ENH: Add itk.imseriesread() to match itk.imread() for image series

Wrapping/Generators/Python/Tests/extras.py

@@ -182,6 +182,28 @@ def custom_callback(name, progress):
 series_reader.Update()
 assert series_reader.GetOutput().GetImageDimension() == 3
 
+# test reading image series with itk.imread()
+image_series = itk.imread([fileName, fileName])
+assert image_series.GetImageDimension() == 3
+
+# Numeric series filename generation without any integer index. It is
+# only to produce an ITK object that users could set as an input to
+# `itk.ImageSeriesReader.New()` or `itk.imread()` and test that it works.
+numeric_series_filename = itk.NumericSeriesFileNames.New()
+numeric_series_filename.SetStartIndex(0)
+numeric_series_filename.SetEndIndex(3)
+numeric_series_filename.SetIncrementIndex(1)
+numeric_series_filename.SetSeriesFormat(fileName)
+image_series = itk.imread(numeric_series_filename.GetFileNames())
+number_of_files = len(numeric_series_filename.GetFileNames())
+assert image_series.GetImageDimension() == 3
+assert image_series.GetLargestPossibleRegion().GetSize()[2] == number_of_files
+
+# test reading image series with `itk.imread()` and check that dimension is
+# not increased if last dimension is 1.
+image_series = itk.imread([image_series3d_filename, image_series3d_filename])
+assert image_series.GetImageDimension() == 3
+
 # pipeline, auto_pipeline and templated class are tested in other files
 
 # BridgeNumPy

Wrapping/Generators/Python/itkExtras.py

@@ -454,22 +454,38 @@ def imwrite(image_or_filter, filename, compression=False):
     writer.Update()
 
 def imread(filename, pixel_type=None):
-    """Read an image from a file and return an itk.Image.
+    """Read an image from a file or series of files and return an itk.Image.
 
-    The reader is instantiated with the image type of the image file.
+    The reader is instantiated with the image type of the image file if
+    `pixelType` is not provided (default). The dimension of the image is
+    automatically found. If the given filename is a list or a tuple, the
+    reader will use an itk.ImageSeriesReader object to read the files.
     """
     import itk
+    if type(filename) in [list, tuple]:
+        TemplateReaderType=itk.ImageSeriesReader
+        io_filename=filename[0]
+        increase_dimension=True
+        kwargs={'FileNames':filename}
+    else:
+        TemplateReaderType=itk.ImageFileReader
+        io_filename=filename
+        increase_dimension=False
+        kwargs={'FileName':filename}
     if pixel_type:
-        imageIO = itk.ImageIOFactory.CreateImageIO(filename, itk.ImageIOFactory.ReadMode)
+        imageIO = itk.ImageIOFactory.CreateImageIO(io_filename, itk.ImageIOFactory.ReadMode)
         if not imageIO:
             raise RuntimeError("No ImageIO is registered to handle the given file.")
-        imageIO.SetFileName( filename )
+        imageIO.SetFileName(io_filename)
         imageIO.ReadImageInformation()
         dimension = imageIO.GetNumberOfDimensions()
+        # Increase dimension if last dimension is not of size one.
+        if increase_dimension and imageIO.GetDimensions(dimension-1) != 1:
+            dimension += 1
         ImageType=itk.Image[pixel_type,dimension]
-        reader = itk.ImageFileReader[ImageType].New(FileName=filename)
+        reader = TemplateReaderType[ImageType].New(**kwargs)
     else:
-        reader = itk.ImageFileReader.New(FileName=filename)
+        reader = TemplateReaderType.New(**kwargs)
     reader.Update()
     return reader.GetOutput()