PythonNeuronMeshes

Contents

• What?
• Installation
• Project Contents
• Usage
• Other
• Tasks!

What?

This project takes a .swc file downloaded from NeuroMorpho.org and generates:

• 1D geometry refinements in .swc format
• 3D surface mesh geometries in .ugx format, I used the strategy described here: Framing Parametric Curves

The code allows the user to use spline interpolation for regularizing/refining the geometry or the user can produce refinements on the original .swc file. Below is a figure showing refinments generated using spline interpolation from Python's module scipy, details on the specific function are found here: scipy.interpolate.

The project uses Parallel Transport Frames to generate the contours used in the mesh generation. Below is a figure showing some meshes with increasing refinements. Wikipedia on parallel tranpsport.

Below is a figure showing the 1d geometry centered within the 3d surface mesh geometry (triangular faces hidden).

Installation

The project uses Python in particular I provide some version information that is currently used. I recommend using Jupyter-Notebooks and downloading Promesh4 for view the geometries. Other than that there is nothing else to install.

Python version:  3.8.10 (default, Mar 13 2023, 10:26:41)
[GCC 9.4.0]
Version info:    sys.version_info(major=3, minor=8, micro=10, releaselevel='final', serial=0)
Argparse:        1.1
networkx:        3.1
scipy:           1.10.1
numpy:           1.24.3
maplotlib:       3.7.1
JSON:            2.0.9

This code was developed on a Windows Machine using Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL) below are the computer specs:

Host Name:                 DESKTOP-R1UGLGT
OS Name:                   Microsoft Windows 11 Home
OS Version:                10.0.22621 N/A Build 22621
OS Manufacturer:           Microsoft Corporation
OS Configuration:          Standalone Workstation
OS Build Type:             Multiprocessor Free
System Manufacturer:       Alienware
System Model:              Alienware m15 R4
System Type:               x64-based PC
Processor(s):              1 Processor(s) Installed.
                           [01]: Intel64 Family 6 Model 165 Stepping 2 GenuineIntel ~2208 Mhz
BIOS Version:              Alienware 1.17.0, 3/14/2023
Windows Directory:         C:\WINDOWS
System Directory:          C:\WINDOWS\system32
Boot Device:               \Device\HarddiskVolume1
System Locale:             en-us;English (United States)
Input Locale:              en-us;English (United States)

Here is WSL information

 NAME      STATE           VERSION
* Ubuntu    Running         2

Welcome to Ubuntu 20.04.2 LTS (GNU/Linux 5.4.72-microsoft-standard-WSL2 x86_64)

If you are using Windows, then look here for a training module on WSL: Module-WSL

I also use Jupyter Notebooks when developing the code, I found it easy to work with and maneuver through the codes. In wsl I called

jupyter-notebook --allow-root --no-browser

and then select one of the links to copy and paste into a browser (Chrome worked for me). You can also try using VSCODE I haven't use this, but it should work just as well

Project Contents

When you git clone or download this project you should have the following items:

• Folder cells contains some NeuroMorpho.org cells in .swc format
• Folder papers contains some papers in .pdf format that are good references for proceeding in the project
• Folder src is the course code, it only contains two .py files which are the main codes for the mesh and geometry generation
• (OLD) File generate_meshes.py is the main driver code which is described in the Usage section.
• File NEW_generate_meshes.py is the main driver code which is described in the Usage section.

Usage

This usage example was done on wsl, it 'should' work on Linux terminal as well (pending you have all the correct version of python and modules). I will try to include directions for PowerShell and GitBash.

There is a file called NEW_generate_meshes.py if you execute in the commandline python3 NEW_generate_mesh.py you will receive the following output

usage: NEW_generate_meshes.py [-h] [-n NUMREFINE] [-d STARTDX] [-c NUMCONTPTS] [-p SPHERECONTOURS] [-q SPHEREPOINTS] -i INPUT
NEW_generate_meshes.py: error: the following arguments are required: -i/--input

If you execute python3 NEW_generate_meshes.py -h you will get some more help information:

usage: NEW_generate_meshes.py [-h] [-n NUMREFINE] [-d STARTDX] [-c NUMCONTPTS] [-p SPHERECONTOURS] [-q SPHEREPOINTS] -i INPUT

This program will generate .swc refinements, .ugx 1d refinements, and .ugx surface meshes and zip all files into a .vrn file,
usage: python3 NEW_generate_meshes.py -n 6 -c 6 -d 32.0 -p 10 -q 16 -i cells/<cellname>

optional arguments:
  -h, --help            show this help message and exit
  -n NUMREFINE, --numrefine NUMREFINE
                        Number of Refinements
  -d STARTDX, --startdx STARTDX
                        Largest DeltaX
  -c NUMCONTPTS, --numcontpts NUMCONTPTS
                        Number of Contour points
  -p SPHERECONTOURS, --spherecontours SPHERECONTOURS
                        Number of sphere contours
  -q SPHEREPOINTS, --spherepoints SPHEREPOINTS
                        Number of points per sphere contour
  -i INPUT, --input INPUT
                        The input .swc file

The folder cells contains cells which were downloaded from NeuroMorpho.org Example usage shown below

python3 NEW_generate_meshes.py -n 10 -c 10 -d 64.0 -p 16 -q 16 -i cells/Purkinje-slice-ageP43-6.CNG.swc

This will produce an output folder called <cell_name>.mesh and it will contain .swc files and .ugx files which are numbered accordingly. It will also produce a .vrn file to be used in NeuroVisor

The parameter c affects the type of regular polygon used for the contours, in the figure below the far left mesh uses 32-ngons for contours and the far right uses equilateral triangles (3-gons) for contours.

Other

• Here is a link to using parallel frame transport (PFT) with Unity: PFT
• Here is another website that discussed parallel frames: Mathematical Visualization SS 2013
• Another interesting link: Tutorial 3: Framed Closed Curves
• Video on PFT: TD Essentials: Parallel Transport
• PFT on a torus: PFT Torus
• Here is alink on spline interpolation for C#: C# Spline
• Here is a video I made using Yale Neuron, there is a notebook in the notebooks folder where I do this:

  

Tasks!

Here is a lists of tasks that need to be completed and questions that need to be answered

• Can now generate meshes for NeuroVisor in Unity :white_check_mark:, but the mapping is not right --> TO DO! :warning: :construction:

• Generate surface triangulations that are saveed to .ugx format. DONE!:white_check_mark:

• Check orientation of surface triangulations i.e. check normals. DONE! :white_check_mark:

• Fixed the "bad element" message in Promesh4, issue was too many indexes for edges/faces. DONE! :white_check_mark:

• I have executed the code on the commandline through WSL --> can this be done using Powershell or Gitbash? this would be nice to write up directions :grey_question:

• ADD MAPPING TO .UGX FILE --> TODO!:collision: Have to check :warning: :construction:

• TURN 1D .SWC TO .UGX (MAKE SURE INDEXING MATCHED .UGX SURFACE MAPPING) --> TODO!:collision: Have to check :warning: :construction:

• IMPORTANT: RESOLVE SOMA!! --> I am using a soma sphere see paper :white_check_mark:

• IMPORTANT: RESOLVE BRANCH POINTS!! :x:(see fig below)

• CLOSE THE END OF THE DENDRITES!! :x: (see fig below):white_check_mark:

• Fix subset assignment in .ugx right now when you open the .ugx nothing appears because you have to manually select all and assign the subset DONE!:white_check_mark:

• Add jupyter-notebooks for more exploration of code.DONE!:white_check_mark:

  

  I have placed soma sphere now :white_check_mark:, but the branch points need to be fixed and end of dendrites closed.

  

• Question: I am using Pythons scipy module to realize the spline interpolation --> this needs to be studied further, what is the math used? a write up of how it is doing this would be nice :grey_question:

• ~~Remove soma line segment that is present in original .swc file from NeuroMorpho.org:grey_question:

• Currently the .ugx geometries only distinguish between two subsets, the neurites and the soma, below is a figure from Promesh4. I would like to improve the writing to .ugx to be more elegant and handle a variety of subsets (for the 1d and surface meshes). DONE!:white_check_mark:

  

• Now can handle subsets