Identify Objects In Grid identifies objects within each section of a grid that has been defined by the
DefineGrid module.
This module identifies objects that are contained within in a grid pattern, allowing you to measure the objects using
Measure modules. It requires you to have defined a grid earlier in the pipeline, using the
DefineGrid module.
For several of the automatic options, you will need to enter the names of previously identified objects. Typically, this module is used to refine locations and/or shapes of objects of interest that you roughly identified in a previous Identify module. Within this module, objects are re-numbered according to the grid definitions rather than their original numbering from the earlier Identify module.
If placing the objects within the grid is impossible for some reason (the grid compartments are too close together to fit the proper sized circles, for example) the grid will fail and processing will be canceled unless you choose to re-use a grid from a previous successful image cycle.
Special note on saving images: You can use the settings in this module to pass object outlines along to the OverlayOutlinesmodule and then save them with the SaveImages module. You can also pass along objects themselves to the object processing module ConvertToImage and then save them with the SaveImages module.
Available measurements
Image measurements: - Count: The number of objects identified.
Object measurements: - Location_X, Location_Y: The pixel (X,Y) coordinates of the center of mass of the identified objects.
- Number: The numeric label assigned to each identified object according to the arrangement order specified by the user.
See also DefineGrid.
Settings:
Select the defined grid
Select the name of a grid created by a previous DefineGrid
module.
Name the objects to be identified
Enter the name of the grid objects identified by this module. These objects
will be available for further measurement and processing in subsequent modules.
Select object shapes and locations
Use this setting to choose the method to be used to determine the
grid objects' shapes and locations:
- Rectangle Forced Location: Each object will be created as a rectangle,
completely occupying the entire grid compartment (rectangle). This option creates
the rectangular objects based solely on the grid's specifications,
not on any previously identified guiding objects.
- Circle Forced Location: Each object will be created as a circle, centered
in the middle of each grid compartment. This option places
the circular objects' locations based solely on the grid's specifications,
not on any previously identified guiding objects. The radius of all circles in a grid
will be constant for the entire grid in each image cycle, and can
be determined automatically for each image cycle based on the average radius of previously
identified guiding objects for that image cycle, or instead it can be specified
as a single radius for all circles in all grids in the entire analysis run.
- Circle Natural Location: Each object will be created as a circle,
and each circle's location within its grid compartment will be determined
based on the location of any previously identified guiding objects within
that grid compartment. Thus, if a guiding object lies within a particular grid compartment,
that object's center will be the center of the created circular object.
If no guiding objects lie within a particular grid compartment, the circular object
is placed within the center of that grid compartment. If more than one
guiding object lies within the grid compartment, they will be combined and the centroid of
this combined object will be the location of the created circular object.
Note that guiding objects whose centers are close to the grid edge are ignored.
- Natural Shape and Location: Within each grid compartment, the object
will be identified based on combining all of the parts of guiding objects, if any,
that fall within the grid compartment.
Note that guiding objects whose centers are close to the grid edge are ignored.
If a guiding object does not exist within a grid compartment, an object consisting
of one single pixel in the middle of the grid compartment will be created.
Specify the circle diameter automatically?
(Used only if Circle is selected as object shape)
There are two methods for selecting the circle diameter:
- Automatic: Uses the average diameter of previously identified guiding
objects as the diameter.
- Manual: Lets you specify the diameter directly, as a number.
Circle diameter
(Used only if Circle is selected as object shape and diameter is
specified manually)
Enter the diameter to be used for each grid circle, in pixels.
To measure distances in an open image, use the "Measure
length" tool under Tools in the display window menu bar. If you click on an image
and drag, a line will appear between the two endpoints, and the distance between them shown at the right-most
portion of the bottom panel.
Select the guiding objects
(Used only if Circle is selected as object shape and diameter is specified
automatically, or if Natural Location is selected as the object shape)
Select the names of previously identified objects that
will be used to guide the shape and/or location of the objects created by this
module, depending on the method chosen.
Retain outlines of the identified objects?
Select Yes to retain the outlines of the new objects
for later use in the pipeline. For example, a common use is for quality control purposes by
overlaying them on your image of choice using the OverlayOutlines module and then saving
the overlay image with the SaveImages module.
Name the outline image
(Used only if the outline image is to be retained for later use in the pipeline)
Enter a name for the outlines of the identified
objects. The outlined image can be selected in downstream modules by selecting
them from any drop-down image list.