Aphelion (software) facts for kids
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Aphelion Dev graphical user interface
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| Developer(s) | ADCIS French company |
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| Initial release | 1996 |
| Stable release |
4.6.1 / 15 June 2023
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| Written in | C sharp, C++ |
| Operating system | Windows 7 or later |
| Size | 242 MB (x86) / 972 MB (x64) |
| Available in | 2 languages |
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List of languages
English, French
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| Type | Image processing |
| License | Proprietary commercial software |
The Aphelion Imaging Software Suite is a special set of computer programs. It helps people work with and understand images. This software includes three main parts: Aphelion Lab, Aphelion Dev, and Aphelion SDK. It also has extra programs called extensions for specific tasks.
You can use Aphelion to create and run new applications. It can also be added to other computer systems. This lets other programs use its powerful image tools.
How Aphelion Started and Grew
The idea for Aphelion began in 1995. A French company called ADCIS S.A. worked with an American company, Amerinex Applied Imaging, Inc. (AAI). They wanted to create a new image processing tool.
Many of Aphelion's early tools came from a software called KBVision. This software was made by AAI's older company. Another important part was the XLim software library. This library was developed at a math center in France. Both companies helped to build it.
The very first version of Aphelion was ready in April 1996. More versions came out quickly after that. The first official stable version was released in December 1996. It was shown at big events in Boston and Paris.
In 1998, version 2.3 of Aphelion came out for Windows 98. More and more people in France and the United States started using it. Version 3.0 was a big change. It was completely rewritten in 2000 to use Microsoft's new ActiveX technology. This made it more powerful.
Version 3.0 also came in two types. The "Developer" version helped users quickly build apps. It had an easy-to-use GUI and could record actions. The "Core" version was for expert developers. It let them use Aphelion's tools in their own programs.
In 2001, ADCIS took over leading the development. AAI started focusing on security tools, like scanners for airports.
In 2004, ADCIS planned version 4.0. They rewrote the image tools again. This time, it was to work with .NET technology. It also worked with newer, more powerful 64-bit Personal Computers. The way the program looked was also updated. It had modes for both beginners and experts.
The first version 4.0 was shown in the UK in 2004. In 2008, a new product called Aphelion Lab was launched. It was made for users who are not image processing experts. It was simpler to use and had fewer functions. This new product became part of the Aphelion Image Processing Suite. This suite included Aphelion Dev, Aphelion Lab, Aphelion SDK, and other extensions.
Today, ADCIS continues to update Aphelion. New versions with more features are always being released. In 2015, it gained the ability to handle very large images. It could also work with special microscope images called virtual slides. Later in 2015, ADCIS announced that Aphelion would work on tablets and smartphones. This would be for specific apps.
The name "Aphelion" comes from an astronomy term. It means the point where a planet is farthest from the Sun. This name was chosen because Aphelion software for Windows was very different from the Unix systems used on scientific workstations back in the 1990s.
What Aphelion Does
Software house of Aphelion
Aphelion is a software suite for working with images. It can handle 2D and 3D images. It works with black-and-white, color, and multi-band images. A French company called ADCIS develops it. Their office is in Saint-Contest, Calvados, Normandy.
Scientists and industries use Aphelion a lot. They use it to solve simple and complex image problems. First, you can quickly build an image application using the graphical interface. This interface has many tools. You can even record your steps into a macro command.
These macros use programming languages like BasicScript, Python, and C#. They help process many images at once. They can also ask the user for specific settings. All of Aphelion's image processing tools are written in C++. The user interface is written in C#.
The main goal of image processing is to automatically work with the tiny dots (pixels) that make up a digital image. Then, it finds interesting parts, like cells in biology. It measures these parts to understand the image better. For example, it can tell if an image has defects.
So, you start with an image. The software processes its pixels using different tools. In the end, it gives you measurements. These measurements can then be used by other systems. They can also help classify the objects found in the image.
You can get images from many devices. These include digital cameras, video cameras, microscopes, medical scanners, or even smartphones. The image data can be 1D (like a sound wave), 2D (like a regular photo), or 3D (like a scan of an object).
A 2D color image has three sets of pixel values. These are usually Red, Green, and Blue. A 3D image can have monochrome or color data. It can also have multispectral or hyperspectral data. When working with videos, there's an extra layer of information: time.
The Aphelion Software Suite has three main products:
- Aphelion Lab: This is for people who are not experts in image processing. It helps you easily separate parts of an image. You can do this automatically or by hand. Then, it measures the interesting parts. It has wizards that guide you from getting the image to making a report.
- Aphelion Dev: This is a complete environment for image work. It has over 450 tools to build and run image applications. It also has macro-command languages. These help you automate any task. You can use it to process many images at once. Aphelion Dev provides libraries for image processing and viewing.
- Aphelion SDK: This is a set of tools for software developers. It lets them create their own programs using Aphelion's powerful features. It includes tools for displaying, processing, and analyzing images. Developers can use these tools to build custom apps. These apps can then be used on many PCs.
You can add extra extensions to Aphelion Dev. These are for specific tasks. You can try Aphelion for free on your Personal Computer for 30 days. If you like it, you can buy a permanent license. You can also get updates and support by paying a yearly fee. The engineers who build the product provide technical support.
The main goal of image processing is to find objects in an image. Then, you can sort them based on their shape, color, or position. Aphelion helps you do this by following these steps:
- First, you load an image from your computer or capture one.
- Next, you improve the image. This might mean removing noise or changing its brightness.
- Then, you segment the image. This means finding and separating the objects you want to study. For simple tasks, you might use a threshold. This turns the image into black and white. Then, special tools clean up the image. Each object gets a unique number.
- You can edit the objects by hand if needed. You can remove unwanted parts or change their edges. Then, you can measure things like their shape or color. These measurements help you sort them.
- What you do for one image, you can apply to many images at once. You use macro-commands for this. This helps you get more reliable results.
- Finally, you can analyze the measurements using statistics. If you have enough objects, you can train a classifier. This helps the software learn to sort new objects into groups.
What Aphelion is Used For
Students, researchers, and engineers use Aphelion for many things. It helps them with image processing and computer vision. Here are some examples:
- Security: Like watching areas with cameras or tracking moving objects.
- Remote Sensing: Analyzing images taken from satellites or airplanes.
- Quality Control: Checking products in factories for flaws.
- Materials Science: Studying how different materials are made and behave.
- Life Sciences: Helping in medicine and biology research.
- Earth Science: Studying geology and the Earth.
- Theory: Developing new ways to process images.
Security
Aphelion SDK has been used for video surveillance. This involves using many cameras. For example, it helped monitor a subway system. It also counted people entering or leaving a room. Aphelion can track traffic on roads. It can also analyze how moving objects travel. In robotics, it can find still or moving objects like cars. It has even been used in portable devices to read car license plates. ADCIS also used Aphelion SDK to create 3D models from 2D shapes. This helped estimate the weight and size of 3D objects.
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Automatic number plate recognition.
Road traffic safety -
Person tracking in a subway using multiple cameras.
Video surveillance -
Car tracking.
Object tracking
Remote Sensing
Aphelion helps automatically find roads, buildings, and farm fields in satellite images. It can also analyze the surface of the Sun. Satellite images often have many layers of information. They can show things the human eye cannot see. They also capture more detail than a regular photo. In remote sensing, hyperspectral images are common. These images help find specific areas of contrast using different light wavelengths.
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Field identification and classification.
Remote sensing -
Road and building detection.
Remote sensing
Quality Control and Inspection
For industrial quality control, ADCIS made a tool to check printed circuit boards in electronics. Aphelion has also been used to read documents and find flaws on printed documents. In cosmetics, it checked how nail polish wears off. It also performed quality control on facial creams. The software can compare images over time. This helps measure how well an anti-wrinkle cream works. Other quality control apps include sorting silver grains on films.
In optics, ADCIS helped develop a new way to cut lenses for glasses. They also modeled contact lenses in 3D. These special lenses are for patients with serious eye injuries. This project was a team effort with EyePrint Prosthetics.
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Nail polish tear and wear analysis.
Cosmetics -
Quality control of a cleanser (facial cream).
Cosmetics -
Wrinkles cream quality control.
Cosmetics -
Printed documentation quality control.
Printing -
Lens cutting system.
Optics -
Printed circuit board inspection.
Electronics -
Argentic grains monitoring.
Photography
Materials Science
In metallurgy, Aphelion tools helped study inclusions in steel. This was done with electron microscopes. They also analyzed how Carbon spreads during metal production.
When coating surfaces, a link was found between the shape of elements and the stress they cause. This was seen using SEM images. Aphelion also has tools to find and analyze grain boundaries in materials. This follows ASTM standards. Work has been done to add 3D reconstruction tools for TEM images.
Image analysis also helps study composite polymers reinforced with glass fiber. It measures how the size of tiny threads affects the material. The spread of metal elements in composite materials is often studied using granulometry. This involves image processing. The porosity of materials like xerogel is sometimes studied using 3D and X-ray microtomography.
Aphelion has been used in chemical engineering. It studied water mixes from two different sources in a reactor. It helped measure how concentrations changed using image processing.
In industrial water treatment, Aphelion processes X-ray images of sewage sludge. It helps track how cracks grow as the sludge dries. This is important for treating sludge before disposal. The analysis helped understand crack growth based on the sludge's origin. Aphelion also helped analyze foams using X-ray images. It counted bubbles and measured their average size.
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Chemical mapping WDS.
Materials science -
Granulometry.
Materials science -
Grain Sizing.
Materials science -
Inclusion Analysis in steel.
Metallography
Life Sciences
Aphelion's many tools are used to analyze images from microscopes. The software can also control the microscope's movement. It measures things like shape (size, perimeter, volume) and texture (how smooth or rough something is). These measurements are shown in a table. You can then do statistical analysis. Reports can also be generated and saved. For example, a special software based on Aphelion measures how certain agents affect dentin cells.
In cytopathology, ADCIS made software to analyze blood. It counts and sorts red blood cells. Another software sorts cancerous cells using neural networks. Images are taken by a camera on a microscope. Aphelion then processes them. It finds parts like cytoplasm and nuclei. Aphelion has also studied tumor blood vessel growth in low-resolution images. This helped find immune-marked cells. Image analysis is also used in histology to study blood vessel growth in 2D and 3D.
ADCIS also created a tool to help classify chromosomes. It automatically finds telomeres and pairs chromosomes. Another product, Ploidics, measures DNA ploidy. Aphelion can also analyze gel electrophoresis.
In dermatology, Aphelion users developed a way to measure how well wounded cells heal.
Aphelion has been widely used in ophthalmology (eye medicine). One product found lesions in eye images of patients with age-related macular degeneration. It also determined the severity of diabetic retinopathy. Other eye-related products include ReVA for measuring 3D volume of eye detachments. ARIES studies confocal images of the cornea in 2D and 3D. ISOS measures eye redness. LWE studies dry eye syndrome.
In pharmacology, ADCIS used Aphelion SDK to find new molecules. These molecules stop cell division (mitosis) in microscope images.
In radiology, ADCIS worked with Robert Van't Hof. They studied osteoporosis images of bones. They measured porosities (tiny holes). ADCIS also used tomography to create 3D models from different angles.
Some Aphelion users in biology studied ox maturation. They used image processing to find bone and cartilage edges in vertebra images. Image processing can also count cells. This was used for Petri dishes in microbiology.
In agriculture and botany, Aphelion helps study leaves. It separates leaves from the background. Then, it measures them and performs statistical analysis. The goal was to link fruit tree health to what is seen on their leaves.
In the food industry, Aphelion can measure the average grain size. It can also calculate the amount of pulp in tomatoes.
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Color fundus images of the retina.
Ophthalmology -
Confocal image of the cornea nerves.
Ophthalmology -
Immune-marqued cells detection.
Oncology -
Selection of molecules inhibiting mitosis.
Pharmacology -
Wound healing quantization.
Dermatology -
Osteoporosis analysis.
Radiology -
Chromosome classification.
Cytogenetics -
Seed Analysis.
Metrology
Earth Science
In geology, scientists used Aphelion to study rocks. They looked at the size and shape of rock pieces in moraines (piles of rock left by glaciers). This helped them figure out what slope would cause rockfalls. Aphelion's measurements were easier and cheaper to get.
Images of metamorphic rocks helped study how garnet crystals are spread in the Alps.
In geothermal engineering, Aphelion was used for a project in France. It studied how quartz grains were spread in a drill core. They also studied crack networks using different techniques.
Theory
Image Processing and Analysis is a scientific field. Researchers work to find new ways to process images. This includes new algorithms and techniques like deep learning. There is a strong link between image processing and classification (which is part of artificial intelligence).
Aphelion lets people create new image processing tools. These tools can be easily added to the software. Once added, they can be tested and used in algorithms.
New tools are added based on what customers need. They are also added when new techniques are developed in research labs. For example, new ways to represent colors have been added. Also, new ways to represent objects as vectors have been shown to be helpful.
Computer performance is always improving. This changes what can be done in real-time. Aphelion's performance is sometimes used to compare how well new optimizations work.
Technical Details
All Aphelion Imaging Software Suite products work on PCs. They need Windows (Vista, 7, 8, 8.1, or 10). They can run on both 32-bit and 64-bit systems. Users can find help online and watch video tutorials.
Extra Software Tools
Here are some optional tools you can add to Aphelion:
- 3D Image Processing and 3D Image Display: These tools help you view and work with 3D images. The 3D display uses a software called VTK.
- 3D Skeletonization: This tool helps find the skeleton of a 3D object.
- Image Registration: This tool helps align images from different devices.
- Classification Tools: These tools help sort objects. They use methods like Fuzzy Logic, Neural Networks, and Random Forest.
- Kriging: This tool helps remove noise from images using special math.
- Camera and Microscope Interfaces: These let Aphelion connect to cameras and microscopes.
- Virtual Image Capture and Stitcher: These tools capture many small images and combine them into one very large image. This is useful for microscopy.
- Stereology Analyzer: This tool analyzes very large images. It's often used in biology with microscope images.
- VisionTutor: This is an online course about image processing. It includes theory and practice with Aphelion.
Aphelion users can also add their own custom macro-commands. They can also add other programs and libraries they developed.
Software Versions
See also
- PIL
- VTK
- CVIPtools
- LabVIEW
- R
- SciPy
