Window/level baking

Bake the current window/level into the pixel values for fixed-contrast output.

Problem

A DICOM image uses the Modality LUT (Rescale Slope/Intercept) to map raw pixel values to Hounsfield Units at display time. While this preserves the full dynamic range for diagnostic viewing, some downstream consumers (AI pipelines, web viewers, presentation tools) need a pre-windowed 8-bit image with the window/level already applied (“baked in”). Baking the W/L discards the Modality LUT and Window Center/Width tags, producing a simple 8-bit MONOCHROME2 image.

Steps

1. Open the file (⌘O).

2. Open Pixel Operations — ⌘K → “Pixel operations…”.

3. Select Bake W/L.

4. Click Apply transform — no additional parameters are needed; the current viewport window/level settings are used.

5. Verify the output in Edit mode (⌘3):

   • Photometric Interpretation (0028,0004) → MONOCHROME2
   • Bits Allocated (0028,0100) → 8
   • Window Center (0028,1050) → deleted (not visible)
   • Window Width (0028,1051) → deleted (not visible)

Expected Result

• Output is an 8-bit MONOCHROME2 image.
• Window Center and Window Width tags are removed (baked into pixel data, no longer needed as display parameters).
• Rescale Slope and Rescale Intercept are removed (Modality LUT is no longer applicable).
• The image displays correctly in any viewer without requiring W/L adjustment.