TECHNOLOGY TO HELP THE HORSE
WHAT'S NEW: 
Articles by EponaTech
Metron-PX Overview
EponaTech Metron: Software for Quantifying Hoof Conformation
Scientific Paper
Quantifying Conformation of the Equine Digit from Lateromedial Radiographs
Scientific Paper
Rotation centers of the Equine Digit and their Use in Quantifying Conformation
Scientific Paper
Morphology of the Equine Digit: Challenges to some Common Beliefs
EponaTech in the Press
Find a Metron-PX User
Release 1.2

Here's a quick synopsis of the new features in
Metron 1.2

1) The "Free Mark-Up" panel has been shrunk down so that it doesn't take up so much space on the screen. So its a bit easier to work on a large image without having to shuffle the panel around as much.


*New, smaller FreeMark-Up Panel

2) We added two new parameters to the Lateral Hoof Photo! These parameters measure two attributes of the "hairline" as viewed from the lateral aspect. These parameters make use of picks that were already made during Guided Mark-Up, so with no extra work on your part, you get these two new values. You can also feel free to ignore them if they are not of interest to you. For compatibility with past releases, they are marked as "don't care" as far as the "EponaTech#1" scoring rule is concerned, so they won't affect the scoring feature, if you've been using that. You can, of course, create your own scoring rule that uses them, and the new "EponaTech#2" rule does make use of them.

The first parameter is "Hairline Angle". If the hairline is a straight line, then this is just the angle that line makes with the ground. In the typical case of a non-straight hairline, then we compute the "weighted average angle" of the three line segments used to describe the shape of the hairline. This is like the average of the three angles formed when you take each of the three line segments individually, but then we weight each of those angles by the length of the associated line segment.


( Example showing the new "Hairline Angle" parameter for the Lateral Hoof Photo)

The second new parameter is the "Hairline Deviation". If the hairline is exactly a straight line, then this parameter becomes 0.0. Otherwise, we sum the two deviations at the two interior points. To be precise, connect the 1st and 4th points with a line, then find the minimum distance between the 2nd and 3rd points to this line. The "Hairline Deviation" is always zero or a positive number.


( Example showing the new "Hairline Deviation" parameter for the Lateral Hoof Photo )

These two new parameters appear in the user interface like all the others, and so can be used for comparison and in scoring rules:


( The two new "Hairline parameters" used in a comparison set )

3) We added one extra "pick" when following the Guided Mark-Up for the Lateral Hoof Photo. Previously, at step#3, you were prompted to pick just one point where the heel hits the ground. We now ask for two points, the second being on the back of the hoof wall, and is now used to compute the "Heel Angle" as shown in the example below. It used to be that we used the 4th (rearmost) point of the hairline to set this angle, but for some horses, the shape of back of the foot makes this a poor choice. As in the example below, if you had to use the same point for the 4th in the hairline, and also to set the heel angle, you have to make some kind of compromise. Note that our "Heel Height" parameter is still defined by the 4th (rearmost) point picked for the hairline. The new point is only used for the "Heel Angle" parameter. To make your existing database valid, when you open an old image (one entered in Metron earlier than 1.2) we will create this second point by making a copy of the 4th point of the hairline picks. Hence, none of your parameter values or scoring will change, but if you wish, you may reenter Guided Mark-Up and re-pick the second point in step#3 to take advantage of this new change. It may seem like a small change, but it helps the integrity of the Lateral Hoof photo parameters.


( Example showing the two picks now used to set the "Heel Angle" parameter. )

4) New "EponaTech#2" Scoring Rules!

Metron has always been supplied with just one Scoring Rule, which we called "EponaTech#1". We encourage users to think about creating their own scoring rule, but we have also come to find out that many (most?) users do not bother to do so. So we decided to look through our growing database of case studies and do some thinking about improved scoring rules for each of our 5 image types. The result of this are the "EponaTech#2" scoring rules, which we feel pretty good about, and in release 1.2 they are the default rules. Any existing work you've done which uses the EponaTech#1 rules will be unaffected -- the same EponaTech#1 rules are still present. But, any new images you import and mark-up will use the EponaTech#2 rules by default (you can switch them to EponaTech#1, or a rule of your own design, of course).

We will soon be posting more detailed information about the EponaTech#2 rules, but here are a few brief comments about these rules. One theme is that we have attempted to make the rules pretty much "foot size invariant". Any length parameter is not expected to be a fixed value, rather, the rules always express length parameters as a function of some other length parameter of the foot. For example, in the case of the lateral radiograph, we use the "Length of P2" parameter as a measure of foot size. This parameter is somewhat special as it does not depend on how the hoof is trimmed, nor does it depend on the stance of the horse. So, for example, the maximum allowed value of "P3 Descent" is now given as "30% of the Length of P2". Stating it this way will make it valid for various size feet. Also, we feel all the EponaTech#2 rules are a bit more strict than the EponaTech#1 rules -- they are more discerning, and it may now be harder to score as highly.

A related change is that when you enter the Scoring Panel, we now will highlight (in red) any parameter for which 1% or more of score was lost. This value used to be set at 3% in past releases. It is still editable so you can set it as you wish, but as a default, it is now set at 1%. All in all, scoring highly and not having any "red parameters" has gotten a little harder with the EponaTech#2 rules.

There's much more to say about each of these rules, and we'll try to post that soon.

5) Metron is now available in Italian !

Starting with Metron version 1.2, we now add Italian to our list of supported languages. We continue to support English, French, German, and Spanish. You may not have known it, but every copy of Metron has all the languages in it -- you can set up your PC to show the language of your choice (you do this in the "Control Panel" under "Regional Settings"). Every word in every panel, every word in each help panel, have all been translated into all five languages. We have a distributor in Italy called "Vetefarma" that helped us produce the Italian version.

6) Important bug-fix to the Area-Measure Tool in Free Mark-Up

We made an important fix of a recently discovered bug: The Area-Measure tool did not always measure the correct area for a selected shape with concavities. In release 1.2, it computes the correct enclosed area for any "regular" polygon -- even if it has concavities. "Regular" means that its edges do not cross over one another -- in that case, the "area inside" is not a well defined concept.

7) Other Minor Changes in Release 1.2

A bunch of tiny things you'll hardly notice:

  • When loading a comparison set, fixed the "flashing hourglass cursor" so we just have a steady hourglass cursor while reading the Database.
  • When you edit a Scoring Rule, you may elect to "Overwrite" an existing rule (previously, you were always forced to give a new name).
  • If a confused user picks on the "illustrative guide icon" in Guided Mark-Up, they now get a message.
  • Registering a prepaid copy of Metron is a little simpler, as we now show the "Registration Number" for both Metron-P and Metron-PX
  • In the "Horse Data Panel" (filled in when a new horse is added) we rearranged it so people wouldn't forget to put the horse's name!
  • When you use "Export Image" under "Output" the default name of the file you create is now "MetronImage" and the file-browser remembers where you last output a file to, so its easier to output several files in the same session. Formerly, this function always left you in a strange place in the file system and used a weird, internal name, like M_LED_RF_01 for the default file name. Its better now!

Further to release 1.2, we have now released 1.21....

Release 1.21

 

Version 1.21 is a minor release

1)  Fixed bug:  When two or more images are entered for the same horse on the same date and of the same view of the same hoof, they become numbered, for example #1, #2, and #3.  There was a bug in this situation if you deleted any but the highest numbered image.  In theory, if you have 3 "multiples" and you delete image #1, then the higher-numbered images get automatically re-numbered to #1 and #2.  This was not always working.  Now it is.  The fix prevents future trouble from this bug.  If you have a database that is "corrupt" due to a past occurrence of this bug, send us an e-mail and we can tell you how to fix it.

2) We changed (slightly) the way foreign languages are set up.  This won't affect you if you use Metron in English.  It used to be that if your PC was configured to a language that we don't support (e.g. Portuguese, Russian, Japanese) then Metron would appear in German!  This has been corrected so now the "default language" is always English.  You may still select Spanish, German, Italian, or French by properly configuring your computer.

3) Upgrade installation bug:  For users who had a version earlier than 1.2, and who then subsequently upgraded to version 1.2, a bug prevented the new "EponaTech#2 Rules" from being installed.  This was not an issue if version 1.2 was the first version of Metron you had.  Now, with version 1.21, the EponaTech#2 Rules will always be installed.  If you don't see EponaTech#2 in your list of rules, you should upgrade to version 1.21.

4) EponaTech#2 Rule for the AP Radiograph had the scoring rule for the Inner and Outer (Medial and Lateral) hoof walls reversed.  Its fixed in 1.21.

5) Fixed obscure bug:  If you switch units between English and Metric while the radiograph calibration panel was up, the FFD and OFD values weren't converted properly.

6) The icons placed on your desktop are now called "Metron-PX" and "Metron-PX Doc" (instead of the former "Metron" and "Metron QST").  This is to help distinguish products (now that we have a new product Metron-U ).  This also means that after you upgrade to 1.21 you can feel free to delete the two old-fashioned icons from your desktop.

7) The User Manual was updated slightly.

8) The EULA (End User's License Agreement) that you agreed to when you installed the software is now available after you install in the main directory (typically this is C:/Epona) in a file called LicTempl.txt.  It used to be that after installation there was really no way you could read this again (not that you'll ever want to!  Boring!  But the corporate lawyer said we should make it available, so we have.)
Documents
Announcements
NEW SOFTWARE RELEASES!

NEW Metron version 4.3! You can download it here.


Metron-Pro for serious users

Metron-DVM is our top-of-the-line package.

"Metron-DR" --- a state-of-the-art digital radiograph (DR) system


Metron-U version 2.0 Software for Equine Ultrasound Images! Can be downloaded here.

Do I have the latest version?

NEWS...

 * Metron-PX version4.32 is now available!!

* EponaTech is an official distributor for the RDC unit to digitize film radiographs and get them into Metron-Pro!


* Metron-U is available with ultrasound systems from Classic Medical .

* Metron-U endorsed by Vet-Stem Inc.
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