FRACLAC FOR IMAGEJ

Audrey Karperien
Charles Sturt University 2000-2013

Software and Guide to Fractal and

Lacunarity Analysis for FracLac 2013

Sometimes the details of a design are more
important than gross morphology. FRACLAC FOR
IMAGEJ is for anyone who hopes to understand
this phenomenon through fractal analysis of
digital images. It presupposes that the curious
analyst has little background, and provides most
of what is required for one to become an
accomplished fractal analyst ready to discuss
the subtle, the beautiful, and the bizarre fractal
features of patterns sometimes imperceptible
to the eye yet mathematically detectable, and
perhaps more interesting, measurable, in digital
images.
FRACLAC FOR IMAGEJ is a toolset to help you
become such an analyst able to identify and
measure fractal features. It includes a guide to
fractals and fractal analysis, with tutorials about
basic and advanced techniques, and software to
do fractal analysis. Important topics covered
include technical issues and interpreting results.
Whereas FRACLAC FOR IMAGEJ is comprehensive
and friendly enough for the beginner, it also has
advanced features for more complicated
analysis and more experienced readers.
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The software is a free, open source plugin for
the free, open source imaging application
ImageJ. This free plugin is accompanied by free
detailed documentation (javadoc) with linked
and raw source code. Did I mention that it’s all
free? The advanced ImageJ user or researcher
can read the detailed implementations of the
math behind the program and its assumptions
in the source code and javadoc. Programmers,
moreover, can freely use or modify the code in
their own programs. Freely and for free!
There are several components to FRACLAC FOR
IMAGEJ. This document is a shell that links to the
other components (see next page), which are
assumed to be in a folder in the same directory
as this pdf. To set up the archive, follow the
steps below.
1) Get the archive. Depending on how you
acquired the pdf document you are now
reading, the archive will be either embedded in
the pdf itself or available for download from the
site you downloaded the pdf from.
2) Unzip the archive to the folder that this
document is in. Otherwise the links will not
work. Remember the old real estate adage,
location, location, location!
3) Navigate to and fro amongst the components
using the links.
 Go to the starting point and main As an alternative to using the links in the previous
resource for learning about fractals and fractal section, you may wish to ensure you are using the
analysis. Here you will learn about such topics as most up to date resources. You can do this by
what fractals are browsing directly to the FracLac site or by selecting
and basic to help while running the plugin. How to set up the
advanced fractal plugin is described in the Guide above, but is also
analysis concepts summarized below:
and skills. The 1. Download and install ImageJ or ImageJ/Fiji
resources will help for free from the NIH’s ImageJ download
you learn and use a site.
host of methods 2. Then, copy the Frac_Lac.jar file into the
with odd sounding "plugins" folder in ImageJ or ImageJ/Fiji,
names such as restart the app, and select FracLac from the
 box counting Analysis menu.
 multifractal analysis 3. Click on the Help icon in the running plugin.
 lacunarity You can see the Help icon at the bottom
sliding box lacunarity right of the FracLac GUI in the picture.
local fractal dimension
local connected fractal dimension
 mass-radius analysis
and complementary non-fractal morphometrics.

Go to the documentation
explaining the structure of the plugin’s code and
details about the calculations. It is not as friendly as
the guide but is a gentle interface between you and FRACLAC FOR IMAGEJ is alive and dynamic. The
the raw source code. Refer to it if you are a coder or software and guide are continually improving and
you need the nitty-gritty of the calculations. There is changing shape to meet the needs of the digital
much nit and equal grit in there.
image analyzing community.

Go to a collection of Feedback and ideas for developing the software are

text files known as java classes. They are readable if
you know the java programming language or some
other programming language but are not usually
useful to the nonprogrammer. They can be used as
the basis of a new software project.
Go to the folder holding the
software, as a compiled “jar” file. To learn how to
install it, go to the installation page. The jar file
includes the source code as well as compiled class
files, and can be run in ImageJ or imported to a
software development environment such as
NetBeans or Eclipse. If you are not a coder, ignore
that last sentence.
very welcome. All inputs will be considered! Free
support for FRACLAC FOR IMAGE is available by email
through the online FracLac website.
The components of FRACLAC FOR IMAGEJ have been
used in a variety of fields to study phenomena as
diverse as agriculture, botany, dentistry,
neuroscience, pathology, geography, urban planning,
and the far away realms of the cosmos like the
moon. If you are curious about what some of those
applications are, the FLCitations page lists some 60
scientific papers in which people have used it to
understand when the details of design are as
important as gross morphology. Enjoy!

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