1) 24-bit color TIFF files in planar format can now be opened.
2) Bugs were fixed that caused Saving/Exporting of LUTs, 8-bit to RGB conversions, display of RGB values in Info, and macro LUT updating to fail if the monitor was not set to 256 colors.
3) New images less than 16 pixels in height can now be created.
4) Balloon help in the Preferences dialog box was fixed.
5) The PutPixel macro routine is now about five times faster.
6) Bugs were fixed that could cause NIH Image to crash when opening PICS files.
7) NIH image now opens and saves QuickTime movies thanks to source code contributed by Eric Shelden (shelden@umich.edu). The Open command will place images from a QuickTime movie into a new stack. Note, however, that the current LUT is always used. Therefore, before opening the movie, you must switch to the Grayscale LUT when opening a grayscale movie and to the System LUT when opening a color movie. Stacks can be saved in QuickTime format using the Save As command and selecting the radio button labeled "QuickTime". A dialog box allows you to select the compression scheme and image quality level.
8) The Get('parameter') macro function was extended to return the following parameters:
Get('Offset') - returns the current frame grabber offset
Get('Gain') - returns the current frame grabber gain
Get('ScreenWidth') - returns the screen width in pixels
Get('ScreenHeight') - returns the screen height in pixels
9) The 'exit' macro command now accepts an optional string argument and passes it automatically to 'PutMessage'. The frequent sequence
if error then begin
beep;
PutMessage('reason ...');
exit;
end;
can now be shortened to
if error then
exit('reason ...');
10) The DICOM file import routine was improved.
11) Commands were added to the Binary submenu for generating Euclidian distance maps, ultimate eroded points, and for doing watershed segmentation.
The "Distance Map" command replaces each foreground (black) pixel in a binary image with a gray value equal to that pixel's distance from the nearest background (white) pixel. To reduce rounding errors, intermediate EDM values are stored as 16-bit values. Macros can generate EDMs using the "binary('edm')" macro command.
The "Ultimate Points" command generates the ultimate eroded points (UEPs) of the EDM. It requires a binary image as input. The UEPs represent the centers of particles that would be separated by segmentation. The UEP's gray value is equal to the radius of the inscribed circle of the corresponding particle. Note that the EDM is automatically smoothed when doing watershed segmentation but not when generating UEPs. You can force EDM smoothing, however, by holding down the option key while selecting the "Ultimate Points" command, or be putting "SetOption;" in front of the binary('ultimate points') macro command. Smoothing the EDM results in fewer noise induced errors but causes the gray values of the UEPs to be slightly lower, i.e. it slightly reduces the estimated particle sizes. This command requires free ram equal to 2-5 times the image size. Use the "binary('ultimate points')" command to generate UEPs in a macro.
The "Watershed" command separates touching convex particles. It requires free ram equal to 2-5 times the image size. Hold down the option key to disable EDM smoothing. Watershed segmentation is available from macros using the "binary('watershed')" macro command.
12) Support was added for the PCI version of the Scion AG-5.
