From image to count

Scientific Counter is designed for analysis tasks where digital images must be evaluated systematically. The key settings are optimized in a test analysis and then applied to the entire image.

1. Load an image. Open a representative image from the test series.
2. Set the color selection. For dark objects, the image can be inverted. Select the red, green, blue, or grayscale channel in which the objects are most visible.
3. Define the analysis area. Circular inclusion areas, edge exclusion, and test areas help hide petri-dish edges, holders, or irrelevant image regions.
4. Prepare the image. Median filters remove brightness gradients, mean filters reduce small disturbances, and the threshold separates object regions from the background.
5. Select objects. Size, brightness, and shape factor can be specified as minimum and maximum values.
6. Separate overlapping objects. Automatic region separation can split connected object groups into sub-objects. Criteria such as convexity, size, and shape factor control which objects are separated.
7. Review the test analysis. Step-by-step test analysis shows intermediate results so parameters can be improved iteratively.
8. Set scale and output. A known scale enables size values in units such as µm or mm. Result files, histograms, and report output are defined in the options.

Quality starts during image acquisition

The software can only detect features that are sufficiently visible in the image. For stable results, lighting, camera settings, and camera distance should remain as constant as possible within an image series. For very small structures, lossless image formats are often better than JPEG because compression artifacts can interfere with detection.