The system is designed to provide a flexible, easy to use yet general environment for obtaining and processing experimental data, aimed specifically at fluid dynamics. Conceptually it has its origins in an earlier system by the same author (DigImage, originally released in 1992), but has been completely rethought and rewritten to provide a far more flexible and easy to use package.
Key features in the package include:
à Particle tracking velocimetry (Lagrangian)
à Particle image velocimetry (Eulerian)
à Synthetic schlieren (density/refractive index/surface deformation)
à Dye attenuation (density/concentration/thickness)
à Light Induced Fluorescence (LIF; correction for attenuation and divergence)
à Powerful time series handling
à General purpose image processing
à Recipe cards
à Advanced macro language
à Code library
à Optional direct control of digital video camera with real time processing
To give some idea of the flexibility and scope of the macro language, it can be used for tasks as diverse as running numerical simulations of 2D and of shallow water flows, and for providing a great timer for conference presentations!
DigiFlow runs under Windows NT4, 2000, XP, 2003 and Vista. From version 2.0, DigiFlow will make use of multiple processors or multiple cores for improved processing performance, when these are available.
If you are using DigiFlow for processing only, and using other hardware for image capture, then the precise details of the machine are not so important. However, if you are using it for capture, then the spec is a little more critical. See the Hardware section for suggestions.
Although Dalziel Research Partners owns the copyright of DigiFlow, it does make the use of the following third party open source libraries:
FreeImage image format library (http://freeimage.sourceforge.net/)
ZLib compression library (http://www.gzip.org/zlib/)
The appropriate .zip distributions for each of these are embedded in the DigiFlow distributions from September 2003 onwards. Copyright for these libraries remains with the original developers of these libraries.
DigiFlow is also able to make use GhostScript, if it is installed, to enable DigiFlow to display (and process) PostScript and Encapsulated PostScript files. GhostScript may be obtained from http://www.cs.wisc.edu/~ghost/.