10-10-97

Dear Colleagues:

I have been searching for an electronic overlay font (preferably a

Microsoft compatible "True Type" variety rather than an Adobe "Post

Script") to facilitate labeling of gray-scale images. Is anyone aware of a

source for such work saver?

In the pre-digital days, we were getting good results with the paste-on

overlay letters that are still available from microscopy supply houses

(e.g., I was partial to the Microscopist's Collection from SPI). These

were the little black letters that were printed over slightly larger white

outlines. Because of this contrasting outline, they were easily readable

irrespective of the brightness of the image below.

Currently, we are barely getting by in labeling of electronic images by

adjusting the font color to either white or black, according to what the

brightness of the underlying image dictates. More often than not, this is

ineffective in EM images with highly modulated brightness. On occasion, I

have resorted to manually overlaying a black text over a white one in a

bold version of the same font; this is tedious and does not work in all

but the briefest annotations because the kerning of the two font styles

does not compensate for the differences in the widths of the letters.

The simplistic solution of setting the overlay text box background color to

non-transparent is not satisfactory because it often ends up obscuring the

feature of interest.

Does anyone possess a suitably outlined font, or has come up with a

creative solution to this vexing problem?

valdemar@fast.net

Valdemar Furdanowicz

Homer Research Labs

Bethlehem Steel Co.

Bethlehem, PA

One solution is to import your image files into

Microsoft Word (other word processors may have

similar functions) and use the WordArt tool

to overlay your picture with the desired text.

This tool will allow you to outline letters using

most true type fonts and allows you to control

pitch, text color, outline color, and outline thickness.

This method is fairly quick and painless. One

hint is that when you first start adding text

it may disappear behind the image. To bring

the text to the front click on the image with

the second mouse button, click on "order" and

select "send behind text". This will place the

image behind the text so that the text remains

visible.

You can then either save the image in Word format

or use a screen capture program to save the image

in other formats. If using a screen capture program

(such as LView) you will be limited to the resolution

of your screen minus window borders so this solution

works only for smaller images (aprox. 970x570 pixels

on a 1024x768 monitor). There may be a way to export

larger images from Word but as I am a novice to using

Word I haven't found one yet.

Dan Moore

djmoor1@pop.uky.edu

I should have added that using Word you

can rotate your labels and add arrows,

circles, boxes, etc. to your images.

You can even add cartoon balloons

and let your subjects speak to you.

Dan Moore

There is a software package called "Designer" it

is sold by Micrografx. It is very powerful and

will do what you need. The cost is about $600. It

is worth while to check it out.

Greg Rudomen

Greg@umic.sunysb.edu

S.U.N.Y. Stony Brook

University Microscopy Imaging Center

516-444-3126

tool so that the letters are surrounded by marquees when you are done typing.

Type your text on the image. Before you de-select the text, go to the pallette

region of the toolbar and exchange foreground (usually black) and background

(usually white) colors. Then go to the "Edit" menu and select "Stroke" chose a

2-3 pixel stroke width "outside" the letter. This makes an outlined text in any

font on your system.

--

Best Regards,

John Minter

Eastman Kodak Company Phone: (716) 722-3407

Analytical Technology Division FAX: (716) 477-3029

Room 2142G Bldg 49 Kodak Park Site email: minter@kodak.com

Rochester, NY 14562-3712 calendar: via PROFS

markers, text, and symbols onto micrographs. The results look just like the

rub-on transfers that I used to use.

1. create a layer (Photoshop 4.0 does this automatically with text tool)

You must use Photoshop image mode for the layer option.

2. in that layer in the font and font size that you want, type the text.

add a black line at an appropriate length and width and any other text,

symbols, arrows, etc. that you want to put on the micrograph. By using the

layer, you preserve the original micrograph in the background layer. you

can use the info window to draw lines to particular lengths. If other

layers are created when new text is added, merge those layers. Don't merge

them with the background layer!

3. Select all (ctrl-A in the PC) The marquee will be around the whole

layer.

4. You have to move the selected region up then down with an arrow key.

(This is done in the PC with the Ctrl-shift-arrow key in the PC) what this

does is to select all of the objects in the layer individually. A Marguee

should be around each object.

5. Select the foreground color as white. (You are going to write a white

border around each Marquee.)

6. Go to Edit-Stroke and select the width of the white line you want (Width)

and select the Outside option. for 300 dpi images at about 4" x 5", I

suggest a font size of about 14 (Arial) with a Width of about 3-4 pixels for

the stroke width. This will write a white border 4 pixels wide around all

of the selected black features.

7. Deselect (ctrl-D)

8. If you want to save this as image in another format such as TIF or BMP,

then you have to Merge the layers and save the image in that mode.

Note: you should have anti-aliasing selected for all this.

This technique works very well for me. You can make them look like real

Rub-ons with another technique and offsetting the white a little, but that

is another story.

Scott D. Walck

PPG Industries, Inc.

Guys Run Rd. (packages)

P.O. Box 11472 (letters)

Pittsburgh, PA 15238-0472

(412) 820-8651 (office)

(412) 820-8161 (fax)

assume that PhotoShop also would have that eature. you could chose the

amount and direction of shift of the shadow. I think the colors were also

cusomizable.

However, I don't have acopy of either very accessible just now. For as much

as it comes in handy, I can't imagine such a feature being dropped.

Warren Straszheim

wesaia@iastate.edu

there is a huge variety of text/drawing tools and little

constraint on the size/resolution of the image file? You can

do composites, layouts, cutouts, masks, etc. quite handily.

Kalman Rubinson

rubinsnk@is2.nyu.edu

enables you to make an outline around your letters in a contrasting colour.

So we can have black letters with a white minimal outline or vice-versa.

It works with any typeface. And of course you can make the text any colour

or shade of gray.

Mel Dickson

Electron Microscope Unit,

University of New South Wales.

Sydney NSW 2052 Australia

Phone (+612) 9385-6383

Fax (+612) 9385-6400

Website <http://emunit1.babs.unsw.edu.au/emu_top.htm>

However, I just bought a package of plugins for use with Photoshop or Corel

PhotoPaint. The package from Xaos

(http://www.xaostools.com/products/index.html) cost $129 and included:

TypeCaster, Paint Alchemy and Terrazo. The TypeCaster plugin will enable you

to create highly visible text on your micrographs--it may be difficult to

restrain your creative impulses. The other plugins may be useful for

creating backgrounds for slides, web page images and as simple relief from

the humdrum of scientific data.

I have no connection with Xaos financial, social or otherwise--wish I did!

Larry D. Ackerman (415) 476-8751

Howard Hughes Medical Institute FAX (415) 476-5774

UCSF, Box 0724, Rm U426

533 Parnassus Ave. mishot@itsa.ucsf.edu

San Francisco, CA 94143