advanced segmentation tools such as Smart Expand and Coronary
segmentation require hardware as specified in the recommended requirements even for smaller datasets. When
working with 4D or multi stack data, the amount of RAM needed increases as you import more image series into
the project.

It is recommended to use our software within a hardware and/or network environment in which
cyber security controls have been implemented including anti-virus and use of firewall.

The following operating systems were used to test Mimics Medical 21.0:

 Windows 7 Professional 64-bit (with SP1)

 Windows 10 Pro 64-bit

Mimics Medical is software and does not degrade in performance. Its lifetime is determined by
commercial requirements, obsolescence of its techniques or obsolescence caused by changes
in its host environment (refer to above requirements). Support can in any case not be
guaranteed beyond 7 years after the release of this particular version of the software.

Copyright 2018 Materialise N.V. - Release Notes 06/2018 L-10802 revision 02 - Manufactured by Materialise N.V.
Materialise nv I Technologielaan 15 I 3001 Leuven I Belgium I [email protected] I materialise.com
 Mimics Medical 21.0 Release Notes 17

4 Contact Information
For technical support, please contact our Customer Support team: [email protected].
For more information, please check our website http://medical.materialise.com or the
Materialise Academy http://www.materialise.com/en/academy/medical/mimics-innovation-
suite.

Appendix A - Change Log

Section 1 already gave an overview of the highlights of this release. Below is a more schematic
overview of changes.

Changes applicable to all modules:

 UI update:
o Menu/toolbar UI was replaced by Ribbon-style UI
o Some features were renamed and/or moved to a different menu in the UI
 Features from the Edit menu were moved to the Quick Access bar (part
of the Title Bar)
 Edit > Preferences was moved to File > Preferences
 Dedicated segmentation tools were moved from the Segment menu to
the Advanced Segment menu (available if you have the relevant
modules in your license setup)
 Contour Editing moved to the 3D Tools menu (3D Tools > Edit Contours)
 Scripting Library menu was integrated into the Script menu
 See Appendix B for other renamed or moved features
o ‘My Tab’ was introduced
o Indicators on 2D viewports (see View > Indicators):
 Tick Marks turned off by default
 Added extra indicators: Active Images Indicator, Name of Images, Name
of View, and Undock of View
o The ‘Start Screen’ that was seen upon opening Mimics without any project is
removed.
 Update of Project Management area:
o UI was updated (including option to filter and ‘historical’ sorting of items)
o Smart Visibility mode was introduced: some tabs are now hidden when they
don’t contain objects
o Tabs for Parts, STLs and Analysis Objects were merged into a single ‘Objects’
tab, and number columns shown in these tabs was reduced
o New tab ‘Images’ was introduced (for the purpose of 4D or multi stack
projects)
o Extra column ‘Images’ was introduced in most Project Management tabs (for
the purpose of 4D or multi stack projects)
o Contrast and Volume Rendering were moved from Project Management tabs
to Bottom Panel
o Introduced ability to change the view in 2D viewports (e.g. from Axial to
Coronal)
o Introduced ability to undock panes (2D and 3D Viewports, Volume rendering,
Contrast)

Copyright 2018 Materialise N.V. - Release Notes 06/2018 L-10802 revision 02 - Manufactured by Materialise N.V.
Materialise nv I Technologielaan 15 I 3001 Leuven I Belgium I [email protected] I materialise.com
 Mimics Medical 21.0 Release Notes 18

 New internal file format of .mcs projects, with upward compatibility (opening projects
created in previous Mimics versions in Mimics 21), but without downward compatibility
(to open files created in Mimics 21 in older versions, first do File > Save As in Mimics
21)

Base module:
 File > New Project Wizard: updated structure and UI, including:
o Opens multiple series into a single .mcs project instead of converting each
series to a separate .mcs project
o Algorithm for sorting of series during import was updated
o Option for Strict DICOM 3.0 versus Non-strict DICOM 3.0 removed from the UI
(choice is made automatically during import)
o Options for Compression methods removed from the UI and Preferences
o Log messages only shown for images with errors or warnings (not shown
anymore for successfully imported images)
o Change orientation dialog not shown anymore when default orientation is
available (default orientation is automatically applied)
 Added ability to import and save multiple image series (‘image stacks’) in one .mcs
project and adapted tools to work in projects containing multiple image stacks
 Tools added for projects containing multiple stacks:
o File > Add Images
o File > Save Subproject As
o View > Cine Loop
o View > Overlay
 File > Export > Dicom: updated algorithm
 File > Anonymize Project: renamed to File > Anonymize and entirely updated: new UI
and new anonymization method, including support for different anonymization profiles
and custom values
 Removed File > Send To Materialise
 Removed File > Project Information, this information is now available elsewhere: go to
the ‘Images’ Project Management tab, select an image stack and show Properties
 Added File > Project Metadata
 Layouts:
o Added View > Layouts > Reset
o Extra layouts added to View > Layouts
o Removed Reslice layout (reslice layout can be triggered via turning on a
resliced objects in the Project Management tab for Reslice Objects)
 Added Segment > New Mask
 Added Segment > Smart Fill
 Added Segment > Trace Thin Structure
 Segment > Split Mask: added log messages (memory usage)
 Segment > Calculate Mask from Object: updated algorithm
 View > Fluoroscopy: updated fluoroscopy simulation
 Removed Help > Context Help

Analysis module:
 New structure of UI, see earlier
 Added Analyze > Create Primitives

Copyright 2018 Materialise N.V. - Release Notes 06/2018 L-10802 revision 02 - Manufactured by Materialise N.V.
Materialise nv I Technologielaan 15 I 3001 Leuven I Belgium I [email protected] I materialise.com
 Mimics Medical 21.0 Release Notes 19

 Fitting of primitives to polylines has been removed and replaced by fitting to Parts
using Analyze > Create Primitive (for Line, Plane, Sphere and Cylinder)
 Removed Analyze > Freeform Surface
 Updated ‘Properties’ dialogs of analytical primitives:
o UI update
o Added property ‘Transparency’ for Sphere, Plane, Cylinder
o Added property ‘Project on slices’ and ‘Opaque on images’ for Spline
o Removed Apply button, changes in Properties dialog now apply immediately
o Removed property ‘Deviation’ for Line, Circle, Sphere and Cylinder and
property ‘Min radius’ for Cylinder (Downward compatibility: when viewing
primitives created in Mimics 21 in older Mimics versions, these properties will
be shown as 0.0)
 Spline: removed ability to modify position of existing spline in viewports via drag and
drop
 Spline: now possible to apply Segment > Calculate Mask From Object to splines
 Circle: update visualization: center of circle is now shown not only in 2D viewports but
also in 3D viewports
 ‘Move’ of Parts/STLs (available under Base module): option ‘Move along: User defined
axis’ now works with analytical points too
 ‘Rotate’ of Parts/STLs (available under Base module): options ‘Rotate along: Defined
axis’ and ‘Pivot point: selected point’ now work with analytical points too
Simulation module:
 Tools were redistributed over UI, see Appendix B
 Removed Simulate > Draw/Manipulate Nerve (use Segment > Trace Thin Structure
instead)
 Project Management:
o Removed Nerve object type (replaced by Spline as used in Trace Thin
Structure, available in Objects tab)
o Removed Mirror plane object type (replaced by analytical plane, available in
Objects tab)
 Added 3D Tools > Cut With Plane
 3D Tools > Cut With Polyplane and Cut With Curve: added ‘Split result’ checkbox
 Align > Reposition > Move With Mouse: option ‘Move along: User defined axis’ now
works with analytical points too
 Align > Reposition > Rotate With Mouse: options ‘Rotate along: Defined axis’ and ‘Pivot
point: selected point’ now work with analytical points too

Design module:
 Added 3D Tools > Hollow
 Added 3D Tools > Cut With Plane
 Added 3D Tools > Cut With Polyplane
 Added 3D Tools > Cut With Curve
 Added 3D Tools > Cut Orthogonal To Screen

Scripting module:
 APIs: for a list of added, removed or modified Python APIs, see the ‘API Change Log’
in the Scripting guide (available via Help > Scripting Guide)

Copyright 2018 Materialise N.V. - Release Notes 06/2018 L-10802 revision 02 - Manufactured by Materialise N.V.
Materialise nv I Technologielaan 15 I 3001 Leuven I Belgium I [email protected] I materialise.com
 Mimics Medical 21.0 Release Notes 20

 Added support for External IDEs, see ‘External IDE’ section of Scripting Guide
(available via Help > Scripting Guide)
 Script Editor and Console: added support for autocompletion of object names (in
‘mimics.data’ APIs)
 Moved Scripting Library menu underneath Script menu
 Added a tutorial script for Cine Loop with Parts
 Introduced the concept of protected bundles for customers of Scripting Services

C&V Segmentation module:

 Segment > Cardiovascular menu: moved to Advanced Segment menu
 Advanced Segment > CT Heart: added log messages (memory usage)
 Advanced Segment > 4D CT Heart: new algorithm and UI, now applicable to the left
heart only

Appendix B - Overview of moved features (New UI)

The overview below mentions only features that have been moved, removed or renamed.

Feature name and location Feature name and location

in Mimics 20.0 in Mimics 21.0
File menu
File > New Project Wizard File > New Project
File > Open Project File > Open
File > Save Project File > Save
File > Save Project As File > Save As
File > Close Project File > Close
File > Save/Print Screenshot File > Save Screenshot
File > Send to Materialise Removed
File > Project Information Removed
This information is now available elsewhere: go to the
‘Images’ Project Management tab, select an image stack and
show Properties
File > List of recently opened Now occurs as a drop-down menu under the File > Open
projects button

File > Exit Removed

(Exit instead via ‘X’ button in right-upper corner)
Edit menu
Edit menu - All features All features from the former Edit menu now occur in the Quick
Access bar, which is part of the title bar.

One exception is ‘Preferences’.

Edit > Preferences File > Preferences
View menu
View > Unzoom View > Fit to Screen
View > Zoom to Full Screen View > Full Screen

Copyright 2018 Materialise N.V. - Release Notes 06/2018 L-10802 revision 02 - Manufactured by Materialise N.V.
Materialise nv I Technologielaan 15 I 3001 Leuven I Belgium I [email protected] I materialise.com
 Mimics Medical 21.0 Release Notes 21

View > Image Data Visualization View > Interpolated Images

> Interpolated Images
View > Image Data Visualization View > Pseudo Colors
> Pseudo Colors
View > 3D Viewport > … View > Visualization Options > …
View > Alignment Image Image > Alignment Image
View > Toolbars Removed
View > Project Management > View > Bottom Panel > Contrast
Contrast
View > Project Management > View > Bottom Panel > Volume Rendering
Volume Rendering
View > Status Bar View > Bottom Panel > Status Bar
View > Log Panel View > Bottom Panel > Log Panel
View > Layouts > Reslice Layout Removed
Reslice layouts can be triggered via turning on a reslice
object in the Project Management tab for Reslice Objects
Image menu
Image > Crop Project Image > Crop Images
Image > Reslice Project Image > Reslice Images
Segment menu
Segment > Contour Editing 3D Tools > Edit Contours
Segment > CT Bone Advanced Segment > CT Bone
Segment > Cardiovascular Advanced Segment > Cardiovascular
Segment > Pulmonary Advanced Segment > Pulmonary
Segment > Muscular Advanced Segment > Muscular
Segment > Muscular > New Mask Removed
/ Region Growing / Split Mask / (Can be used via Segment menu instead. Also, can be placed
Edit Masks in My Tab if desired, see the explanation in Section 1.1.)
Analyze menu
Analyze > Point / Line / Circle / Most creation methods for analytical primitives are now
Sphere / Plane / Cylinder / Spline grouped under Analyze > Create Primitives. Additionally, fast
‘Draw’ methods are available separately for each of these
primitives.
Note that fitting of primitives to polylines has been removed
and replaced by fitting to Parts using Analyze > Create
Primitives.
Analyze > Plane > Original and Analyze > Draw Plane Normal to Curve
Normal
Analyze > Freeform surface Removed
Analyze > Polyline growing Analyze > Grow Polylines
Simulate menu
Simulate > Measure and Analyze Analyze > Measure and Analyze
Simulate > Cut With Polyplane 3D tools > Cut With Polyplane
Simulate > Cut With Curve 3D tools > Cut With Curve
Simulate > Cut Orthogonal to 3D tools > Cut Orthogonal to Screen
Screen
Simulate > Reposition Align > Reposition
Simulate > Merge 3D tools > Merge
Simulate > Split 3D tools > Split
Simulate > Mirror 3D tools > Mirror
Simulate > Boolean 3D tools > Boolean
Simulate > Rescale 3D tools > Rescale
Simulate > Draw/Manipulate Removed. Replaced by Segment > Trace Thin Structure
Nerve
Help menu
Help > General Help > Manual

Copyright 2018 Materialise N.V. - Release Notes 06/2018 L-10802 revision 02 - Manufactured by Materialise N.V.
Materialise nv I Technologielaan 15 I 3001 Leuven I Belgium I [email protected] I materialise.com
 Mimics Medical 21.0 Release Notes 22

Help > Context Help Removed

Help > Modules Removed
(Please use Help > License instead, and select the last option
in the Wizard ‘Show license and system information’)
Other menus:
Scripting Library menu Script > Scripting Library

Appendix C - Practical hints for 4D data and multi stack data

The main new tools related to 4D and multi stack are listed in Section 1.2. This appendix
contains some practical hints on how to use the tools.

Practical hints for visualization

 To control the Cine Loop, hover your mouse over one of the 2D viewports and control
buttons will appear.

The Cine Loop can be played in the standard layout, but also in any other layout. Also,
the Cine Loop can play while being in a reslice view. See View > Cine Loop.
 Reslice views are ‘global’, meaning that all visible series (in case of a side-by-side
layout or when playing Cine Loop) will be resliced in the same way.
 The column ‘Images’ present in most Project Management tabs allows you to link
each object to a certain series. You can modify the link by clicking on the column: a
drop down with image series will appear so that you can ‘reassign’ the object. Some
types of objects (e.g. masks) are hard-linked and cannot be reassigned.
 The overlay mode controls which objects are shown. When overlay mode is on,
objects of one image series are overlaid on images of another series. See View >
Overlay.
Note that objects that have their visibility toggled off in their Project Management tab
are never shown, so the below table only applies to objects that have their visibility
toggled on.
When overlay is off (default) When overlay is on
In 2D The only objects shown in a Objects being shown are
Viewports: certain viewport (= on top of
 objects assigned to
a certain image) are
any of the series, and
 the objects assigned to
 objects not assigned to
the series that is
any series.
shown in that viewport,
and
 objects not assigned to
any series.

Copyright 2018 Materialise N.V. - Release Notes 06/2018 L-10802 revision 02 - Manufactured by Materialise N.V.
Materialise nv I Technologielaan 15 I 3001 Leuven I Belgium I [email protected] I materialise.com
 Mimics Medical 21.0 Release Notes 23

In 3D The only objects visualized The objects visualized in

Viewports: in the 3D viewports are the 3D viewports are
 all objects that are  all objects assigned to
assigned to any of the any of the series, and
series being shown in
 objects not assigned to
any of the 2D
any series.
viewports, and
 objects not assigned to
any series.

Practical hints for performing operations

 Operations on images are always applied on one series at a time (not on multiple
series simultaneously). The series to which operations will be applied is called the
‘active’ series.
 Operations on objects are generally only possible when the objects involved are
assigned to the active series (or unassigned). Mimics takes several precautions to
prevent operations being applied to objects assigned to non-active series (precautions
include filtering lists of objects inside tools to only the admissible objects, greying out
inadmissible objects in Project Management tabs, and greying out tools in the ribbon
at moments when an inadmissible object is selected).
 You can see which is the active series or change the active series in several ways:
o When you are in a layout showing only one series, that series is by definition
the active series (to mitigate the risk of errors, it is a rule that the active series
is always visualized, so that you can see the images that tools will be operating
on). In the ‘Images’ Project Management tab, the active series is shown with a
blue triangle.

This blue triangle also is shown on top of the 2D viewports. To make another
series active, use drag and drop: drag the series from the ‘Images’ tab and drop
it in one of the 2D viewports.
o When you are in a layout showing multiple series side-by-side, the active series
is shown with a blue triangle. Visible but non-active series are shown with a
grey triangle.

Copyright 2018 Materialise N.V. - Release Notes 06/2018 L-10802 revision 02 - Manufactured by Materialise N.V.
Materialise nv I Technologielaan 15 I 3001 Leuven I Belgium I [email protected] I materialise.com
 Mimics Medical 21.0 Release Notes 24

To make an already visible series the active series, click on any of the grey
triangles (in 2D viewports or Images tab) and it will become blue. To make a
currently invisible series the active series, use drag and drop as explained
before.

Copyright 2018 Materialise N.V. - Release Notes 06/2018 L-10802 revision 02 - Manufactured by Materialise N.V.
Materialise nv I Technologielaan 15 I 3001 Leuven I Belgium I [email protected] I materialise.com