GC Image Users' Guide

Text and Chemical Structure Annotations

GC Image supports text and chemical structure annotations that are superimposed on images to provide additional visual information.

Text Annotations

GC Image supports drawing and editing of text elements, with properties such as font, style, and size. A text element can exist as:

• a separate text object,
• a text label associated with a graphic (point, polyline, rectangle, or polygon) or associated with a blob.

Chapter Chemical Identification describes the use of text objects and text labels in templates.

Text mode is used to create, select, and edit text objects. The Image Viewer palette contains a button to set the cursor mode to text mode. To create a separate text object, first set the cursor mode to text mode and then click the left mouse-button in the image view to set the location of the text element. This brings up the Text Properties dialog shown in Figure 1, which is used to specify the text string as well the font, font size, and color. Clicking the "Apply" or "OK" button creates the text object. Clicking the "Cancel" button without first clicking the "Apply" or "OK" button aborts the creation of the text object.

Figure 1: Text Properties dialog.

Text labels can be associated with graphics and blobs. Figure 2 shows a text label associated with a graphic.

Figure 2: A text label associated with a graphic.

The text label displays the name of the graphic or blob. An optional line segment connects the text label to the graphic or blob that is labeled. To add (or remove) a text label for a graphic, check (or uncheck) the "Add Text Object" checkbox in the graphic metadata dialog, discussed in Graphics and Areas. Text labels for blobs are similarly added (or removed) with a checkbox in the blob metadata dialog, discussed in Blob Analysis. The multiple graphics metadata dialog and multiple blobs metadata dialog have checkboxes to add or remove text labels from all selected objects.

To edit a text object (either a separate text object or a text label associated with a graphic or blob), set the cursor mode to text mode, select the text object by positioning the cursor over the text object and clicking the left mouse-button, then invoke the Text Properties dialog by clicking the right mouse-button. The Text Properties dialog, illustrated in Figure 1, then can be used to edit the properties of the text element. Multiple text objects can be selected using <CTL> click. Then, clicking the right mouse-button brings up the properties dialog for multiple text objects, pictured in Figure 3.

Figure 3: Multiple Text Properties dialog.

To select all text objects first set the cursor mode to text mode and then choose Edit -> Select All from the Image Viewer menu or click in the image (to activate the listener) and type the <CTL>+A keys.

To delete text elements, select the object(s) in text mode and then click the Delete button on the Image Viewer palette or the <DEL> key.

The Configure -> Configure Settings -> Text Display tab, illustrated in Figure 4, allows specification of the following default settings:

• Font, font style, font size, and font color.
• Antialiasing (on for smooth text).
• Display settings (when to display).
• Association line settings (on/off and color).

Figure 4 Text Display configuration.

Chemical Structure Annotations

GC Image supports drawing and editing of chemical structure elements, with properties such as scale and color. A chemical structure element can exist as:

• a separate chemical structure object,
• a chemical structure label associated with a blob.

Chapter Chemical Identification describes the use of chemical structure objects and labels in templates.

Chemical structure mode is used to create, select, and edit chemical structure objects. The Image Viewer palette contains a button to set the cursor mode to chemical structure mode. To create a chemical structure object, first set the cursor mode to chemical structure mode and then click the left mouse-button in the image view to set the location of the chemical structure element. This brings up the Chemical Structure Properties dialog shown in Figure 5, which is used to specify the chemical name as well the size and color. Clicking the "Apply" or "OK" button creates the chemical structure object. The specified name must be found in the NIST library; otherwise, there is an error and the chemical structure object is not created. Clicking the "Cancel" button without first clicking the "Apply" or "OK" button aborts the creation of the chemical structure object.

Figure 5: Chemical Structure Properties dialog.

Chemical structure objects can be associated with blobs, as shown in Figure 6.

Figure 6: A chemical structure object associated with a blob. A selected chemical structure object is indicated by a graphical bounding box.

The chemical structure object displays the atomic structure description from the NIST library. An optional line segment connects the chemical structure object to the blob. To add (or remove) a chemical structure object associated with a blob, check (or uncheck) the "Add Chemical Structure Object" checkbox in the blob metadata dialog, discussed in Blob Analysis . The multiple blobs metadata dialog has checkboxes to add or remove chemical structure objects from all selected blobs.

To edit a chemical structure object (either separate or associated with a blob), set the cursor mode to chemical structure mode, select the text object by positioning the cursor over the chemical structure object and clicking the left mouse-button, then invoke the Chemical Structure Properties dialog by clicking the right mouse-button. The Chemical Structure Properties dialog, illustrated in Figure 5, then can be used to edit the properties of the chemical structure element. Multiple chemical structure objects can be selected using <CTL> click. Then, clicking the right mouse-button brings up the properties dialog for multiple chemical structure objects, pictured in Figure 7.

Figure 7: Multiple Chemical Structure Properties dialog.

To delete chemical structure elements, select the object(s) in chemical structure mode and then use the Delete button on the Image Viewer palette or the <DEL> key. All chemical structure objects can be selected in chemical structure mode by clicking in the image to activate the listener and then typing <Ctl>+A.

The Configure -> Configure Settings -> Chemical Structures Display tab, illustrated in Figure 8, allows specification of the following default settings:

• Scale and color.
• Show carbon labels.
• Show implicit hydrogen labels.
• Display settings (when to display).
• Association line settings (on/off and color).

Figure 8: Chemical Structure Display configuration.

Auto Text

The software allows users to select metadata fields from Image Attributes and add them as a text object onto the image at a user-defined location. To create an auto text object,

1. Go to Menu: Edit > Auto Text.

   

2. Add attributes to the Add Text list.
3. Choose the font, font style, font size, and text color.
4. Choose the location to place the metadata information.

   

5. Click OK when done.

Exporting and Importing Annotations

Text objects and chemical structure objects are exported and imported with graphics as described in Graphics and Areas.

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GC Image™ Users' Guide © 2001–2010 by GC Image, LLC, and the University of Nebraska.