Color Composite

The Color Composite feature is accessed from the Color group of the Adjust ribbon. Use the Color Composite feature to merge grayscale images into a color composite. Through the Color Composite feature, grayscale images of 8-, 12-, 16-bit integer or floating point format are combined into a 24-, 36-, 48-bit color composite. For each image in the composite, you can make independent tint/dye adjustments, display (LUT) adjustments, offset (registration) adjustments, and binning (size) adjustments.

You can use the Color Composite feature to merge individual channels from a single image. For example, you can use the Extract tool to extract certain channels that you can then manipulate and recombine using the Color Composite tool.

When you click on the Color Composite tool, a blank image window and the Color Composite panel are opened in the application workspace. At the top of the Color Composite panel, click on the arrow to the right of the Add button to show all available grayscale images for adding to the composite.  Only grayscale images currently opened in the application workspace are listed. To add an image to the composite, click on it in the list box.  Click Add All Images to add all available images to the composite.

When images are added to the composite, they appear in the Color Composite panel with a thumbnail, Show/Hide, Remove, and Dye Tint tool for each one.

Dye/Tint: Click on the Dye/Tint tool for one of the images listed at the top of the Color Composite panel in order to show the dye/tint drow-down menu. Use the controls in this drop-down menu to apply a dye or tint to the image data for that image as it is viewed in the color composite.

  • Dye: This list box lists all currently-defined dyes for the currently-selected *.Dye file.  Each dye listed represents a color that is associated with an emission wavelength.  When you select a dye, the Dye/Tint group box is updated to show the selected dye's Emission Wavelength and Hue properties, and the image is colorized according to the Hue property.  

    • Note: Click on the Configure tool to access the Dye Editor where you can manage the current list of dyes or load an entirely different set of dyes (i.e., a different *.Dye file)

  • Emission wavelength: If a Dye is selected, this field displays the emission wavelength specification for the selected dye. You can, however, adjust the emissions wavelength by entering a new value in the spin box or by clicking on the Emission Wavelength color continuum. The image tint will change in response to changes in the emission wavelength.  Image-Pro automatically selects the default tint associated with the specified emission wavelength.
  • Hue: Use this control to select a custom color to tint the image. If a Dye is selected, the Hue value will default to the value associated with the dye's Emission Wavelength specification. Similarly, if you change the Emissions Wavelength value, the Hue control will be updated to reflect the standard color for that wavelength. To set a custom Hue, first you should set the wavelength and then edit the Hue.  

Display: Use the controls in this group to make brightness, contrast, and gamma lookup table adjustments to the composite image. The options in this group are the same as those appearing in the Display group of the Advanced Display ribbon.  Click here to learn more about these tools and controls.

Offset:  Use the controls in this group to make registration adjustments to the image -- i.e., to move it up, down, left and/or right to line it up with other images in the composite.  You can also use the Starting Frame control to align the Z planes when compositing sequence files.

Use the X spin box to shift the image left or right.  Use the Y spin box to shift the image up and down.  

Starting Frame: If you are working with sequence files, the Starting Frame spin box allows you to align them on the Z plane by specifying which frame in each sequence is the starting frame.  Frames prior to the starting frame are ignored when one sequence is composited with another sequence.  See Color Composite and Image Sequences for more information.

Apply: On the toolbar of the Color Composite panel, you can find the Apply tool. Click this tool to have Image-Pro create a 24-, 36-, 48-bit color image, image sequence, or image set out of the current color composite settings. Whether it creates an image, image sequence, or an image set depends on the inputs you have provided to the Color Composite panel and the selections you have made from the Apply sub-menu, accessed by clicking on the down arrow to the right of the Apply tool.

If your inputs are single images...

  • Select Image to create a single 24-, 36-, 48-bit color image based on the current color composite settings.
  • Select Image Set to create a one-dimensional (single-sequence) image set, where the one dimension is the Channel dimension. Note that, with single-image inputs, the pull-down list box below the Image Set radio button is not relevant.

If your inputs to the Color Composite panel are image sequences...

  • Select Image to create a single 24-, 36-, 48-bit color image sequence based on the current color composite settings.
  • Select Image Set to create an image set, where one dimension is the Channel dimension and the other dimension is determined by whatever you select from the pull-down list box below the Image Set radio button. For example, if the sequences that you added to the Color Composite panel were time sequences, then you would select "Time" from the pull-down list box. Select "Z" if the sequences represent Z-stacks; select "Scan" if the sequences represent an area scan; select "Site" if the sequence is of a particular site.