Image Processing Tutorial for Viking Images

First time users click here to get started with NIH Image.

This tutorial will help you to process your own Viking images, particularly those found on the Mission to Mars: Digital Image Maps (MDIMs) and Viking raw images CD-ROM volumes. These CD-ROMs are available from NSSDC. To try out your image processing skills, look for the over 200 Viking Orbiter images also included on this disk. They are located in the "VOImages" folder. The file "INDEX.txt" connects the name of the surface feature to folder title. < p>

If you have enough memory on your computer (16 MB or more), you can run NIH-Image as you read this tutorial. If not, it may be easier to print out sections of this tutorial and keep them handy as you experiment with NIH-Image.

For PC users, we have also included 2 PC image processing programs in the PCSoft directory of the tutorial,

• The alpha 5 version of NIH-Image for PCs running Microsoft Windows 95. Most Mac-Image functions, including acquiring Planetary Data System Format (PDS) images, have not been implemented yet. You may want to check the Image ftp site for more recent releases of this software.
• IMDISP (A DOS-based image display program). Read the README file and type HELP after starting the program for more information.

Contents

• Introduction and System Requirements
• About the Viking Cameras
• How to Open up a Viking Image File within NIH-Image
• How to Set Brightness and Contrast Levels and Work with false Colors
• How to Set Scales, Measure Distances, and Compute Areas on Viking Images
• How to Cut and Paste Images into Mosaics
• How to Measure Heights and Depths of Landforms Using Shadow Lengths and Sun Angles
• How to Process Raw Viking Images
• How to find NIH Image Document Information
• How to Obtain Your Very Own Copies of the Viking CD-ROMS

Author of Tutorial and Suggestions