Image Engineering iQ-Luminance User Manual
- June 3, 2024
- Image Engineering
Table of Contents
Image Engineering iQ-Luminance
INTRODUCTION
The iQ-Luminance software calculates luminance values from the image data taken with a calibrated camera. The obligatory camera calibration provides how the camera’s raw RGB data are mapped to the Luminance considering various exposure settings. Rectangular, elliptical, circular, or polygonal Regions of Interest (ROI) can be drawn on the image to evaluate the selected area. The corresponding Luminance is displayed as a grayscale or false-color image.
PRECONDITIONS
Camera Calibration
The obligatory camera calibration provides the knowledge of how the
camera’s raw RGB data are mapped to the Luminance considering various exposure
settings. This camera- and lens-specific calibration is performed in our test
lab.
Attention!
You must send Image Engineering your camera for calibration before you use
the software. Without a pre-calibration from IE, you will not be able to use
the software.
The camera calibration requires two measurements:
- Opto-electronic conversion function (OECF)
- Spectral response (SR)
- Optional: Shading correction
System Requirements
Operating system → Windows 7 64bit (or newer)
GETTING STARTED WITH THE USER INTERFACE
You will need to input the license key when starting the software for the
first time. The key can be found on the USB stick that will be sent to you
upon purchase of the software. Without the license key, you can only access
the demo version. Only the example images provided by IE are compatible with
the demo version (images are available for download on our website).
The iQ-Luminance software is divided into three operation areas:
-
Control area
- Manage images for measurement in a file list
-
Menu Bar
→ Open/close image files-
View → Switch between three different image views/export and import ROIs
→ ROI management -
Report→ Edit report or Export report
-
Scale → Switch between logarithmic or linear scale/reset scale
View and Report are visible if an image is loaded.
Scale is visible when an image is loaded, and a luminance view is active.
-
-
Image
- Displays the current image
- Displays a color-coded luminance image with a color bar
- ROIs can be drawn directly on the image
-
Image Toolbox
- Contains measurement (Rectangle ROI, Ellipse ROI, Line, Polygon ROI) and display tools (zoom in / out)
-
Results Area
- Displays and manages measurements of selected areas
Image area and Results area are visible if an image is loaded.
Control Area
Manage Images
The iQ-Luminance software only supports the usage of RAW image files, and
the calibration data provided by IE are based on RAW images.
- Add image files to a list
- Remove selected image files from the list
- Clear list
- Show or hide additional meta-information of the image
Load Calibration Data
The camera and lens-specific calibration is performed in our test lab.
The software is delivered with calibration text files that can then be loaded
in the calibration data screen: File → Calibration Data
-
Add (+) or remove (-) a set of calibration data (e.g., for one camera lens combination). You can rename the set of files once loaded (double click the file name)
Select a set of calibration data by clicking on the specific entry.
The currently active set displayed on the right side and used by the software is highlighted with a blue background color. -
Spectral response (SR)
Import or remove (-) the spectral response calibration file -
Opto-electronic conversion function (OECF)
Load or remove one or more OECF calibration files -
Shading data (optional) – image 3
Load one or more shading correction calibration files
If you select more than one OECF or shading calibration file, the software
will choose the suited calibration files based on the exposure of the loaded
image (ISO, f-stop, f [mm]). The software will ensure that the ISO and f-stop
for both the calibration and image files match.
Your calibration data will be saved and available after loading the
calibration files.
Once saved, the calibration data is also accessible from the calibration menu
on the left side (image 4). 
Selecting Vλ
For more information on vλ 2006, please follow the link below: Official
publication:
https://cie.co.at/publications/fundamental-chromaticity-diagram- physiological-axes-part-1 Additional text files for the v(symbol) curve 2006 (files already implanted into the iQ-Luminance software): http://cvrl.ioo.ucl.ac.uk/ciepr.htm
Image
Management
After loading and selecting an image, it is displayed in the image area.
The toolbox will then appear above the image and the result area to the right
beside the image.
The
toolbox contains tools to select ROIs for the measurement and some options for
displaying the image.
Zoom In and Out
- Zoom in: You can zoom to a specific area by clicking and dragging a rectangle over the desired location.
- Zoom out: Displays the entire image.
Select an ROI
iQ-Luminance offers four different shapes when selecting a region of interest:
- Rectangular ROI
- Elliptical ROI
- Arbitrary line
After choosing one of the above tools, the ROI is created by clicking and dragging the desired shape over the image.
Polygonal ROI
The polygon is created by clicking into the image. Each click sets a point of
the polygon. You can select a minimum of three points.
- After setting the points, you must confirm the shape. You can create multiple shapes on the image.
- Click to cancel a shape that has not been confirmed or to go back to the main menu bar.
Multiple ROIs may be created, which are managed in the result area. The ROIs
can be moved and re-shaped afterward. To remove a shape that has been
confirmed, right-click the shape and delete ROI.
Please note: While you are in Polygon mode, most of the GUI will be
disabled until you confirm or cancel the polygon creation.
ROI Management
Control and move multiple ROIs at one time by holding down the Ctrl key and
selecting the ROIs you would like to control.
You can delete an ROI by right-clicking and selecting delete.
Selected ROIs can be resized by typing new values into fields Width and
Height.
Selected ROIs can be copied and pasted into the same or into other images
(image 4).
You can save, export, and import ROIs in the View dropdown menu.
Save and Load Projects
You can save your project and load it again at any time. The image and the
ROIs will be saved as well. File → Save Project
Change the Display Mode
The iQ-Luminance software offers three different display modes found in the
menu bar:
View → Original RGB
View → Luminance (B/W)
View → Luminance (Color)
Luminance (Black/White) and Luminance (color) means that the measured
luminance values in the image are displayed using grayscale (image 5) or false
colors (image 6) with corresponding luminance values in candela per square
meter.
A color bar on the left side of the image indicates the correlation between
color or gray values in the image and luminance values.
Scaling the Luminance Value Range
It is possible to change the correlation between color and luminance values.
The denotation of false colors / grayscale values:
Red (false color) / white (grayscale) means a high luminance value.
Blue (false color) / black (grayscale) means a low luminance value.
When loading an image, the maximum and minimum luminance values are calculated
and used as limits for this scaling.
The scaling can be changed by entering new values in the fields for the
minimum and maximum values. 
You can apply the scaling of the current image to all opened images in the menu bar:
- Scale → Apply Range to all Open Images
- Scale → Reset Range resets the limits of the current image to maximum and minimum luminance values of the image.
Logarithmic Scaling
You can switch to logarithmic scaling in the menu bar: Scale → Logarithmic
Scale
Result Area
Every ROI created in the image appears in the results list along with the
measured luminance value.
The currently selected ROI is highlighted in both the
image and the result list. Toggling the selection in the list activates the
corresponding ROI in the image.
Profile Plot
The line selection is used to evaluate a luminance distribution along a
line with variable width. The luminance values along this line are be plotted
in a chart: 
RESULT EXPORT
You can export the results as an XML file.
You can add your logo, title, editor, and date to the PDF Export. You can open
the relevant dialog in the menu bar:
Report → Configure
Report Generation (PDF)
Fill out the correct information.
The “Show ROI” checkboxes imply that you can show the ROIs either on the
false-color image or the report image.
TRADEMARK AND COPYRIGHT
Trademarks
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Microsoft Corporation in the United States and/or other countries.
Software by Third Parties
Armadillo
- Armadillo C++ Linear Algebra Library is licensed under the Apache License 2.0 Copyright 2008-2020 Conrad Sanderson
- Copyright 2008-2016 National ICT Australia (NICTA)
- Copyright 2017-2020 Arroyo Consortium
- Copyright 2017-2020 Data61, CSIRO
- This product includes software developed by Conrad Sanderson
- This product includes software developed at National ICT Australia (NICTA) This product includes software developed at Arroyo Consortium
- This product includes software developed at Data61, CSIRO
dcraw
Copyright © 1997-2015 by Dave Coffin
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(www.cybercom.net/~dcoffin/dcraw/)
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The Qwt library contains GUI Components and utility classes which are
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for 2D plots it provides scales, sliders, dials, compasses, thermometers,
wheels and knobs to control or display values, arrays, or ranges of type
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Copyright Information
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Copyright © Image Engineering GmbH & Co. KG, 2022
The software furnished under this agreement is provided on an “as is” basis,
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