PMIS 4.1 - New or Improved Features

General features

PMIS now supports hardware display systems that use 32 bit pixels to implement 24 bit color mode.

Image morphology is now supported. The new commands BLABEL, BMASK, BOBJECT, and BSTAT can be used to quickly label objects and to extract various morphological features.

The TCPIP command provides access to text based internet client communication. This command can be used to automatically send email (SMTP protocol) and many other simple internet activities. Optional CLI commands are available that collect and send PMIS program and system information to improve customer support.

Unrecognized file types can be dragged and dropped into PMIS or can be entered on the PMIS command line. They are handled according to two new INI entries DragType and DragImportType.

Large images can be scrolled in a small window using the familiar "push" hand cursor. The default drag mouse action in image windows is still controlled by the INI entry MouseDrag and can also be set to perform many other common functions.

A minor problem with the image cursor display during plot window tracking has been corrected.

TEXTOUT coordinates are now defined as image coordinates, not absolute window coordinates. This allows image features to be easily labelled.

PMIS allows international and extended characters to be displayed in the CLI window.

Expressions can contain the LIT() function, which allows literal strings (where @ characters are not interpreted inside quoted strings) to be defined and used in commands.

CLI Commands

The following CLI commands are new or have been significantly modified;

BLABEL

This command modifies a binary image to associate ascending binary values with separated objects.

BMASK

This command allows users to eliminate/include specific objects in a mask (label) image.

BOBJECT

This command calculates morphological features of a single object from a label (mask) image.

BSTAT

This command calculates morphological features of a single object from a gray level image.

TCPIP

This command controls a single TCP/IP network client communication channel. The channel can be opened, closed, read, and written.

TEXTOUT

Text coordinates are now image coordinates, not window coordinates.

PMIS 4.0 - New or Improved Features

General features

The largest difference in PMIS Version 4.0 is complete support for 24 bit color display mode. Image display using 24 bit color mode has a number of clear advantages over 256 bit color mode;

Each image is displayed independently of all other images, this allows simultaneous gray scale, pseudo color, and true color display of the same data.

Gray scale monochrome image display uses all 256 shades available.

Pseudo color monochrome image display supports as many as 65,000 colors per image.

True color mode can be used to display sequence images

All display reduction methods (including one new method) are supported in 24 bit color mode. Complete access to all intermediate tables used in the visualization process allows sophisticated users complete control over image display. True color display mode allows multi-spectral images to be visualized using the maximum capabilities of the available display hardware. An automatic channel normalization option is available to partially compensate for the spectral response of scientific cameras to incident light of different frequencies. Input and output of 24 bit BMP as well as 24 and 48 bit TIFF files allows RGB display data to be exchanged with other programs.

Elliptical and elliptical ring region of interest (ROI) shapes are now completely supported. Image window menu items allow circular and circular ring ROIs to be defined using the mouse. All ROI shapes can be combined to define complex image acquisition and analysis areas.

FITS image headers now automatically include header records that should allow unsigned image data to be correctly displayed using external programs.

PMIS now accepts any uniquely identifiable file types as command line parameters. This allows PMIS to be used as a image display server for specified image or array file types. It also allows users to designate additional or alternative macro commands to execute when it is started. PMIS also accepts drag and drop files in the same way. To quickly display a large number of images, define them as a group in the Explorer or File Manager programs and drag the group to PMIS. Each file will be displayed or executed according to its type.

The PMIS User's Manual is now delivered in compressed HTML form. The new On-Line User's Manual contains complete documentation for the entire program, including a description of the function of each window menu item, command line interpreter command, system variable, and initialization file setting. The manual contains a table of contents and contains full text search capabilities. The manual is individualized for each camera system.

CLI Commands

The following CLI commands are new or have been significantly modified;

COLOR

This command has been modified to support 24 bit color mode.

DDE

This command supports text based Dynamic Data Exchange conversations with external DDE servers. As many as 5 conversations can be simultaneously active.

DIR

This command is similar to the DOS command line command of the same name. Using a file mask, names of disk files and directories can be retrieved. Typically, the SPLIT command is used on the file name to extract the separate components of the complete filename. Image file conversion macros can be easily written using these commands.

DRAW

The DRAW command has been greatly expanded to support the rotation, translation, and stretching of graphical components that can be displayed in any PMIS window. Graphical elements can also be defined in terms of image coordinates and are redrawn correctly during image zooming and panning. Graphical elements can also be selectively hidden and redisplayed without redrawing.

IMAGE

The IMAGE command has been extended to return the image size in pixels as well as allow the list of defined images to be examined, similar to the DIR command for disk files. This function can be used to perform image processing or anlaysis operations on all defined images.

INI

The INI command defines new keywords that allow access to any Windows style initialization file.

LOAD

The LOAD command has been extended to support internal tables used in 24 bit color mode display.

LPTOPEN
LPTCLOSE
LPTREAD
LPTWRITE

These commands support text based parallel port input and output similar to the COM* commands used for serial port input and output.

LUTRGB

The LUTRGB command has been expanded to access the internal scaling tables used in 24 bit color mode display. These tables can be quickly modified to suppress or invert the display of one or more RGB image components.

SPLIT

The SPLIT command extracts the components of disk filenames into separate strings. File copy and conversion macros can be easily written using this command in combination with the DIR command.

TRANSFORM

The TRANSFORM command supports planar coordinate transformations. Multiple coordinate systems can be simultaneously defined and coordinates can be transformed from one planar system to another. This command can be used to control external equipment, such as XYZ stages, that define their own planar coordinate systems relative to the image or camera coordinate system.

WINDOW

The EXTERNAL keyword now allows access to and can be used modify the display state of windows not created by PMIS. The CLASS name string of the external window must be known. Arbitrary windows messages can be sent or posted to external windows. The WINDOWS command can also control the visibility of the menus in PMIS windows. This can be used to control unwanted user interactions.

ADATA

The REVERSE keyword has been added to exchange array values front to back. The SCALE keyword is also available to transfer internal 24 bit color look up tables to an array for graphical display and analysis.

BCOG

This command computes the binary center of gravity of all "ON" pixels in the current image. In combination with the BTHRESH command, it can be used to determine the center of isolated minimum and maximum intensity areas in monochrome images.

BREGION

The BREGION command turns "ON" all pixels within the indicated region of interest or global region. All other pixels are set to zero. This command creates region masks that can be used in subsequent image processing and display functions.

EDGE

This command calculates the average pixel value of border pixels in the current image. It can be used to estimate the image background and to calculate a reasonable value to use in the BORDER command.

EXPORT

This command now contains support for 24 bit BMP, 24 bit TIFF, and 48 bit TIFF RGB files. These file formats are available in 24 bit system color mode if the image display mode is set to TRUECOLOR.

I32SIZE
I32=
I32+
I32-
I32*
I32/
I32LOW

These commands provide support for a single 32 bit image memory area that can be used to perform efficient image processing with 32 bit numerical accuracy.

IHEAD

The IHEAD command reads the header of a image file in PMIS Native format and defines CLI variables that contain header elements for use in subsequent macro commands. In combination with the DIR command, a macro that searches for and opens all images with a certain keyword in the image comment field could be written.

IMPORT

This command now contains support for 24 bit BMP, 24 bit TIFF, and 48 bit TIFF RGB files.

INTENSITY

This command now supports a user intensity function based on an arbitrary linear combination of pixels from the red, green, and blue channels of a RGB sequence image.

ISQRT

This function calculates the scaled square root of each pixel value in the current image.

RGBCALC

This command replaces the current image pixels with values based on a linear combination of the red, green, and blue pixel values of a RGB sequence image.

SCALE

The SCALE command now supports the BELL keyword, which activates a new dynamic display scaling method based on the average and standard deviation of pixel values in the current image. This display scaling method is particularly useful in eliminating extremely low and high pixel values that may occur due to sensor defects, cosmic ray hits, or other imaging artifacts.

XSAVE

This command allows efficient saving of very large image files contained in "extended" sequences. These files can, in general, not be read or opened by PMIS.