Differences between PictureSnapApp and the PictureSnapApp feature in PFE

[John Donovan]

Somebody asked recently what are the differences between PictureSnapApp and the PictureSnap feature in Probe for EPMA.  It's a good question!

Basically PictureSnapApp is intended for documentation (annotation) of sample areas of interest, and also for easy transfer to *other* instruments with different stage orientations and/or stage units.

First of all it's a standalone app so it can be run on any instrument with a stage, for free in "text input mode", and for the hardware enabled version on FEI/JEOL/Cameca instruments, for US $499.

Second, it has nice symbol/text annotation capabilities for both points and fields of view (FOVs).

Third it also supports embedded images acquired from the instrument (even in the free text input version). This is the Image Locator feature described here:

https://smf.probesoftware.com/index.php?topic=1082.0

Fourth it supports image rotation and automatic transformation from different stage orientations (cartesian vs. anti-cartesian and half cartesian) and also different stage units (mm vs. um vs. nm) for moving one's work from one instrument to another.

The best bet is to download it and play with it in demo mode and see what you think. The students really like it!

In my lab, I have it running on both the FEI Quanta SEM Thermo computer, and the Cameca PeakSight computer, so since students generally run first on the FEI Quanta SEM using CL imaging and annotating, or whatever, they simply copy the image folder to the Cameca PC, load the base image, calibrate it, and then they have all their areas of interest (say for a scanned thin section) already documented for their probe work.

[John Donovan]

Here is a nice video on our YouTube channel explaining the differences between PictureSnapApp and the PictureSnap feature in Probe for EPMA by Anette von der Handt:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q6tzYdyOJmE&;

[John Donovan]

A customer of ours recently contacted us and asked:

Is it possible to register or define analysis points on an optical image offline (i.e. on a different PC), save them, and then import the file into Probe for EPMA on the system connected to the probe?

And we answered:

Yes.

You would need to install PictureSnapApp on your optical microscope computer in text input mode using the half cartesian stage orientation mode (because it is an inverting optical microscope), then calibrate your optical image using two, then three fiducial points, and digitize your points on the optical image there.

Then install PictureSnapApp on your Probe for EPMA computer (using JEOL anti-cartesian mode for JEOL instruments or Cameca cartesian mode for Cameca instruments), and transfer the PictureSnapApp project folder from the optical computer microscope computer, to the PFE computer and open it in PictureSnapApp there. Then re-calibrate the project copied from your optical microscope again, using two, then three points on the PFE computer.

Finally, using the Window | Show Point Annotation List menu in PictureSnapApp, view or navigate to the image coordinates digitized using your optical (or other) microscope.

See also:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q6tzYdyOJmE&;

[John Donovan]

After thinking about the above customer's request, we had another idea that might be useful to other labs using our PictureSnapApp software on an optical (or other) microscope and transferring the annotation points to Probe for EPMA on an EPMA instrument.

In the Point annotation list in PictureSnapApp we have added a new button called "Export to .POS" as seen here:



Using this button the three calibration points (you must use a three point calibration for this), and the stage coordinates of your annotation points will be exported to a .POS file, which can subsequently be imported into Probe for EPMA from the Automate! window:

https://smf.probesoftware.com/index.php?topic=405.0

One then confirm the original three calibration (fiducial) points in probe for EPMA and then you can navigate to the points annotated on the other optical (or other) microscope).

See this description of PictureSnapApp on our web site and attached brochure:

https://www.probesoftware.com/products/picturesnapapp/