Burning in image information

Burning in image data is always then relevant when as well as the actual image information, any additional information whatsoever exists, that can be displayed on the image.

When will additional information be displayed on the image?

•As soon as you make a drawing on the image, or measure something on the image, you will automatically create a layer with drawing objects, that lies over the image.

•By using the View > Info Stamp command, you will make additional information about the image appear.

•By using the View > Scale Bar command, you will make a scale bar appear on the image.

What exactly does it mean to burn something in?

When you "burn in" information, you write this additional information irrevocably into the image. This additional information will then become an integral part of the image. All of the pixels that lie beneath the additional information displayed on the image, e.g., beneath the scale bar, will be overwritten by the burning in. In this way, image information will, of course, be lost.

Which information will be burnt in?

All of the additional information that is on display on your monitor when you use the above command, will be burnt in. This means that a scale bar will only be burnt in when it is on display at that time.

How will the information be burnt in?

The information in the info stamp is burned into the image exactly as it appears in the image window when the whole image is displayed in the image window. This guarantees that the information will be visible even with very large images.

The scale bar is an exception. When you burn in a scale bar, its length will be automatically adapted to match the image. Where a very large image is concerned, the scale bar you burn in will be correspondingly longer than with a smaller image.

You can burn in additional information at every zoom factor you wish. However, the result of burning in at a very small, or a very large, zoom factor, looks different to what is currently displayed on your monitor. Should you have set a very large, or a very small, zoom factor, you will need to check what the additional information looks like at the zoom factor that was used for burning in. To do so, click the Fit to Window button on the Zoom toolbar.

Converting an image type when burning in information

When you burn additional information into an image, this is often only possible when in this process, the image type is changed. For example, you can't burn a colored drawing into a gray-value image, without either turning the image into a colored one, or changing the colored drawing into a gray one.

Loss of data by burning in

By burning information into an image you will, in every case, lose image data, namely the data that lies beneath the information that you burn in. You may, however, lose still more data, owing to the automatic conversion of the image type, that occurs.

For example, a 16-bit gray-value image will be automatically converted into a 24-bit true color image by the burning in. In this case, the image contains considerably less data but nevertheless still looks the same in the image window.

00060 28022013