What's new in this release 1.1.0

• Online help (not complete)
• Java runtime 1.5 included
• New icons and shortcuts in the interface
• Define a working area (to get results from it)
• Draw within the lens
• Open images or projects by dragging them inside the workspace
• Reopen a project even when the main image is not available
• 5 automatic thresholds
• Customize the display of date and numbers
• Change the measure unit in real-time (also integrates Anglo-Saxon units)
• More exporting data formats
• Template to save settings of Object Extraction
• Texture descriptors
• Vertical Profile (shows the vertical variation of granulometry, objects or background)
• Image Factory (uses several operators, e.g. median filter to reduce noise of an image)

Installation instructions of JMicroVision 1.1.0

We suggest removing any old Beta versions before installing a new version. Multiple versions (except beta ones) can be kept on the same machine.

Windows Instructions:

1. Right-click on the link and select "Save Target As..."
2. After downloading, double-click JMicroVision-v110-windows.exe
3. Follow the instructions in the installation wizard to complete the installation.

Note: Sometimes, on win 9x/Me system, the installer stops with a "null" installation message (fails to create folder). Workarounds: choose an existing folder or run the installer a second time with the same destination folder.

Uninstall: Start > Program Files > JMicroVision 1.1 > Uninstall JMicroVision 1.1

Start in console mode: Start > Program Files > JMicroVision 1.1 > Start with MS-DOS

Linux Instructions:

1. Right-click on the link and select "Save Target As..."
2. After downloading, set the execute permissions: type chmod u+x JMicroVision-v110-linux.bin in a Terminal screen
3. Double-click JMicroVision-v110-linux.bin or type ./JMicroVision-v110-linux.bin in a Terminal screen
4. Follow the instructions in the installation wizard to complete the installation.

Note: JMicroVision cannot be launched if the installed directory structure contains space. On machines with Linux Mandrake, if the "bc" utility is not installed, the installer will not work.

Uninstall: In the install directory of JMicroVision 1.1, enter in the directory _uninst and double-click uninstaller.bin file or type ./uninstaller.bin in a Terminal screen.

Start in console mode: In the install directory of JMicroVision 1.1, type ./JMVision.bin -is:javaconsole in a Terminal screen.

Generic or Other Platforms Instructions:

1. Right-click on the link and select "Save Target As..."
2. After downloading, extract the archive with an unzip application or use the java command jar xf. Example: <jdk>/bin/jar xf JMicroVision-v110-generic.jar

Note: You need to install a Java 1.5.0 (or later) virtual machine (JRE) and JAI 1.2 (for JRE) before lauching JMicroVision.

Launch JMicrovision: Start a console, go to the directory which contains all the extracted files and type the java command (refer to the java documentation for the platform specific use of the java command).

System Requirements

• Any platforms supporting Java 1.5 and JAI (Java Advanced Imaging), but Windows, Linux, Solaris and Mac OS X (partially) have a native acceleration that improves the performance.
• 256 MB RAM (512 MB recommended for handling large images)
• 60-90 MB available disk space (includes Java Virtual Machine)

Memory Management

The initial Java heap size sets the amount of memory that is initially reserved for the application, while the maximum Java heap size determines the largest amount of memory the application will be allowed to consume. Optimal settings for these options are dependent on several issues such as the Java runtime you are using and the actual physical configuration of your machine.

Open the JMVision.ja file located in the install directory with a text editor and change the values of the heap size. Default values (64 for initial and 384 for maximum) are suitable for a machine with 512 MB of RAM. For instance, if you have a computer with 256 MB of RAM, the values must be changed to 32 MB (initial) and 128 (maximum) to avoid memory swapping. But with 128 MB of maximum heap size, some operations like converting or saving images may result in a "out of memory" message of the Java runtime.

Note: These changes take effect when you restart JMicroVision. Before editing the JMVision.ja file, it is safer to make a backup. In Generic or Other Platforms distribution, the JMVision.ja does not have any effect, only the command parameters (-Xms and -Xmx) define the heap size values.

Note: On Mac OS X, the JMVision.ja does not have any effect too. Control-click on JMicroVision in the Finder and choose “Show Package Contents”. This will open a folder that contains a folder called “Contents”. Open the Info.pList file in a text editor and change the heap size values (-Xms and -Xmx).

The cache memory for tiles is the memory used to store the image tiles for future requests. Each tile can be processed and stored separately. Previously allocated tiles may also be re-used to save memory. Tiling improves the performance and facilitates the use of multiple threads for computation.

When loading an image, JMicroVision asks to convert the image to a tiled TIFF format, which is a format with a tiled data structure. As a result, each tile can be loaded separately in memory (without a tiled format, the whole image would be loaded).

The value of the cache memory for tiles essentially depends on the maximum Java heap size. The best value is the maximum Java heap size minus the memory required by the application (generally 20 to 100 MB, it can be more when converting very large images; cache memory used by images is not included). The used memory is the total memory used by the application.