4.0 General Display Capabilities

4.1 Flicker Loaded Images

The flicker function allows a user to view, in sequence, a specified list of images. The user must first build a list of images to flicker. This is done much like images are selected for viewing in the Show function. The user may select combinations of plane numbers or previously saved image combinations for flickering. To select a combination of planes for flickering, the user needs only the mouse to select a single plane number from each plane list (i.e., one for the red, one for the green, and one for the blue channel) and press the accept button. If only 2 image planes are selected, the third will be a duplicate of one of the selected planes. There will be a slight delay while the flicker image is being created, and once it is, the selected combination will be dislayed in the Flicker List. To flicker a black and white (i.e., gray scale image), select only one plane number from any plane list or select the same plane number in all three lists and press the accept button. To add a previously saved combination to the flicker list, select the name and press the accept button.

There are two methods the user can flicker images with maps applied:

  1. The first method is to save the band combinations and the associated mapping using the save option in the Show function (found on the Display menu).The saved band combination names will then appear in the save list and they can be selected for flickering. This method works for both 24-bit and 8-bit displays.

  2. The second method is to use the adjust option to adjust the mapping and select the band combination. The mapping currently displayed is used for the flicker band combination when the band combination is accepted. Note that this method only works for 24-bit displays, and 8-bit displays when only a single band is currently displayed and a single band is selected for the flicker band combination. It does not work for 8-bit displays when either the currently shown band combination or the flicker band combination contains more than a single band. If functionality is needed, the user will need to save the band combination as described above.
The flicker function may also be used to flicker the full resolution window. Either define the flicker plane combinations and then select the area of the image to load to the full resolution window or select the image area first and then define the flicker plane combinations. To flicker images in the full resolution window with mappings applied, follow the same steps used for the main image window (outlined in the previous paragraph).

Red, Green, and Blue Plane Lists:
The plane lists show the user a list of plane numbers that contain valid image data. The user chooses the combinations of plane numbers to flicker from these lists.

Save List:
The list of currently saved band combinations and mappings. To select a previously saved combination for flickering, select the name and press the accept button.

Flicker List:
The list of currently selected plane number combinations and saved image combinations to flicker.

Delete:
Delete the selected item from the flicker list. The delete button is sensitive only when an item has been selected from the flicker list. Image data is not deleted; only the reference to the band combination and mapping is removed from the flicker list.

Accept:
Accept the currently selected plane combination or saved image combination and build the flicker image. On 8-bit displays, choosing a color image for flickering implies the selected planes must be sent through the color compression algorithm.

Step:
Display the next image in the flicker list. Image combinations will be flickered in the order they were added to the flicker list. The step button is used to manually step through each image in the list.

Start:
Begin the automatic flicker process. Each image in the flicker list will be displayed in succession. The number of seconds between the display of each image is determined by the rate slider.

Rater Slider:
The delay, in number of seconds, between the display of each image combination in the flicker list. The delay may be from 0 seconds to 10 seconds with a default of 1 second. Note: it is not advisable to reduce the delay to 0 seconds. This causes the flicker process to execute as fast as the host CPU will allow. This makes it difficult for the application to process other events like button presses (for stopping the flicker process) because the process is spending all its time displaying images.

Stop:
Stop the automatic flicker process. The last image displayed will become the currently displayed image.

Clear:
Clear all specifications from the flicker list.

Dismiss:
Close the flicker panel.