Re: Scale Bar units

Posted by Rasband, Wayne (NIH/NIMH) [E] on Aug 17, 2014; 11:55pm
URL: http://imagej.273.s1.nabble.com/Scale-Bar-units-tp5009167p5009244.html

On Aug 13, 2014, at 7:21 AM, Magnar Slocombe wrote:

> Hi,
>
> We recommend ImageJ to our customers but some have asked if it is possible
> to display different units on the Scale Bar... I know the Scale Bar displays
> whatever units the calibration is in but is it possible to calibrate an
> image in microns but add a scale bar in mm (or even cm)?
>
> To explain, we calibrate all of the microscope images in microns but many
> Histopathologists like to do measurements in mm (and sometimes cm) at low
> power magnifications as this is a unit of measurement that the surgical team
> are more familiar with (they still use microns at high power).
>
> Is it possible to add a "units" (um, mm, cm) selector to the scale bar (I
> guess it would need to assume the image is already calibrated in microns)?
> Are we able to get hold of the source code for the Scale Bar... plugin and
> modify it for this purpose?

The source code for the Analyze>Tools>Scale Bar command is available at

   http://imagej.nih.gov/ij/source/ij/plugin/ScaleBar.java

To create a customizable user plugin, save the source code in the plugins folder as Scale_Bar.java, open it in ImageJ, change

   package ij.plugin;

to

   import ij.plugin.PlugIn;

Change

   public class ScaleBar implements PlugIn {

to

   public class Scale_Bar implements PlugIn {

and re-compile using the Plugins>Compile and Run command.

-wayne

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