What is Profilocolore's PickViewer?

PickViewer is software for analyzing and reporting calibrated data obtained with SpectraPick (colorimetry and spectrometry) and integrating data from other instruments. It allows you to work on perfectly aligned images and perform colorimetric, spectral, and advanced statistical analyses, while maintaining a link to the original images.

How does PickViewer manage projects and analysis workspaces?

At any stage of the work, you can save original data and processing (Workspace) in a folder chosen by the user. The next time you open the same Workspace, the analysis resumes exactly where it left off. Any imaging result can be exported at full resolution in standard formats (TIFF 8/16 bit, JPEG, PNG), while new images can be imported, aligned, and resampled to be integrated into the project.

How does PickViewer support pigment and spectral signature analysis?

PickViewer includes a spectral database of pigments with over 140 signatures and allows you to search for a pigment present in the database within the scene, or start from a point in the scene to identify the most similar spectrum in the same database. You can insert new spectral signatures extracted from images, as well as export, import, merge, and edit spectral databases to suit your research and documentation needs.

For which applications is PickViewer particularly suitable?

PickViewer is ideal for spectral imaging and advanced colorimetry applications in the fields of cultural heritage, scientific imaging, diagnostics, research, and quality control. Thanks to its mapping, PCA, clustering, false color, and spectral database management tools, it is particularly useful for identifying pigments, analyzing stratigraphy, highlighting latent information, and producing structured reports to support restorers, researchers, and imaging professionals.

PickViewer

Q: What are the main analysis functions offered by PickViewer?

PickViewer offers a wide range of analysis tools: Lab and spectral colorimetric reading of one or more pixels; mapping by spectral, colorimetric, or mixed similarity; extraction of latent information using PCA (Principal Component Analysis) and clustering (Kohonen maps and k-means); creation of false color images; NDI (Normalized Difference Index) tools and a spectral signature database with functions for inserting, merging, importing, exporting, and editing spectra.

Colorimetric and spectral analyses

SPECTRAL IMAGING

PickViewer is software for analyzing and reporting calibrated data obtained with SpectraPick (colorimetry and spectrometry) and integrating any data available from other instruments. Point measurements (e.g., XRF or Raman) can also be integrated thanks to mapping and similarity functions that can extend the result of a point measurement to an entire area identified through mapping.

analysis

PickViewer offers several families of tools:

Lab colorimetric reading and spectral reading of one or more pixels with automatic search in the database of elements with similar spectrum.

Mapping by spectral, colorimetric, or mixed similarity

Extraction of latent information using PCA (Principal Component Analysis) and Clustering (Kohonen maps and k-means)

Spectral Signature Database with functions for inserting, deleting, merging, importing, and exporting spectra.

Automatic reporting of results obtained.

Import, alignment, and export functions for any type of image.

The software works on images that are perfectly aligned with each other, such as those produced by SpectraPick, and any results retain the alignment of the original images.

At any stage of the analysis, you can save the original data and the results (the Workspace) in a folder of your choice. When you next open the Workspace, you can continue your analysis from where you left off.

Each imaging result obtained can be exported at full resolution (that of the original images) in standard formats (TIFF 8 and 16, JPEG, PNG). Any imaging data can be imported, if necessary passing through the alignment and resampling functions, to become an additional source of structured information to work on.

Here is a list of the processing tools available to the user:

Colorimetric and radiometric reading

of each point, from a single pixel to an arbitrarily large square area of pixels (with application of a smart average).
ROI cutout

(region of interest) with or without perspective correction and the option to save the cropped area as a new project.
Map creation

by searching for points similar to a given one, according to multiple criteria: colorimetric, spectral, selective channels (multimetric), characteristics from other sensors or results from previous processing (e.g., black/white masks). The sensitivity to similarity is user-adjustable, and the map is rendered with color scales that can be selected by the user from a rich collection of colormaps.
Principal component analysis (PCA)

to discover even the slightest correlations in the mix of any band, highlighting preparatory sketches, corrections, and any other type of hidden information.
Creation of false-color images

with assignment to the RGB channels of any available imaging data.

Image segmentation through clustering

based on Artificial Neural Networks using any combination of available data (features) and free choice of the number of classes and topology (from 1D to 3D) of the output nodes. The classes obtained can be aggregated to form new ones.
The NDI tool

(Normalized Difference Index) allows you to compose an image (AB)/(A+B) where A and B can be any mix of original bands and channels present in the data.
Spectral pigment database

containing more than 140 pigments and pigment mixtures with associated spectral reflectances.
Search by spectral similarity:

It is possible to start from an element in the database (pigment) and search for it in the scene being analyzed, or vice versa: it is possible to read the spectrum of a point in the scene and search the database for the most similar spectrum.
Entry into the database

with a name chosen by the user, of a spectrum extracted from the scene captured.
Export, import, merge, and edit

spectral databases.