Determining length of lines

[DBM004]

We are trying to determine the length of blood vessels in the lining of pig intestines. Unfortunately I cannot figure out how to enhance the image enough to be able to separate the blood vessels (squiggly lines on attached picture) from the background. Also, I have not found a way to measure the length of the lines--all the tools seem to want to analyze straight distances or "blobs" without telling me what I want to know. Any help would be appreciated

[Will Denman]

The measurement of the blood vessels in this picture would be very challenging. The picture does not have very good contrast as you mentioned. Even if the picture did have great contrast, you would probably have a difficult time automating the measurement of the veins. I would suggest first calibrating the image so that you know the pixel to "real world coordinates" relationship. Then you could create a LabVIEW VI that displays the image on the front panel. Then, by hand, you could click on the image and have LabVIEW record each click and draw lines between the mouse click locations. This would provide a semi-automated technique to measuring the vein length.

Will Denman
Application Engineering
National Instruments