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Here's a quick synopsis of the new features in
Metron 1.22
(Note: release 1.23, now available, fixes a minor bug in 1.22)
We now support the concept of "Image Tags" which are
a way that you can associate one or more "tags" with an
image. For example, you might tag an image with "Before Trim"
or with "After Trim" to keep track of when the photo was
taken. Then, in the comparison feature, you could make comparisons
only with parameters coming from images tagged as "After Trim"
(for example). There are many other ways these tags could be used
as well. You could use tags like "Sole Bruise", "Laminitic",
or "Hoof Packed" to annotate your images so you can better
keep track of things.
Image Tags can be assigned right when you import an image, or later.
You'll see a new item in the "Import" panel:
Or, you can edit or add tags later from a new selection under the
"Metron" item in the top bar:
The way Image Tags works is that there is a list of
available tags which you can specify however you wish. When you
assign a tag, you are choosing from this list. That makes it easy
to assign the same tag (not having to remember how to spell it each
time, etc) for multiple images. We ship 1.22 with just a few tags
on this list, so feel free to add any others that make sense to
you. Also note that you can specify multiple tags for a single image
(e.g. "Sole Bruise" and "After Trim").
Comparison sets which you set up yourself (using the "Edit"
button on the Parameters & Comparison panel) now have the ability
to screen the database for the presence of one or more tags (see
below)...
If you specify multiple tags, the image will only be selected for
inclusion in the Compare Set if ALL tags specified are present on
that image.
Free Mark-Up has been improved in 1.22. Firstly, the way a new
annotation is added to an image has changed: it used to be that
the note was "dropped" on the image, then you had to drag
it to where you wanted it. Now, you are prompted to pick 1, 2, or
3 points (whatever the particular item requires) and then the annotation
appears right where you want it! Of course, you may then drag it
around just as before if you need to make adjustments. You'll find
this new way a big improvement.
Example of adding a new "Perpendicular Measure"
We have added two new types of annotation: The "Reference
System" and the "Point". These two are used together.
You first place a reference system on the image. A reference system
is like a "coordinate system" with an "X" and
a "Y" axis. You can place it and orient it however you
like in the image. Then, when you add a "Point" item,
you can get the (X,Y) coordinates of that point relative to the
reference system. If, for some reason, you are measuring a lot of
positions within the image, this can be a good choice.
Note that you can drag the reference system around later, and all
the point cordinates will be automatically updated.
An important addition in 1.22 is that all Free Mark-Up notes now
have "names". For example, if you add a length measurement,
you'll see that it is named "Len" automatically. If you
add a second one on the same image, it will be named "Len2".
The "name" of an annotation is now a property just like
color, font, etc which you can select.
Like the Image Tag feature, these names are taken from a list
which you can configure. So if you know you are going to measure
the width of P3 in many images, you should add "P3 Width"
to the list of length names (for example). There is one stored name
list for each type of annotation supported in Free Mark-Up.
Another new thing in 1.22 is that the "Box Background"
property has been enabled for all kinds of annotations (formerly
it only worked for 'TextBox' or 'TextBox with Arrow'). This will
allow you to place a solid backgrond color behind the label portion
of any annotation (formerly they were always 'Transparent' -- which
is still the default). Also, in the list of selectable 'Box Background's
we have added the choice 'Hidden' in case for some reason you wish
to completely hide the text label portion of an annotation (not
allowed for 'TextBox' or "TextBox with Arrow').
We also fixed a bug which used to cause the 'TextBox'
and the 'TextBox with Arrow' items to slowly 'creep' (move) on the
image, which was particularly annoying -- now they will stay where
you put them!
A major feature has been added for users of Metron
that are doing research studies with the product. It is now possible
to write an ascii file which contains all the standard parameter
values and all the defined free mark-up values for a group of images.
For example, you could dump all the numerical values from Lateral
Photos of Warambloods in your system into a file. The file is a
comma-separated file with one row for each image. There is a column
for each of our standard parameters, and then a column for each
named free-mark tha tyou may have added. This new feature is found
under the "Output" item in the top-bar...
If you are using one of our (five) supported "standard
images" for which "guided mark-up" is supported,
then you will export data using one of the Compare Sets to specify
the collection of horses you wish to dump data for. Remember, you
can create your own Compare Set (using the "Edit" button)
and you may now use Image Tags in setting up a Compare Set. The
Export Data panel looks like this:
If, however, you are not using a standard iamge (for
which we support "guided mark-up") then when you export
data, you will see this panel:
Which lets you specify a group of horses solely by
using the new Image Tag feature. That is, the entire database will
be scanned looking for any images which are not in our standard
collection of images but which have the tags you have indicated.
Note: in 1.23 the above panel allows you to specify up to 4 tags
(instead of 2).
Once you have the ascii separated file of values,
you are on your own to do with it as you will. A good choice is
to import it into Microsoft Excel from which you can generate plots,
compute means and standard deviations, etc.
We added an option in the Preferences Panel so that
you can choose to put an opaque background box behind the text label
of the display of our standard parameters. Formerly, they were always
shown with a 'Transparent' box (still an option and still the default
unless you change it). This makes the parameters much easier to
read, especialy when the images are printed.
In 1.22 we have sped up the display of Compare Set data significantly.
This paves the way for a larger database which we will be shipping
with the product in future versions.
We made several corrections to our Spanish language
version -- many thanks to Dr. Iparraguire in Argentina for sending
in the corrections.
Note: Release 1.22 contained all the things mentioned
above. A follow-on release (1.23) fixed a bug, and allowsup to 4
tags to be used when specifying data to export (for non-guided-mark-up
iamges). These are minor things, so if you have 1.22, you probably
don't need to update to 1.23.
If you missed the last point-release notes, you can
read them here.
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