Difference between revisions of "Creating SVG for use as mx annotation overlays"

Revision as of 14:00, 9 July 2010

Before you can annotate images in mx, you need to draw the annotation in image illustration software. For our purposes we are using Inkscape (freeware available here: http://www.inkscape.org/) or Adobe Illustrator, but any such vector-based program with capabilities to save as an SVG (Scalable Vector Graphics) file should work.

• for either application, the original image must be saved on the user's hard drive (e.g. from a microscope-captured image or off of an image database such as MorphBank: http://www.morphbank.net/)
• it is a good idea to record the actual dimensions of the image (which can be found by right-clicking the file and viewing the 'Properties > Details') especially when using Illustrator (as Illustrator tends to re-size the image when imported)
• the basic idea will be that if you zero the image as a base layer in illustration software and draw an overlay highlighting the structure, the SVG code will be translated as that exact overlay in mx

Instructions for Inkscape:

• Open inkscape and go to 'File > Import' (Ctrl+I); select the image that you want to annotate [Fig.1]
• Go to the 'Edit' menu and select 'Guides Around Page'; you should now see blue lines around the frame [Fig.2]
• Under the 'View' menu, click 'Snap' - the blue grid icon and backwards blue "N"-like icon should be activated on the middle row
• Enable the 'Snap to guides' icon (the backwards blue "N"-like icon) [Fig.2]
• Drag the image to the upper left corner until it snaps into place [Fig.2]

Fig.1 Inkscape 'File' menu showing 'Import' function.

Fig.1 Inkscape interface showing blue guides, 'Snap to guides' icon (red circle) and the image snapped to upper left corner.

• Next, go to the 'Layer' menu and select 'Add Layer'; if you are going to do multiple annotations on one image, rename each layer with the name of the class that you are annotating (this will help you identify what part of the SVG code to select later) [Fig.3]
• Before starting the annotation on the new layer, lock the base image layer
• Using the 'Draw freehand lines' tool on the left toolbar, draw a rough outline of the area you want to highlight; make sure to close the object [Fig.4]
• Drag and modify the curves/lines of the outline using the 'Edit paths by nodes' tool [Fig.4]
• Once the outline is drawn, you can click on a color at the bottom to fill the object [Fig.4]

File:New layer.jpg Fig.1 Inkscape 'File' menu showing 'Import' function.

Fig.1 Inkscape interface showing blue guides, 'Snap to guides' icon (red circle) and the image snapped to upper left corner.