SigViewer is an open-source, cross-platform application designed to view, annotate, and process multi-channel biomedical signals like Electroencephalograms (EEG). Built in C++ using the Qt toolkit, it operates seamlessly across Windows, macOS, and Linux. For neuroscientists, brain-computer interface (BCI) researchers, and data analysts, SigViewer offers an elegant, distraction-free environment to inspect raw time-series data without writing complex lines of code.
This beginner’s guide walks through installing the software, loading data, navigating waveforms, and using annotation toolkits. Key Features of SigViewer
Before diving into the workflow, it is useful to understand what makes SigViewer a staple in neurotechnology pipelines:
Broad Format Support: Reads major biosignal extensions including EDF, BDF, GDF, CNT, BrainVision, and BCI2000.
Multimodal Integration: Supports loading multi-stream XDF (Extensible Data Format) files, a standard format in Lab Streaming Layer (LSL) setups.
Event Annotation: Allows custom creation, editing, and mapping of event markers and artifact selections over raw traces.
Signal Processing Modules: Features lightweight baseline calculations, offset removal, power spectral density (PSD) computation, and event-related potential (ERP) extraction. Step 1: Installation and Setup
To get started, download the pre-compiled application bundle for your operating system from the official SigViewer SourceForge Repository or access the source code directly on GitHub. For Windows and Linux
Download the compressed binary package (.zip or .tar.gz), extract the folder to your directory of choice, and run the SigViewer executable file.
You can install dependencies like Qt and CMake using Homebrew (brew install qt cmake), then build the binary straight from the command line using the GitHub source files:
cmake -P external/build_deps.cmake cmake -B build -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Release cmake –build build Use code with caution. Step 2: Loading Your First EEG File
Launch SigViewer to open its clean, minimalist graphical user interface (GUI). Click on File in the top menu bar and select Open.
Navigate your filesystem to locate your EEG file (e.g., a .edf or .gdf sample dataset). Click Open. SIGVIEWER – CURRENT STATUS AND RECENT … – openlib
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