CineReader

CineReader is a Python module for reading Vision Research Phantom .cine files. It allows you to extract metadata, image frames, and precise timestamps from high-speed camera recordings.

Features

• Read Phantom Cine Metadata: Extracts detailed acquisition and camera information from .cine files.
• Image Extraction: Efficiently reads single frames or ranges of frames as NumPy arrays, supporting various bit depths and compression formats (including 10-bit and 12-bit packed data).
• Timestamp Handling: Retrieves precise per-frame timestamps and computes time-from-trigger arrays.
• NumPy & Pandas Integration: Returns data in familiar scientific Python formats for easy analysis.
• Optimized Performance: Uses Numba for fast unpacking of compressed image data.

Typical Usage

import cinereader as cr

path = "example.cine"

metadata = cr.read_metadata(path)
metadata, images, timestamps = cr.read(cinePath, start = metdata.FirstImageNo, metadata.ImageCount - 1)

• metadata: Detailed information about the cine file and acquisition.
• images: List of NumPy arrays, each representing a frame.
• timestamps: Array of timestamps for each frame, relative to trigger.

Requirements

• Python 3.10+
• numpy 2.2+
• pandas
• numba

Developed by AMETEK Vision Research.

Changelog

07-17-2025, v1.4.2

• minor clean up

06-16-2025, v1.4.1

• minor clean up and repackage after initial release of CineAnalyzer

02-13-2025, v1.1.0

• Added DecimatedFrameRate variable to access the effective frame rate of decimated cines

10-30-2024, v1.0.0

• Clean up for beta release

10-24-2024, v0.12.0

• EDR, Exposure time now floats

10-10-2024, v0.11.0

• apply P10 LUT
• fix unit tests

09-05-2024, v0.9.1

• few tweaks to improve speed

09-04-2024, v0.9.0

• reason: improve performance when the cine is read
• add numba njit for unpack functions
• refactor read images function to use less variables

07-19-2024, v0.8.0

• rebuild with correct naming
• update deprecated utc time call

07-18-2024, v0.7.0

• add time from trigger array, trigger time string
• unit test fixes

07-15-2024, v0.5.0

• remove some params from the print metadata function

07-11-2024, v0.4.0

• added print metadata function for output subset of the metadata object to a 2D string array

Initial release

• fixed: few utf related metadata fixed,some metadata naming changed, a loop in cine read fixed, some list-type metadata fixed resulin correcting more
• added: trigger time stamp added, test_cinereader functions(metadata and pixel values for different cine types), list components for multiple element of one metadata(such as reccrop, imfilter, etc), some loops for list-type metadata,
• added: realbpp metadata output for image display in gui