# SlicerAstro: show axes on slices

**URL:** <https://discourse.slicer.org/t/slicerastro-show-axes-on-slices/19465>\
**Category:** Support\
**Created:** [September 1, 2021, 2:36pm UTC](https://discourse.slicer.org/t/slicerastro-show-axes-on-slices/19465 "2021-09-01T14:36:58Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 14\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![keri](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex002/user_avatar/discourse.slicer.org/keri/32/11618_2.png) [@keri](https://discourse.slicer.org/u/keri)\
**Post date:** [September 1, 2021, 2:36pm UTC](https://discourse.slicer.org/t/slicerastro-show-axes-on-slices/19465/1 "2021-09-01T14:36:58Z")

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Hi,

I can see from the [Astro picture](https://www.slicer.org/wiki/Documentation/Nightly/Extensions/SlicerAstro#Use_Case:_Visualization_of_HI_dataset) that Slicer Astro is able to show axes on slice views but I can’t understand how…

 ![image](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/flex002/uploads/slicer/original/3X/c/c/cc9f90266d66d7e3159b01cd1ad3b03c8a65e951.jpeg)

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**Author:** ![keri](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex002/user_avatar/discourse.slicer.org/keri/32/11618_2.png) [@keri](https://discourse.slicer.org/u/keri)\
**Post date:** [September 1, 2021, 3:47pm UTC](https://discourse.slicer.org/t/slicerastro-show-axes-on-slices/19465/2 "2021-09-01T15:47:40Z")

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By the way [according to the documentation](https://www.slicer.org/wiki/Documentation/4.10/Modules/AstroVolume#:~:text=color%20transfer%20function-,The%20display%20of%20the%20Astronomical%20World%20Coordinate%20(WCS)%20and%20Data%20Probing%20for%202D%20views,-The%20display%20of) axes should appear when one clicks on ruler icon. But it doesn’t work.

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**Author:** ![rbumm](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex002/user_avatar/discourse.slicer.org/rbumm/32/9404_2.png) [@rbumm](https://discourse.slicer.org/u/rbumm)\
**Post date:** [September 2, 2021, 9:07am UTC](https://discourse.slicer.org/t/slicerastro-show-axes-on-slices/19465/3 "2021-09-02T09:07:14Z")

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I tried to use the orientation marker “Axes” in Slicer 4.13.0-2021-08-24 and it works:

 ![image](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/flex002/uploads/slicer/original/3X/1/7/175e327e86ba97b6c85c2e7988f202e76bdafc64.jpeg)

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**Author:** ![keri](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex002/user_avatar/discourse.slicer.org/keri/32/11618_2.png) [@keri](https://discourse.slicer.org/u/keri)\
**Post date:** [September 2, 2021, 9:15am UTC](https://discourse.slicer.org/t/slicerastro-show-axes-on-slices/19465/4 "2021-09-02T09:15:28Z")

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Hi,

Thank you but I was talking about other axes ([link to the documentation](https://www.slicer.org/wiki/Documentation/4.10/Modules/AstroVolume#:~:text=color%20transfer%20function-,The%20display%20of%20the%20Astronomical%20World%20Coordinate%20(WCS)%20and%20Data%20Probing%20for%202D%20views,-The%20display%20of)):

 ![image](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/flex002/uploads/slicer/original/3X/f/5/f5024f641c6c2984b293406d8a48e9e7753c76f7.jpeg)

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**Author:** ![rbumm](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex002/user_avatar/discourse.slicer.org/rbumm/32/9404_2.png) [@rbumm](https://discourse.slicer.org/u/rbumm)\
**Post date:** [September 2, 2021, 9:33am UTC](https://discourse.slicer.org/t/slicerastro-show-axes-on-slices/19465/5 "2021-09-02T09:33:50Z")

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Ok, I see. I am quite sure that the functions you refer to are parts of the [SlicerAstro](https://www.slicer.org/wiki/Documentation/Nightly/Extensions/SlicerAstro) extension. Have you installed that locally?

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![keri](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex002/user_avatar/discourse.slicer.org/keri/32/11618_2.png) [@keri](https://discourse.slicer.org/u/keri)\
**Post date:** [September 2, 2021, 9:39am UTC](https://discourse.slicer.org/t/slicerastro-show-axes-on-slices/19465/6 "2021-09-02T09:39:03Z")

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> [@rbumm](#):
>
> Have you installed that locally?

I installed the recent version of SLicer 3d Preview Release 4.13 few lays ago and installed Astro extension by clicking on `Install` in extension manager (it automatically downloads it and unpack).

Also I have tried to build Astro and use it in custom Slicer but axes still doesn’t work (even the extension works).

Did you try to display axes?

I forgot to tell that I use Ubuntu 20.04

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**Author:** ![rbumm](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex002/user_avatar/discourse.slicer.org/rbumm/32/9404_2.png) [@rbumm](https://discourse.slicer.org/u/rbumm)\
**Post date:** [September 2, 2021, 9:54am UTC](https://discourse.slicer.org/t/slicerastro-show-axes-on-slices/19465/7 "2021-09-02T09:54:35Z")

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Unfortunately, I can not install SlicerAstro from my extensions manager and can not help you. I am on windows.

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**Author:** ![lassoan](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex002/user_avatar/discourse.slicer.org/lassoan/32/13_2.png) [@lassoan](https://discourse.slicer.org/u/lassoan)\
**Post date:** [September 2, 2021, 7:46pm UTC](https://discourse.slicer.org/t/slicerastro-show-axes-on-slices/19465/8 "2021-09-02T19:46:21Z")

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Probably those axes are displayed by vtkMRMLAstroTwoDAxesDisplayableManager and might require position-velocimetry images. You should be able to clone and adapt it to display the kind of axes that you would like to have.

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**Author:** ![keri](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex002/user_avatar/discourse.slicer.org/keri/32/11618_2.png) [@keri](https://discourse.slicer.org/u/keri)\
**Post date:** [September 2, 2021, 7:52pm UTC](https://discourse.slicer.org/t/slicerastro-show-axes-on-slices/19465/9 "2021-09-02T19:52:12Z")

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> [@lassoan](#):
>
> Probably those axes are displayed by vtkMRMLAstroTwoDAxesDisplayableManager and might require position-velocimetry images

Thank you for reply.

You mean that I need to try to download some special data and display it?

I looked pretty carefully to the Slicer Astro volume source code and `vtkMRMLAstroTwoDAxesDisplayableManager` class but still cant understand how this manager is connected with button click in threD/slice control widget (button that is shown on the picture above “ruler icon”). Usually we do this with Qt’s `connect()` but it seems that in Astro it works somehow differently.

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**Author:** ![lassoan](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex002/user_avatar/discourse.slicer.org/lassoan/32/13_2.png) [@lassoan](https://discourse.slicer.org/u/lassoan)\
**Post date:** [September 2, 2021, 11:37pm UTC](https://discourse.slicer.org/t/slicerastro-show-axes-on-slices/19465/10 "2021-09-02T23:37:39Z")

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Yes, it might require special volume nodes. But you can get definitive answer by reviewing the code and running it under a debugger.

@Davide_Punzo do you have any advice?

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**Author:** ![iwangwangwang](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/f1d935/32.png) [@iwangwangwang](https://discourse.slicer.org/u/iwangwangwang)\
**Post date:** [September 14, 2023, 8:21am UTC](https://discourse.slicer.org/t/slicerastro-show-axes-on-slices/19465/11 "2023-09-14T08:21:08Z")

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these axes only be displayed in Astro Slicer? How to display it in 3D Slicer?

![](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/flex002/uploads/slicer/original/3X/b/e/be307b2430c8d4edac3ac8fa0953eb64b5ede4dd.jpeg)

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![keri](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex002/user_avatar/discourse.slicer.org/keri/32/11618_2.png) [@keri](https://discourse.slicer.org/u/keri)\
**Post date:** [September 15, 2023, 6:11am UTC](https://discourse.slicer.org/t/slicerastro-show-axes-on-slices/19465/12 "2023-09-15T06:11:40Z")

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Hi @iwangwangwang,

As far as I know original Slicer 3D doesn’t have such axes.  
They are implemented in SlicerAstro as Diplayable Manger.

Also I have reworked it and use it my custom app.  
If you know how to compile the module you can follow [this link](https://github.com/tierra-colada/Colada/tree/master/Modules/Loadable/Axes), download the module and compile it.  
Then add this directory to modules and you should see axes on 2D (like in SlicerAstro) and also there should be module named `Axes` which allows to use 3D axes on selected node.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![iwangwangwang](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/f1d935/32.png) [@iwangwangwang](https://discourse.slicer.org/u/iwangwangwang)\
**Post date:** [September 15, 2023, 9:17am UTC](https://discourse.slicer.org/t/slicerastro-show-axes-on-slices/19465/13 "2023-09-15T09:17:57Z")

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Thank you so much, but the link seems invalid

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**Author:** ![keri](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex002/user_avatar/discourse.slicer.org/keri/32/11618_2.png) [@keri](https://discourse.slicer.org/u/keri)\
**Post date:** [September 15, 2023, 9:27am UTC](https://discourse.slicer.org/t/slicerastro-show-axes-on-slices/19465/14 "2023-09-15T09:27:53Z")

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Oh Im sorry… I forgot this is closed source repository