dcmp2pgm(1)                       OFFIS DCMTK                      dcmp2pgm(1)

NAME
       dcmp2pgm - Read DICOM image and presentation state and render bitmap


SYNOPSIS
       dcmp2pgm [options] dcmimage-in [bitmap-out]

DESCRIPTION
       The dcmp2pgm utility renders a monochrome DICOM image under the control
       of  a  grayscale  softcopy  presentation state object into a monochrome
       bitmap with 8 bits/pixel. The bitmap is stored either as 'Portable Gray
       Map' (PGM) or  as  a  DICOM  secondary  capture  image  object.  If  no
       presentation  state  is read from file, a default presentation state is
       created. The utility allows one to read a  configuration  file  of  the
       Softcopy  Presentation  State  Viewer  upon  startup. In this case, the
       settings from the configuration file affecting  the  rendering  of  the
       presentation  state are used, e.g. a correction of the gray scale range
       according to Barten's model (DICOM part 14) can  be  performed  if  the
       characteristic  curve of the display system is available and defined in
       the configuration file.

PARAMETERS
       dcmimage-in  input DICOM image ("-" for stdin)

       bitmap-out   output DICOM image or PGM bitmap

OPTIONS
   general options
         -h   --help
                print this help text and exit

              --version
                print version information and exit

              --arguments
                print expanded command line arguments

         -q   --quiet
                quiet mode, print no warnings and errors

         -v   --verbose
                verbose mode, print processing details

         -d   --debug
                debug mode, print debug information

         -ll  --log-level  [l]evel: string constant
                (fatal, error, warn, info, debug, trace)
                use level l for the logger

         -lc  --log-config  [f]ilename: string
                use config file f for the logger

   processing options
         -p   --pstate  [f]ilename: string
                process using presentation state file

         -c   --config  [f]ilename: string
                process using settings from configuration file

         -f   --frame  [f]rame: integer
                process using image frame f (default: 1)

   output format
         -D   --pgm
                save image as PGM (default)

         +D   --dicom
                save image as DICOM secondary capture

   output options
         +S   --save-pstate  [f]ilename: string
                save presentation state to file

NOTES
   Limitations
       Please note that the dcmp2pgm tool does not render all aspects that are
       defined by the Grayscale Softcopy Presentation State (GSPS) object  but
       only  those  that  are  supported  by  the underlying DCMTK classes. In
       particular, textual and graphical annotations will not  be  visible  in
       the output image. The reason is that these aspects of a GSPS object are
       typically  rendered by DICOMscope, the graphical user interface that is
       put on top of the related DCMTK classes and written in Java.

       Also concepts that were introduced after the initial definition of  the
       GSPS  IOD (see Supplement 33) are ignored. This includes Supplement 120
       with its extended features like e.g. Compound Graphics.

LOGGING
       The level of logging output of  the  various  command  line  tools  and
       underlying  libraries  can  be  specified by the user. By default, only
       errors and warnings are written to the  standard  error  stream.  Using
       option  --verbose  also  informational messages like processing details
       are reported. Option --debug can be used to get  more  details  on  the
       internal  activity,  e.g.  for debugging purposes. Other logging levels
       can be selected using option --log-level. In --quiet  mode  only  fatal
       errors  are reported. In such very severe error events, the application
       will usually terminate. For  more  details  on  the  different  logging
       levels, see documentation of module 'oflog'.

       In  case  the logging output should be written to file (optionally with
       logfile rotation), to syslog (Unix) or the event log  (Windows)  option
       --log-config  can  be  used.  This  configuration  file also allows for
       directing only certain messages to a particular output stream  and  for
       filtering  certain  messages  based  on the module or application where
       they are generated.  An  example  configuration  file  is  provided  in
       <etcdir>/logger.cfg.

COMMAND LINE
       All  command  line  tools  use  the  following notation for parameters:
       square brackets enclose optional  values  (0-1),  three  trailing  dots
       indicate  that multiple values are allowed (1-n), a combination of both
       means 0 to n values.

       Command line options are distinguished from parameters by a leading '+'
       or '-' sign, respectively. Usually, order and position of command  line
       options  are  arbitrary  (i.e.  they  can appear anywhere). However, if
       options are mutually exclusive the rightmost appearance is  used.  This
       behavior  conforms  to  the  standard  evaluation  rules of common Unix
       shells.

       In addition, one or more command files can be specified  using  an  '@'
       sign  as  a  prefix to the filename (e.g. @command.txt). Such a command
       argument is replaced by the content  of  the  corresponding  text  file
       (multiple  whitespaces  are  treated  as a single separator unless they
       appear between two quotation marks) prior to  any  further  evaluation.
       Please  note  that  a command file cannot contain another command file.
       This simple but effective  approach  allows  one  to  summarize  common
       combinations  of  options/parameters  and  avoids longish and confusing
       command lines (an example is provided in file <datadir>/dumppat.txt).

ENVIRONMENT
       The dcmp2pgm utility will  attempt  to  load  DICOM  data  dictionaries
       specified  in the DCMDICTPATH environment variable. By default, i.e. if
       the  DCMDICTPATH  environment   variable   is   not   set,   the   file
       <datadir>/dicom.dic  will be loaded unless the dictionary is built into
       the application (default for Windows).

       The  default  behavior  should  be  preferred   and   the   DCMDICTPATH
       environment  variable  only used when alternative data dictionaries are
       required. The DCMDICTPATH environment variable has the same  format  as
       the  Unix  shell PATH variable in that a colon (':') separates entries.
       On Windows systems, a semicolon (';') is used as a separator. The  data
       dictionary  code  will  attempt  to  load  each  file  specified in the
       DCMDICTPATH environment variable. It is an error if no data  dictionary
       can be loaded.

FILES
       <etcdir>/dcmpstat.cfg - sample configuration file

COPYRIGHT
       Copyright  (C)  1998-2025  by OFFIS e.V., Escherweg 2, 26121 Oldenburg,
       Germany.

Version 3.7.0                   Mon Dec 15 2025                    dcmp2pgm(1)
