PDS (Planetary Data System) Plug-in Acquisition Module
version 1.2
This is an Adobe Photoshop™ Plug-in Acquisition module to read the PDS
labeled images directly from the Space Science CD-ROMs which are published by
JPL and the University of Colorado at Boulder (see 'Space Science CDs' document
describing where to order the CD-ROMs). It will read the standard uncompressed
'IMG' and compressed 'IMQ' images from the CD-ROMs. I wrote this because I got
bored decompressing each of the images one at a time from the CD-ROMs before
looking at them. This new version allows you to preview the images without having to open the image up in Photoshop!
Place this module into your Photoshop Module folder before running Adobe
Photoshop (or for those Enhance™ or ColorIt™ users, place it into the "Scanners & Plug-ins" folders). The images can be loaded be selecting 'PDS' from the 'Acquire' menu. You may then select an image to open. If you want to preview the image before opening, you can select the 'Preview Image' checkbox. This will allow you to browse through the images much faster.
I have tried this on a random sampling of the images from the CD's and I haven't
encountered any problems yet. I have found that there are 3 types of files & headers
that I have to watch out for: Images from the Sampler 1 & 2 CDs, compressed
Images from the 8 Voyager CDs, and uncompressed Images from the 8 Voyager CDs
(using the MacDcomp program that came with the CDs). Each of these file formats contain their own image label differences that required me to make provision for when writing the module.
If you do identify any problems or have some suggestions on how to make the
