Image name The image name is the name of the image in the image buffer. This name is not nec- essarily the same as the file name or the image/record name of the image in the da- tabase.
File name The file name is the name the image is saved as on the hard disk, for example.
Record name The record name is the name the image is saved as in its database.
Default image name At image acquisition the image is named according to a default name. This presetting can be altered: Special > Preferences... > Image acquisition > Prefix for images / In- cremental number.
Image buffer for image acquisitions
The image is written to the active image buffer by default during acquisition. If an im- age is already in the image buffer, it will be overwritten during acquisition. Therefore, it is recommended to check the image buffer for any acquisitions before starting the image acquisition.
Acquiring images
Saving images - Background information
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To avoid accidentally overwriting images when acquiring images, you have the fol- lowing possibilities: Use the Special > Preferences... command. Select an appropri- ate entry from the Image acquisition > Sequence list located in the Images tab:
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None: An acquired image is written to the active image buffer. Should this image buffer already contain an image, that image will be overwritten. This entry is pre- set by default.•
Image buffers (All): Your image analysis program will now automatically select the next image buffer before each new image is acquired. Should this image buffer already contain an image, that image will be overwritten. Please not that the images are not automatically saved as a file. Therefore, you must either in- sert the images into a database or save them as a file by using the File > Save As... command.•
Image Buffer (Circular Switch): Your image analysis program will now automat- ically select the next image buffer before each new image is acquired. Only the image buffers which belong to the current circular switch will be taken into con- sideration. The first 8 image buffers are by default. If image buffer 8 is the active image buffer, image buffer 1 is again going to be the next image buffer which is selected.Every loaded image takes up space in the memory. Select this option to avoid filling the image buffer with a large amount of unnecessary images.
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Database: An acquired image is written to the active image buffer and simulta- neously inserted into the active database. The image is thus automatically saved as a file. You do not have to additionally save acquired images with theFile > Save As... command.
Please note: The program tries to insert the acquired image beneath the active database element. You will get an error message if the active database element does not allow the insertion of images. Images can be saved below a database folder or an image, but not directly below the database symbol or below a doc- ument.
The insertion mask is not shown. All of the user defined database fields remain empty for the inserted image. The Database > Edit Record... command enables you to provide data about all of the inserted images at a later time.
The record name in this case corresponds to the image names.
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Database (Input Mask): An acquired image is written to the active image buffer and simultaneously inserted into the active database. The input mask is opened after each image acquisition enabling you to put all data with regards to the im- age directly into the database during image acquisition. You can, for example, reissue the record name for each image.Macros for your input channel
The input-channel concept includes defining basic macro commands for the input channel. Select the Macro tab in the Configure Input dialog box to enter macro com- mands to be executed either before or after the acquisition of an image.
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You may, e.g., set magnification before image acquisition. To do so, enter the following row into the Preprocessing steps field:SetMagnification();
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You can for example, adopt the scale bar into the image-overlay after image ac- quisition. To do so, enter the following row into the Postprocessing steps field: ScaleBarToOverlay();Warning Please note the following when working with ColorViewIIIu. Do not define this com- mand in the input channel when you are using the online shading correction. The on- line shading correction works with reference images which depend on the selected magnification. If you change the magnification after having started the live-image, a false reference image will be used for the correction.
Acquiring images Saving images - Background information
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Image Information
A large amount of additional data will be automatically acquired together with the images. All additional data are accessible in the Image Information dialog box. You can, for example, open the image information by double clicking on the image buffer. Depending on the acquisition method, the dialog box can contain different types of tabs.
Each image you load into your image analysis program will at least contain the Gen- eral tab with the image names and the general image data. Here, you can also write comments about the image. You can also acquire audio commentaries, should you have access to the necessary hardware.
When you acquire images with your image analysis program, you will also find the
Camera tab with the most important camera settings.
For certain microscopes, you can also automatically acquire data about the micro- scope together with the image. Some add-ins also create additional tabs with special image data in the Image Information tab.
Please note: Save your images in TIF format so as to save all additional data togeth- er with the image.
Image information includes all information saved along with the image. In the example shown, the image name and the file name are not the same. Any information you wish to have archived along with the image may be entered in the field for comments. The absolute width and height of the image result from the calibration of the input channel. Click the button with the speaker symbol to show the Audio button bar. Use the functions in the button bar to record a spoken comment about the image.
image name
Image number
Acquiring images
Saving images - Step-by-step
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The Camera tab con- tains the settings of the input channel during ac- quisition.
Print image comment
You can print the image comment together with the image. This can be done either by using the File > Define Page Layout... command, or by using the report generator that is integrated in your image analysis program. In the page layout, acquire the ${Comment} wildcard in the header or footer. When using the image generator, save the image to an image database and then insert the Image Comment database field to a database object.
Step-by-step
Change an image name after it’s been acquired
1) Doubleclick on the image buffer to change the name of the image in the active image buffer.
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The Image Information dialog box will be opened.•
The General tab has all the image information automatically read out at im- age acquisition.•
The Camera tab has all the data of the logical input channel the image was acquired with.2) Enter the new image name into the Image name field in the General tab.
3) Enter any comments on the image you wish to make and evaluation thereof into the Comment field.
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Use key words of the image comment to query the image in an image da- tabase, if you have archived it in one, of course.4) Confirm by clicking OK.
Acquiring images Showing scale bars - Background information
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This image name is now the default name and will be proposed when you go to save the image as an image file or as a record to be inserted into an image database.Read in magnification automatically at image acquisition
Add the Image > Set Magnification... command to the logical input channel. 1) Doubleclick on the input channel icon in the status bar.
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The Configure Input dialog box for the active logical input channel will be opened.2) Select the Macro tab.
3) Enter the function name of the command desired into the Postprocessing steps
field and put a semicolon at the end of the line: SetMagnification$();
4) Test the little macro. To do so, click the Execute button.
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If you receive an error message then check your spelling of the command name.•
If the Set Magnification dialog box is opened your macro functions correct- ly. Then click on OK.5) Select the Enabled check box.
6) Exit the Configure Input dialog box via OK.
7) To test the input channel: click the Snapshot button in the Standard button bar.