ScanImage 3.8 is a major upgrade adding several new features and several user interface enhancements. Notably, Cycle mode operation, presently only available in r3.5.x, has been restored and revamped.
Functionally, ScanImage 3.7 is very similar to 3.6, so the transition should be fairly straightforward. However, there are [changes and other recommended steps] in upgrading to 3.7 from 3.5.x or 3.6.x.
New users, and existing users who can benefit from the new features (listed below) should use ScanImage 3.8. Other existing users of 3.5.x-3.7.x may or 3.6.x may want to defer upgrading until ScanImage 3.8 (expected spring or early summer of 2011), which will have further new features.
Version Compatibility
ScanImage 3.8 has been tested to date against Matlab 2010b and DAQmx 9.3. More recent Matlab and DAQmx versions are expected to work, but have not yet been tested. Earlier versions of Matlab/DAQmx will not work.
Major Enhancements
- Cycle mode has been restored, using new table-based Cycle Controls to specify changes (motor steps, CFG file loads, and/or other settings) to apply at each Cycle iteration
- Operation under 64-bit Windows 7
- A 'Mosaic' macro allows configuration of Cycle for acquisition at multiple, tiled fields-of-view
- Point/Line/Rectangle/Square ROIs all now treated via unified ROI concept, managed in the new ROI Controls dialog
- Extended support for User Functions, including USR file bindings and configurable 'override functions'
- Support for a display rolling average, independent of any file frame averaging
Other Enhancements
- Display frame averaging now decoupled from file frame averaging
- Support stack acquisitions centered at the current axial position
- Support for separated XY & Z motor controllers
- Support for secondary Z motor controller, e.g. case of XYZ stage plus additional piezo controller
- Support for Physik Instrumente stage controllers, for standard stack acquisition
- Sub-unity zoom factor values are permitted, in relation to new ScanAngularRangeReference values defined in INI file
- Support for fast scanning, e.g. with AODs or small-angle galvos:
- Line periods of 0.125 and 0.25 ms/line
- Fill fraction range extended from 0.5 to 0.975
- Output sample rates up to 800kHz
- Faster CFG file loading
- Faster Fast Configuration switching
- New scim_pointLaser() utility function
- Improvements to scim_openTif():
- Support MPEG video creation
- Much faster read times, now using Matlab TIF object instead of imread()
Changes
- The Acquisition Controls dialog has been eliminated, with the various controls (# Frames, Repeat Period, etc) redistributed to the (significantly redesigned) Main Controls, Motor Controls, Image Controls, and Configuration dialogs
- The ROI addition/selection tools on the Main Controls have been significantly changed, with much of this functionality now shared with the newly added ROI Controls dialog
- The motor position controls, e.g. to define/goto/save/load motor positions, have been moved from the Motor Controls to the new Position Controls dialog
- The Scan Angular Range values (fast & slow) have been replaced by the combination of:
- ScanAngularRangeReference values (fast & slow), specified in the INI file, and
- ScanAngleMultiplier values (fast & slow), specified as part of the Configuration on the Main Controls dialog
- The externalTriggerInputTerminals no longer need to be specified in the INI file; PFI numbers can simply be entered in Triggers... dialog
- The Channels dialog is no longer modal – any changes take effect immediately
- Figure size no longer changes upon change in aspect ratio (e.g. rectangular ROIs); rectangular area is simply shown in existing (typ. square) figure window