dcmpsmk(1)

📦
version 3.7.1 · 10 versions
, in arch rolling

🌸 NAME 🌸

dcmpsmk — create DICOM grayscale softcopy presentation state. This is the dcmpsmk(1) manual page, and it's lowkey iconic: it makes a grayscale softcopy presentation state object from a DICOM image, then writes it back out. 🎀

✨ SYNOPSIS ✨

dcmpsmk [options] dcmfile-in dcmfile-out

💖 DESCRIPTION 💖

okay so bestie, here's the tea: the dcmpsmk utility reads a DICOM image file and creates a grayscale softcopy presentation state object according to Supplement 33. Then it writes that presentation state object back to file. A whole bunch of command line options let you say how certain constructs that might be hanging out in the image file should be referenced or activated in the presentation state. The newly created presentation state references the source image and contains values that should allow for a "reasonable" display of the image when rendered under control of the presentation state. no cap, that's the whole vibe. ✨

🎀 PARAMETERS 🎀

  • dcmfile-in — DICOM image file(s) to be read (- for stdin). yes, stdin gettin' its moment 💅
  • dcmfile-out — DICOM presentation state file to be created (- for stdout). stdout said "I'll take it from here" 🫶

🌈 OPTIONS 🌈

general options

  • -h, --help — prints this help text and exits, periodt.
  • --version — prints version information and exits. cute lil version check ✨
  • --arguments — prints expanded command line arguments. it's giving receipts.
  • -q, --quiet — quiet mode: no warnings and no errors get printed. shhh 🤫
  • -v, --verbose — verbose mode: prints processing details. she's chatty and we love that.
  • -d, --debug — debug mode: prints debug information. for when you need the lore 🔍
  • -ll, --log-level — [l]evel: string constant (fatal, error, warn, info, debug, trace); use level l for the logger. pick your fighter.
  • -lc, --log-config — [f]ilename: string; use config file f for the logger. custom logging era 💜

input options

input file format:

  • +f, --read-file — reads file format or data set (this is the default, bestie).
  • +fo, --read-file-only — reads file format only. no extras, just vibes.
  • -f, --read-dataset — reads data set without file meta information. meta? never met her.

input transfer syntax:

  • -t=, --read-xfer-auto — uses TS recognition (default). she just knows.
  • -td, --read-xfer-detect — ignores the TS specified in the file meta header. not today, meta header.
  • -te, --read-xfer-little — reads with explicit VR little endian TS.
  • -tb, --read-xfer-big — reads with explicit VR big endian TS.
  • -ti, --read-xfer-implicit — reads with implicit VR little endian TS.

processing options

VOI transform handling:

  • +Vl, --voi-lut — uses the first VOI LUT if present (default). first come, first served 💅
  • +Vw, --voi-window — uses the first window center/width if present.
  • -V, --voi-ignore — ignores VOI LUT and window center/width. not me ignoring them on purpose 🙈

curve handling:

  • +c, --curve-activate — activates curve data if present (default).
  • -c, --curve-ignore — ignores curve data. curve? don't know her.

overlay handling:

  • +oc, --overlay-copy — copies overlays if not embedded, activates otherwise (default).
  • +oa, --overlay-activate — activates overlays.
  • -o, --overlay-ignore — ignores overlays. overlay said "please" and we said "no ❤️"

shutter handling:

  • +s, --shutter-activate — uses shutter if present in image (default).
  • -s, --shutter-ignore — ignores shutter.

presentation LUT shape handling:

  • +p, --plut-activate — uses presentation LUT shape if present (default).
  • -p, --plut-ignore — ignores presentation LUT shape.

layering:

  • +l1, --layer-single — all curves and overlays are in one layer. one big happy layer 🫶
  • +l2, --layer-double — one layer for curves, one for overlays (default). organized queen 👑
  • +ls, --layer-separate — separate layers for each curve and overlay. everybody gets their own room.

location of referenced image:

  • -lx, --location-none — image reference without location (default).
  • -ln, --location-network — [a]etitle: string; image located at application entity a.
  • -lm, --location-media — [f]ilesetID, fileset[UID]: string; image located on storage medium.

validation options

  • --validate-std — images referenced by GSPS must belong to the same SOP class (default). strict queen 💅
  • --validate-related — images referenced by GSPS may belong to related 'for presentation' and 'for processing' SOP class. flexible but still classy.
  • --validate-relaxed — images referenced by GSPS may be any SOP class. she's off the leash, no cap.

output options

output transfer syntax:

  • +t=, --write-xfer-same — writes with same TS as image file (default). twin energy.
  • +te, --write-xfer-little — writes with explicit VR little endian TS.
  • +tb, --write-xfer-big — writes with explicit VR big endian TS.
  • +ti, --write-xfer-implicit — writes with implicit VR little endian TS.

🦋 NOTES 🦋

Heads up, bestie: if more than one input file (dcmfile-in) is specified, the additional image files are only referenced from the created presentation state file, but no further (e.g. display-related) information is taken over. so they're invited to the group chat, but they don't get to control the playlist. ✨

🌸 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. log girlies stay winning 💜

💻 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). it's giving "organized bestie behavior" 🎀

🌱 ENVIRONMENT 🌱

The dcmpsmk 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. so yeah, don't leave her dictionary-less, that's not the move 😭

Copyright (C) 1998-2026 by OFFIS e.V., Escherweg 2, 26121 Oldenburg, Germany.

💖 and that's the dcmpsmk(1) manual, bestie — Version 3.7.1, Sat Oct 17 2026 09:34:01, from OFFIS DCMTK. stay iconic, and may all your presentation states render reasonably ✨💅

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