The Image Display Window
The image display window presents a 2D cross-section of a multiple dimension
data file. The File, Image,
and Options menus along the top of the window
give you access to functions which manipulate the data file and set commonly
used options for the configuration of the image display window.
The collection of controls along the left side of
the window allow you to position the image, change which cross-section is
shown, and change how the size of the image is scaled. While the mouse
pointer is over the image, the mouse buttons
function keys, and numeric keypad give you other ways to access certain
image window operations.
Topics
File menu |
Image menu |
Options menu |
Left tool bar |
Mouse and keys
Related Priism Topics
Priism
The items in this menu operate on the entire data set. They
are:
- Info
- Opens a dialog for viewing and editing the descriptive information (header)
associated with the data set.
- Point values
- Opens a dialog which will display the attributes of points in an image
as the mouse cursor moves over the image.
- Examine data
- Opens a dialog which displays data from the current section in a
spreadsheet-like format.
- Save
- Writes the data set attached to the window to a file. After selecting
this option you'll be presented with a dialog for selecting the name of the
file to be written.
- Append resolutions
- To speed up the display of large datasets, it is convenient to have
the same dataset available in multiple resolutions and then switch between
them depending on the level of detail needed. AppendRes will create lower
resolution versions of the current dataset; controls on the Monitor can
then be used to choose between the available resolutions.
- Raise Swap Order
- Marks the data associated with the image window as the first to be
swapped out to disk if swapping is necessary. If you have multiple
windows open and you're not going to use one for a while, raising its swap
priority can improve the responsiveness of other windows.
- Quit
- Closes the images window.
Topics
Overview |
Image menu |
Options menu |
Left tool bar |
Mouse and keys
The items in this menu either operate on the current image displayed
or on all the images displayed by the image window. They are:
- Scale
- Opens a dialog that allows you to adjust the brightness and contrast of
the image in the image window. It also displays a histogram for the image.
- Align
- Opens a dialog that allows you to specify a different translation for each
wavelength when images are displayed. This can be used to correct
misalignments due to differences in refractive index or from other causes.
- Movie
- Displays a dialog to automate moving sequentially through the data in z or
time.
- Print
- Converts the image currently shown into PostScript which can then be saved
to a file or sent to a printer.
- Clear graphics
- Removes any overlay graphics (except the section number display) from the
window. It is useful when applications fail to properly remove the
graphics they add to the window.
- Measure FPS
- Displays a dialog to assist with diagnostic or benchmarking measurements
of how often the image window is redrawn.
- Redraw
- Refreshes the image display and any associated graphics. This is
useful if you want to resync the display when copying images into showcase
via the image gizmo.
Topics
Overview |
File menu |
Options menu |
Left tool bar |
Mouse and keys
The items in this menu configure the behavior of the image
window. They are:
- Attributes
- Opens a dialog for changing less commonly used settings for the image
window. Of these, the parameters controlling the display of a scale bar are
the most frequently used.
- Image Colors
- Opens a dialog for selecting whether the image display is done in
with a single wavelength at a time in pseudocolor or as multiple
wavelengths superimposed as different color compontents. It also
allows selection of the colors associated with different wavelengths when
multiple wavelengths are superimposed in a single image. You can also
use the "Pseudocolor" and "RGB" options in the "Options" menu to switch
between single wavelength images in pseudocolor or images composited from
multiple wavelengths.
- Graphics Colors
- Opens a dialog for selecting the colors used in graphics drawn on the
image.
- Pseudocolor
- Selects the mode in which one wavelength at a time is shown in pseudocolor
(typically shades of grey). In this mode, the
wave toggles on the left side of the image window
select which wavelength is shown.
- RGB
- Selects the mode in which up to three wavelengths are shown as a
color image where each color represents one color. The
wave toggles select which wavelengths are combined
to form the color image. Use Image Colors
from the Options menu to choose which colors are used to represent the
different waves.
- Montage
- The items in the Montage menu control the display of several
sections from the data set at once. 1x1, 2x1, 2x2,
3x3, and 4x4 all set the size of the rectangular array of
sections to be shown; the first value is the horizontal size of the array
and the second number is the vertical size of the array. The ordering of
images when multiple sections are displayed can be set by selecting
Data format, which orders the sections from left to right and
bottom to top, or Text format, which orders the sections from left
to right and top to bottom.
- Hardware Stereo
- Has options to turn on and off hardware stereo (when available) to
merge adjacent (as set by the stepping direction and size) sections into a
3D view.
- Step Direction
- Has four options for the order in which sections appear as a user
steps through the data set or when multiple sections are displayed at once:
- S
- Treats wavelengths, z, and time as one dimension when stepping.
- Z
- Steps through z sections.
- T
- Steps through time values.
- W
- Steps through waves.
- Border
- Selecting one of the three items in this menu (Title bar & border,
Border only, None) changes the decorations that are added
to the outside of the image window.
- Tools
- Has two options to display or hide the image window controls shown on
the left side of the image window.
- Section Graphic
- Has three options that affect the section number graphic drawn on images.
The first, Hide graphic, causes the image window to not draw the
section number on displayed images. The second, Show graphic,
causes the image window to display the section number graphic. The third, Cycle color
changes the color of the section number graphic (if the image window currently
displays it) to be the next color choice available for graphics drawn on
images.
Topics
Overview |
File menu |
Image menu |
Left tool bar |
Mouse and keys
The controls that appear on the left-hand side of the monitor window
are (from left to right and top to bottom):
- Stepping indicator
- Indicates the dimension along which the image window will step through
sections, and the coordinate of the current section along that dimension.
The step direction is set from the Options menu.
-
- Section slider
- Extends the length of the lefthand size of the image window and can
be used to change the section currently viewed. With the mouse pointer over
the slider, you can manipulate the slider in several ways:
- Depressing and holding the left mouse button while the mouse pointer
is on the marker for the current section allows you to drag the marker to
any location. For larger images, the image won't be redrawn until you
release the mouse button or stop moving the mouse for an interval of time.
For smaller images, the image will be updated as you drag the marker.
- Clicking with the left mouse button above the marker for the current
section will increase the coordinate (the default is to increase it by one;
you can use Step Inc in the
Display Attributes dialog to set this
increment). Doing the same thing but with the mouse pointer below the
current section marker will decrease the coordinate by the current
increment. In either case, you can hold the left mouse button down to
move multiple increments.
- Holding the Ctrl key while clicking the left mouse button above the
marker for the current section will change the section to the last section
in the dimension. Doing the same thing but with the mouse pointer below
the current section marker changes the section to the first one in the
dimension.
- Clicking with the middle mouse button will move the marker for the
current section to that location.
- Centr (Center)
- After pressing on this button, the next point selected in the image window
using the left mouse button will be centered in the image display window.
- Grab
- After pressing this button, the mouse pointer will be displayed as a hand
when the mouse pointer is over the image window, and you can move the image by
moving the mouse pointer into the image window and depressing the left mouse
button while moving the mouse. Grab mode continues (as indicated by the
mouse pointer) until the grab button is pressed again.
- Home
- Use this button to recenter the image in the window.
- Zoom controls
- The two arrow buttons on the lefthand side of the monitor window and the
text field just below them control the zoom factor used when display the
image. Use the left-pointing arrow to decrease the zoom and the
right-pointing arrow to increase the zoom. You can also directly enter a zoom
value by editing the value in the text field (values less than one are entered
as 1/x where x is a positive integer).
- Resolution selection
- A data set can be stored at different resolutions. If a data set has
multiple resolutions, a menu will be shown on the lefthand side of the image
just below the zoom controls (the two arrow buttons and text field). Each
resolution is represented by a menu item of the form xy:z where xy is
factor by which the x and y resolution have been reduced and z is the factor
by which the z resolution has been reduced. The resolution currently shown in
the window is displayed as the label for the menu.
- Wave toggles
- For data with multiple waves, a series of toggles are shown on the
lefthand side of the monitor window to indicate which wave is on display
(pseudocolor mode) or which waves have been combined to form the display
(RGB mode). You can change the toggle settings to change the waves
displayed. If a valid wavelength (greater than 0 and less than 1000) has
been associated with a wave, that wavelength is shown next to the toggle.
Topics
Overview |
File menu |
Image menu |
Options menu |
Mouse and keys
When the mouse pointer is over the image window, pressing the right mouse
button displays the next section, pressing the middle mouse button displays
the previous section, and pressing the left mouse button performs application
defined functions (typically selecting points or regions in the image). Some
mice have additional buttons or scroll wheels. What the X server calls
button four (this typically corresponds to upward motion of a mouse's
scroll wheel) will cause the image window to display the next section.
What the X server calls button five (this typically corresponds to downward
motion of a mouse's scroll wheel) will cause the image window to display
the previous section.
The keys on the numeric keypad have the special meanings show below
when the mouse pointer is over the image window.
-----------------------------------------------------------
|Num Lock |/ |* |- |
| Shows/hides | Shows/hides | Changes | Decrements |
| menus and | menus and | border and | the zoom |
| controls | controls | title bar | |
----------------------------------------------|------------|
|7 |8 |9 |+ |
| Shows first | Shifts image | Increments | |
| section | up one pixel | section | Increments |
| | | | the zoom |
----------------------------------------------| |
|4 |5 |6 | |
| Shifts image | Centers image | Shifts image | |
| one pixel | | one pixel | |
| to the left | | to the right | |
----------------------------------------------|------------|
|1 |2 |3 |Enter |
| Shows last | Shifts image | Decrements | |
| section | down one | section | Toggles |
| | pixel | | fast scan |
----------------------------------------------| mode |
|0 | . Del | |
| Shows/hides section number | Changes | |
| graphics | section | |
| | number color | |
-----------------------------------------------------------
The fast scan mode controlled by the Enter key is a way to jump to a
specific section without the overhead of drawing other sections. While the
fast scan mode is on, the section to which to jump is shown in reversed
text at the bottom of the image window; you can adjust the destination with
the slider to the left of the image window, the mouse buttons, or 3 (Pg Up)
or 9 (Pg Dn) on the numeric keypad. When the appropriate section is entered,
use Enter on the numeric keypad to exit the fast scan mode and display the
section.
Other keys with special meanings when the mouse pointer is over the image
window are:
- Up arrow
- Shows the next z section.
- Down arrow
- Shows the previous z section.
- Right arrow
- Shows the next time point.
- Left arrow
- Shows the previous time point.
- F9
- Shows/hides menus and controls.
- F11
- Cycles through the options for displaying border and
title bar.
- F12
- Decreases the zoom.
F9, F11, and F12 simple duplicate functions available from Num Lock,
*, and -, respectively, on the numeric keypad.
Topics
Overview |
File menu |
Image menu |
Options menu |
Left tool bar