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Guided Acquisition

With the Guided Acquisition module for ZEN core you can setup automated jobs to acquire images (overview), detect relevant objects (image analysis) and re-image these positions, using another tiles acquisition e.g. with higher magnification.

Guided Acquisition Workflow:

  1. Scan or inspect a large area or the whole sample.
  2. Perform an analysis to detect interesting objects.
  3. Acquire detailed images for every detected object.

A possible application is to detect sparse inclusions in a material. Guided Acquisition allows you to find these inclusions in a low-magnification overview scan using image analysis. Afterwards, at the detected positions high-magnification images are acquired.

Job Template for Guided Acquisition (Supervisor)

With this job template, you acquire an overview tiles image to detect objects using image analysis and then capture them again at a higher magnification. Guided Acquisition is supported in Job Mode only.

Manual page with headings Form, Tiles (manual), and Guided Acquisition Image Analysis. Form

In the Form Selection tool, an input form is provided.

  1. To choose the form, in the Name field, select the form. See Form Selection Tool.

Blue square icon with white nine-cell grid and small xy text in lower-left Tiles (manual)

To acquire an image of a large sample area composed of tiles, specify the area of interest.

A tile corresponds to the area the camera is able to acquire with a single acquisition.

Note: You can exchange the workbench with other tiles acquisition workbenches.

See

Frame Setup screenshot specifying measurement frames and edge handling Guided Acquisition Image Analysis

The demo job contains a Tiles (manual) workbench for acquisition of this overview image.

Acquire a tiles image that serves as an overview image. Typically, the overview scan is done using a lower magnification in combination with a tile image.Load an image analysis setting. A default setting file is provided: Guided Acquisition - Bright and Dark Regions.czias.

See Load Setting Tool.

Blue square icon with white tag-shaped label with small circular hole Class Setup

This step is not visible to the operator.

Sets up the measurement classes for the image analysis of the sample.

Default classes: Bright Regions and Dark Regions.

See Classes.

Blue square icon with four white rounded squares arranged in 2x2 grid Frame Setup

This step is not visible to the operator.

Specifies measurement frames and how regions at the edges of the frames are treated when analysis is performed.

See Frame.

Form Image Segmentation

This step is not visible to the operator.

Specifies the class segmentation so that objects are extracted accordingly.

  1. Adjust the settings to optimize the segmentation results.

See Automatic Segmentation.

Form Selection tool screenshot showing a form interface Region filter

This step is not visible to the operator.

Excludes detected objects depending on features of detected regions.

See Region Filter.

Tiles (manual) workbench screenshot for specifying area of interest Interactive Image Segmentation

This step is not visible to the operator.

Adds or removes individual objects or areas to be measured and allows manual modification of areas.

See Interactive Segmentation.

Guided Acquisition Image Analysis overview screenshot Features Setup

This step is not visible to the operator.

Defines the properties of the detected objects to be measured.

For the detail scan, the position and extend of the segmented areas is needed and are automatically added. The following features are already set in the job template for each class:

  • ID
  • Area
  • Bound Children Center X Stage
  • Bound Children Center Y Stage
  • Bound Children Width µm
  • Bound Children Height µm

If you want to add more features of individual regions, click Select and select the desired features.

To display these measurements as annotations in the next step, activate Display.

See

Class Setup screenshot listing default classes Bright Regions and Dark Regions Measurement Data

Displays the measurement results of the selected class in a table.

No action required.

Frame Setup screenshot specifying measurement frames and edge handling Guided Acquisition Regions Creator

Filters the results of the Image Analysis and creates a tile region list from them.

Select the filter conditions, see Region Filter Tool.

Blue square icon with white rounded rectangle and horizontal lines Tiles (measurement area)

Configures the settings of the acquisition. The tile regions are pre-filled from the previous step.

Set a magnification that is higher than that of the overview image.

Note: In order for Guided Acquisition to function, the Tiles (measurement area) workbench must not be exchanged.

See

Blue square icon with two overlapping white rectangles and a small top-right square Split Image

This step is not visible to the operator.

We recommend not to change the default parameters.

Splits combined tile region images into individual overview images.

See Split by Dimension Tool.

Blue square icon showing white connected nodes and a small '0°' label ZEN Connect

Allows to manage, align, and export images in correlation with images from other sources.

Get an overview of your acquisitions with an overlay of the detail scans on the overview image, see ZEN Connect Tool.

Blue square icon with white vertical bar chart symbol Reports

Creates a Report with the file name
ZEISS Report Guided Acquisition.docx.
The following information is displayed:

  • Project number
  • Sample number
  • User
  • Date
  • Overview image
  • Image analysis results (default class: Bright)
  • Detail images

No action required if you used class Bright. If you used class Dark, relink the image analysis results to the class Dark.

You can print the report.

See Add Templates Tool.

After performing the workflow, you have the following options:

  • Save and Close
  • Save and Repeat
  • Close Without Saving
  • Repeat Without Saving

Job Template for Guided Acquisition (Operator)

With this job template, you acquire an overview tiles image to detect objects using image analysis and then capture them again at a higher magnification. Guided Acquisition is supported in Job Mode only.

Step 1: Form

In the Form Selection tool, an input form is provided.

  1. To choose the form, in the Name field, select the form.

Step 2: Image Acquisition

A tiles image serves as an overview image for Guided Acquisition. The demo job contains a Tiles (manual) workbench for acquisition of this overview image.

  1. Acquire a tiles image that serves as an overview image. Typically, the overview scan is done using a lower magnification in combination with a tile image.

See

Step 3: Measurement Data

Displays the measurement results of the selected class in a table.

No action required.

Step 4: Guided Acquisition Tile Regions Creator

Filters the results of the Image Analysis and creates a tile region list from them.

  1. Select the filter conditions, see Region Filter Tool.

Step 5: Tiles (measurement area)

Configures the settings of the acquisition. The tile regions are pre-filled from the previous step.

  1. Set a magnification that is higher than that of the overview image.

Note: In order for Guided Acquisition to function, the Tiles (measurement area) workbench must not be exchanged.

See

Step 6: ZEN Connect

Allows to manage, align, and export images in correlation with images from other sources.

  1. Get an overview of your acquisitions with an overlay of the detail scans on the overview image.

Reports

Creates a Report with the file name
ZEISS Report Guided Acquisition.docx.
The following information is displayed:

  • Project number
  • Sample number
  • User
  • Date
  • Overview image
  • Image analysis results
  • Detail images

No action required.

You can print the report.

After performing the workflow, you have the following options:

  • Save and Close
  • Save and Repeat
  • Close Without Saving
  • Repeat Without Saving

Guided Acquisition Regions Creator Workbench

This workbench allows to filter the results of an image analysis which will be used to create a region list for further acquisitions.

This workbench is only visible in Job Mode.

Region Filter Tool

With this tool you filter the image analysis results before creating a tiles region list from them. Filtering image analysis regions is done by selecting a number of sorted list of items from a defined class. In the Center Screen Area, the full list of image analysis results is displayed. The filtered regions are marked in the list.

This tool is only visible in Job Mode.

Parameter

Description

Class

Selects a class for further filtering.

Select Feature

Selects the features for filtering from the list of features which have been set up in the Image Analysis in the Feature Setup step. See Measurement Features.

Not active, if Random Selection is activated.

Sorting

Sets the sorting order for the analysis region according to the defined image analysis features.

Not active, if Random Selection is activated.

–

Descending

Sorts the analysis regions in the table in descending order.

–

Ascending

Sorts the analysis regions in the table in ascending order.

Random Selection

Activated: Selects the analysis regions in the table randomly.

Not active, if Select Feature and Sorting are deactivated.

Number

Sets the desired number of analysis regions for details scans. The selection is reflected in the table in the Center Screen Area.

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