jacot@cui.unige.ch (DESCOMBES Alain) (04/09/91)
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LaboImage
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Original notice
T. Pun, March 8th, 1989 (LaboImage 2.0)
Updated April 5th, 1989
Updated September 1st, 1989
Updated March 8th, 1990
Updated August 24th, 1990 (new version LaboImage 3.0)
Updated March 19th, 1991 (new version LaboImage 3.1)
Computer Science Center, University of Geneva, Switzerland
Thank you for your interest in Labo Image!
General description
-------------------
Labo Image is a window based software for image processing and analysis. It
contains a comprehensive set of operators as well as general utilities. It
is designed to be open-ended; new modules can easily be added. The software
is written in C, and currently runs on Sun 3/xxx, Sun 4/xxx (OS3.5, 4.0 and
4.0.3) under SunView. The expert system for image segmentation is written in
Allegro Common Lisp. LaboImage has been extensively used by students as well
as researchers from various domains: computer science (image analysis),
medicine, biology, physics. It is distributed free of charge (source code).
Status
------
Version 0 has been released in January 1988, version 1 in November 1988,
version 2 in May 1989, version 3.0 in August 1990, version 3.1 in March 1991.
- hosts: Sun 3/xxx, Sun 4/xxx;
- OS: Sun OS 3.5, 4.0, 4.0.3;
- window system: SunView, X11/MOTIF as soon as possible;
- language: C (Allegro Common Lisp for the expert system);
- approx. code size: source 2MB (70'000 lines), executable 2MB under
SunView/OS4.0.3;
- documentation: manuals (english)
Means of distributions
----------------------
LaboImage source code is available by anonymous ftp at ads.com, login name
anonymous, in pub/VISION-LIST-ARCHIVE/SHAREWARE. If you have no access to ftp,
please contact the author.
If you wish to be kept current with update, error reports, ..., please send
us a mail with your full name, regular and electronic addresses.
Distribution policy
-------------------
In essence:
- this is a non-profit software, but it is our property and the copyright
notice must appear;
- the reference to cite in case of published results obtained with Labo
Image is: "A. Jacot-Descombes, K. Todorov, D.F. Hochstrasser,
C. Pellegrini and T. Pun: `LaboImage: a Workstation Environment for
Research in Image Processing and Analysis', Computer Applications in
the Biosciences, 7(2), IRL Press Limited, 1991";
- no responsibility is assumed;
- not to be used for profit making purposes;
- bugs will usually be corrected since we use intensively the software;
- modifications should be communicated to us, with (normally) allowance
for redistribution.
Payment
-------
Athough LaboImage has undergone many upgrades and suffered in the hands of
many users, the current version is certainly not bug free. For the time being,
we require NO prepayment, return postage or anything.
We may however change this policy in the future, and ask for nominal fees to
cover material expenditures. HOWEVER, if you are satisfied with the product,
why not send us some "souvenir" (edible or not) from your country...??!!
Capabilities
------------
Labo Image is an interactive software, whose interface is menu, mouse and
windows based. It can work on monochrome (binary) or color workstations. Its
main features are:
- input-output: LaboImage format file, SUN raster file, screen,
postscript;
- display: mono, RGB, dithering, 3-D perspective display, color table
editor;
- preprocessing: filters (median, high pass, low pass: hamming, gauss, etc),
background subtraction, histogram equalization;
- processing: thresholding, Fourier transforms, edge extractions: various
operators, ridge-riding, zero-crossing; segmentation into regions,
binary and gray tone mathematical morphology;
- measures: histograms, image statistics, power, region outlining,
object counting;
- auxiliary: conversions, arithmetic & logical operations, noise addition,
image generation, magnification, convolution/correlation with
masks, image; padding;
- elementary interactive operations: region outlining, statistics and
histogram computation, etc.;
- special tools:
- modify image at pixel level interactively,
- one-dimensional gel analysis,
- expert system for image segmentation,
- macros definitions, save and replay;
- on line documentation.
Image formats
-------------
Own format: descriptor file + data file (binary, byte, int, float, complex;
mono or RGB). Supports also Sun raster format. Conversions to various other
formats.
Constructs:
- iconic (pixel-based), with each image having its own parameter list;
- vectors (histograms, look-up tables);
- graphs (for regions; being implemented);
- strings (for macros).
Miscellaneous remarks (answers to commonly asked questions)
---------------------
- FILE FORMAT: we decided to go for: 1) a machine independant format; 2) a
simple, data (ie. signal) oriented format. At the beginning of the
development (summer 1987), we were not aware of any image format used by
the whole community. There seems now to be some progress on the matter
(TIFF, etc.), but they are still not that widely used in the community.
Also, due to development priorities we consider conversion routines a more
secondary issue as long as our format is simple.
In addition, the menu ACQUISITION/LTS is fairly versatile. Also, the SUN
raster images can now be read into LaboImage and likewise images on system
may be stored in SUN raster format.
However.. we would welcome any software contribution!
- SUN 3 and SUN 4: Labo Image currently runs on SUN 3/xxx and SUN 4/xxx under
SunOS 4.0.3. As long as you can compile on these machines, it should run.
- 3D IMAGE PROCESSING: nothing special for such images.
- REGIONAL DESCRIPTION: work is underway to develop region segmentation
algorithms. These regions will be described by a graph data structure.
- ON LINE HELP: available!
Acknowledgements
----------------
More than 10 people have so far participated in this project, and their
contribution is gratefully acknowledged.
Staff: Pierre-Yves Burgi, Claudia Coiteux-Rosu, Ziping Hu, Alain Jacot-
Descombes, Rene Lutz, Christian Pellegrini, Thierry Pun, Marianne Rupp,
Krassimir Todorov.
Students: Anne Bobillier, Alain Brunner, Markus Buchi, Christian Girard, Rene
Perrier, Vrinda Shukla.
Amongst them, Ziping Hu is responsible for the expert system for image
segmentation, A. Jacot-Descombes is responsible for general design issues,
and is the keystone for implementation; R. Lutz is responsible for display
manipulations (Color Table Editor,etc.); T. Pun is responsible for the
original layout and general design issues; V. Shukla is responsible for the
upgrade from LaboImage 2.0 to LaboImage 3.0.
Contacts
--------
Particular problems will be redirected to relevant persons, but we prefer
that all communications be made to the same address:
e-mail: "pun@uni2a.unige.ch" or pun@cgeuge51.bitnet (if this fails,
"pun@cui.unige.ch").
tel.: +(4122) 787 65 82 (T. Pun), 787 65 84 (A. Jacot-Descombes).
fax: +(4122) 735 39 05.
postal address: Thierry Pun
LaboImage
Computing Science Center, University of Geneva
12, rue du Lac
CH - 1207 Geneva SWITZERLAND
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