Viewports and layouts

A viewport is one image pane on screen. It might be a 2D stack, a volume, or an MPR plane such as axial, sagittal, or coronal. The active viewport is the one that receives keyboard shortcuts, many toolbar actions, and fullscreen until you click another pane.

A layout preset is how those panes are arranged. One-by-one is a single series. One-by-two and two-by-one are two-up comparisons for different monitor shapes. Two-by-two is the everyday quad for prior versus current or multi-plane work. Three-by-three is high density for triage. MPR and 3D presets appear when the study can support volume work. Custom lets you set rows and columns yourself when the named presets no longer fit.

Choosing a layout

Stroke or CT head often wants two-by-two so soft tissue and bone can sit side by side, or a two-up MPR when thin slices exist. Oncology follow-up likes two-by-two with prior and current, then sync so slice positions stay honest. MSK often starts one-by-one for fine detail, then opens a second pane to compare T1 and T2.

Custom grids and the active pane

When you outgrow named presets, open custom and set rows and columns. The viewer keeps what it can. Changing layout may reset a pane that cannot keep the same kind. Click a pane to make it active. Most toolbar actions, reset, swap, and fullscreen act on that active pane. In a two-by-two, click the cell you care about before you start cine so playback hits the right series.

Fullscreen, reset, and swap

Fullscreen expands the active viewport when you need subtle findings or a small laptop. Toggle with the toolbar control or f when the viewer has focus. Reset re-centers the active pane: default zoom and pan, cleared transforms, and sometimes a volume camera reset. Use it after someone else panned wildly or after you zoomed into a nodule and lost the lung field. Swap exchanges content between two panes so you can fix prior-on-the-wrong-side without re-dragging series from the thumbnail rail.

MPR and 3D

When the study supports a volume, Navigate tools for crosshairs and 3D rotation appear. If a control is disabled, the current series is probably stack-only in that cell. Crosshairs in three MPR panes keep the plane intersection on the anatomy you are scrolling through.

For keeping panes aligned after you pick a layout, read Synchronization next. For scrolling and cine after the grid is set, read Navigation and cine.