Image and measurement
How a photo becomes millimeters: the scale from the ruler, the separation between seed and background, and the outline that grows from the click.
Theory
The math behind every number.
From pixel to test report, every SeedCounter measurement comes from an idea you can watch at work. Start with the animation, move on to the track page with real seeds and, whenever you like, go all the way down to the math, with the references.
Three depths
From animation to proof
See
The animation
Fifteen seconds for the idea. The twelve scenes are in Learn, all simulations drawn in code.
Understand
The track page
Visual, with real seeds from public datasets and an instrument to play with. Few formulas.
Go deeper
The math
Definitions, results with proofs, what the project measured, where the math fails and the numbered references.
Data
Where the seeds come from
Orchid seeds in tetrazolium and germinating corn, from datasets licensed CC BY 4.0, and the 145 silhouettes of the app's public examples. The source is on each page.
From pixel to test report
The path of a measurement
Each step is a page. Click wherever you want to start.
Tracks
Five tracks, from the pixel to storage
Each track starts with what you see on the app screen and ends in the math that supports the number.
Shape
What is left when position, rotation and size are removed: the descriptors, the sum of ellipses and the mean seed shape with its modes of variation.
Color and class
Why the red of tetrazolium is measured on a*, the pitfall of averaging angles, and why a straight line can hide a whole class.
The statistics of the test report
Counting is sampling. How much a test report varies by chance, which interval to use, how to correct a classifier and how a tool is validated against the analyst.
Storage and viability
How seed is stored, from orchid to forage species, what moisture, cold and dormancy do in storage, and how germination and tetrazolium check a stored seed lot.
Why show the math
A number only means something with its margin
The machine proposes, the person checks. To check, you need to know where the number comes from and how much it can vary. That is why each measurement in the app has its math here, with the errors we know of so far and the references for anyone who wants to redo it.
From theory to the bench.
Everything in these tracks becomes a number in SeedCounter, with your image.