analySIS

Add-In
Intercept Counting
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 Schnittlinienmessung

Intercept Counting 3

OUTLINE OF MANUAL .............................................................3

Intercept Counting

Overview 3

TERMINOLOGY ........................................................................3
MEASUREMENT PATHS .........................................................5

Step-by-step 7

DETERMINING GRAIN SIZE ....................................................7

GROWTH OF NERVE CELLS ................................................11

Describing the commands 15

DEFINE INTERCEPT COUNTING ..........................................15

Size tab ..............................................................................15
Pattern tab .........................................................................16
Boundary tab .....................................................................18
Model tab ...........................................................................21
Classification tab ................................................................21
Display tab .........................................................................24
Display area .......................................................................24
Buttons ...............................................................................25
INTERCEPT COUNTING ........................................................27
EIC0206
 Schnittlinienmessung •
2
 Intercept Counting

Intercept Counting

Intercept Counting
Intercept counting is an add-in for your image analysis program. This mea-
surement procedure enables one to place a measuring line into an image
and searches for strong intensity deviations along this measuring line. The
points found in this manner are called intercept points. The program not only
locates such intercept points, but also measures the distance between two
such intercept points. The results of this measurement are classified and
displayed as a diagram.

Outline of manual
Intercept countings are used in very different areas. Intercept counting ful-
fills these various requirements. The operation varies based on the task.
Overview You will first find a general overview of the terms used in this manual.
Step-by-step Subsequently, an example from the areas of materials science and biology
will be worked through step by step. This segment will clarify which methods
and parameters are important for each case. Not all of the parameters are
explained.
Describing the com- This segment describes the Define Intercept Counting dialog box as well as
mands how to work with the Intercept Counting command.

Overview
Terminology
Structural boundary All image structures which are detected during measurement and labeled as
intercept points are characterized as structural boundaries within this docu-
mentation. In the field of metallography, the structural boundaries refer to
the grain boundary.
Intensity profile The first step in the measurement determines the intensity profiles of the se-

3
lected image. For this purpose, the intensity (gray value) of the individual im-
age points are plotted against their position along a certain path. When us-
ing 24-Bit true-color images, the intensity is determined as the mean value
of the three hues.
 Intercept Counting • Overview

The intensity profile is deter-

mined along the horizontal
line in the adjacent image.
The distinctive minima in the
profile are used during inter-
cept counting in order to de-
termine the intercept points.
The arrow marks a minimum
which you can exclude or
eliminate for the Boundary
type by selecting the appro-
priate parameters.

The profile used for the measurement depends on the measurement path
and is automatically determined.
Measurement path The measurement path corresponds to the path through the image along
which the intensity profile is determined and the intercept points are
searched for.
Intercept point An intercept point is a deviation in the intensity profile. The Define Intercept
Counting dialog box enables you to determine under what criteria an inter-
cept point is to be found; for example, should the measurement react to
peaks or valleys in the intensity profile. You can also add or remove intercept
points by clicking them.
Intercept length The intercept length is the distance between two consecutive intercept
points. In doing so, the intercept length is determined along the measure-
ment path. Therefore, it is not the smallest distance between to intercept
points.
4

The intercept length be-

tween the points circled in
white is the length of the
white arch between them.

Measurement pattern The measurement pattern is the entire area of the image which is included
in the intercept counting. The center point of the measurement pattern is al-
ways located in the center of the image. The stature of the measurement
pattern depends on the selected measurement path.

Related topics
Boundary tab 18
Remove intercepts 27
 Measurement paths

Size of measurement The pattern size is a global parameter for the spread of the measurement
pattern pattern. The size of the measurement pattern is limited by the size of the im-
age and the selected measurement path.
The horizontal and parallel
lines of the combined mea-
surement grid define the
length of the pattern size.

Measurement paths
The measurement path is the segment along which the program searches for deviations in the intensity
profile.

You can choose from eight different measurement paths. The type of struc-
tures and their position in the image are necessary to decide which mea-
surement path is appropriate for a certain task.
Horizontal lines Horizontal lines are distributed equally across the measurement pattern.
You can set the distances between lines. Only a single horizontal line will be
measured in the middle of the measurement pattern if the distance is greater
than the height of the measurement pattern.

Vertical lines Vertical lines are distributed equally across the measurement pattern. You
can set the distances between the lines. Only a single vertical line will be
measured in the middle of the measurement pattern, if the distance is great-
er than the width of the measurement pattern.
 Intercept Counting • Overview

Crossed lines Horizontal and vertical lines are distributed evenly in the form of a grid. You
can enter the distances separately for both directions. Only a single horizon-
tal line will be measured in the middle of the measurement pattern, if the hor-
izontal distance is greater than the height of the measurement pattern. The
same is true for an oversized vertical distance.

Cross The cross consists of two diagonally crossed lines, as well as a line below
and to the left of this cross. The size of the measurement pattern corre-
sponds to the length of the horizontal line below the cross.
When using the cross as measurement path, the measurement pattern
does not cover the entire image. This measurement path is therefore not ap-
propriate for images which contain important structures along the image's
edges. This measurement path is not part of the ASTM standard and should
not be used for metallographical analyses.

Circles Three circles are placed in the center of the image. The size of the measure-
ment pattern corresponds to the diameter of the largest circle.
When using circles as the measurement path, the measurement pattern
does not cover the entire image. This measurement path is therefore not ap-
propriate for images which contain important structures along the image's
edges. It is appropriate for images with structures distributed equally
throughout the image or structures which progress from the middle of the im-
6

age to the edges.

Cross and circles The Cross and circles path combines the Cross and Circles measure-
ment paths.
 Step-by-step

Random lines The Random lines measurement path generates random lines which are
placed on the image. You can determine the amount of lines as well as their
lengths.
When using the Random lines measurement pattern, the measurement
pattern can be set so that it covers the entire image. This measurement path
is not part of the ASTM standard and should not be used for metallographi-
cal analyses.

Cycloids A cycloid is a curve that is generated by a point on the circumference of a

circle as it rolls along a straight line. A cycloid is defined by the circumfer-
ence of the circle and the distance of the lines along which it rolls.
This measurement path is not part of the ASTM standard and should not be
used for metallographical analyses.

Step-by-step
Determining grain size
Materials analysis uses intercept counting to determine the grain size of me-
tallic samples.

7
Microscopic acquisition of
sheet steel.
This image illustrates the
grain size determination at-
tained by intercept counting.

Related topics
Adjust size 16
 Intercept Counting • Step-by-step

The procedure
The number of intercept points between the measuring lines and the struc-
tural boundaries are determined during the determination of the grain size
after the intercept counting. The structural boundaries in this application are
referred to as grain boundaries. The grain size is determined by the mean
distance of two successive lines.
Result of intercept Intercept counting delivers the so-called G-value, which is defined as a char-
counting acteristic grain size in the ASTM standard. G is acquired from the number of
intercept points and the mean intercept length.

Preparation
Start your image analysis program, load the image you would like to ana-
lyze, and activate the corresponding image buffer. Select the Define Inter-
cept Counting... command. Depending on the version of your image analy-
sis program, this command will be located either in the Analysis or Measure-
ment menu.
Visualization When working with intercept counting, you change the various parame-
ters. In order to check these changes, you can have the results displayed
automatically. To do so, select the Autoupdate check box in the Display tab
located in the Define Intercept Counting dialog box. Enter the value 1 into
the s field located next to the check box. This way, the effects of the changed
parameters are displayed shortly thereafter.

Measurement path selection

A measurement path which is part of the ASTM standard E 112 is used
when carrying out a grain boundary analysis of a metallic sample. This ap-
plies to the Cross and circles measurement path. The measurement path is
selected in the Measurement path tab of the Define Intercept Counting... di-
alog box. The selected measurement path is shown directly in the image
document.
Hint In some cases, the measurement path will not be displayed in the image. In
this case, the size of the measurement pattern is too large. Reduce the pat-
tern size, as shown in the following step.
8

Related topics
Cross and circles 6
Pattern tab 16
 Step-by-step

Setting the pattern size

Hint Select the Image > Scale Bar > Show in Viewport command or the [Shift+F4]
key stroke to display a scale bar in the image. The size details of the scale
bar help you to select the pattern size.
You can set the pattern size on the Size tab. A change made to the value in
the Pattern size field will be displayed directly on the screen. The measure-
ment pattern cannot cover the entire image area, depending on the selected
measurement path. If the pattern size has been set too large, the measure-
ment path will no longer be shown in the image document. Set the pattern
size so that the measurement pattern covers the largest area possible in the
image.
Hint The Adjust size check box is available for all measurement paths which are
exclusively based on lines (horizontal, vertical, crossed and random). Select
the check box to automatically adjust the pattern size to the image size.
After a few seconds, the intercept points are displayed as circles on the
measuring line. Should this not happen, click once on the Execute Intercept
Counting button.

Setting the boundary

The Boundary tab enables you to determine which criteria are to affect the
grain boundary. For the example, the grain boundary is dark. Enter the value
95% into the correlation field and 0 into the Noise field. Set the image's zoom
factor, so that you can identify the grain boundaries. This enables you to de-
termine the Width parameter. These settings, however, are not enough to
detect intercept points. The value of Width should be approximately half the
size as the width of the boundary in pixels.
The grain boundary within
the white square has been
magnified to such an extent
that the width of the grain
boundary can be seen di-
rectly in pixels. The grain
boundary has the width of 5
pixels. In this case, you

9
should choose 3 pixels for
the Width.

Enter the minimum correlation for identifying a grain boundary in the Corre-
lation field. The specification is done in percent. The larger the threshold val-
ue, the more the small and/or narrow structural boundaries are suppressed.
Should too few or no intercept points have been detected, lower the Corre-
lation value until all the grain boundaries are selected in the extract.
Now, even the intercept points which do not match any grain boundaries are
shown. Raise the Noise parameter until only real intercept points are dis-
played.

Related topics
Measurement pattern 4
Size of measurement pattern 5
Boundary tab 18
 Intercept Counting • Step-by-step

The Correlation has been

lowered to 69 in the left ex-
tract; Noise is 0.
Intercept points are shown
which do not correspond to
any grain boundaries.
The Correlation remains
constant and the Noise has
been increased to 4.5.
The intercept points dis-
played correspond to real
grain boundaries.

Set the zoom factor of the image so that the entire measurement pattern is
displayed in the image document. Make sure that all of the grain boundaries
have been detected. Change the Correlation and Noise parameters until all
grain boundaries have been found.
10

Cleaning up the results

Click the Remove Intercepts button to delete surplus intercept points and to
exclude the results from the calculation. To do so, click the intercept points
you want to delete. Repeat this procedure until only intercept points which
have been correctly detected remain. To stop the procedure, click the right
mouse button.

Selecting the model

Select the entry G from the picklist located on the Model tab to determine
the grain size determination of the G value in accordance to the ASTM stan-
dard W 112.

Related topics
Remove intercepts 27
Model tab 21
 Step-by-step

Determining the classification

Select the Automatic check box located on the Classification tab and click
the arrow keys located in the display area of the dialog box. The results of
the measurement will be displayed in the lower part of the dialog box. A di-
agram of the intercept lengths of 10 classes is displayed.
The diagram shows the dis-
tribution of the intercept
lengths.

Output of results as a sheet

Click the arrow button located next to the Write Results to Sheet button.
Click the Classification entry in the menu which opens. Click the Write Re-
sults to Sheet button to copy the measurement results to a sheet. A sheet
entitled Intercept and Classify will be opened. The distribution of the inter-
cept lengths is documented in this sheet.

Growth of nerve cells

The growth and spread of nerve cells lead to the development of axons in
branched structures. With the aid of intercept counting, the images of these
developments can be characterized and compared. In this context, terms
such as grain size cannot be applicable.
Microscopic acquisitions of
a nerve cell with axons.
This image demonstrates
the way intercept counting
works in the biological field.

11

The procedure
When analyzing the acquisition, the questions of the density of the struc-
tures and their distribution from their origin remain in the foreground. By this
type of acquisition, the structural boundaries make out the structures being
looked for in the image. A branched, widely spread out network leads to
many intercept points and a lower mean intercept length.

Related topics
Classification tab 21
Classification 26
 Intercept Counting • Step-by-step

Result of intercept The results of an intercept counting measurement with such acquisitions
counting cannot be converted to a model in objective sizes. You can, however, at any
time, measure already made acquisitions of a sample with the same param-
eters and compare their results.

Preparation
Start your image analysis program, load the image you would like to ana-
lyze, and activate the corresponding image buffer. Select the Define Inter-
cept Counting... command. Depending on the version of your image analy-
sis program, this command will be located either in the Analysis or Measure-
ment menu.

Measurement path selection

It is best to use curved lines for the intercept points, since the structures in
the image consist of relatively long and straight line intervals, which do not
have a uniform orientation. Activate the Pattern tab located in the Define In-
tercept Counting dialog box and select the Cycloids measurement path.
The measurement path Cy-
cloids have been selected in
the image.
The distance between the
cycloids is 20 µn, its Radius
is 10 µm.

Setting the pattern size

12

You can set the pattern size on the Size tab. A change made to the value in
the Pattern size field will be displayed directly on the screen. If the pattern
size has been set too large, the measurement path will no longer be shown
in the image document.

Setting the boundary

The Boundary tab enables you to determine which criteria are to effect the
intercept points. For the example, the structural boundary is light. Enter the
value 50% into the correlation field and 0 into the Noise field. Set the image's
zoom factor, so that you can identify the details of the lines. This enables you
to determine the Width parameter.

Related topics
Pattern tab 16
Cycloids 7
Size tab 15
Boundary tab 18
 Step-by-step

The structures within the

white square are magnified
to such an extent that the
width of the lines can be
seen directly in pixels. The
lines have a width of 2 pix-
els. In this case, you should
set the Width to 1 pixel.

The correlation describes the similarity of a possible boundary candidate

with the idealized grain boundary profile of metallography. This profile can-
not be used for biological acquisitions. The similarity to an idealized profile
is thus not a criteria for locating the intercept points. A too low Correlation
would merely lead to image noise being identified as intercept points.
Click the Execute Intercept Counting button to check the quality of the mea-
surement with the current settings.

Too many intercept points

are found with the settings
Correlation 50 and Noise 0.

13

Increase the Noise value in numerous increments and observe how the
number of found intercept points decrease.
 Intercept Counting • Step-by-step

The found intercept points

are located on the image
structures when using the
settings Correlation 50 and
Noise 5.

Cleaning up the results

Increase the image's zoom factor to be able to judge the quality of the indi-
vidual intercept points. Click the Add Intercepts and/or Remove Intercepts
buttons to still be able to execute some corrections.

Selecting the model

Select the No model entry from the picklist located on the Model tab. The
offered models are only valid for metallographic analyses.

Determining the classification

Select the Automatic check box located on the Classification tab and click
the arrow keys located in the display area of the dialog box. A diagram of the
intercept lengths of 10 classes is displayed.
The diagram shows the dis-
tribution of the intercept
lengths.
14

Output of results as a sheet

Click the arrow button located next to the Write Results to Sheet button. In
the menu, click the Classification and Rawdata entries. Click the Write Re-
sults to Sheet button to copy the measurement results to a sheet. A sheet
entitled Intercept and Classify and Intercept Rawdata is opened respective-
ly. The distribution of the intercept lengths is documented in the Intercept
and Classify sheet. The Intercept Rawdata sheet contains a list of all of the
individually located intercept lengths.

Related topics
Add intercepts 27
Model tab 21
Classification tab 21
Classification 26
Rawdata 27
 Describing the commands

Describing the commands

In this segment, the Define Intercept Counting... and Intercept Counting commands, as well as their pa-
rameters, are described in detail.

Define intercept counting

The Define Intercept Counting... command opens a dialog box with the
same name. The Define Intercept Counting dialog box contains six tabs:
Size, Pattern, Boundary, Model, Classification and Display. The dialog box
also contains a button bar and a display area.

Button bar

Display
area

Size tab

15

Use the Size tab to adapt the measurement pattern onto the image. Select
a measurement path on the Pattern tab before executing this adaptation.
Pattern size Enter the entire pattern size into the Pattern size field. The display in the im-
age document is immediately adapted to the new pattern size. The mea-
surement path is not visible in the image document if the pattern size is too
large. The unit of the value is extracted from the image's calibration data.
You can also change this value in the Calibration unit selection box.
 Intercept Counting • Describing the commands

Adjust size Select the Adjust size check box to make the measurement pattern as large
as possible. The Adjust size check box is not active with, Cross, Circles,
Cross and circles, as well as Cycloids measurement paths. If you have se-
lected the Adjust size check box, the Pattern size field becomes inactive.
Note If the Adjust size check box has not been selected, the measurement pattern
has the shape of a square. Thus, the possible pattern size can be limited.
Select one of the measuring paths (Horizontal lines, Vertical lines, Crossed
lines or Random lines) and select the Adjust size check box to execute the
measurement on the entire image, even if the image does not possess a
square shape.
Total length The entry Total length gives the total length of all the paths of a pattern with
the set parameters. It is automatically calculated and cannot be edited.
Calibration unit Select the Calibration unit check box to select unit other than the image’s
calibration unit for the intercept counting. If you have selected the Calibra-
tion unit check box, the picklist for the units remains active.
Hint The selected unit is used for all of the length specifications for the Define In-
tercept Counting commands. Even the units for the size specifications on
the Pattern tab are changed. This can result in not having a pattern shown
in the image document.

Pattern tab
16

Use the Pattern tab to select the measurement path and to make the appro-
priate settings.
The fields available on the tab depend on the selected measurement path
and are therefore listed separately.
Calibration unit All size values of the measurement path (Distance, Radius, Length) can only
accept values of integers. Select the Calibration unit check box located on
the Pattern tab to be able to select a smaller unit. This is necessary if the
increment of the preset calibration unit is too large to be able to make a fine-
adjustment.

Horizontal or vertical lines pattern

Distance Enter the distance between two horizontal or vertical lines of the pattern in
the Distance field. You can enter any value into the field. As soon as the dis-
tance is greater than the corresponding expansion of the image, the mea-
surement path restricts itself to a single line in the middle of the image.

Related topics
Measurement paths 5
 Define intercept counting

Crossed lines
Horizontal Enter the distance between two horizontal or vertical lines of the pattern in
the Horizontal field. You can enter any value into the field. As soon as the
distance is greater than the vertical expansion of the image, only a single
horizontal line will be used in the middle of the image.
Vertical Enter the distance between two vertical lines of the pattern in the Vertical
field. You can enter any value into the field. As soon as the distance is great-
er than the vertical expansion of the image, only a single vertical line will be
used in the middle of the image.

Cross, Circles, and cross and circles pattern

There are no free parameters when using the Cross, Circles and Cross and
circles patterns. You can set the entire size of the pattern on the Size tab.

Random lines pattern

The Random lines pattern consists of randomly generated lines which run
through the measurement pattern.
Count/Length You can determine either the number of lines or the sum of their lengths. To
do so, select one of the two options. The entry field for the selected options
becomes active, whereby the other one becomes inactive.
Count Enter the desired number of random lines into the Count field. Each random
line runs from one edge of the measurement pattern to the other. You can
create a maximum of 1,000 lines.
Hint When using a large number of lines, the time required for your computer to
carry out the analysis increases. Increase the Count in intervals to be able
to survey the resulting line pattern.
Length Enter the desired total length of the lines into the Length field. The created
random lines run, with an exception, from one edge of the measurement pat-
tern to the other. The last line ends on a point where the total length has
been reached. This can occur in the middle of the image. The size unit of the
value corresponds to the selected unit in the Calibration unit field located in
the Size tab.

17
Seed Enter a starting value for the random number generator into the Seed field.
The random number generator of your image analysis program uses a
mathematical formula to create a series of random numbers. For this pur-
pose, a starting value (Seed) is required. The same starting value leads to
the same sequence of the random numbers. Select the check box in front of
the Seed field to set the starting value. This value is now going to be used
for the creation of additional random lines. The lines also remain constant if
the calculation of the measurement pattern is repeated, for example by the
alteration of a parameter or clicking the Execute Intercept Counting button.

Cycloids pattern
Distance Enter the desired vertical distance between two cycloids into the Distance
field. The combination of this distance and the pattern size determines the
number of cycloids which the measurement path consists of.
Radius Enter the radius of the circle from which the cycloids are to be generated into
the Radius field. When using very large values for the radius, the number of
cycloids in the measurement path decreases.
 Intercept Counting • Describing the commands

Boundary tab
The Boundary tab enables you to determine the parameters which are to ef-
fect the intercept points. The settings which you make on this tab are very
important for the quality of the measurement.
In addition to the general settings which you make on this tab, you can also
interactively add or remove intercept points.

Select the Dark option if the intercept points of the structure which are to be
found with the measurement path appear dark in the image. Minima are then
searched for in the intensity profile. The criteria required for an intercept
point are set together with the other parameters of the dialog box.
Select the Bright option if the intercept points of the structure which are to
be found with the measurement path appear bright in the image. Maxima are
then searched for in the intensity profile. The criteria required for an intercept
point are set together with the other parameters of the dialog box.
Select the Step option if the intercept points of the structure which are to be
found with the measurement path appear as steps in the image. Steps are
searched for in the intensity profile. The criteria required for an intercept
point are set together with the other parameters of the dialog box.
Width Enter the full width at half maximum of the convolution function into the
Width field. The value should amount to about half of the width of the bound-
ary structures in pixels. There will not be enough intercept points found if the
18

width is assessed too high. There will be too many intercept points found if
the width is assessed too low. Surplus intercept points can be removed with
the Remove Intercepts command.
Correlation In the Correlation field, enter the correlation required. This value must be
surpassed after the convolution of the intensity profile with the idealized
grain boundary profile for a local extremum to be recognized as a structural
boundary. The larger the value, the more the small and/or narrow grain
boundaries are suppressed.
The correlation is a mathematical measurement used to estimate the simi-
larity of structures. Here, the intensity profile is correlated with the idealized
grain boundary profile. The result of a correlation calculation is a positive
real number between 0 and 1. The closer the correlation is to 1, the better
the conformity. With a correlation of 1, the correlated structures are identical.
The indication of the required correlation is in percent, whereby 100% is
equivalent to a correlation of 1, and 1% is equivalent to a correlation of 0,01.

Related topics
Add intercepts 27
Remove intercepts 27
 Define intercept counting

Hint The idealized grain boundary profile which is the basis of this calculation,
describes the grain boundaries of metals. The analyzed structures, espe-
cially biological samples, are only randomly similar to this ideal type. Using
such samples, the correlation is not a sensible criteria for evaluating the be-
havior of the identity profile. If Correlation is too small, random intensity de-
viations will also be detected as structural boundaries.
Noise In the Noise field, enter a dimensionless value which gives the intensity of
alleged noise in the intensity profile. The indication of Noise serves to ignore
minor deviations in the intensity profile when searching for intercept points.
Hint Increase the Noise parameters if too many intercept points are found.

Use thresholds only Select the Use thresholds only check box to use threshold value settings
made somewhere else in your image analysis software to be used as criteria
when searching for intercept points.
By means of setting the threshold, areas of the image will be differentiated
and assigned to so called phases. Intercept points for the intercept counting
are points on which an intercept line reaches a phase transition. An intercept
line can only be classified successfully in this method, if its mean intensity
value also lies above the threshold.
Hint When the Use thresholds only check box has been activated and the Step
option has been selected, the grain boundaries of metallic samples or ax-
ons, for example, will be detected as two intercept points. The combination
of Use thresholds only and Step is to be avoided.

Setting thresholds
This segment will describe the procedure of defining threshold values. The
procedure is not specific for working with the Intercept Counting add-in.
Cut ends of carbon fibers
are shown in the image
above. The fibers’ gray val-
ues depend on the angle of
the cut.

19

1) Select the Image > Set Thresholds... command.

• When analyzing true-color images the Set Color Thresholds dia-
log box will be opened. The two dialog boxes (for either true-color
or gray-value images) differ considerably from one another.
 Intercept Counting • Describing the commands

In the example shown, the

histogram (below) has three
gray value peaks that clearly
correspond to image struc-
tures: The dark background
is somewhere in the vicinity
of the gray value of 85. The
gray values of the particles
are correlated with their
forms: the lighter particles
have a gray value of about
153; the darker ones around
130.

2) Select the Manual tab.

• The bar below the diagram shows you how many gray value rang-
es and/or phases are defined. Each phase has its own color.
3) Delete all phases already defined except one.
• To do this, select an entry from the Phase list and click the Delete
button. As soon as only one phase is defined the Delete button will
become inactive.
4) Select the Histogram entry from the Diagram group.
" The diagram now shows the gray-value distribution within the im-
age frame you have set.
• The current threshold values are shown in the diagram as two per-
pendicular lines. The lower threshold is blue and the upper is red.
5) Mark the Current option in the Preview group.
" The active phase is shown in color within the image so that you
can view what affect your settings have.
20

6) Define the gray value range for the first phase directly in the diagram.
Define the gray value range so that all the particles which belong to this
phase are shown in color.
" Move the mouse pointer over one of the two threshold lines. The
mouse pointer will change into a double arrow. Hold down the left
mouse button and pull the threshold to the desired value. The set
gray value range will be colored within the image.
 Define intercept counting

Gray value ranges are set

directly in the histogram.
The gray value ranges of the
different phases appear in
color within the image when
setting thresholds.

7) Click the New button - to add a second phase.

" A new entry will be added to the Phase list. The standard name
can be substituted with any other name you might prefer.
" The new phase will automatically be colored in a color not yet tak-
en. If you like, you can alter the color by selecting one from the
Color palette.
" The newly-added phase will now be activated - this means that the
diagram will now show the threshold values for the new phase. In
the image, the corresponding gray values are displayed in color.
8) Define the gray value range for the second phase.
9) Confirm the new threshold setting by clicking OK.

Model tab
The Model tab enables you to determine how the conversion of the intercept
counting in medium grain size is to proceed. Specifying a medium grain size
is only sensible with metallic samples.
The Model tab contains only a single selection field in which you can select
the model to be applied.
No model Select the No Model list entry in order to avoid the calculation of the intercept

21
lengths distribution in a grain size. No Model is the correct setting for all
measurements in which no images of metallic samples will be measured.
Saltykov (1) In the model according to Saltykov and Schwartz, the grain size is deter-
Saltykov (100%) mined under the assumption that the grains have a round cross section. The
two variants of the models Saltykov (1) and Saltykov 100% are only different
in the standardization. Saltykov (1) is standardized to a standard circle with
a diameter of 1; Saltykov (100%) uses a standard circle with the standard-
ized diameter of 100%.
G The G model makes the calculation of the lengths of intercept lines into grain
size in accordance to the definition in DIN 50 601.

Classification tab
The Classification tab enables you to set the way in which the measurement
results are to be interpreted. The aim of Classification is to produce a dia-
gram of the distribution of intercept lengths.
 Intercept Counting • Describing the commands

Define Refer- Click the Define Reference Point and Line button to interactively determine
ence Point and the measurement regulations for the Distance Reference Line and Distance
Line Reference Point options. The behaviors of your image analysis program de-
pends on which options were selected from the Distance... list.
Hint The Define Reference Point and Line button is only available if the intercept
points have been found. If necessary, click the Execute Intercept Counting
button to start the procedure.
Setting Reference Line If you click the Define Reference Point and Line button, the pointer jumps
into the image document and a straight line is fixed to it. Move the pointer
and the line to any point in the image document and click the left mouse but-
ton once. The pointer changes into a double headed arrow. Move the mouse
to enable the line to rotate. The center point of the rotation is the point which
you clicked before. Click the right mouse button once to fix the line.
By clicking the left mouse button again, you go back to the movement mode
which enables you to move the line again.
Hint The reference line is only fixed and adopted if you rightclick during the rota-
tion mode. You interrupt the procedure if you rightclick in the movement
mode, without setting a reference line.
Setting Reference Point If you click the Define Reference Point and Line button, the pointer jumps
into the image document. Move the mouse until the pointer is on the desired
reference point and click once. The reference point is marked by a circle with
a cross hair. You can then click on another position to adopt it as a reference
22

point. Once you are satisfied with the reference point, rightclick to fix the
point and to finish the procedure.
Distance... Select a distance you would like to measure from the Distance... list. It will
be used as the basis for the classification.
Distance reference line Select the Distance reference line entry to measure the distance of each
found intercept point to the interactively set reference line. Click the Define
Reference Point and Line to plot the reference line in the image.
Distance reference Select the Distance reference point entry to measure the distance of each
point found intercept point to the interactively defined reference point. Click the
Define Reference Point and Line button to plot the reference point in the im-
age.
Distance intercepts Select the Distance intercepts entry to evaluate the distance between two
intercept points along the measuring line. If you have selected the Distance
intercepts entry, the Define Reference Point and Line button is no longer ac-
tive.
Classification scheme The Classification scheme group enables you to determine if the measure-
ment results are to be automatically classified or if a classification scheme
manually defined by yourself is to be used.
 Define intercept counting

Automatic Select the Automatic check box if the classification is to be automatically cal-
culated based on the measured values. In doing so, it will be guaranteed that
all of the measurement values are detected. Each class has the same size.
Classes Enter the number of classes into the Classes field. This field is only active if
the Automatic check box has been selected. The Classes value can range
from 1 to 99. The size of a class is determined by the following formula:
( MAX – MIN ) ⁄ N
MAX is the largest and MIN is the smallest measured distance between the
two intercept points. N stands for the number of classes.
Classification scheme The classification schemes recognized by the system are offered in a pick-
list. The list encompasses all the defined classification schemes which work
together with the "Lengths" dimension.
Define classifi- Click the Define Classification to create a new classification. The Define
cation Classification dialog box is opened.

Defining a Classification
You will need to use the Define Classification dialog box to define a classifi-
cation.

1) Select the Sample Length entry from the Classification list. 23

2) Enter the name for your classification into the New classification field.
3) Click the Compute... button.
" The Compute Classification dialog box is opened.

4) Enter the number of classes into the Bins field of which your classifica-
tion is to be composed.
5) Enter the value 0 into the Minimum field.
 Intercept Counting • Describing the commands

6) Enter a number of your choice into the Maximum field.

" The Minimum and Maximum fields enable you to determine the
lengths which are to be considered for classification. For a carefully
executed measurement, the Minimum can remain 0. No generaliza-
tions can be made for Maximum. This value depends on the re-
spective samples.
7) Select Linear or Logarithmic from the Mode list, depending on how the
values are distributed.
" The logarithmic mode is recommended if there are decisively more
entries in the first class than in the other classes.
8) Click the OK button to close the Compute Classification dialog box and
click the OK button once again to close the Define Classification dialog
window.
" The measurement values will be classified once again with these
settings. The result is displayed in the diagram of the Define Inter-
cept Counting dialog box.

Display tab
You can set various display options in the Display tab.

Autoupdate Select the Autoupdate check box so that the intercept counting is re-execut-
ed when one or more parameters are changed.
24

Enter the time in seconds into s field which is supposed to pass after the
change of a parameter before the autoupdate can occur. The s field is only
active if the Autoupdate check box has been selected.
Line color The Line color and Intercept color lists give you the possibility to choose the
Intercept color colors which the intercept points and intercept lines are to be displayed in
the image document. A picklist with 16 colors opens when you click on the
arrow buttons next to one of the fields. Click once on a color of your choice
to use it to display the intercept points and/or intercept lines for the display.
Show intercepts and Select the Show intercepts and lines check box to show not only the mea-
lines surement path, but also the located intercept points in the image document.
Release the check box when you only want to show the measurement path.
This mode is helpful if you want to precisely set the measurement pattern.

Display area
There is a display area located below the Define Intercept Counting dialog
box's tab which directly shows the important measurement results.
 Define intercept counting

The upper part of the display area containing the measurement results is al-
ways shown. You can hide the diagram in the lower part by simply clicking
on the arrow button in the upper right corner of the display area. Click the
arrow button anew to show the diagram again.
Number of intercepts The total intercept points found will be displayed in the Number of intercepts
field.
Mean intercept length The sum of all the distances between two intercept points divided by the
number of intercept points minus 1 is shown in the Mean intercept length
field. The distance between two intercept points is determined along the in-
tercept lines for each one.
Model The Model field shows the selected model for grain size determination on
the Model tab and the resulting mean grain size.
Grain size number The G-value, in accordance to the ASTM-standard E112, is shown in the
Grain size number field. The G-model describes only a closed value range.
The entry for the Grain size number can thus be "invalid" when using this
model.
Phase... You can select the phase whose results are to be shown in the display area
from the Phase... list. This list is only active more than one phase has been
defined with the Define thresholds command.
Setting thresh- Click the Define Thresholds button to define threshold values to be used for
olds intercept counting.

Buttons 25
The Define Intercept Counting dialog box has its own button bar.
Load/Save Click the Load/Save Configuration button if you want to save all the settings
Configuration done in the Define Intercept Counting dialog box, or to load an already saved
version of the settings. The File In/Output dialog box is opened.
Load configuration Select an already defined configuration from the File list and click the Load
button to load an already existing configuration file.
Save configuration Enter a name for the configuration file into the File field. Click the Close but-
ton to save the current configuration under another name.
Execute Inter- Click the Execute Intercept Counting button to execute the intercept count-
cept Counting ing on the active image using the current settings. Select the Autoupdate
check box located on the tab's display to automatically execute an intercept
counting after having changed the parameters.
Related topics
Intercept length 4
G 21
Setting thresholds 19
 Intercept Counting • Describing the commands

Write Results Click the Write Results to Sheet to write the current results of the intercept
to Sheet counting to one or more sheets. Click the arrow button to the right of the
Write Results to Sheet button in order to open a menu and to select the cre-
ated sheets from it. You can create three different types of sheets: Inter-
cepts, Classification and Rawdata.
Intercept Counting A sheet with the name Intercepts is created. The name of the current pat-
tern, for example Cycloids, is located in the sheet's header. The first column
in the sheet contains the number of identified intercept points and the sec-
ond column contains the entire length of the measurement path.

The result of the measurement will be written to the next available line in the
sheet, should a sheet with the name Intercepts already be open. This way
you can carry out measurements on different images and compile the re-
sults in one sheet.
Hint The name of the measurement path is not updated, should a sheet with in-
tercept lines already exist. Do not forget to save the old sheet when chang-
ing the measurement path and to close it so that a new sheet for the new
measurement path can be created.
Classification A sheet entitled Intercept and Classify is created. The sheet shows the clas-
sification of the identified intercept length in addition to the general informa-
tion (name of image, measurement path, intercept point amount, entire
length of the measurement path and length unity).
26

The result of the measurement will be written under the already existing re-
sults with the name Intercept and Classify, should a sheet already be open.
Bin The individual classes to be used for classification are numbered in the Bin
column. The font color is connected to the color of the corresponding bar in
the display area's diagram.
From, To The lower and upper limits of the classes are shown in the From and To col-
umns.
Phase... In the column or columns entitled Phase..., the amount of each identified in-
terception length is shown which are in the Bin. Intercept lengths which lead
from one intercept point to the edge of the intercept line are counted; how-
ever, they only receive the weight 0.5.

Autoupdate 24
 Intercept counting

The number of these columns depend on the number of phases which have
been defined with the Image >Define Thresholds... command.
Rawdata A sheet entitled Intercept Rawdata is created. The mean intercept length
and the weight of all of the identified intercept lengths are entered into this
sheet.

The results of the measurement will be attached to this sheet, should a sheet
with the name Intercept Rawdata already be open.
Add intercepts Click the Add intercepts button to add additional intercept points which were
not automatically found after the intercept counting. The pointer will appear
within the image document. A circle with the color of the intercept point dis-
play appears at its tip. Move the pointer to the point you want to add and click
once. Intercept points can only be located along intercept lines. If you do not
click exactly on the intercept line, the intercept point is moved to the next in-
tercept line.
Repeat this procedure until the missing intercept points have been complet-
ed. A rightclick will end the insertion of additional intercept points.
Hint Enlarge the image as much as possible if you want to manually expand the
intercept points with this command. Before adding additional intercept
points, try to incorporate the missing points by altering the parameters of the
intercept counting.
Remove inter- Click the Remove Intercepts button to remove individual intercept points.
cepts The pointer will appear within the image document. Click once on each in-
tercept point which is to be removed. Finish by rightclicking.
Delete all Inter- Click the Delete all Intercepts button to remove all intercept points. The mea-
cepts surement path will still be displayed in the image. Note that the intercept

27
points are automatically reinserted into the image if the Autoupdate check
box has been selected in the Display tab.
OK Click the OK button to close the Define Intercept Counting dialog box. All of
the settings and parameters are saved and will be utilized with the next use
of the Define Intercept Counting command. The created sheets remain open
during intercept counting.

Intercept counting
The Intercept Counting command executes an intercept counting on the ac-
tive image. For this reason, parameters are used which were last set with
the Define Intercept Counting command. The results of the measurement
are transferred to the Intercept Counting sheet.
Hint The Intercept Counting command is only of limited use for interactive work.
It was mainly created for automatic measurements to be done together with
the Automater add-in.
 Intercept Counting • Describing the commands
28
 Index

A S
Add intercepts 27 Setting 12
Adjust size 16 Setting thresholds 19
Autoupdate 24 Structural boundary 3

B V
Boundary 12 Vertical lines 5
Setting of 9
Boundary tab 18
Buttons 25
W
Write Results to Sheet 26
C
Calibration unit 16
Circles 6
Classification scheme 22
Classification tab 21
Correlation 18
Crossed lines 6
Cycloids 7

D
Define Classification 23
Define Intercept Counting 15
Determining the classification 11, 14
Display area 24
Display tab 24
Distance 22

H
Horizontal lines 5
29

I
Intensity profile 3
Intercept length 4
Intercept point 4

L
Line color 24
Load/Save 25

R
Remove Intercepts 27