Kicking off the Academic Year with Tomography workshops at TOSCA 2024 in London
What better way to start the new academic year than with a quick trip to London? The ENIGMA Principal Investigator (PI) joined the final day of the TOSCA 2024 conference—Tomography for Scientific Advancement—held at the Royal Geological Society of London, just off Piccadilly Circus, right in the heart of the city.
The last part of the conference featured two in-depth workshops, starting with a three-hour session on Dragonfly ORS, a cutting-edge software platform for processing tomography data. Dragonfly ORS offers advanced tools for visualizing and analyzing 3D data, making it invaluable for segmenting complex structures, generating high-quality volume renderings, and performing quantitative analyses. Its versatility makes it especially useful in fields like archaeology, paleontology, and materials science, where detailed 3D imaging is essential for understanding microstructures and hidden features. Dragonfly is free to use for those working in the academic sector, so to keep costs in check – it’s really worth adding this software to your toolbox.
Following a nice lunch with lots of networking opportunity, the afternoon was dedicated to VG Studio MAX. This software is widely recognized for its powerful capabilities in analyzing industrial CT scan data, but just as much popular in the life sciences. It allows researchers to measure, inspect, and simulate material properties, providing detailed insights into internal structures in 3D. Whether analyzing fossils, artifacts, or other materials, VG Studio MAX is indispensable for non-destructive testing and high-resolution reconstructions in scientific research. The recent upgrade has a nifty AI- option for segmentation, which is especially useful for extremely challenging and complicated samples. The tool saves you literally months of manual work. Therefore – also an essential component to add to your skillset if you’re planning to work with lots of tomography data.
Although it was just the final day, the workshops offered a wealth of knowledge and fresh ideas to apply in our ongoing tomography research. Thanks very much to the TOSCA organisers for putting this program together!
