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During acquiring multi frame Signal Imaging by STEM-EELS in DigitalMicrograph, the process time from the frame-end to the next frame is bottle-neck in the view point of fast acquisition. Though I think it is the process-time to make a new 3D box, is there any way to speed up by scripting? I'm thinking there are two ways. One is making 4D box (xyz + frames) before acquiring multi-frame SI, and the other is making new 3D box which is for next frame, during SI acquisition (parallel threading -- this is smarter??). But I don't know how to write it by DM-script. Do you have a any helpful knowledge for my purpose?

BmyGuest
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zazawormful
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  • I believe that Gatan is working on a new product line that deals with exactly these problems. You might want to contact a sales or service representative. – BmyGuest Sep 16 '22 at 19:15

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There is not really a way to improve on this by scripting, as the script interface only triggers actions that you otherwise trigger via the UI.

The speed delays, however, are not primarily caused by memory allocation of the 3D stack, but by the synchronous nature of data acquisition of multiple detectors (with varying readout speeds) as well as intermediate actions such as drift-measurements.

The best one can do at the moment by scripting is to set up and launch a regular multi-pass acquisition and copy individual data at the "end of frame" event. To my knowledge, this has been done already.

BmyGuest
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  • thank you for your advice. I expect the improvement of the acquisition process in SI. But, please let me know the meaning of "end of frame " event. You mean is the "hook-up" script ? – zazawormful Sep 18 '22 at 15:37
  • Maybe, I should ask in another thread, I would like to ask the way to refresh the acquisition image in each frame. Now, in SI mode, it is accumulating new image on previous image. – zazawormful Sep 18 '22 at 15:45
  • @zazawormful yes, the end-of-frame hook-up. You cannot (or maybe shouldn't) reset the SI therein, but what has been done by some people is to "copy" the data at that point. If you keep copies of an incremental sum, you can always get to the individual frames. – BmyGuest Sep 19 '22 at 11:54
  • @zazawormful You may want to contact Gatan service though. They can possibly tell you if such a script does already exist somewhere. The [page here](https://www.gatan.com/resources/digitalmicrograph-scripts) has a "Script Support Request" button at the very bottom. That should get you to the right person, I'd hope. – BmyGuest Sep 19 '22 at 11:57
  • IIf there is no way to speed up the inter-frame time of SI in script, what is the benefit of the "end of frame hookup"? Being able to access individual frames and do drift correction in post processing? – zazawormful Sep 19 '22 at 15:43
  • @zazawormful Yes. Essentially acquiring a time-series of SIs. Either to correct or study. But processing a series of 3D SI's is another matter all together. – BmyGuest Sep 19 '22 at 18:37
  • Actually, I have already done 4D stack data alignment(Spatial and Energy) in post processing by referring your answer in another thread. So, I'm working on the data acquisition process. Anyway, thank you for your useful information again. – zazawormful Sep 20 '22 at 02:22