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Some quick comments;
 
  I operate two confocal microscopes (MRC-600's) and do a fair ammount of
3-D reconstructions on an older SGI Personal Iris 25.  I an currently
using VoxBlast software (from Vaytek Inc., Fairfield, IA) and am quite
pleased with it.  It is less expensive and I feel more flexible and
powerful (especially when it comes to volume and 3-D measurements) than
VoxelView (which was the software we initially purchased.) I may, however
be a little biased since VoxBlast was written by some folks here at the
U.of I. and I was in on the development.
        There is no question--buy a SGI, the biggest you can afford.
Macs and PCs just aren't fast enough for large data sets.  Also, I would
concider 32Mbs RAM as a minimum.  Hope this helps.
 
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Thomas Moninger ([log in to unmask])
Central Electron Microscopy Research Facility
and the Howard Hughes Medical Institute
85 EMRB University of Iowa
Iowa City, IA 52242 319-335-8142
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