1. A method for segmenting an image, comprising: registering an annotated template image to an acquired reference image using only rigid transformations to define a transformation function relating the annotated template image to the acquired reference image; refining the defined transformation function by registering the annotated template image to the acquired reference image using only affine transformations; further refining the refined transformation function by registering the annotated template image to the acquired reference image using only multi-affine transformations; and still further refining the twice refined transformation function by registering the annotated template image to the acquired reference image using deformation transformations.