SigmaScan Pro is an image analysis application that allows users to capture, modify, enhance, and measure digital images. It has four main components: image acquisition, image processing, measurement, and automation. The application's main window contains child windows for images, worksheets, graphs, and macros. It provides over 50 measurement tools that can be used manually or automatically through its macro language to analyze images.
SigmaScan Pro is an image analysis application that allows users to capture, modify, enhance, and measure digital images. It has four main components: image acquisition, image processing, measurement, and automation. The application's main window contains child windows for images, worksheets, graphs, and macros. It provides over 50 measurement tools that can be used manually or automatically through its macro language to analyze images.
SigmaScan Pro is an image analysis application that allows users to capture, modify, enhance, and measure digital images. It has four main components: image acquisition, image processing, measurement, and automation. The application's main window contains child windows for images, worksheets, graphs, and macros. It provides over 50 measurement tools that can be used manually or automatically through its macro language to analyze images.
SigmaScan Pro is an image analysis application that allows users to capture, modify, enhance, and measure digital images. It has four main components: image acquisition, image processing, measurement, and automation. The application's main window contains child windows for images, worksheets, graphs, and macros. It provides over 50 measurement tools that can be used manually or automatically through its macro language to analyze images.
SigmaScan Pro5.0 User's Guide is a sophisticated image analysis application that allows you to capture, modify, enhance, and measure digital images. With its customizable interface and versatile macro facility, you'll find it can help you solve a wide variety of image analysis problems. Here are a few examples of tasks that you might accomplish with SigmaScan Pro: Apply pseudocoloring to a satellite image to enhance the visibility of particular features Automatically count the number of blood cells in a microscopic field after digitally compensating for overlapping cells Find out how the shape factor or roundness of objects is affected by a chemical treatment Automatically compare images of circuit boards with a standard, providing an alert when significant differences are detected Quickly compare root growth distances and angles for experimental and control plants Conduct unattended, standardized measurements automatically for each of 1,000 images Clearly annotate images for publication SigmaScan Pro's features may be broken down into four components: 1.
Image Acquisition
2.
Image Processing
3.
Measurement
4.
Automation
Image Acquisition: You may load image files with a wide variety of image formats or capture the images directly through a TWAINcompliant device.
Chapter 1 - Introduction
Image Processing: SigmaScan Pro lets you enhance images in many
ways through filters, lookup tables, and other techniques. Measurement: SigmaScan Pro provides over 50 measurements that may be made manually or automatically. Automation: The powerful VBA macro language allows you to perform any of SigmaScan Pro's analysis functions automatically, as well as control other applications. You may even use this feature to design your own interface, with SigmaScan Pro as the image analysis engine that runs in the background! Please take the time to read through this manual so that you can take full advantage of SigmaScan Pro's many features.
SigmaScan Pros Layout
The first thing you'll see when you run SigmaScan Pro is the application's main window. Initially, this window is relatively empty, but once you start working, it will contain one or more "child" windows windows displaying images, worksheets, graphs, or macros. Here's an example of how the main window may appear after opening several child windows:
Chapter 1 - Introduction
In this example, several different types of child window have been
opened. There's an image window, in this case PlantGrowth.bmp, a worksheet window (GrowthData.xls) and a graph window (Graph Growth vs. Time). Image windows hold the images you wish to analyze. You can have many image windows open at once, and they may be displayed at different levels of magnification (zoom). As you move the mouse cursor over an image, SigmaScan Pro displays pixel intensity and other information on the status bar. The worksheet window holds the results of your measurements. For example, image pixel intensities might be stored in column 1 of the worksheet as you click on different locations in the image. The graph window allows you to view worksheet data in graphical form. You may click on the graph at any time to change the format of the graph or select data columns. Another type of child window, not shown in this illustration, is the macro window. Macros, which may be edited in this type of window, allow you to automate tasks in SigmaScan Pro and in other applications. One final thing to notice in this screen shot is the toolbars. Once you become familiar with SigmaScan Pro you'll want to customize the toolbars so that the features you use most are only a click away. Probably the first thing you'll want to do while learning to use SigmaScan Pro is to open a sample image. To do this, open the File menu, choose Open/Image, and then select an image file from the list of files displayed in the dialog.
Main Title Bar
The Main Title Bar is found at the top of the applications window. At the top left is SigmaScan Pros icon click here to display the system menu. The title bar displays the application's name, as well as the name of the active child window. The top right corner of the title bar displays the minimize, maximize and close buttons.
Menu Bar Beneath the Main Title Bar is the Menu Bar. Click on any one of these menus to access SigmaScan Pro's commands. For example if you click on Edit, eight commands will appear below it (Undo, Cut, Copy, Paste, Clear, Find, Replace and Again). Complete descriptions of each menu and its commands are given in the Reference chapter.
Standard Toolbar The Standard Toolbar is one of SigmaScan Pros seven toolbars. (These include the Annotation, Image Processing, Macro, Measurement, Recording, Standard and User Toolbars) You may customize all of the
Chapter 1 - Introduction
toolbars to include any or all of the tools associated with that particular bar. The User Toolbar can display any or all of SigmaScan Pros tools. Once visible a toolbar may be dragged anywhere on the screen. When a toolbar is dragged to the edge of the main window then the toolbar will attach to that edge. When the toolbar is floating its shape may be changed.
Image Window Image windows contain images. Remember that the only restriction on the number of loaded images is the systems memory. A loaded image takes up workspace memory amounting to about three times the original images size. Thus, a one-megabyte image will require about three megabytes to load. More memory will be required to create image overlays.
Data Worksheet Window
The data worksheet holds all the measurements you've made. Once placed in the worksheet the data may be manipulated either manually, with cell formulas like those used in Microsoft Excel, or through SigmaScan Pros Visual Basic based macro language.
Graph Window The graph window gives you a graphical view of the data in your worksheet. You can plot up to three sets of data on a single graph. Click on the graph to specify options such as regression lines and grids or to select the data columns that will be plotted.
Status Bar The Status Bar, located at the bottom of the main window, displays calibrated image coordinates and gray scale or RGB intensity when the pointer is over an image. It also displays menu command summaries when the menu is active and the pointer is over a command. Choose View/Status Bar to display or hide this portion of the main window.
