Huygens Software refers to different image processing packages, available for multiple platforms. They are intended for restoration, interactive analysis and volume visualization of 2D, 3D, multi-channel and time series images from fluorescence microscopes.

The restoration is based on different deconvolution algorithms, that permit the recovery of objects from images that are degraded by blurring and noise. In microscopy the blurring is largely due to diffraction limited imaging by the instrument; the noise is usually photon noise.

Our Huygens software will significantly improve your microscopic images!

Huygens Essential makes high quality deconvolution available for everyone, by combining the latest deconvolution algorithms with an easy graphical user interface. The software improves dramatically the resolution and contrast in your microscopic images while effectively removing haze and noise. In this way, structures and details which would otherwise remain hidden become clearly visible.

The wizard user interface guides you step by step through the deconvolution process.

The Huygens Essential main window.

In the preprocessing stage the intelligent program will check the microscopic parameters for possible problematic optical conditions of your image.

During the deconvolution process, Huygens Essential will also correct your data for spherical aberration, as well as bleaching in the case of time series or wide-field images.

You are in charge! Whenever you are not fully satisfied with the results, you can always stop the deconvolution process in every stage and re-run it with different settings.

Multi channel images are processed sequentially, which allows you to select the best result on each channel to compose the final result.

Time series deconvolution of 3D and 2D images (multi)-channel images is also extremely easy to do by selecting the time series in one file.

The intelligent 4D-channel cropping tool allows you to trim along four dimensions and delete uninteresting channels for a more efficient operation by reducing the load of your computer's processing power. Even when your system's memory is not sufficient to deconvolve your image as a whole, your data can be split into bricks, which are then deconvolved one by one before being combined again together for the end result.

The Batch Processor allows you to restore in an easy manner huge amounts of data in exactly the way you want them and offers various algorithms. While giving your attention to your other work Huygens delivers you the data you need quickly and reliably.

Visualization

The various Visualization Tools in Huygens Essential and Huygens Professional help you to analyze your image for further details. With the Slicer you can easily compare your result and the original image, or different slices in your image. The MIP Renderer enables you to obtain a spatial projection of your data from a given point of view. The SFP Renderer is also available for visualizing your object from different angles and gives you a physically realistic detailed views of your 3D data over time, while the Surface Renderer allows you to easily analyze the different objects in your data. All this without needing expensive graphic cards, because our tools do not use conventional techniques of polygonal rendering.

Measuring a line profile in the Twin Slicer.
The Twin Slicer allows you to synchronize views of two images, measure distances, plot line profiles, etc. In Basic Mode, image comparison is intuitive and easy, while the Advanced Mode gives the user the freedom to rotate the cutting plane to any arbitrary orientation, link (synchronize) or unlink viewing parameters between the two images, and more.

MIP Renderer.
The maximum intensity projection (MIP) renderer projects the voxels with maximum intensity that fall in the way of parallel rays traced from the viewpoint to the plane of projection. This allows you to obtain a direct spatial projection of your 3D microscopy data from the pointview you wish.

SFP Renderer.
This renderer is based on taking the 3D microscopy image as a distribution of fluorescent material, simulating what happens if the material is excited and how the subsequently emitted light travels to the observer. The computational work is done by the Simulated Fluorescence Process (SFP) algorithm. The unique properties of this algorithm enable it to create depth cue rich images from unprocessed data.
Because it does not rely on boundaries or sharp gradients, it is eminently suited to render 3D microscopic data sets. Since the SFP algorithm is bases on ray-tracing it does not require a special graphical board as the polygon based techniques do.

Surface Renderer.
The Surface Renderer enables you to represent your microscopy data in a convenient way to clearly see separated volumes. It is not only capable of iso-surface rendering; it is also able to show MIP projections together with the surfaces to be used as a reference to the original microscopic voxel data.
Because the Surface Renderer is based on rendering continuous surfaces with fast ray tracing algorithms, there is no need for any special graphic card. The fast ray tracers can utilize 64 bit multiprocessor systems, and are therefore able to render very large microscopic volume data to high resolution output images.

Analysis

With the Colocalization Analyzer you can obtain information about the amount of spatial overlap between structures in different data channels and time points. As this overlapping can be defined in many ways, Huygens gives you the colocalization coefficients most commonly used in literature: Pearson, Overlap, and Manders M and K.

The Colocalization Analyzer.

The Object Analyzer is a 3D label tool to label and analyze single objects and their statistics. With the 3D region of interest (ROI) selector tool you can limit the analysis to a certain volume only, but also crop your original data in an elaborate manner.

The Object Analyzer.

Advanced users and Facilities

Huygens Essential combines the power of deconvolution with a simplified, wizard-guided interface. For the more advanced users, Scientific Volume Imaging also offers Huygens Professional and Huygens Scripting which are the most powerful deconvolution packages available today, especially to process very large data. Not only deconvolution is available here, but also many other image processing tools.

For imaging facilities, Huygens Core is available to provide a centralized image restoration center that can be controlled remotely, for example with a web interface.

Validation

The quality of the deconvolution algorithms in our software is backed by a long list of scientific publications. To mention some of them:

• Verschure P.J., van der Kraan I., Manders E.M.M. and van Driel R. Spatial relationship between transcription sites and chromosome territories. J. Cell Biology (1999) 147, 1, pp 13-24 (get pdf).

• Visser A.E. and Aten J.A. Chromosomes as well as chromosomal subdomains constitute distinct units in interphase nuclei. J. Cell Science (1999) 112, pp 3353-3360 (get pdf).

• Hell S.W., Schrader M. and Van Der Voort H.T.M. Far-Field fluorescence microscopy with three-dimensional resolution in the 100-nm Range. J. of Microscopy (1997) 187 Pt1, pp 1-7 (get pdf).

Support

If you still encounter some problems with our user-friendly Huygens Software, we provide first-line and online support to help you with your image deconvolution and analysis. This has made Huygens Sofware distinct compared to other Deconvolution packages in the market.

More information can be obtained via your local resellers or directly from our company.

More information

For detailed information on the way Huygens works, please read the following Huygens Deconvolution.

For more information about features and modules, see:

• Image Restoration
• Volume Visualization
• Interactive Analysis