PictureSnapApp version 1.8.8

[John Donovan]

We haven't been posting about recent improvements to PictureSnapApp (my fault), but v. 1.8.5 added the ability to enter a specific stage coordinate to "drive to".

More recently we just released v. 1.8.6 which adds two options in the Image Locator window. Previously the display of an embedded image looked like this:



With v. 1.8.6 the user can now unselect display of the embedded image border and file name like this and show only the embedded image itself:



Or one can unselect one or the other like this even when displaying all the embedded images:



Or like this with the all the embedded images displayed without file names:



Lots of combinations...

[John Donovan]

Owen Neill suggested a new feature that we have now implemented in v. 1.8.8 of PictureSnapApp to allow the user to import point annotations from another source:



Previously you could only export point annotations in stage coordinates to a tab delimited text file, but now you can also import point annotations (in stage coordinates) from a tab delimited text file (using the same format). 

The file format can be seen by exporting some point annotations to a text file (<filename>.DAT). For example:

1   "test 1"    1.04269    -29.693    .000000
2   "test 2"    .686597    -28.230    .000000

Then opening the exported data file in any text editor such as NotePad. 

The format is very simple: the first column is the index of the point annotation (it is ignored when importing), the second column is the text annotation in double quotes, the next three columns are the X, Y and Z stage coordinates.  The columns must be tab separated (delimited).

If the image is calibrated only using two fiducial points, the Z stage coordinate will be the default Z stage position.  If the image is calibrated to three fiducial points, the z stage position will be interpolated based on the sample tilt.

Note that all annotations are stored in the .ACQ file in image coordinates (twips), but the stage coordinates will be updated if the image calibration is modified.

As usual you can update to v. 1.8.8 PictureSnapApp from the Help menu for free.

[John Donovan]

It is my impression that people who use PictureSnapApp absolutely love it and use it all the time for sample navigation, image annotation of points and fields of view (FOV), and also calibrated image embedding in images. But wait, there's more!   

In PictureSnapApp all images and annotations are calibrated to your stage coordinates and using three calibration points, can automatically handle sample rotations and also allow one to transfer their image sets to another instrument and easily and automatically convert all existing image and annotation coordinates to the stage coordinates of the new instrument so the previous annotations can be quickly re-located.

https://probesoftware.com/smf/index.php?topic=1088.0

Easily, with a few mouse clicks.

In about two weeks we are giving a webinar demonstrating PictureSnapApp (and the PictureSnap feature in Probe for EPMA):

https://probesoftware.com/smf/index.php?topic=99.msg12590#msg12590

And so I wanted to let everyone know that if they are interested in following along with Anette von der Handt in her PictureSnapApp presentation, you can download PictureSnapApp here:

https://probesoftware.com/PictureSnapApp.html

It's free to download and use in simulation (will emulate any instrument stage) or text input (for actual use on instruments interfaces we do not directly support) modes.  It can also be directly interfaced to JEOL EPMA and 7000 series SEM instruments and Cameca and FEI instruments for stage control and reading your current FOV for $499.  Such a deal... 

https://probesoftware.com/PictureSnapApp.html

It's really a cool little application and I think everyone should just play with it a bit.   When you download it, it's in Cartesian millimeter simulation mode by default, but you can configure it to any stage configuration you want.  See here for additional explanation and examples:

https://probesoftware.com/smf/index.php?board=34.0