The general working principle of GEPARD is explained herein.
Setup the gepard.cfg
For optimal use, please create a copy of the sample_gepard.cfg
and rename it to gepard.cfg
. Within this config-file, a default file path and the Raman Control Interface that shall be used is defined. Further (microscope specific) options can be defined as well.
Creating and performing a measurement
After starting the GEPARD, a new measurement can be created by hitting the "New Measurement"-Button. A prompt window asks for a project name. GEPARD will create a directory with this name and save all required data within this folder. A project file will be saved as well, currently implemented by using the pickle module. After creation of the experiment, GEPARD leads the user throught the following steps, as also indicated in the toolbar-menu on the left-hand side of the program:
- Optical Scan: Acquire a stitched image with focus-stacking
- Particle Detection: Detect particles by watershed image-segmentation. A number of adjustable parameters is provided for controlling the detection result.
- Raman Scan: Measure all particles with defined Raman conditions.
- Particle Analysis: Load spectra and analysis results from external program and review particle statistics.
A detailed description of every step can be found on the respective wiki Page.