About Current and Upcoming Releases
This new release has been developed primarily to support ScanImage users who no longer have ready access to the older Matlab version for which earlier ScanImage releases had been developed. It is also now compatible with the newer National Instruments driver (DAQmx), which many users may prefer to install instead of the older drivers ('Traditional NI-DAQ'). It is anticipated that this version will remain compatible with current and upcoming Matlab versions.
In addition, a handful of new features have been added to help support ongoing experiments by ScanImage users at Janelia Farm Research Campus.
Plans are underway to significantly rewrite ScanImage from the ground-up, in order to better support a growing number of laser scanning devices and applications. In addition, ScanImage will become integrated with the Ephus project, in order to allow for consistent conventions for file saving, configuration switching, and other crucial components of a general-purpose neurophysiology data acquisition software package.
We welcome feedback on ScanImage 3.5 and certainly will address any critical deficiencies that may be identified. Please note that any significant requests are more likely to be incorporated into plans for the new ScanImage package.
New Feature Summary
- Compatibility with current Matlab/National Instruments releases (R2007B/DAQmx 8.6)
- Real-time RGB channel 'merge' display during Focus mode
- Disk-logging Grab/Loop acquisitions
- 'Infinite' focus mode
- Ability to accept external trigger (using separate trigger input terminal; facilitates Ephus-driven acquisitions)
- 'Bidirectional' scan capability, enabling fast <1ms/line scans
- Command-line utility functions for commonly-needed tasks, including beam-parking and 'cusp'-delay optimization
- Extended 'hot-key' functionality to support rapid configuration switching