How do you calculate the radius in a 3D tubular structure?

I'm trying to calculate the radius at every point in a root of a plant. What I have is a 3D image of that root. I have already segmented the root, so that every branche is seperated and can be viewed individually. However, I still cannot think of a proper way to calculate the radius at every point.

Right now I have some code, using bwdist on a binary image of the root, after which I multiply it with the skeleton of the root. This gives me the minimum radius at every point, however I also want to know the average and maximum radius.

I was thinking of slicing every branche up in small pieces and calculating the volume, so I could obtain the data about the average radius if I know the length of those pieces. But in order to do so I would need to 'cut' the root orthogonal to the direction, and I cannot figure out how to do that.

Does someone have an idea how I could accomplish 'cutting' the root in those small pieces? Or maybe know of another method which works better? Any help is very welcome!

Thanks in advance,

Charles

Answer 1

[Afiq Azaibi]

Given that every point on the branch has a cross section that can be measured, I would suggest using the 'slice' function:

https://www.mathworks.com/help/matlab/ref/slice.html

This allows an orthogonal slice through the root.