.PrbImg and other Image formats

[Gseward]

John,

Firstly, is the .prbimg format a proprietary format? or a format that is aka something else? If I open the .prbimg in ImageJ I can see the text header/footer, but the data appears to be encrypted?

I ask, because I want to be able to extract a basic raw x-ray image from PI that retains the original Z data-depth, without it being normalised to 256 bins (as with the .tiff that is currently available).   

If I was dealing with one or two images I could go through Surfer, but I am typically dealing with 100 maps at a time. It would be much less work if PI produced a 16 or 24 bit greyscale Tiff image as the default output. Any chance??

Gareth

[Probeman]

Firstly, is the .prbimg format a proprietary format? or a format that is aka something else? If I open the .prbimg in ImageJ I can see the text header/footer, but the data appears to be encrypted?

Hi Gareth,
No, the .PrbImg file is not a proprietary format. In fact, the format is that of a normal INI file. Just open one with any text editor and you will see.

The 32 bit intensities are not encrypted, but are in Base64 encoding. This is so we can store floating point data in an ASCII file with no rounding error.

I ask, because I want to be able to extract a basic raw x-ray image from PI that retains the original Z data-depth, without it being normalised to 256 bins (as with the .tiff that is currently available).   

Once you've reprocessed your x-ray maps in CalcImage for quantification, you will have a .DAT file with the actual data in ASCII. You can also export the raw intensities to 32 bit GRD format.

Of course you can also export your raw intensities from Probe Image as GRD.

If I was dealing with one or two images I could go through Surfer, but I am typically dealing with 100 maps at a time. It would be much less work if PI produced a 16 or 24 bit greyscale Tiff image as the default output. Any chance??

Anything is possible.  We'll have to ask Brian.
john

[Gseward]

32-bit greyscale raw-intensity images output directly from PI , Please???

Does anyone else have any interest in this possibility? Please speak!

with/without scale-bar and data-bar option would be a bonus.

Gareth

[John Donovan]

32-bit greyscale raw-intensity images output directly from PI , Please???

Does anyone else have any interest in this possibility? Please speak!

with/without scale-bar and data-bar option would be a bonus.

Gareth

Good question. You can export image data directly from Probe Image as a GRD file. That is 32 bit image data.  Or you can import the PrbImg file into CalcImage and it will be saved as a GRD file. Once it is a GRD file in Surfer you can export the data into about 50 different image formats as seen here:

http://probesoftware.com/smf/index.php?topic=55.msg509#msg509

See the last screen shot for the Surfer image formats.
john



Is that what you need?

[Gseward]

John,

Whilst CalcImage is unsurpassed for quantitative maps, and Surfer is great in some circumstances, I want to minimize processing time and reduce dependency on Surfer/CalcImage for simple raw intensity xray maps.

Ideally at the end of a mapping session with ~50 windows open, I want to be able to click 'save all' and save an image for each map, with full data depth. I can then give the images to a customer to take away and do whatever they want/need to do, with whatever image processing software they have/enjoy.   And we all enjoy 'just one mouse click' solutions

Currently, I would have to save a .grd for each individual map (for my 50 map example, that's 200 mouse clicks).
Then open each file in surfer and export it as 32-bit bmp (that's another 500 mouse clicks).

If there was an option in PI to 'save all maps to .grd' , I guess I might then be motivated to write a script to automate the Surfer part. This would also be a solution.

Gareth

[John Donovan]

John,

Whilst CalcImage is unsurpassed for quantitative maps, and Surfer is great in some circumstances, I want to minimize processing time and reduce dependency on Surfer/CalcImage for simple raw intensity xray maps.

Ideally at the end of a mapping session with ~50 windows open, I want to be able to click 'save all' and save an image for each map, with full data depth. I can then give the images to a customer to take away and do whatever they want/need to do, with whatever image processing software they have/enjoy.   And we all enjoy 'just one mouse click' solutions

Currently, I would have to save a .grd for each individual map (for my 50 map example, that's 200 mouse clicks).
Then open each file in surfer and export it as 32-bit bmp (that's another 500 mouse clicks).

If there was an option in PI to 'save all maps to .grd' , I guess I might then be motivated to write a script to automate the Surfer part. This would also be a solution.

Gareth

Hi Gareth,
I do hear you, however, if you quant process the maps in CalcImage they are all automatically saved as .GRD files in the MDB file folder. That includes all WDS on and off-peak maps and any video (BSE, SE, CL) images.  From there you could easily write a script in Surfer to open all GRD files in a folder and automatically export all the GRD files to whatever format you want. The example CalcImage scripts have examples of this. 

But now I'm curious- what could your users possibly need besides raw intensity, elemental wt%, oxide wt%, atomic %, formula, end-member, sensitivity and detection limit, log weight percent, net intensity and bgd intensity images?  I am about to add image math to CalcImage where you could perform your own ratio maps, e.g, Fe/(Mg + Fe), etc.  So please tell me what is missing...

Having said that, the next version of Probe Image is going to automatically save all files and that will include a save all as GRD menu as well.

But just so we implement it when we get a chance, what 32 bit image format would you like Probe Image to perform a Save All As to?

[Gseward]

Hi Gareth,
I do hear you, however, if you quant process the maps in CalcImage they are all automatically saved as .GRD files in the MDB file folder. That includes all WDS on and off-peak maps and any video (BSE, SE, CL) images.  From there you could easily write a script in Surfer to open all GRD files in a folder and automatically export all the GRD files to whatever format you want. The example CalcImage scripts have examples of this. 

But now I'm curious- what could your users possibly need besides raw intensity, elemental wt%, oxide wt%, atomic %, formula, end-member, sensitivity and detection limit, log weight percent, net intensity and bgd intensity images?  I am about to add image math to CalcImage where you could perform your own ratio maps, e.g, Fe/(Mg + Fe), etc.  So please tell me what is missing...

Having said that, the next version of Probe Image is going to automatically save all files and that will include a save all as GRD menu as well.

But just so we implement it when we get a chance, what 32 bit image format would you like Probe Image to perform a Save All As to?

John,

Perhaps, as usual, I wasn't expressing myself clearly. I don't want to quant process anything and I don't want to use CalcImage for this process. The issue is that with the current options it takes an impractical amount of human input to export 50 .grd files from PI, and then process them through Surfer (assuming it is available to the end user) to get a 32-bit image. So, I thought it would be useful and efficient to be able to export all maps from PI (raw intensity), with full data depth, without the need to use Surfer. e.g. export 50 images as a  bmp or tiff directly from PI but with a 32-bit grayscale/monochrome option (tiff, perhaps, to answer your question above). 1 or maybe 2 mouse-clicks, and done. The current options work OK for a few maps, but it would take a whole day to process 50 images. My suggestion of a 32-bit export option seemed like an reasonable solution, but a  'Save All As .grd' option would also work, so I am glad you are considering this. I would then need to write a Surfer Script to batch process the .grd files into the format I need.

Cheers

gareth


 

[John Donovan]

Hi Gareth,
I do hear you, however, if you quant process the maps in CalcImage they are all automatically saved as .GRD files in the MDB file folder. That includes all WDS on and off-peak maps and any video (BSE, SE, CL) images.  From there you could easily write a script in Surfer to open all GRD files in a folder and automatically export all the GRD files to whatever format you want. The example CalcImage scripts have examples of this. 

But now I'm curious- what could your users possibly need besides raw intensity, elemental wt%, oxide wt%, atomic %, formula, end-member, sensitivity and detection limit, log weight percent, net intensity and bgd intensity images?  I am about to add image math to CalcImage where you could perform your own ratio maps, e.g, Fe/(Mg + Fe), etc.  So please tell me what is missing...

Having said that, the next version of Probe Image is going to automatically save all files and that will include a save all as GRD menu as well.

But just so we implement it when we get a chance, what 32 bit image format would you like Probe Image to perform a Save All As to?

John,

Perhaps, as usual, I wasn't expressing myself clearly. I don't want to quant process anything and I don't want to use CalcImage for this process. The issue is that with the current options it takes an impractical amount of human input to export 50 .grd files from PI, and then process them through Surfer (assuming it is available to the end user) to get a 32-bit image. So, I thought it would be useful and efficient to be able to export all maps from PI (raw intensity), with full data depth, without the need to use Surfer. e.g. export 50 images as a  bmp or tiff directly from PI but with a 32-bit grayscale/monochrome option (tiff, perhaps, to answer your question above). 1 or maybe 2 mouse-clicks, and done. The current options work OK for a few maps, but it would take a whole day to process 50 images. My suggestion of a 32-bit export option seemed like an reasonable solution, but a  'Save All As .grd' option would also work, so I am glad you are considering this. I would then need to write a Surfer Script to batch process the .grd files into the format I need.

Cheers

gareth

Ok. We'll get the Save All As menu released in the auto save PI version due out soon.  But you still haven't told us what 32 bit image format you want...

[Gseward]

I did, and I even used green for emphasis 

But just so we implement it when we get a chance, what 32 bit image format would you like Probe Image to perform a Save All As to?

John,


 (tiff, perhaps, to answer your question above).

gareth

Ok. We'll get the Save All As menu released in the auto save PI version due out soon.  But you still haven't told us what 32 bit image format you want...

[John Donovan]

I did, and I even used green for emphasis 

But just so we implement it when we get a chance, what 32 bit image format would you like Probe Image to perform a Save All As to?

John,


 (tiff, perhaps, to answer your question above).

gareth

Ok. We'll get the Save All As menu released in the auto save PI version due out soon.  But you still haven't told us what 32 bit image format you want...

My bad- for some reason I never saw this response from you.

I'll talk to Brian and see if a 16, or 32 bit TIFF format is available for PI export.
john

[John Donovan]

Brian says a 16 and/or 32 bit TIFF should be easy to implement.

We'll let you know when it is ready to download.
john

[Gseward]

John,

Very many thanks, I appreciate your efforts. I think this will be a useful feature for others too. Looking forward to the new version of PI.

Cheers,

Gareth