NASAView Alternative to view and zoom JPL .IMG data

Trying to view this image file to a viewer with zoom capabilities, without success.
0003ml0000000870100107e01_drcl.img
0003ml0000000870100107e01_drcl.lbl

Can't get all the usual suspects to load JPL .IMG data...

Ideas, please???

Thanks

reply to post by BuzzDengue


Try with IrfanView:
www.irfanview.com...

The first filetype, IMG, is usually a bitmap according to fileext:
filext.com...

The other one, LBL, im not sure of, but again according to fileext, its a database file type:
filext.com...

Hope it helps

I believe Gimp has a plugin and there are various libraries for python etc if you want to roll your own. Some of these libraries dont decode some of the different .img files in the pds though.

reply to post by qmantoo


That is the issue... they are a tinge off the other .img files that are out there...
I also get a "dying plugin" error on Gimp2 with the plugin you mentioned..

reply to post by BuzzDengue


The IMG format used in Curiosity images is not compatible with that GIMP plugin, I think that plugin was made for version 2 of the IMG format and those images are version 3, as you can see on the LBL file (that's just a text file).

Photoshop can open those images as "Photoshop RAW", but you have to provide the image dimensions in pixels (available on the LBL file), the number of channels and bit depth.

I tried to open the photo in Photoshop but I couldn't with the right parameters for image size and number of channels (3), the best I could do was to say it was only one channel and it opened the image with the three images for the three channels in a vertical strip. With that it was easy to create a 3 layers image with one image for each channel.

There's an alternative, ISIS, the program the USGS and NASA use to work with the images. It's free but runs only in Unix-like systems like Linux or Apple's OS X.

I will look for alternatives.

PS: to open the image in Photoshop I used the RECORD_BYTES and FILE_RECORDS values as if they were the width and height of the image. It's not how that's supposed to work, but it did.

reply to post by ArMaP


ArMaP,
Thank you for the insight and conciseness, appreciated!
When you are prepared, which version of Photoshop or Photoshop alternative would you recommend?

Those label files (.LBL) remind me of the Load File declarations in Fortran WATFIV... oh, those are fun memories... ; )

reply to post by BuzzDengue


I couldn't find any program besides NASA View and the ISIS program (ISIS is a suite made up of dozens of programs) that can read PDS version 3 images.

For this type of work, any version of Photoshop is good (I think the oldest I have used with this was CS 2), but I use mostly GIMP, an open source alternative that can do most of the things Photoshop does (but don't believe the GIMP fans that say that it does everything, as GIMP, for example, doesn't work with more than 8 bits per pixel).

NASA View as a problem, as it only saves as JPG (which is a lossy format and lose quality) or GIF (which only accepts 256 colours and lose lots of quality in a colour photo), but you can do one thing: open the image and select channel 1 for Red, Green and Blue, then save that image as a GIF; as it was a greyscale image the GIF format will not lose quality. Reopen the image but this time chose the second channel for all colours and save that as a GIF (with a different name), then reopen the image and chose the third channel for all colours and save that image as a GIF (with another different name).
Now you have three images, one for each channel, so you can open something like GIMP and add each image for one channel, making a colour image from the three greyscale images created with NASA View.

It's not the easiest way but it's possible to convert a PDS version 3 colour image into a colour PNG.

reply to post by ArMaP


Does NASAView have a zoom add-in?
I have been know to max my display area with the part of the NASAView .IMG I want to see, and do a tiff screen capture with Greenshot. Not elegant, but useful at times...
NASA has made mention of the "lossless" versions of JPEG... I need to read up on that...
I could almost live with JPEG444 images, and do currently get by with JPEG422 images, but sometimes it is not by choice.


I am researching Photoshop this afternoon.

BuzzDengue
Does NASAView have a zoom add-in?

As far as I know NASAView doesn't have any add-ins, we only get those functionalities.

NASA has made mention of the "lossless" versions of JPEG... I need to read up on that...

I think they have the possibility of using JPEG2000 compression, one of the possible compression schemes is lossless.

PS: I thought that making a IMG reader shouldn't be too difficult, so I tried, and the result is a small Windows program (it needs .Net 2.0 or higher) that opens IMG files (only version 3 for now, as those are the ones that are not readable by the GIMP plugin or correctly read by Photoshop) and gives the user the possibility of saving the image as JPEG, PNG, BMP or TIFF. I will try to add the possibility of zooming in and out.

If you (or anyone else, obviously) are interested you can download it from here.
(you have to scroll down to the bottom of the page to see the download button)

PS: as this is my first attempt, made since my previous post, it's likely that it doesn't work with all images, I have only tested it with one. If you find any problem just send me a message.

reply to post by ArMaP


Yes is worked perfectly as advertised! It appears you did the three layer GIF color build up, yes?
How hard is the zoom function?
You could have the "Official ATS MSL '.IMG' Viewing Utility"... really nice work, seriously.
Thank You!

BuzzDengue
Yes is worked perfectly as advertised!

I'm glad it works for you too.

It appears you did the three layer GIF color build up, yes?

I used the same idea, reading the file is easy.

How hard is the zoom function?

I was trying to use the mouse wheel, but I'm having some problems, I will try a different method.

I have yet to make the scroll working as I want it, so the scroll is still limited to the use of the scroll bars, but the zoom in (+), zoom out (-) and zoom reset (*) are working.

I added a histogram, the possibility of "stretching" the colours (auto white balance) and saving the viewport (what is seen on the screen), useful for getting a zoomed-in image directly from the program.

I also want to add a non-resampling zoom, maybe next weekend.

The updated version (0.8) can be downloaded from here.

reply to post by ArMaP

Works well for our purposes. You did a nice job on this. Thank You

reply to post by ArMaP

How hard to give an option of just using the binary without the color layer... ? Thanks

reply to post by BuzzDengue


Show/save a greyscale version of the image?

reply to post by ArMaP

No, grayscale I can do anytime.
The Image progression is (as I see it and understand it);

.DAT - As acquired binary (with the .LBL twin)

Then,

.IMG - First Generation From Translated Binary (with the .LBL twin)

Then,

Take your pick ... TIF/JPEG/GIF/PNG

Yes?

-------------------------------------

I would love to work with a freshly opened ".DAT" file, but I am stuck there. The program that you authored opens the ".IMG", but the colorizing is apparently degrading/artifacting the detail. It would be good to work with the uncolorized 1st generation ".IMG", as opened.

Am I correct in assuming that the ".DAT" is not able to be opened as the "Generation Zero" source image???

Thank you ArMaP. Also, I thought the below might be of interest to you.
==============================================================================
This is the documentation for DAT2IMG.ZIP from the PDS source site...
Of course, I'm Windows 8, not supported
==============================================================================

PDS_VERSION_ID = PDS3
RECORD_TYPE = STREAM

OBJECT = TEXT
PUBLICATION_DATE = 2013-05-20
NOTE = "Instructions on how to build and
run dat2img, the software provided to
decompress the MSSS EDR data products
in this PDS Archive."
END_OBJECT = TEXT
END

1. Overview
The software provided to the PDS by MSSS for processing the MMM data is
available to the community from the PDS in executable form for the
following computer operating systems: Apple Macintosh OSX 10.7 and
LINUX RedHat 5. It is PDS's responsibility to maintain the software
and to upgrade it to other operating systems.

The distribution includes a single tool for reading, extracting, and
decompressing MMM EDR products into an image .IMG viewable by NASAView.
The tool, "dat2img" only works on XXXX.DAT files created by
MMM instruments. As mentioned in the Mast Camera (Mastcam),
Mars Hand Lens Imager (MAHLI), and Mars Descent Imager (MARDI)
Experiment Data Record (EDR) and Reduced Data Record (RDR)
PDS Data Products Software Interface Specification,
a MMM PDS EDR product consists of a detached label (.LBL) and a .DAT
file.

1. Compilation

Compilation of the supplied software produces a single executable
named dat2img. This build example is for a UNIX shell command line.
It requires the gcc compiler (not provided) from version 4.1 of the
Gnu Compiler Collection.


cd jpeg-6b
./configure
make clean
make
cd ..
gcc dat2img.c pdecom_msl.c -o dat2img -I jpeg-6b -Ljpeg-6b -ljpeg

Note: If your OS suppports it, after unzipping MMM_DAT2IMG.ZIP,
sourcing build_all should build dat2img automatically.

source build_all


The "source build_all" and resulting dat2img binaries have been tested
on Red Hat Enterprise Linux release 5 and Apple OS X 10.7.


2. Running

The software
1. extracts the data contained in the mini-header
2. decompresses the image data (if compressed)
3. creates an image (IMG) formatted file

With a MMM DAT file product as input, dat2img produces a valid PDS IMG
with an optional detached label.

Usage: dat2img [-d ] input.DAT [output_dir]
Use -d option for detached label file (default is attached label)
Default output file is input_nn.IMG in the current directory

Example: ./dat2img -d 0000MD9999000032E1_XXXX.DAT out_dir
out_dir/0000MD9999000032E1_XXXX_00.LBL
out_dir/0000MD9999000032E1_XXXX_00.IMG

Images are single band 8 bit, 3 band 8 bit RGB, or single band 16 bit
images depending on the EDR contents. The labels for sequential GOP
images are identical except for name.

Note: video GOP products output 1 to 16 individual .IMG files with
paired detached label (.LBL) files. For GOP video products the output
is

filename_00.LBL
filename_00.IMG
filename_01.LBL
filename_02.IMG
…
filename_15.LBL
filename_15.IMG
==============================================================================

BuzzDengue
The Image progression is (as I see it and understand it);

.DAT - As acquired binary (with the .LBL twin)

Then,

.IMG - First Generation From Translated Binary (with the .LBL twin)

Then,

Take your pick ... TIF/JPEG/GIF/PNG

Yes?

I think so, but I think the IMG is just the DAT converted to a standard format used by the PDS, while the DAT is dependent on the camera that creates it. I don't remember seeing DAT files, I have to look for them.

I would love to work with a freshly opened ".DAT" file, but I am stuck there. The program that you authored opens the ".IMG", but the colorizing is apparently degrading/artifacting the detail. It would be good to work with the uncolorized 1st generation ".IMG", as opened.

There's no colourizing, the original images are colour images compressed with a JPEG algorithm, and that's the problem.

People insisted in higher resolution colour photos from Mars, now they have them, but now we are stuck with the consequences of that, highly compressed images to compensate for the bigger data needed for those bigger colour photos.

Am I correct in assuming that the ".DAT" is not able to be opened as the "Generation Zero" source image???

I don't know, I have to look into this.

Edit: could you post the source for that information? I can't find it. Thanks in advance.

reply to post by ArMaP


I think this is what you asked me for on the links?

Good stuff at the NODES...
pds-imaging.jpl.nasa.gov...
Reference;
0353MR0014460000301273E01_XXXX.DAT

BuzzDengue
I think this is what you asked me for on the links?

Not exactly, I was asking where did you got that text from.

reply to post by ArMaP

pds-imaging.jpl.nasa.gov...