It is possible to import vectors that represent shape changes into MorphoJ. These shape changes will be stored as a new dataset, but it is assumed that they depend on an existing dataset in the active project for additional information (e.g. the mean shape, symmetry etc.).
Usually, these shape changes will be produced by some specialized analysis with other software from data exported from MorphoJ. It therefore makes sense to attach the shape chanes to the dataset from which the data were exported.
For this reason, it is necessary that at least one dataset (with the appropriate number of landmarks and dimensionality) is present in the project before shape changes can be imported.
The import is started by selecting a dataset in the Project Tree tab (in this case, a dataset named "jaws") and then choosing the menu item Import Shape Change Vectors in the File menu. This will invoke the following dialog box:
The first item is a text field for indicating the name of the new dataset.
The second item lets the user select the existing dataset to which the new dataset should be attached and from which information such as the average shape are to be obtained. Usually, this will be related to
After that, ther are two buttons for indicating whether the file contains the shape change vectors as rows or as columns.
The remainder of the dialog contains the interface for selecting the file.
Clicking the Open button will invoke the loading of the file and establishing of new covariates, whereas Cancel will stop the procedure and remove the dialog box.
Entries in the file should be single numbers delimited by tab stops, commas, or semicolons. This means, the file can be prepared in a spreadsheet program and saved as tab-delimited or comma-delimited text.
The file should have the same structure as in the following example if the shape change vectors are written as rows:
ID | x1 | y1 | x2 | y2 | ... | x12 | y12 |
vec. 1 | 0.35899 | 0.1239 | 0.0348 | -0.678 | ... | -0.0665 | 0.0127 |
vec. 2 | 0.01284 | 0.2567 | -0.16 | 0.00346 | ... | -0.00567 | -0.122 |
vec. 3 | -0.037 | -0.0057 | 0.158 | 0.00047 | ... | 0.00345 | -0.023 |
vec. 4 | 0.098 | 0.0045 | 0.1708 | -0.00458 | ... | 0.0763 | -0.0039 |
The first line provides descriptors for the column entries, but may be omitted. Regardless of the content of this line, the coordinates must be arranged as x, y, x, y, ..., x, y or as x, y, z, x, y, z, ..., x, y, z and the landmarks must be in the same order as they are in the dataset to which the shape change vectors are being attached.
The following lines each start with an identifier, which will be used in the new dataset to designate the observations. The remaining entries in each line are the elements of the respective vector of shape change. The second and following entries of each line must be interpretable as numbers and will be used as the entries of the shape change vectors. Missing values are not permitted.
Note that the number of columns must agree with the number of coordinates of the configurations in the data set to which the new set of shape change vectors is being attached.
If the shape change vectors are written as columns instead of rows, the roles of rows and columns in the preceding description are reversed, but otherwise the same rules apply.