# Volume and segment straightening

**URL:** <https://discourse.slicer.org/t/volume-and-segment-straightening/43800>\
**Category:** Support\
**Created:** [July 21, 2025, 7:51pm UTC](https://discourse.slicer.org/t/volume-and-segment-straightening/43800 "2025-07-21T19:51:27Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![sulli419](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex002/user_avatar/discourse.slicer.org/sulli419/32/78859_2.png) [@sulli419](https://discourse.slicer.org/u/sulli419)\
**Post date:** [July 21, 2025, 7:51pm UTC](https://discourse.slicer.org/t/volume-and-segment-straightening/43800/1 "2025-07-21T19:51:27Z")

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Hello, I have a segmented volume of the spine, similar to the video below. I want to get the center points and straighten all the segments and the volume in one fell swoop. What is the best way to do this?

I see a workflow in the 2nd video that uses “extract centerline” but I cannot figure out how to get this extension. I see from old notes that it might be in VMTK but I no longer see this as a downloadable extension in the Slicer “install extensions” menu (I have the latest version). Perhaps there is a newer and better way to go about this?

I could see one problem in straightening multiple spinal segments is that it would introduce overlap. Any methods/approaches that would deal with this might be ideal.

Thanks!

spine segments

![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/wMMi0QIrCvc/maxresdefault.jpg "Semi-automatic vertebra segmentation on CT")

[Semi-automatic vertebra segmentation on CT](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wMMi0QIrCvc)

vessel straightening

![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/yi07mjr3JeU/maxresdefault.jpg "New vessel branch extraction module for 3D Slicer")

[New vessel branch extraction module for 3D Slicer](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yi07mjr3JeU)

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![chir.set](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex002/user_avatar/discourse.slicer.org/chir.set/32/66982_2.png) [@chir.set](https://discourse.slicer.org/u/chir.set)\
**Post date:** [July 21, 2025, 8:09pm UTC](https://discourse.slicer.org/t/volume-and-segment-straightening/43800/2 "2025-07-21T20:09:54Z")

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> [@sulli419](#):
>
> I no longer see this as a downloadable extension in the Slicer “install extensions” menu (I have the latest version).

If you are using SlicerPreview, the SlicerVMTK extension is broken since months. You may use SlicerVMTK with SlicerStable.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![sulli419](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex002/user_avatar/discourse.slicer.org/sulli419/32/78859_2.png) [@sulli419](https://discourse.slicer.org/u/sulli419)\
**Post date:** [July 21, 2025, 11:35pm UTC](https://discourse.slicer.org/t/volume-and-segment-straightening/43800/3 "2025-07-21T23:35:20Z")

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Thanks. I installed the most recent stable version of slicer and indeed found VMTK. Some of the menu items look different from the video I shared (earlier version). For example, where is curved planar reformat?

This is what my menu looks like:

 ![image](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/flex002/uploads/slicer/original/3X/f/9/f9eba5feec0d2e0e7ffbcc9d3cbd70e6fc948662.png)

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![chir.set](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex002/user_avatar/discourse.slicer.org/chir.set/32/66982_2.png) [@chir.set](https://discourse.slicer.org/u/chir.set)\
**Post date:** [July 22, 2025, 7:08am UTC](https://discourse.slicer.org/t/volume-and-segment-straightening/43800/4 "2025-07-22T07:08:54Z")

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> [@sulli419](#):
>
> where is curved planar reformat?

It’s in the `Sandbox` extension.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![sulli419](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex002/user_avatar/discourse.slicer.org/sulli419/32/78859_2.png) [@sulli419](https://discourse.slicer.org/u/sulli419)\
**Post date:** [July 22, 2025, 7:51pm UTC](https://discourse.slicer.org/t/volume-and-segment-straightening/43800/5 "2025-07-22T19:51:14Z")

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great that worked. thanks. I’m now able to very crudely straighten a volume following the video I posted. Although the centerpoints do not seem to truly be the center of the segment I used for creating it, and I do not see a way to straighten my segmentations, in addition to the volume (2nd part of my initial question (fyi this was not attempted in the video)).