ANNOUNCEMENT

Version 3.4.0 of the OFFIS DCMTK (DICOM ToolKit) software is now available
for public release.  This release includes the following main changes 
over the previous version (Version 3.3.1):

- The DICOM data dictionary has been completely re-worked based
  on the 1998 edition of the DICOM standard and the latest supplements.

- The new module dcmimgle ("dcmimage light edition") contains routines to 
  efficiently render DICOM grayscale images. The library supports all DICOM 
  grayscale transformations including the various look-up tables. It also 
  supports rotating, scaling, and processing of overlay bitmaps. This module 
  has been added to DCMTK to support the Grayscale Softcopy Presentation 
  State demonstrator (DICOMscope) which has been shown at the European 
  Congress of Radiology 1999.
  
- The new module dcmpstat contains routines to read, manage and write DICOM 
  Grayscale Softcopy Presentation State objects according to Supplement 33 
  (revised frozen draft for demonstration, Version 18). This module has also 
  been added to DCMTK to support the Grayscale Softcopy Presentation State 
  demonstrator (DICOMscope) which has been shown at the European Congress of 
  Radiology 1999.

- All applications in the dcmdata and dcmnet modules have been updated to 
  use a new command line option scheme which makes calls more self-explaining 
  as the tools get more and more options.

- Experimental support for the network transmission of DICOM images
  in encapsulated transfer syntax (compressed) has been added to the
  dcmnet library and the storescu, storescp and movescu applications.

- Experimental support for C-GET and extended SOP class negotiation
  has been added to the dcmnet library.  

- The Worklist CTN now supports all type 1 and 2 attributes as return
  keys and has also been ported to Windows.

- New FAQ entries: Building DCMTK on HP-UX 10 or Unixware, Building the 
  DCMTK libraries as shared objects on Unix platforms, Images received in 
  /tmp when running imagectn as root.

- Improved handling of unknown (or unsupported) VRs when reading or 
  receiving explicit VR data. Allows to communicate with certain modalities 
  using private VR names like "??" without extended length field.

- Many bug fixes and minor improvements - See the dcmtk/CHANGES file for 
  more details.


Attention: The file format of the imagectn index file has changed with the 
new release. You need to rebuild index files when updating imagectn to 
DCMTK 3.4.0.

Many people have contributed to this new release of DCMTK, appearing here 
in alphabetical order. Thank you very much for your support!
  Yongjian Bao <yb@innomed.de>
  Heinz Blendinger <Heinz.Blendinger@med.siemens.de>
  David Clunie <dclunie@idt.net> 
  Sacha Helbig <helbig@scn.de>
  Andy Hewett <hewett@medigration.de>
  Markus Mertens <Markus.Mertens@uni-muenster.de>
  Gilles Mevel <Gilles.Mevel@etiam.com>
  Wolfgang Rapp <w1.rapp@von.ulm.de>
  Alexander Sahler <sahler@informatik.uni-kl.de>
  Andreas Schroeter <schroeter@microtherapy.de>
  Lutz Vorwerk <vorwerk@ti.fhg.de>
  
OFFIS staff who have worked on this release are:
  Marco Eichelberg <Eichelberg@OFFIS.Uni-Oldenburg.DE>
  Joerg Riesmeier <Riesmeier@OFFIS.Uni-Oldenburg.DE>
  
The DCMTK software can be downloaded via:
  http://www.offis.uni-oldenburg.de/projekte/dicom/


Kuratorium OFFIS eV, Oldenburg, Germany, 1999-05-03