Wish List for PFE Features

[glennpoirier]

Mike,
You're reading my mind. I second these suggestions. I love the new feature but it needs a few tweaks.
Cheers
Glenn

[John Donovan]

Just trying the new version with the auto light on and off with autofocus. Nice feature, but can you i) add a delay, of at least a second if not 2, to the the autofocus start allow the light to come on (its a bit too quick off the mark at the moment and tries to focus in the dark so sometimes misses finding focus), and ii) add the option to either toggle the light or not - it's great when running samples, but a bit of a niusance when trying to confirm standard positions and just as you're about to adjust the position the light goes out .

Easy.  I'll add the delay tonight

Ben Buse suggests that I don't turn the light off after the auto-focus unless one is going to acquire images or EDS spectra.  In fact, I could move the light off call to just before the start BSE or start EDS (I think it already turns off the light before the start EDS).
john

[Mike Matthews]

That would be an elegant solution... but it would mean you'd pass the chance to add another checkbox

[Probeman]

That would be an elegant solution... but it would mean you'd pass the chance to add another checkbox

And that's just what the software needs!   
john

[John Donovan]

The 8x30's may be faster, but the delay between clicking the turning on the OM light and the light reaching full brightness is ~3.5 seconds on the WSU 8500. May I suggest the "light on" delay be 4-5 seconds, rather than 1-2? The delay when turning the OM off is much smaller, but it is non-zero, so maybe include a 1-second "light off" delay when acquiring EDS data or images?

Hi Owen,
Actually Ben Buse reports it is a full 4 seconds for full brightness on his 8530.

I can also add a 1 second delay for light off before EDS, CL or imaging, though there may be that much latency in starting these acquisitions anyway.

Also, not really a request but a related question - when the stage position is updated after the autofocus finishes, does the software just update the Z position, or the X and Y as well?

I had to check the code. Looks like it updates X, Y and Z after an auto-focus.
john

PS This is the code I am considering prior to starting the EDS, CL or image acquisition. How does it look to you all?

Code Select Expand

' Deal with optical lamp modes
If TransmittedLightPresent Then
Call RealTimeGetLightMode(mode%)                    ' check if in transmitted light mode
If ierror Then Exit Sub
If mode% = 1 Then
Call RealTimeSetLightMode(Int(0))                   ' set to reflected light if in transmitted light
If ierror Then Exit Sub
End If
End If
Call RealTimeGetReflectedLightMode(mode%)           ' check if reflected light is on
If ierror Then Exit Sub
If mode% = 1 Then                                   ' if reflected light is on, turn off
Call RealTimeSetReflectedLightMode(Int(0))
If ierror Then Exit Sub
LightTurnedOff = True
Call MiscDelay3(FormMAIN.StatusBarAuto, "reflected light off...", CDbl(1#), Now)      ' wait 1 second for light fully off
If ierror Then Exit Sub
End If


[Probeman]

Huh, didn't think the 8530 would be slower.  Fair point about the latency - maybe the light off delay is overkill then.

It's not just the optical light which is getting slower (which is probably to avoid blowing the light bulb out?), the picoammeter "settling" time on the 8x30 is longer also:

http://smf.probesoftware.com/index.php?topic=26.msg789#msg789

If the 1 sec delay for turning off the light is onerous, we can tweak it down a bit.

john

[John Donovan]

OK. The latest version of PFE can be updated using the Help menu and has the modified light on/off delays as requested.
john

[Ben Buse]

OK. The latest version of PFE can be updated using the Help menu and has the modified light on/off delays as requested.
john

Hi John,

Its working very well - timings just right here - for light on for autofocus and light off for BSE

The only thing I wondered was why do you turn the light on at the end of each analysis - It doesn't matter - doesn't affect performance.

Thanks

Ben

[John Donovan]

OK. The latest version of PFE can be updated using the Help menu and has the modified light on/off delays as requested.
john

Hi John,

Its working very well - timings just right here - for light on for autofocus and light off for BSE

The only thing I wondered was why do you turn the light on at the end of each analysis - It doesn't matter - doesn't affect performance.

Thanks

Ben

Hi Ben,
Thanks for checking.

I turn it on, because some people want to check the focus for the next acquisition. For example, the Confirm Focus During Acquisition flag might be set.
john

[Ben Buse]

Hi,

I had a suggestion from someone (Kathy) who uses the probe - whether it would be possible to export two sets of pictures one with the points labelled and scale bar on, and one the raw image for processing. Currently I do this by exporting one lot (through the output menu) then copying it to another folder and reexporting the images.

Thinking about what would be the best way to do this - maybe two sets of bmps with one set labelled "raw", or maybe what would be more useful for the raw image to be in native resolution - i.e. 32 bit - perhaps a option in output menu to export all the images as grid or probeimage files which ever is easier.

What do other people think - would this be useful?

Ben

[John Donovan]

I had a suggestion from someone (Kathy) who uses the probe - whether it would be possible to export two sets of pictures one with the points labelled and scale bar on, and one the raw image for processing. Currently I do this by exporting one lot (through the output menu) then copying it to another folder and reexporting the images.

Thinking about what would be the best way to do this - maybe two sets of bmps with one set labelled "raw", or maybe what would be more useful for the raw image to be in native resolution - i.e. 32 bit - perhaps a option in output menu to export all the images as grid or probeimage files which ever is easier.

What do other people think - would this be useful?

I think it's a great idea and the update tonight has _raw.bmp files exported from the Output | Output Images to BMP menu.
john

[Ben Buse]

Just tried it - works great, very easy

Thanks

Ben

[Ben Buse]

Hi John,

What would be great if you could add a feature to export aggregate elements to calczaf.

I'm doing secondary fluorescence corrections on trace elements - olivine with Ca on two spectrometers.

Currently the export to calczaf is

1, 8, 20, 40,"81_1475-85_ol1__006", 31.7679, 27.7583, 10.53849
1,"","",0.0,"","",0.0
"Si","ka", 1, 2, 803, 0, 474.9889, 493.3912
"Mg","ka", 1, 1, 803, 0, 298.8863, 386.1489
"Ca","ka", 1, 1, 804, 0, 2.884131, 3115.588
"Fe","ka", 1, 1, 1010, 0, 203.8582, 775.0543
"Ni","ka", 1, 1, 831, 0, 2.680419, 1652.423
"Mn","ka", 1, 1, 818, 0, 2.803117, 1543.256
"Ca","ka", 1, 1, 804, 0, 0, 0
"o ","", 1, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0

What I would like is the following, for aggregate elements

1, 7, 20, 40,"81_1475-85_ol1__006", 31.7679, 27.7583, 10.53849
1,"","",0.0,"","",0.0
"Si","ka", 1, 2, 803, 0, 474.9889, 493.3912
"Mg","ka", 1, 1, 803, 0, 298.8863, 386.1489
"Ca","ka", 1, 1, 804, 0, 2.884131, 3115.588
"Fe","ka", 1, 1, 1010, 0, 203.8582, 775.0543
"Ni","ka", 1, 1, 831, 0, 2.680419, 1652.423
"Mn","ka", 1, 1, 818, 0, 2.803117, 1543.256
"o ","", 1, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0

Thanks

Ben

[John Donovan]

Hi John,

What would be great if you could add a feature to export aggregate elements to calczaf.

I'm doing secondary fluorescence corrections on trace elements - olivine with Ca on two spectrometers.

Currently the export to calczaf is

1, 8, 20, 40,"81_1475-85_ol1__006", 31.7679, 27.7583, 10.53849
1,"","",0.0,"","",0.0
"Si","ka", 1, 2, 803, 0, 474.9889, 493.3912
"Mg","ka", 1, 1, 803, 0, 298.8863, 386.1489
"Ca","ka", 1, 1, 804, 0, 2.884131, 3115.588
"Fe","ka", 1, 1, 1010, 0, 203.8582, 775.0543
"Ni","ka", 1, 1, 831, 0, 2.680419, 1652.423
"Mn","ka", 1, 1, 818, 0, 2.803117, 1543.256
"Ca","ka", 1, 1, 804, 0, 0, 0
"o ","", 1, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0

What I would like is the following, for aggregate elements

1, 7, 20, 40,"81_1475-85_ol1__006", 31.7679, 27.7583, 10.53849
1,"","",0.0,"","",0.0
"Si","ka", 1, 2, 803, 0, 474.9889, 493.3912
"Mg","ka", 1, 1, 803, 0, 298.8863, 386.1489
"Ca","ka", 1, 1, 804, 0, 2.884131, 3115.588
"Fe","ka", 1, 1, 1010, 0, 203.8582, 775.0543
"Ni","ka", 1, 1, 831, 0, 2.680419, 1652.423
"Mn","ka", 1, 1, 818, 0, 2.803117, 1543.256
"o ","", 1, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0

Thanks

Ben

Hi Ben,
Let me be sure I understand what you are asking.

You want the aggregated elements output from Probe for EPMA to the CalcZAF import format for performing a secondary boundary fluorescence correction in CalcZAF, and you want the correct aggregated intensity for the duplicate element(s) output properly, but you simply don't want so see the empty duplicate Ca listed in the output file?  Is that correct?
john

PS Eventually I will implement this secondary boundary fluorescence correction code for multiple elements in PFE, but it's a large amount of work, because even though I've got the basic secondary fluorescence correction code working, for actual use in the "real world", I also need to implement a correction for spectrometer Bragg crystal defocusing effects, because for WDS (unlike EDS), the degree of secondary fluorescence from a boundary phase, depends greatly on the orientation of the boundary to the Bragg crystal. 

That is, if the direction to the boundary phase is towards or away from the spectrometer, the Bragg defocusing really "kicks in", but if the direction to the boundary phase is towards one side or the other from the spectrometer there will be almost no Bragg defocusing effects on the fluorescence from the boundary phase. And of course if the boundary is in a direction that is at an angle to the Bragg crystal, the defocusing effect will be somewhere in between those two extremes depending on the angle and the degree of defocusing. This will be a significant amount of work because I'll have to implement a method to allow the lab manager to easily calibrate a bunch of low mag beam scans for each spectrometer/crystal combination on each instrument, and probably at multiple spectrometer positions (low to high sin theta).

[Ben Buse]

Hi John,

Yes that's correct - because otherwise calczaf gives an error message for the duplicate Ca stating that it has no counts. Thus I found the way around this is to delete this line and correct the element number. I don't know if there is a better way of doing this

Thanks

Ben