Adding Shapes

Shapes can be a rectangle, ellipse, or other shape drawn around some section of the image. Shapes can be quantified.

Click Features at the top left corner of the Display panel to toggle between displaying and hiding all features on the image. Features include Shapes, Bands, Lanes, Wells, Spots, Annotations, and more. Select specific features to display or hide in the Show group in each Analysis tab.

To add a shape:

  1. Open the Analysis tab and choose the type of shape you want to add. There are several ways to place a shape on the image:
    • Add Rectangle — Click the center of the feature in the image view. The rectangle automatically surrounds the feature.
    • Add Ellipse — Click the center of the feature in the image view. The ellipse automatically surrounds the feature.

      • You can only add the auto shapes (Add Rectangle and Add Ellipse)to a single channel at a time. All other shapes will be added to all channels that are currently visible.

    • Add Selection — Select a shape. Click the center of the feature in the image view where you want to add a shape. The selected shape is copied and added.
    • Draw Rectangle — Click and drag from the top left to the bottom right to surround the feature.
    • Draw Ellipse — Click the center of the feature and drag to the right or left to surround it.
    • Draw Freehand — Click and drag the shape until it surrounds the area of interest.
    • Draw Ruler — Click and drag the ruler tool between regions of interest on the image to measure the distance between the regions of interest. The ruler measurement is calculated by determining the length of the ruler line in pixels and then converting that length to a physical length based on the image resolution. Hold the SHIFT key while dragging the ruler to keep the ruler line perfectly horizontal (this is useful for creating scale bars). Right click the ruler line and then click Edit Ruler Properties for additional options, such as:
      • Manually enter a length value for the ruler. The ruler will adjust to match the length you enter.
      • Change ruler units. The ruler will adjust to match the units you choose.
      • If you would rather display a specific length (e.g., for a scale bar), then select Override Length and enter the specific length that you want for the scale bar in the Length field. The length of the ruler will adjust to match the length you enter as closely as possible (the length you enter must be a multiple of the pixel size for the adjusted length to perfectly match the length you enter) and the length you enter will be shown above the ruler.
  2. Continue adding the selected shape until you have finished.
  3. Click the Select button to end adding shapes (or press ESC).