The Image Display Window

Overview

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

File menu

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

Image menu

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

Options Menu

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 grayscale or color and for selecting how colors are are associated with waves when images are displayed in color. Switching between grayscale and color display can also be done with using the B&W and Color items in the Options menu.

Graphics Colors

Opens a dialog for selecting the colors used in graphics drawn on the image.

B/W

Selects the mode in which one wavelength at a time is shown in shades of gray. 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

Image controls

The controls that appear on the lefthand 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 (grayscale display) or which waves have been combined to form the display (color display). 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

Mouse and Keyboard Interaction

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).

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