The iVision‐Mac™ 4.0 Upgrade from BD™ IPLab™ on MacOS 9

A Path to Current Macs

iVision‐Mac 4.0 offers a path to current Macs running OS X for users running Version 3.6 of BD™ IPLab™ imaging software under MacOS 9. It is a Carbon application that can control all supported cameras that have OS X drivers. It can also control supported motorized microscopes and microscopy hardware.

It requires OS X 10.3 (Panther), 10.4 (Tiger) or 10.5 (Leopard). More information on the requirements is available.

New Facilities

Upgrading to iVision‐Mac 4.0 will provide access to a number of improvements and additions made since the release of IPLab 3.6.

Multi-D Acquire Command

This command makes it easy to capture multi-mode images in 3D. You may select from multiple filter positions and two shutters to grab fluorescence and brightfield sequences.

Within the live preview window, you can now change camera settings such as offset, gain, and electronic gain. You can also set the normalization (display contrast) parameters during the preview to match your preferences.

Camera Preview Dialog with Improved Controls

Within the live preview window, you can now change camera settings such as offset, gain, and electronic gain. You can also set the normalization (display contrast) parameters during the preview to match your preferences.

“File Sets” for Automated File Input/Output

iVision‐Mac can now store multiple file sets for “indexed files” and “file lists” used in more demanding automated applications. These commands have been significantly updated to provide more functionality. There are three kinds of file sets:

• Folder Sets, which let you work with every image in a folder;
• Indexed Sets, which let you open numbered files in order or according to their index;
• List Sets, which let you specify images, which can come from multiple folders.

Improved Scripting Controls

To complement the new file handling commands, new loop control commands have been added to the script window. These allow you to loop (and exit from the loop) on conditions other than just a count.

Animation Player

A movie player control dialog appears when you play back sequences of data. Multiple sequences can be animated at once. Animations now run continuously once started (even while you go on to do other things).

Multiple Users

The iVision‐Mac 4.0 User Folder stores scripts, images, and preferences. Each OS X user on the machine has such a folder, which is located within the user's Home folder. No longer will you have to worry about other users changing your preferences, macros (scripts), or settings. Your data and your setup are now your own.

Cameras

Supported cameras include models from QImaging, Cooke Corporation/PCO, Diagnostic Instruments, Photometrics and Scion. More information is available under Requirements and Supported Cameras, and from BioVision Technologies.

Access to Existing Data

Your Images

iVision–Mac 4.0 reads image files from IPLab/Mac and from IPLab/Windows.

Your Scripts

iVision–Mac 4.0 opens and converts scripts from versions 3.5 and 3.6 of IPLab/Mac, but some editing may be necessary: a number of old file-related commands cannot be converted.

Other Stored Information

iVision–Mac 4.0 imports stored information from your existing IPLab/Mac 3.6 application, such as your X‐Y calibrations, linear filters and pseudocolor tables. Place a copy of your Command Data file from IPLab/Mac 3.6 in the iVision Preferences folder (within your iVision 4.0 User Folder), and launch iVision‐Mac to convert it.