# Simple Color vs Terminology Color usage

**URL:** <https://discourse.slicer.org/t/simple-color-vs-terminology-color-usage/20271>\
**Category:** Support\
**Created:** [October 20, 2021, 7:00pm UTC](https://discourse.slicer.org/t/simple-color-vs-terminology-color-usage/20271 "2021-10-20T19:00:51Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
**Showing post:** 13

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**Author:** ![DIV](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex002/user_avatar/discourse.slicer.org/div/32/12816_2.png) [@DIV](https://discourse.slicer.org/u/DIV)\
**Post date:** [October 25, 2021, 12:53pm UTC](https://discourse.slicer.org/t/simple-color-vs-terminology-color-usage/20271/13 "2021-10-25T12:53:14Z")

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Hi, James.  
As you’ve invited my comment I can let you know my current practice, whilst you keep in mind that it may not be optimal and may not represent the majority of users…

Foremost I care about the colours of the individual segments of a segmentation, and in this there are a few priorities:

1. To readily distinguish one segment from another. Here I would be more-or-less in line with your earlier statement (quoted below).

> [@jamesobutler](#):
>
> I care about color for uniqueness

1. To provide distinction between a segment and another ‘overlaid’ object. In the 3D viewing port that would most commonly be a 3D rendering of the volume, but could also be an object imported into the Data structure from an STL file (_e.g_. somebody else’s earlier attempt at a segmentation of the same feature); also control points from the Markups module (mostly Fiducial markers). In the 2D slice viewers of course it would be the DICOM series (which are typically CT scans, which I view in greyscale).
2. To allow clear visualisation of surface morphology in the 3D view: some colours seem to me to have more obvious shadows.

Besides all of that, I might try to organise colours thematically: let’s say red, orange and pink for objects imported as STLs, and blue, cyan and green for segments.

I don’t use terminologies, as

- the audience is generally me;
- I don’t segment lots of different types of features (I’m not trying to build an atlas);
- I am mainly interested in segmenting one main type of feature (brain aneurysms, with a shortish length of connected arteries).

Furthermore — and this may not be an obvious workflow, so I describe it here in some detail — I may have **multiple segments for one single feature**.

For example (1), I might …

- create a **preliminary segment** based on thresholding;
- make a copy of that segment and smooth it by one method;
- make a further copy of the original segment and smooth it by a different method; and
- compare the three segments to identify the impact of each smoothing effect and choose the ‘best’ one.

For example (2), I might …

- create a **preliminary segment** ;
- make a copy of that segment and use the Scissors, Erase, Paint and/or Draw effects to ‘manually’ add/remove voxels;
- I can compare the two segments to see the impact of my changes; and
- if at some later stage I decide that the changes weren’t quite right, then the preliminary segment is still available to try again.

For example (3), I might …

- segment the feature using a Threshold effect;
- segment the _same feature_ (from scratch) using a Grow from seeds effect;
- compare the two segments, and choose the ‘best’ one to export.

Hope this helps,  
DIV

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