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NeuroCaptain v2 - Interactive Three-Dimensional fNIRS Optode and Probe Montage Design Platform Based on Blender
Ashlyn McCann1, Qianqian Fang1,2
1Northeastern University, Department of Bioengineering, Boston, Massachusetts, United States.
Biorxiv : the Preprint Server for Biology
|June 12, 2026
Summary
NeuroCaptain v2 enhances functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) neuroimaging by offering an open-source, 3D tool for precise optode placement. This reduces cross-subject variability, improving data reproducibility and analysis accuracy.
Area of Science:
- Neuroimaging
- Biomedical Engineering
- Neuroscience
Background:
- Accurate optode placement is critical for high-quality functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) data.
- Conventional 2D-to-3D transformation methods introduce significant placement variability across subjects and head surfaces.
Purpose of the Study:
- Introduce NeuroCaptain v2, an open-source Blender add-on for interactive, anatomically guided fNIRS optode design and registration.
- Enable precise 3D optode placement and cortical sensitivity visualization for fNIRS studies.
Main Methods:
- Utilize Blender's physics simulation for mechanical constraints in probe layout.
- Integrate mesh-based Monte Carlo (MMC) and diffusion-solver Redbird for 3D sensitivity mapping.
- Store optode layouts in barycentric coordinates on a 10-20 landmark mesh for cross-subject consistency.
Main Results:
- Demonstrate interactive 3D montage design and cross-head-atlas probe registration.
- Achieve a mean per-optode standard deviation of 2.29 mm, a 74% reduction in placement variability compared to conventional methods.
- Showcase visualization of cortical sensitivity across diverse head geometries.
Conclusions:
- NeuroCaptain v2 offers a reproducible, open-source workflow for fNIRS probe montage design.
- Facilitates anatomically guided probe development and cross-subject registration in a 3D environment.
- Significantly improves the accuracy and reproducibility of fNIRS data acquisition.
