Manual of Text/Image Editor

Hieroglyphs from a text are connected to rectangles in one or more images, with the help of this editor. It is assumed that an encoding of a hieroglyphic text already exists, although one can make changes to the list of hieroglyphs within this editor.

The hieroglyphs are given in the top panel. One can (left) click on these hieroglyphs to focus on them. A right click allows the choice of hieroglyph to be changed. Hieroglyphs that have not yet been linked to a rectangle in an image have a white background. The background is light gray if there is one link, and dark gray if there are two or more links. Normally only one link would exist, but having more than one link may be useful if several images of the same text overlap. A glyph cannot be linked to more than one rectangle in one and the same image.

Each image is in one tab in the bottom panel. The first tab is an index of all the images.

An image can be manipulated in one of four modes:

In the move mode one can drag the image, which is then free of added artifacts.
In the rectangle mode one can draw rectangles to be linked to glyphs, simply by dragging the mouse (with left mouse button pressed), say from upper-left corner to lower-right corner. Already drawn rectangles can be adjusted by (slowly) dragging the mouse, with the left mouse button pressed. A simple left click away from any rectangle clears the selected rectangle.
In the polygon mode one can select an area of interest, in which candidate rectangles are identified automatically. One starts drawing a polygon by a number of (left) clicks. A right click ends drawing the polygon. A subsequent left click away from the polygon clears it, and then a new polygon can be drawn. Points can be added to an existing polygon by further left clicks on an edge. Points can also be moved by dragging, with the left mouse button pressed.
In the tagging mode one can select an area, and tag it with a name. The areas are defined by sequences of smooth and ragged points. Points are fixed by (left) mouse clicks. A right click turns a smooth point into a ragged point. If the initial point is clicked again (and there are at least three points so far), the area is closed, and then a name can be entered, which would typically be unique to the resource. Points of existing areas can be added and dragged, as in the polygon mode. A left click inside an existing area allows its name to be changed. By entering an empty name, the area is removed. A right click on a ragged point of an existing area removes the point; if fewer than three points remain, the area is removed.

Candidate rectangles obtained in the polygon mode can be selected by going back to the rectangle mode; a left mouse click within a rectangle selects that rectangle. Pressing okay (under the mode menu) navigates to the next hieroglyph and selects the next rectangle within the polygon, in the chosen reading order. An order can be hlr, hrl, vlr, or vrl. (h for horizontal, lr for left-to-right, etc.)

If one wants to draw a rectangle overlapping with any candidate rectangles obtained from the polygon mode, then unselect the show button, which temporarily hides the candidate rectangles.

Navigation in an image is in one of the following ways:

In the move mode by dragging the mouse with the left button.
In the rectangle and tagging modes by dragging the mouse with the right button.
In the polygon mode by dragging the mouse with the right button, provided no polygon is being drawn.
By dragging the viewport depicted in the diagram above the image.
By the arrow buttons.
By zooming in/out using the mouse wheel or by pressing the plus/minus buttons.

Buttons in file menu

Close

Closes the editor.

Import

Allows an Egyptian resource with hieroglyphs to be imported.

Buttons in resource menu

Append image

Appends new image (to be selected in file system) behind current image. Allowable file extensions are jpg (or jpeg), png, bmp, and gif.

Cut image

Removes the current image.

Left/Right glyph

Navigates in the top panel.

New (initial) glyph

Adds a new (dummy) hieroglyph, and opens menu for choosing the actual hieroglyph.

Other glyph

Allows a different hieroglyph to be chosen for the current one.

Delete glyph

Allows the current hieroglyph to be removed.

Swap glyphs

Swaps current and next glyph.

Buttons in mode menu

The first few are shortcuts to change the corresponding buttons in the settings window (see below). One can also navigate among the rectangles obtained in the polygon mode (see above).

Settings

Lets the window with settings for the current image appear. See further below.

Help

Opens this window.

Settings window

Appearance

Affects the view of the image: color or bilevel (purely black and white pixels only).

Mouse

Affects the mouse mode.

Components

Whether candidate rectangles are shown (and are selectable) in the rectangle mode.

Direction

Affects the order in which one can navigate among candidate rectangles.

Bilevel

Affects how candidate rectangles are found. A color image is first turned into a bilevel image. The higher the threshold, the more pixels will become black. In this process, the three colors can be given different weightings. Black pixels close together will become part of the same component; the maximal distance between pixels can be parameterized. Isolated specks are typically not hieroglyphs; the minimum number of pixels per component can be parameterized as well.