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Idraw on Mac

Posted: Wed Sep 13, 2017 9:16 am
by Svetlana
Hello - I'm trying to open tiff data file (figure with current trace from the paper) with idraw in hope to trace the curve and convert it to ascii data file to use for model optimisation. I'm using the idraw app that came with NEURON package (on Mac OS X 10.11.6), and... it doesn't open any tiff files. Is this a known issue - or any advice on how to go about it?
Is NEURON's idraw app a version of Apple's iDraw (now Graphic)? Would getting the apple version help?

Or are there any known hacks to convert a curve from a paper into a data file (apart from contacting the authors and asking for original data file)?

thanks...

Re: Idraw on Mac

Posted: Wed Sep 13, 2017 10:55 am
by ted
It's always best if you can get the original numerical data.

The idraw that is distributed with InterViews is a vector graphics program that reads and writes files that use a special encapsulated postscript format. It can import some bitmap image files, but it is old and may not be compatible with the latest bitmap file formats--especially with regard to compression algorithms.

Strictly speaking, tiff is not "a bitmap file format". It is a "wrapper" for several different kinds of bitmap data. I'd expect that idraw having difficulty importing tiff files would be the rule, rather than the exception. Here's a tiff file that does import nicely into idraw:https://www.neuron.yale.edu/ftp/ted/neuron/hek2.tif If you can discover what variety of tiff file this is, maybe you could convert the image you're really interested in to exactly that same variety, and then import it.

Re: Idraw on Mac

Posted: Wed Sep 13, 2017 12:35 pm
by Svetlana
Umm.. I get "You don't have permission to access /ftp/ted/neuron/hek2.tif on this server
Apache/2.2.3 (CentOS) Server at www.neuron.yale.edu Port 443"... but overall thanks, it is helpful.

Re: Idraw on Mac

Posted: Wed Sep 13, 2017 4:09 pm
by ted
Strange. From an off-campus location that is outside of Yale's firewall I was able to right click on the URL and download the file. Maybe there's some strange permissions* issue with it. Anyway, I'll email the file to you so you can check it for yourself. Let me know if this works:
File / Import Graphic

*--Yep, the file's permissions were rw-r-----, so maybe that was the problem. I changed that to rw-r--r--

Re: Idraw on Mac

Posted: Wed Sep 13, 2017 4:35 pm
by ted
OK, the tiff file's image data must be UNCOMPRESSED. That's how to make it importable by idraw.

Re: Idraw on Mac

Posted: Wed Sep 13, 2017 5:16 pm
by ted
There may be much easier ways to do this. See
http://connectedresearchers.com/graph-d ... your-data/
http://plotdigitizer.sourceforge.net/
and I am sure there are others as well. Let me know what you finally did.

Re: Idraw on Mac

Posted: Wed Sep 13, 2017 11:32 pm
by ted
engauge-digitizer is pretty good--installed easily from an rpm, its autotrace feature worked quite well on a rather low resolution png from a publication, and it generated csv files, all with minimal intervention by me.

Re: Idraw on Mac

Posted: Wed Sep 13, 2017 11:51 pm
by Svetlana
Will explore the options. Thanks a lot! And by the way, that link to .tiff file works now.

Update: Engauge Digitizer worked perfectly, since it did I haven't looked at the other options.

Thanks again!