Chris et al.,
Imagej is a __free__ software package that works on all platforms,
accepts most digital image formats, can be calibrated easily, can do
XY location, and strut measurement. I think that fits Chris'
requirements. These datums can be exported to a text file or copied
to an Excel spreadsheet. However, you need to do the organizing of
the data yourself.
But, for the simplest and best PC landmark based data collection
software (also free) I like Jim Rohlf's tpsDig which speeds the
digitizing of similar images like 300 Drosophila wings. By
anticipating where the next set of landmarks will be on subsequent
images, and helping in the adjustments to the appropriate locations,
a great deal of the work is done for you. You just need to try it to
appreciate the aid to data collection by this software. The data is
stored organized for you associated with the digital image name!
The digitizing and data organizing steps are the slowest and most
laborious part of the data recording and this software does it for
you. Once the data is recorded and organized the struts or landmarks
can be calculated or analyzed in a second with a little code or R-
script. The tps suite of software of course is aimed at landmark
analysis but the tps file format that tpsDig affords is great for any
other personal code or even for importing into excel.
Joe Kunkel
---·. .· `·. .><((((º>`·. .· `·. .><((((º>`·. .· `·. .><
((((º> .··.· >=- =º}}}}}><
Joseph G. Kunkel, Professor
Biology Department
UMass Amherst
Amherst MA 01003-5810
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
http://www.bio.umass.edu/biology/kunkel/
On Aug 10, 2006, at 6:50 PM, morphmet wrote:
Chris Wheat wrote: "I'm looking for free software for a PC that can
take a digital photograph of a butterfly wing, allow me to select
different points on the wing, as well as a calibrated length, then
will calculate the distance among the points as I choose.
Hopefully this would be saved in some sort of tab delimited format."
I carry out a similar process with honey bee wings for
distinguishing races of Apis mellifera. I found modestly priced
software on the net which did the whole job for me but chose to use
the free version of CooRecorder at http://www.cybis.se/ which
allows 7 wing images to be done at a time. The images are obtained
with a 35mm transparancy slide scanner but presumably butterfly
wings would require a digital camera.
I then load the output file with its x/y coordinates into a
Microsoft Excel spreadsheet where the measurements can then be
tailored to one's own needs using high school maths.
David Heaf
Wales, UK
101622 dot 2773 at compuserve dot com
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