state_files.md

State Files

VolView state files save your scene configuration: annotations, camera positions, colormaps, layouts, and more. There are two formats:

Zip State Files (*.volview.zip)

Save by clicking the "Disk" icon in the toolbar. This embeds your image data that was loaded from local files alongside the application state. Useful for sharing annotations with collaborators.

Sparse Manifest Files (*.volview.json)

JSON files that reference remote data via URIs instead of embedding it. Useful for:

• Linking to data hosted on servers
• Sharing annotations without duplicating large datasets
• Integrating with external systems (AI pipelines, access control, etc.)

Example manifest:

{
  "version": "6.2.0",
  "dataSources": [
    { "id": 0, "type": "uri", "uri": "https://example.com/scan.zip" },
    { "id": 1, "type": "uri", "uri": "https://example.com/segmentation.nii.gz" }
  ],
  "segmentGroups": [
    {
      "id": "seg-1",
      "dataSourceId": 1,
      "metadata": {
        "name": "Tumor Segmentation",
        "parentImage": "0",
        "segments": {
          "order": [1],
          "byValue": {
            "1": { "value": 1, "name": "Tumor", "color": [255, 0, 0, 255] }
          }
        }
      }
    }
  ],
  "tools": {
    "rectangles": {
      "tools": [
        {
          "imageID": "0",
          "frameOfReference": {
            "planeNormal": [0, 0, 1],
            "planeOrigin": [0, 0, 50]
          },
          "slice": 50,
          "firstPoint": [-20, -20, 50],
          "secondPoint": [20, 20, 50],
          "label": "lesion"
        }
      ],
      "labels": {
        "lesion": { "color": "red" }
      }
    }
  }
}

Loading State Files

• Drag and drop onto VolView
• File browser via the "Folder" icon below the save button
• URL parameter: ?urls=[https://example.com/session.volview.json]