Previewing Images and/or Maps

Before any images can be acquired with Revolution, several steps should be completed. The first, of course, is the physical connection of the 4pi system. The system comes complete with an interface box and cable. The interface box must be connected to the SEII computer card with the included ribbon cable. The interface box must be connected to the microscope with the included cable, and turned on. The microscope must be on and in working order. That is, the microscope must be able to acquire an image to a CRT monitor.

If all of these items have been checked and verified, the computer can acquire images and maps in only a few steps after Revolution is launched. For an SEM Image or WDS map:

Turn the SEM Image feature on by highlighting the SEM Image button in the Acquire Toolbar (blue mouse pointer).	Click on [pre]view...	... and the Preview window(s) appears (default 128 x 128 shown here)

When the view button is clicked and the image window appears on screen, the acquire status windoid pops out below the toolbar (or to the right for a horizontal toolbar). It informs the user of the current x- and y-pixel positions in the scan, the current frame, and the remaining time for the frame to complete. For faster setups (small images with small dwells) the remaining time may be pinned to < 1 second, and the x-pixel position may not update.

The number of SEM images or WDS maps which appear, as well as many other characteristics of the image acquisition, depends on the settings in the SEM Image Prefs, which can also be used to change the image characteristics in real-time.

The procedure is the same for X-ray maps in any combination with SEM Images or WDS maps:

To get X-ray maps only, click on the edx map button:	To get X-ray maps and SEM Images or WDS maps, additionally click on the sem image button:

The number of X-ray maps which appear depends on the settings in the Edit ROIs button of the X-ray Image Prefs. Other characteristics of the x-ray map acquisition can be set from the same same prefs, which can also be used to change the mapping characteristics in real-time.

For x-ray maps in acqusition mode, the same status windoid with frame, pixel, and acquire time information appears as for images (described above). For x-ray maps in quiescent mode (no active acquisition), a different windoid appears, displaying input and output count rates, and deadtime.

Launching the preview puts the 4pi system in direct control of the microscope's scanning circuitry. At this moment the user should hear a click from the 4pi Scanning Interface Unit (the click is the relay set being energized) and the microscope's CRT screen should be blanked. If the X-ray Image button is activated as well, both digital images and x-ray maps will appear on screen. If the Linescan button is also activated, the system will perform single linescans in addition to any SEM images or x-ray maps present (see Activating Linescans for more information).

Acquiring Images and/or Maps

To acquire an image or map, simply click on the acq button. The image will be captured in separate window(s). The acquisition may be done while the Preview window(s) is (are) open, or before previewing the image:

Trick: Images or maps can be saved straight to disk from the Preview window(s) (that is, without acquisition being selected) by selecting File->Save (keystroke clover-S on Mac, control-S on Windows).

Saving Images or Maps

The default format of an image or map is selected in the Format Prefs. The data from an acquired image or map can be saved to disk by keystroke (clover-S on Mac, control-S on Windows), selecting Save from the File menu, or simply selecting the close box in an acquired window (in a preview window, only File->Save is applicable). The following dialog appears:

The selections available are:

• Revolution. Save the data as a proprietary file that can be reopened in Revolution. By using this format, the image presentation can be adjusted at any time after the file is saved to disk.

• TIFF-Mac. Save the data as a TIFF file in Macintosh format.

• TIFF-PC. Save the data as a TIFF file in Windows format.

• JPEG. Save the image as a JPEG graphic, suitable for web presentation.

• PICT. Save the image as a picture that can be pasted into a presentation program.