2016 Winter Project Week/Breakout Session/What's Planned for Slicer Core

Introduction

• Ron Kikinis: State of the Slicer world and strategic plans for Slicer

Maintenance needed for core libraries

• VTK7 (rapid changes coming to VTK due to maintenance grant)
• Python: conda (and?)or cmake/wheels?
• Qt5: improvements, plus 4.8 may eventually stop supporting new systems

Organization

• Moving diffusion to extension
• Moving EMSegmenter to extension (very large, with lots of data; it would significantly reduce the Slicer installation package size)
• Endoscopy, PET SUV (small modules, they are just too specific to be included in the core)
• OpenIGTLinkIF?
• ...other things to extensions?

Key requests from the community

• faster startup time (particularly mac)
• Less confusing UI
  • cursor modes? http://www.na-mic.org/Bug/view.php?id=2419
• (add your favorites here...)

Roadmaps

• Steve Pieper: Chronicle, ctkjs, CommonGL
• JC Fillion-Robin: Girder, Anaconda, Factory machines
• Andras Lasso: Sequences,
• Mike Halle: Slicer webinfrastructure and github
• Andrey Fedorov: DICOM objects for interoperability
  • focus areas: segmentations, enhanced multiframe (single-file MR series, parametric maps), volumetric measurement structured reports
  • approach
    • developer API in DCMTK
    • reusable command-line converters for extension developers
    • user-level domain-specific applications
  • open question for discussion: should this functionality be in the core or extension