This section assumes that you have installed the MATLAB toolbox as instructed in the :doc:`MATLAB user information page </users/matlab/index>`. Note the minimum recommended MATLAB version is R2017b.
As described in Using Java Libraries, every installation of MATLAB includes a |JVM| allowing use of the Java API and third-party Java libraries. All the helper functions included in the MATLAB toolbox make use of the Bio-Formats Java API. Please refer to the :javadoc:`Javadocs <>` for more information.
Increasing |JVM| memory settings
The default |JVM| settings in MATLAB can result in
java.lang.OutOfMemoryError: Java heap space
exceptions when opening large
image files using Bio-Formats. Information about the Java heap space usage in
MATLAB can be retrieved using:
java.lang.Runtime.getRuntime.maxMemory
Default |JVM| settings can be increased by Java Heap Memory Preferences of MATLAB (R2010a onwards) using :menuselection:`Preferences --> General --> Java Heap Memory`. We recommend to use 512 MB in general, but you don't need to decrease the value if the default value is bigger than 512 MB.
However, the maximum value allowed in the Preferences GUI (typically set to 25% of Physical Memory, whihc you can ask by the memory
MATLAB command) can still be too small
for your purpose. In that case, you can directly edit :file:`matlab.prf` file in the
folder specified by the prefdir
MATLAB function
(eg. 'C:\Users\xxxxxxx\AppData\Roaming\MathWorks\MATLAB\R2018b'
). Find the
parameter JavaMemHeapMax
in the file and increase the number that follows
the capital I
(in MB) to increase the maximum Java heap memory size. The
change will be reflected by the Preferences as above.
JavaMemHeapMax=I25000
You will see a warning message as above.
Alternatively, this can also be done by creating a :file:`java.opts` file in
the startup directory
and overriding the default memory settings (see this page
for more information). We recommend using -Xmx512m
(meaning 512 MB) in your :file:`java.opts`
file.
Calling:
bfCheckJavaMemory()
will also throw a warning if the runtime memory is lower than the recommended value.
If errors of type java.lang.OutOfMemoryError: PermGen space
are thrown
while using Bio-Formats with the Java bundled with MATLAB, you
may try to increase the default values of -XX:MaxPermSize
and
-XX:PermSize
via the :file:`java.opts` file.
.. seealso::
`Java Heap Memory Preferences (R2010a onwards) <https://uk.mathworks.com/help/matlab/matlab_external/java-heap-memory-preferences.html>`_
`How do I increase the heap space for the Java VM in MATLAB 6.0 (R12)
and later versions? <https://uk.mathworks.com/matlabcentral/answers/92813-how-do-i-increase-the-heap-space-for-the-java-vm-in-matlab-6-0-r12-and-later-versions>`_
:oo_root:`Release of OMERO & Bio-Formats 5.1.1 <2015/04/28/omero-bio-formats-5-1-1.html>`
The first thing to do is initialize a file with the :source:`bfopen <components/formats-gpl/matlab/bfopen.m>` function:
data = bfopen('/path/to/data/file');
This function returns an n
-by-4 cell array, where n
is the number of
series in the dataset. If s
is the series index between 1 and n
:
- The
data{s, 1}
element is anm
-by-2 cell array, wherem
is the number of planes in thes
-th series. Ift
is the plane index between 1 andm
:- The
data{s, 1}{t, 1}
element contains the pixel data for thet
-th plane in thes
-th series. - The
data{s, 1}{t, 2}
element contains the label for thet
-th plane in thes
-th series.
- The
- The
data{s, 2}
element contains original metadata key/value pairs that apply to thes
-th series. - The
data{s, 3}
element contains color lookup tables for each plane in thes
-th series. - The
data{s, 4}
element contains a standardized OME metadata structure, which is the same regardless of the input file format, and contains common metadata values such as physical pixel sizes - see :ref:`ome-metadata` below for examples.
Here is an example of how to unwrap specific image planes for easy access:
.. literalinclude:: examples/bftest.m
:language: matlab
:start-after: accessing-planes-start
:end-before: accessing-planes-end
If you want to display one of the images, you can do so as follows:
.. literalinclude:: examples/bftest.m
:language: matlab
:start-after: displaying-images-start
:end-before: displaying-images-end
This will display the first image of the first series with its associated
color map (if present). If you would prefer not to apply the color maps
associated with each image, simply comment out the calls to colormap
.
If you have the image processing toolbox, you could instead use:
imshow(series1_plane1, []);
You can also create an animated movie (assumes 8-bit unsigned data):
.. literalinclude:: examples/bftest.m
:language: matlab
:start-after: animated-movie-start
:end-before: animated-movie-end
There are two kinds of metadata:
- Original metadata is a set of key/value pairs specific to the input
format of the data. It is stored in the
data{s, 2}
element of the data structure returned bybfopen
. - OME metadata is a standardized metadata structure, which is the
same regardless of input file format. It is stored in the
data{s, 4}
element of the data structure returned bybfopen
, and contains common metadata values such as physical pixel sizes, instrument settings, and much more. See the :model_doc:`OME Model and Formats <>` documentation for full details.
To retrieve the metadata value for specific keys:
.. literalinclude:: examples/bftest.m
:language: matlab
:start-after: read-original-metadata-by-key-start
:end-before: read-original-metadata-by-key-end
To print out all of the metadata key/value pairs for the first series:
.. literalinclude:: examples/bftest.m
:language: matlab
:start-after: read-original-metadata-start
:end-before: read-original-metadata-end
Conversion of metadata to the OME standard is one of Bio-Formats' primary features. The OME metadata is always stored the same way, regardless of input file format.
To access physical voxel and stack sizes of the data:
.. literalinclude:: examples/bftest.m
:language: matlab
:start-after: read-ome-metadata-start
:end-before: read-ome-metadata-end
For more information about the methods to retrieve the metadata, see the :xml_javadoc:`MetadataRetrieve <ome/xml/meta/MetadataRetrieve.html>` Javadoc page.
To convert the OME metadata into a string, use the dumpXML()
method:
omeXML = char(omeMeta.dumpXML());
By default, bfopen
uses bfInitLogging
to initialize the logging system
at the WARN level. To change the root logging level, use the
:common_javadoc:`DebugTools <loci/common/DebugTools.html>` methods as
described in the :doc:`logging` section.
.. literalinclude:: examples/bftest.m
:language: matlab
:start-after: logging-start
:end-before: logging-end
The main inconvenience of the :source:`bfopen.m <components/formats-gpl/matlab/bfopen.m>` function is that it loads all the content of an image regardless of its size.
To access the file reader without loading all the data, use the low-level :source:`bfGetReader.m <components/formats-gpl/matlab/bfGetReader.m>` function:
reader = bfGetReader('path/to/data/file');
You can then access the OME metadata using the getMetadataStore()
method:
omeMeta = reader.getMetadataStore();
Individual planes can be queried using the :source:`bfGetPlane.m <components/formats-gpl/matlab/bfGetPlane.m>` function:
series1_plane1 = bfGetPlane(reader, 1);
To switch between series in a multi-image file, use the :javadoc:`setSeries(int) <loci/formats/IFormatReader.html#setSeries-int->` method. To retrieve a plane given a set of (z, c, t) coordinates, these coordinates must be linearized first using :javadoc:`getIndex(int, int, int) <loci/formats/IFormatReader.html#getIndex-int-int-int->`
% Read plane from series iSeries at Z, C, T coordinates (iZ, iC, iT)
% All indices are expected to be 1-based
reader.setSeries(iSeries - 1);
iPlane = reader.getIndex(iZ - 1, iC -1, iT - 1) + 1;
I = bfGetPlane(reader, iPlane);
The basic code for saving a 5D array into an OME-TIFF file is located in the :source:`bfsave.m <components/formats-gpl/matlab/bfsave.m>` function.
For instance, the following code will save a single image of 64 pixels by 64 pixels with 8 unsigned bits per pixels:
.. literalinclude:: examples/bftest.m
:language: matlab
:start-after: bfsave-plane-start
:end-before: bfsave-plane-end
And the following code snippet will produce an image of 64 pixels by 64 pixels with 2 channels and 2 timepoints:
.. literalinclude:: examples/bftest.m
:language: matlab
:start-after: bfsave-multiple-planes-start
:end-before: bfsave-multiple-planes-end
By default, bfsave
will create a minimal OME-XML metadata object
containing basic information such as the pixel dimensions, the dimension order
and the pixel type.
To customize the OME metadata, it is possible to create a metadata object
from the input array using :source:`createMinimalOMEXMLMetadata.m <components/formats-gpl/matlab/createMinimalOMEXMLMetadata.m>`, add custom
metadata and pass this object directly to bfsave
:
.. literalinclude:: examples/bftest.m
:language: matlab
:start-after: bfsave-metadata-start
:end-before: bfsave-metadata-end
The dimension order of the file on disk can be specified in two ways:
- either by passing an OME-XML metadata option as a key/value pair as shown above
- or as an optional positional argument of
bfsave
If a metadata object is passed to bfsave
, its dimension order stored
internally will take precedence.
For more information about the methods to store the metadata, see the :xml_javadoc:`MetadataStore <ome/xml/meta/MetadataStore.html>` Javadoc page.
Initializing a Bio-Formats reader can consume substantial time and memory. Most of the initialization time is spend in the :javadoc:`setId(java.lang.String) <loci/formats/IFormatHandler.html#setId-java.lang.String->` call. Various factors can impact the performance of this step including the file size, the amount of metadata in the image and also the file format itself.
One solution to improve reading performance is to use Bio-Formats memoization functionalities with the :javadoc:`loci.formats.Memoizer <loci/formats/Memoizer.html>` reader wrapper. By essence, the speedup gained from memoization will only happen after the first initialization of the reader for a particular file.
The simplest way to make use the Memoizer
functionalities in MATLAB is
illustrated by the following example:
.. literalinclude:: examples/bftest.m
:language: matlab
:start-after: memoizer-start
:end-before: memoizer-end
If the time required to call :javadoc:`setId(java.lang.String) <loci/formats/Memoizer.html#setId-java.lang.String->` method is larger
than :javadoc:`DEFAULT_MINIMUM_ELAPSED <loci/formats/Memoizer.html#DEFAULT_MINIMUM_ELAPSED>` or the minimum value
passed in the constructor, the initialized reader will be cached in a memo
file under the same folder as the input file. Any subsequent call to
setId()
with a reader decorated by the Memoizer
on the same input file
will load the reader from the memo file instead of performing a full reader
initialization.
More constructors are described in the :javadoc:`Memoizer javadocs <loci/formats/Memoizer.html>` allowing to control the minimal initialization time required before caching the reader and/or to define a root directory under which the reader should be cached.
As Bio-Formats is not thread-safe, reader memoization offers a new solution to increase reading performance when doing parallel work. For instance, the following example shows how to combine memoization and MATLAB parfor to do work on a single file in a parallel loop:
.. literalinclude:: examples/bftest.m
:language: matlab
:start-after: memoizer-parfor-start
:end-before: memoizer-parfor-end