15  Working with annotations

15.1  About image descriptions

15.1.1  What is an image description?

An image description is a brief free-form textual description that is stored in an infrared image file. It uses a standard tag in the *.jpg file format and can be retrieved by other software.

15.1.1.1   Procedure

    Follow this procedure:
  1. On the Library tab, double-click an image.
  2. In the right pane, type the image description in the field under Image description .

15.2  About text annotations

15.2.1  What is a text annotation?

A text annotation is textual information about something in an image and is constructed of a group of information pairs—label and value. The reason for using text annotations is to make reporting and post-processing more efficient by providing essential information about the image, e.g., conditions, photos, and information about where an image is taken.
A text annotation is a proprietary annotation format from FLIR Systems , and the information cannot be retrieved by other vendors’ software. The concept relies heavily on interaction by the user. In the camera, the user can select one of several values for each label. The user can also enter numerical values, and make the text annotation capture measurement values from the screen.

15.2.2  Definition of label and value

The concept of text annotation is based on two important definitions—label and value. The following examples explain the difference between the two definitions.
Company
Company A
Company B
Company C
Building
Workshop 1
Workshop 2
Workshop 3
Section
Room 1
Room 2
Room 3
Equipment
Tool 1
Tool 2
Tool 3
Recommendation
Recommendation 1
Recommendation 2
Recommendation 3

15.2.3  Example markup structure

The file format for a text annotation is *.tcf. This code sample is an example markup structure of such a file and shows how the markup looks in Notepad. The words between pointed brackets are labels, and the words without pointed brackets are values. 
<Company>
Company A
Company B
Company C
<Building>
Workshop 1
Workshop 2
Workshop 3
<Section>
Room 1
Room 2
Room 3
<Equipment>
Machine 1
Machine 2
Machine 3
<Recommendation>
Recommendation 1
Recommendation 2
Recommendation 3

15.2.4  Creating a text annotation for an image

15.2.4.1   General

In FLIR Tools/Tools+, you can create a text annotation for an image. You do this in the image-editing window.

15.2.4.2   Procedure

    Follow this procedure:
  1. On the Library tab, double-click an image.
  2. Under Text annotations in the right pane, click the Graphic button (the ‘+’ sign). This adds text annotation rows.
  3. Enter the desired labels and values. See the image below for examples.
    Graphic
  4. Click Save and close .

15.2.5  Creating a text annotation template

15.2.5.1   General

In FLIR Tools/Tools+, you can create text annotation templates on the Templates tab. These templates can either be transferred to the camera or used as a template during post-analysis in the program.

15.2.5.2   Procedure

    Follow this procedure:
  1. Click the Templates tab.
  2. Click the Add new text annotations template toolbar button.
  3. Create a name for the template.
  4. Enter the desired fields and values. See the image below for examples.
    Graphic
  5. Save the template.
  6. Do one of the following:
    • To use the template in the camera, connect a camera to FLIR Tools/Tools+ and transfer the template to the camera.
    • To use the template during post-analysis in FLIR Tools/Tools+, double-click an image, and then click Import from template under Text annotations in the right pane.