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Hi SPMers, I have not had a reply to my post from last week, so I am re-sending it with the hope of getting a few suggestions. Thanks in advance. Stephane ========================================================================= Dear SPMers, I am trying to decide on the ‘best’ pipeline to create DARTEL templates to normalise fMRI data of a large sample (several hundreds) of youths (male and females) aged 9-18 years. Basically I would like to create DARTEL templates, but I need to decide between using ‘Estimate and Write’ in VBM8 or the ‘Segment’ option in SPM12 to produce the DARTEL export files. I am aware of the advantages that the VBM8 toolbox segmentation offers over the Segment in SPM12, so that’s why I am in a dilemma here. For both options, I would use customised TPMs created using the TOM8 toolbox. ***Using VBM8 I would: Estimate and write, use my customised TPMs with the low-dimensional: SPM8 default for spatial normalisation. For the writing options I would ask for the following outputs: Dartel export affine for grey and white matter. For a fMRI pipeline, does it make sense to also ask for the Dartel export affine for CSF and PVE? Maybe only the PVE? I assume that these could be used in the ‘Create DARTEL Template’ module. I am aware that the segmentation in SPM12 has been improved compared to the one in SPM8, so does this mean that using the low-dimensional SPM8 default option rather than Segment in SPM12 would be problematic here even if it just for initial skull-stripping? ***Using ‘Segment’ in SPM12 I would: Again use my 6 customised TPMs and ask for the DARTEL Imported for grey and white matter. Same as above, does it help to ask for the DARTEL imported for tissues 3 to 6? Also, if understand correctly, here those DARTEL files are rigidly registered segmentations rather than affine-only like in the VBM8 toolbox right? Would this be a reason to go for the VBM8 ‘Estimate and Write’ module rather than the ‘Segment’ in SPM12? ****After the segmentation, I would then create the DARTEL templates and then use the ‘Normalise to MNI Space’ module. Thanks in advance for your help on this and, of course, I would welcome additional suggestions you may have for the pipeline. Cheers, Stephane