Graphics Item Groups

you can now unite any given set of graphics items in the new so called Graphics Item Groups, or short GI Groups. GI Groups themselves are a new sort of graphics items which, in fact, means that groups can contain other groups. GI Groups show (by default) their own bounding rectangle. This and other group properties are managed in the new Groups Define tool, see below. The group members act as one item concerning selection, translation, rotation, copy, paste. Deletion of a group (by default) only deletes the group object itself not its member items; but you can change this in the Groups Define tool.

ROI Groups, i.e. GI Groups that only contain ROIs, can compute statistics on the union, intersection or difference of the areas of all ROIs, compute a table of the statistics of all individual ROIs and last not least compute a table of the statistics on the pairwise difference of consecutive ROI group members.

Any graphics item can be in one and only one GI Group. The order of the graphics items in the list of group members is kept identical to the order of the graphics items in the image list and project list.

this button creates a new GI Group and opens a dialog to directly choose the desired members, with the currently selected graphics items preselected in the list.

this button deletes the currently selected group. If the checkbox Delete Members is switched off (the default) only the group object itself gets deleted, otherwise also its members.

copies the currently selected group.

pastes a previously copied group onto the tool’s OrthoDisplay.

renames the currently selected group.

opens a dialog to choose the members, the currently selected graphics items are preselected in the list.

the currently selected members are removed from the group.

the currently selected members are move up/down in the member list. The graphics items are moved up/down in the image and project list of all graphics items accordingly, which itself determines which item is drawn before which other item. Hint: A call to Move To Foreground and Move to Background for individual ROIs that are members of a group, always work on the group as a whole, so these calls do not have influence on the order of the members.

this button opens the tool of the last of the selected members.

the checkbox determines whether the group’s bounding rectangle is drawn or not. This influences the selection and mouse-induced translation and rotation as described below.

if this checkbox is switched off (the default) only the group object itself gets deleted, otherwise also its members.

include members - if this checkbox is switched off (the default) a color change only afflicts the color of the group’s bounding rectangle, otherwise also the color of all members.

for ROI groups, i.e. groups that only contain ROIs, you can here set a mode of evaluation. In Global Union, Global Intersection and Global Difference mode the tool computes the statistics on the union, intersection or difference of the areas of all members. In the mode Individual Evaluations the tool computes a table of the statistics of all individual ROIs. In the mode Sequential Differences the tool computes a table of the statistics on the pairwise difference of consecutive ROI group members.

with this checkbox you can visualize the operation. In the global modes, the area that enters the calculation is shaded with the group’s color, in table modes the individual areas are shaded with the individual ROI colors.

You can generate a new GI Group just by starting the OrthoDisplay context menu entry New Drawing Object/Group Item. It opens a dialog to directly choose the desired members with the currently selected graphics items preselected in the list.

If the group shows its bounding rectangle and you click inside the rect or on one of its members, the group’s selection state is indicated by the different outlines of its bounding rect. The members themselves are de-selected so to not get distracted by too many selected items on the view. However, when the group does not show its bounding rectangle, you can, of course, only select it by clicking on one of its members. Here, the members themselves are shown as selected.

A selected group can be translated with the mouse as any other graphics item. All its members move synchronously.

When a group shows its bounding rectangle, you can rotate it with the mouse at the bounding rect’s rotation handles; when it does not show its bounding rectangle you can rotate it at the rotation handles of its members.

Nothing special here: just select the group item and copy it, e.g. by pressing the shortcut CTRL-C (Cmd-C on MacOS). Paste Nothing special here too. Note: the order of the members is kept identical.

Deleting a group (by default) only deletes the group object itself not its members; but you can change this property in the Groups Define tool.

Changing the color of the group (by default) only changes the color of the groups bounding rectangle. You can switch on color synchronization of all members in the Groups Define tool, though.

First deselect the group, then select an individual member with pressed CTRL key (Alt on MacOS). Afterwards you can do anything with this item as if it were not part of a group, e.g. translate and rotate it relative to the other members. Setting properties of a group member in their respective tools does, of course, not affect the other members. Note: Change OrthoPart, and, as mentioned above, Move to Foreground and Move to Background always work on the whole group, even if changed for an individual member in its respective tool.