diff --git a/Core/Code/IO/mitkImageCreator.cpp b/Core/Code/IO/mitkImageCreator.cpp
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..e1deaa443f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/Core/Code/IO/mitkImageCreator.cpp
@@ -0,0 +1,75 @@
+#include <mitkImage.h>
+#include <mitkImageCreator.h>
+#include <itkMersenneTwisterRandomVariateGenerator.h>
+
+//creates a test image with given dimension filled with random values
+//template <typename TPixelType>
+//   static mitk::Image::Pointer mitk::ImageCreator::CreateTestImage(unsigned int dimX,
+//                                                             unsigned int dimY,
+//                                                             unsigned int dimZ,
+//                                                             unsigned int dimT,
+//                                                             unsigned int channels,
+//                                                             const double randomMax, const double randMin)
+//{
+//  mitk::PixelType type;
+//  type.Initialize(typeid(TPixelType));
+//  mitk::Image::Pointer output = mitk::Image::New();
+//  unsigned int* dimensions = new unsigned int[4];
+//  unsigned int numberOfDimensions = 0;
+//  unsigned int bufferSize = 0;
+//  bufferSize = dimX*dimY;
+
+//  if(dimT == 0)
+//  {
+//    if(dimZ == 0)
+//    {
+//      numberOfDimensions = 2;
+//    }
+//    else
+//    {
+//      numberOfDimensions = 3;
+//      //      bufferSize = dimX*dimY*dimZ;
+//    }
+//  }
+//  else
+//  {
+//    numberOfDimensions = 4;
+//    //    bufferSize = dimX*dimY*dimZ*dimT;
+//  }
+
+//  dimensions[0] = dimX;
+//  dimensions[1] = dimY;
+//  dimensions[2] = dimZ;
+//  dimensions[3] = dimT;
+
+//  output->Initialize(type, numberOfDimensions, dimensions, channels);
+
+//  TPixelType* imageBuffer = (TPixelType*)output->GetData();
+//  itk::Statistics::MersenneTwisterRandomVariateGenerator::Pointer randomGenerator = itk::Statistics::MersenneTwisterRandomVariateGenerator::New();
+
+//  for(unsigned int t = 0; t < dimT; t++)
+//  {
+//    for(unsigned int s = 0; s < dimZ; s++)
+//    {
+//      for(unsigned int i = 0; i < bufferSize; i++)
+//      {
+//        if(type == typeid(int)) //call integer function
+//        {
+//          imageBuffer[i] = (TPixelType)randomGenerator->GetIntegerVariate((int)randomMax);
+//          //TODO random generator does not support integer values in a given range (e.g. from 5-10)
+//          //range is always [0, (int)randomMax]
+//        }else if((type == typeid(double)) || (type == typeid(float)))
+//        {
+//          imageBuffer[i] = (TPixelType)randomGenerator->GetUniformVariate(randMin,randomMax);
+//        }else if(type == typeid(unsigned char))
+//        {
+//          imageBuffer[i] = ((TPixelType)randomGenerator->GetIntegerVariate((int)randomMax)) % 256;
+//        }
+//        //TODO call different methods for other datatypes
+//      }
+//      output->SetSlice(imageBuffer, s, t, channels);
+//    }
+//  }
+
+//  return output;
+//}
diff --git a/Core/Code/IO/mitkImageCreator.h b/Core/Code/IO/mitkImageCreator.h
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..c227db1781
--- /dev/null
+++ b/Core/Code/IO/mitkImageCreator.h
@@ -0,0 +1,101 @@
+/*=========================================================================
+Copyright (c) German Cancer Research Center, Division of Medical and
+Biological Informatics. All rights reserved.
+See MITKCopyright.txt or http://www.mitk.org/copyright.html for details.
+
+This software is distributed WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even
+the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR
+PURPOSE.  See the above copyright notices for more information.
+
+=========================================================================*/
+
+#ifndef ImageCreator_H_HEADER_INCLUDED
+#define ImageCreator_H_HEADER_INCLUDED
+
+#include "mitkCommon.h"
+#include "mitkImageSource.h"
+#include <mitkImage.h>
+#include <itkMersenneTwisterRandomVariateGenerator.h>
+
+namespace mitk {
+  //##Documentation
+  //## @brief random generator for MITK images
+  //## @ingroup IO
+  class MITK_CORE_EXPORT ImageCreator
+  {
+  public:
+    template <typename TPixelType>
+        static mitk::Image::Pointer CreateRandomImage(unsigned int dimX,
+                                                    unsigned int dimY,
+                                                    unsigned int dimZ = 1,
+                                                    unsigned int dimT = 0,
+                                                    unsigned int channels = 1,
+                                                    const double randomMax = 1000.0f, const double randMin = 0.0f)
+    {
+      mitk::PixelType type;
+      type.Initialize(typeid(TPixelType));
+      mitk::Image::Pointer output = mitk::Image::New();
+      unsigned int* dimensions = new unsigned int[4];
+      unsigned int numberOfDimensions = 0;
+      unsigned int bufferSize = 0;
+      bufferSize = dimX*dimY;
+
+      if(dimT == 0)
+      {
+        if(dimZ == 0)
+        {
+          numberOfDimensions = 2;
+        }
+        else
+        {
+          numberOfDimensions = 3;
+          //      bufferSize = dimX*dimY*dimZ;
+        }
+      }
+      else
+      {
+        numberOfDimensions = 4;
+        //    bufferSize = dimX*dimY*dimZ*dimT;
+      }
+
+      dimensions[0] = dimX;
+      dimensions[1] = dimY;
+      dimensions[2] = dimZ;
+      dimensions[3] = dimT;
+
+      output->Initialize(type, numberOfDimensions, dimensions, channels);
+
+      TPixelType* imageBuffer = (TPixelType*)output->GetData();
+      itk::Statistics::MersenneTwisterRandomVariateGenerator::Pointer randomGenerator = itk::Statistics::MersenneTwisterRandomVariateGenerator::New();
+
+      for(unsigned int t = 0; t < dimT; t++)
+      {
+        for(unsigned int s = 0; s < dimZ; s++)
+        {
+          for(unsigned int i = 0; i < bufferSize; i++)
+          {
+            if(type == typeid(int)) //call integer function
+            {
+              imageBuffer[i] = (TPixelType)randomGenerator->GetIntegerVariate((int)randomMax);
+              //TODO random generator does not support integer values in a given range (e.g. from 5-10)
+              //range is always [0, (int)randomMax]
+            }else if((type == typeid(double)) || (type == typeid(float)))
+            {
+              imageBuffer[i] = (TPixelType)randomGenerator->GetUniformVariate(randMin,randomMax);
+            }else if(type == typeid(unsigned char))
+            {
+              imageBuffer[i] = ((int)randomGenerator->GetIntegerVariate((int)randomMax)) % 256;
+            }
+            //TODO call different methods for other datatypes
+          }
+          output->SetSlice(imageBuffer, s, t, channels);
+        }
+      }
+
+      return output;
+    }
+
+  };
+} // namespace mitk
+
+#endif /* ImageCreator_H_HEADER_INCLUDED */
diff --git a/Core/Code/files.cmake b/Core/Code/files.cmake
index 6784c9cc9e..dfab4303b2 100644
--- a/Core/Code/files.cmake
+++ b/Core/Code/files.cmake
@@ -1,225 +1,226 @@
 SET(H_FILES
   Algorithms/itkLocalVariationImageFilter.h
   Algorithms/itkTotalVariationDenoisingImageFilter.h
   Algorithms/itkTotalVariationSingleIterationImageFilter.h
   DataManagement/mitkCommon.h
   Interactions/mitkEventMapperAddOn.h
 )
 
 SET(CPP_FILES
   Algorithms/mitkBaseDataSource.cpp
   Algorithms/mitkBaseProcess.cpp
   Algorithms/mitkCoreObjectFactoryBase.cpp
   Algorithms/mitkCoreObjectFactory.cpp
   Algorithms/mitkDataNodeFactory.cpp
   Algorithms/mitkDataNodeSource.cpp
   Algorithms/mitkGeometry2DDataToSurfaceFilter.cpp
   Algorithms/mitkHistogramGenerator.cpp
   Algorithms/mitkImageCaster.cpp
   Algorithms/mitkImageCastPart1.cpp
   Algorithms/mitkImageCastPart2.cpp
   Algorithms/mitkImageCastPart3.cpp
   Algorithms/mitkImageCastPart4.cpp
   Algorithms/mitkImageChannelSelector.cpp
   Algorithms/mitkImageSliceSelector.cpp
   Algorithms/mitkImageSource.cpp
   Algorithms/mitkImageTimeSelector.cpp
   Algorithms/mitkImageToImageFilter.cpp
   Algorithms/mitkPointSetSource.cpp
   Algorithms/mitkPointSetToPointSetFilter.cpp
   Algorithms/mitkRGBToRGBACastImageFilter.cpp
   Algorithms/mitkSubImageSelector.cpp
   Algorithms/mitkSurfaceSource.cpp
   Algorithms/mitkSurfaceToSurfaceFilter.cpp
   Algorithms/mitkUIDGenerator.cpp
   Algorithms/mitkVolumeCalculator.cpp
   Controllers/mitkBaseController.cpp
   Controllers/mitkCallbackFromGUIThread.cpp
   Controllers/mitkCameraController.cpp
   Controllers/mitkCameraRotationController.cpp
   Controllers/mitkFocusManager.cpp
   Controllers/mitkLimitedLinearUndo.cpp
   Controllers/mitkOperationEvent.cpp
   Controllers/mitkProgressBar.cpp
   Controllers/mitkRenderingManager.cpp
   Controllers/mitkSliceNavigationController.cpp
   Controllers/mitkSlicesCoordinator.cpp
   Controllers/mitkSlicesRotator.cpp
   Controllers/mitkSlicesSwiveller.cpp
   Controllers/mitkStatusBar.cpp
   Controllers/mitkStepper.cpp
   Controllers/mitkTestManager.cpp
   Controllers/mitkUndoController.cpp
   Controllers/mitkVerboseLimitedLinearUndo.cpp
   Controllers/mitkVtkInteractorCameraController.cpp
   Controllers/mitkVtkLayerController.cpp
   DataManagement/mitkAbstractTransformGeometry.cpp
   DataManagement/mitkAnnotationProperty.cpp
   DataManagement/mitkApplicationCursor.cpp
   DataManagement/mitkBaseData.cpp
   DataManagement/mitkBaseProperty.cpp
   DataManagement/mitkClippingProperty.cpp
   DataManagement/mitkColorProperty.cpp
   DataManagement/mitkDataStorage.cpp
   #DataManagement/mitkDataTree.cpp
   DataManagement/mitkDataNode.cpp
   #DataManagement/mitkDataTreeStorage.cpp
   DataManagement/mitkDisplayGeometry.cpp
   DataManagement/mitkEnumerationProperty.cpp
   DataManagement/mitkGeometry2D.cpp
   DataManagement/mitkGeometry2DData.cpp
   DataManagement/mitkGeometry3D.cpp
   DataManagement/mitkGeometryData.cpp
   DataManagement/mitkGroupTagProperty.cpp
   DataManagement/mitkImage.cpp
   DataManagement/mitkImageDataItem.cpp
   DataManagement/mitkLandmarkBasedCurvedGeometry.cpp
   DataManagement/mitkLandmarkProjectorBasedCurvedGeometry.cpp
   DataManagement/mitkLandmarkProjector.cpp
   DataManagement/mitkLevelWindow.cpp
   DataManagement/mitkLevelWindowManager.cpp
   DataManagement/mitkLevelWindowPreset.cpp
   DataManagement/mitkLevelWindowProperty.cpp
   DataManagement/mitkLookupTable.cpp
   DataManagement/mitkLookupTables.cpp # specializations of GenericLookupTable
   DataManagement/mitkMemoryUtilities.cpp
   DataManagement/mitkModalityProperty.cpp
   DataManagement/mitkModeOperation.cpp
   DataManagement/mitkNodePredicateAnd.cpp
   DataManagement/mitkNodePredicateBase.cpp
   DataManagement/mitkNodePredicateCompositeBase.cpp
   DataManagement/mitkNodePredicateData.cpp
   DataManagement/mitkNodePredicateDataType.cpp
   DataManagement/mitkNodePredicateDimension.cpp
   DataManagement/mitkNodePredicateFirstLevel.cpp
   DataManagement/mitkNodePredicateNot.cpp
   DataManagement/mitkNodePredicateOr.cpp
   DataManagement/mitkNodePredicateProperty.cpp
   DataManagement/mitkNodePredicateSource.cpp
   DataManagement/mitkPlaneOrientationProperty.cpp
   DataManagement/mitkPlaneGeometry.cpp
   DataManagement/mitkPlaneOperation.cpp
   DataManagement/mitkPointOperation.cpp
   DataManagement/mitkPointSet.cpp
   DataManagement/mitkProperties.cpp
   DataManagement/mitkPropertyList.cpp
   DataManagement/mitkRotationOperation.cpp
   DataManagement/mitkSlicedData.cpp
   DataManagement/mitkSlicedGeometry3D.cpp
   DataManagement/mitkSmartPointerProperty.cpp
   DataManagement/mitkStandaloneDataStorage.cpp
   DataManagement/mitkStateTransitionOperation.cpp
   DataManagement/mitkStringProperty.cpp
   DataManagement/mitkSurface.cpp
   DataManagement/mitkSurfaceOperation.cpp
   DataManagement/mitkThinPlateSplineCurvedGeometry.cpp
   DataManagement/mitkTimeSlicedGeometry.cpp
   DataManagement/mitkTransferFunction.cpp
   DataManagement/mitkTransferFunctionInitializer.cpp
   DataManagement/mitkVector.cpp
   DataManagement/mitkVtkInterpolationProperty.cpp
   DataManagement/mitkVtkRepresentationProperty.cpp
   DataManagement/mitkVtkResliceInterpolationProperty.cpp
   DataManagement/mitkVtkScalarModeProperty.cpp
   DataManagement/mitkVtkVolumeRenderingProperty.cpp
   DataManagement/mitkWeakPointerProperty.cpp
   DataManagement/mitkShaderProperty.cpp
   DataManagement/mitkResliceMethodProperty.cpp
   DataManagement/mitkMaterial.cpp
   Interactions/mitkAction.cpp
   Interactions/mitkAffineInteractor.cpp
   Interactions/mitkCoordinateSupplier.cpp
   Interactions/mitkDisplayCoordinateOperation.cpp
   Interactions/mitkDisplayInteractor.cpp
   Interactions/mitkDisplayPositionEvent.cpp
   Interactions/mitkDisplayVectorInteractor.cpp
   Interactions/mitkDisplayVectorInteractorLevelWindow.cpp
   Interactions/mitkDisplayVectorInteractorScroll.cpp
   Interactions/mitkEvent.cpp
   Interactions/mitkEventDescription.cpp
   Interactions/mitkEventMapper.cpp
   Interactions/mitkGlobalInteraction.cpp
   Interactions/mitkInteractor.cpp
   Interactions/mitkMouseMovePointSetInteractor.cpp
   Interactions/mitkMoveSurfaceInteractor.cpp
   Interactions/mitkNodeDepententPointSetInteractor.cpp
   Interactions/mitkPointSetInteractor.cpp
   Interactions/mitkPositionEvent.cpp
   Interactions/mitkPositionTracker.cpp
   Interactions/mitkState.cpp
   Interactions/mitkStateEvent.cpp
   Interactions/mitkStateMachine.cpp
   Interactions/mitkStateMachineFactory.cpp
   Interactions/mitkTransition.cpp
   Interactions/mitkWheelEvent.cpp
   Interactions/mitkKeyEvent.cpp
   Interactions/mitkVtkEventAdapter.cpp
   IO/mitkBaseDataIOFactory.cpp
   IO/mitkDicomSeriesReader.cpp
   IO/mitkFileReader.cpp
   IO/mitkFileSeriesReader.cpp
   IO/mitkFileWriter.cpp
   IO/mitkIpPicGet.c 
+  IO/mitkImageCreator.cpp
   IO/mitkImageWriter.cpp
   IO/mitkImageWriterFactory.cpp
   IO/mitkItkImageFileIOFactory.cpp
   IO/mitkItkImageFileReader.cpp
   IO/mitkItkPictureWrite.cpp
   IO/mitkLookupTableProperty.cpp
   IO/mitkOperation.cpp
   IO/mitkPicFileIOFactory.cpp
   IO/mitkPicFileReader.cpp
   IO/mitkPicFileWriter.cpp
   IO/mitkPicHelper.cpp
   IO/mitkPicVolumeTimeSeriesIOFactory.cpp
   IO/mitkPicVolumeTimeSeriesReader.cpp
   IO/mitkPixelType.cpp
   IO/mitkPointSetIOFactory.cpp
   IO/mitkPointSetReader.cpp
   IO/mitkPointSetWriter.cpp
   IO/mitkPointSetWriterFactory.cpp
   IO/mitkRawImageFileReader.cpp
   IO/mitkStandardFileLocations.cpp
   IO/mitkSTLFileIOFactory.cpp
   IO/mitkSTLFileReader.cpp
   IO/mitkSurfaceVtkWriter.cpp
   IO/mitkSurfaceVtkWriterFactory.cpp
   IO/mitkVtiFileIOFactory.cpp
   IO/mitkVtiFileReader.cpp
   IO/mitkVtkImageIOFactory.cpp
   IO/mitkVtkImageReader.cpp
   IO/mitkVtkSurfaceIOFactory.cpp
   IO/mitkVtkSurfaceReader.cpp
   IO/vtkPointSetXMLParser.cpp
   IO/mitkLog.cpp
   Rendering/mitkBaseRenderer.cpp
   Rendering/mitkVtkMapper2D.cpp
   Rendering/mitkVtkMapper3D.cpp
   Rendering/mitkRenderWindowFrame.cpp
   Rendering/mitkGeometry2DDataMapper2D.cpp
   Rendering/mitkGeometry2DDataVtkMapper3D.cpp
   Rendering/mitkGLMapper2D.cpp
   Rendering/mitkGradientBackground.cpp
   Rendering/mitkManufacturerLogo.cpp
   Rendering/mitkMapper2D.cpp
   Rendering/mitkMapper3D.cpp
   Rendering/mitkMapper.cpp
   Rendering/mitkPointSetGLMapper2D.cpp
   Rendering/mitkPointSetVtkMapper3D.cpp
   Rendering/mitkPolyDataGLMapper2D.cpp
   Rendering/mitkSurfaceGLMapper2D.cpp
   Rendering/mitkSurfaceVtkMapper3D.cpp
   Rendering/mitkVolumeDataVtkMapper3D.cpp
   Rendering/mitkVtkPropRenderer.cpp
   Rendering/mitkVtkWidgetRendering.cpp
   Rendering/vtkMitkRectangleProp.cpp
   Rendering/vtkMitkRenderProp.cpp
   Rendering/mitkVtkEventProvider.cpp
   Rendering/mitkRenderWindow.cpp
   Rendering/mitkRenderWindowBase.cpp
   Rendering/mitkShaderRepository.cpp
 
   Rendering/mitkImageMapperGL2D.cpp
   Rendering/vtkMitkThickSlicesFilter.cpp
 )