Particle tracking using IDL -- John C. Crocker and Eric R. Weeks
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Download IDL macros for particle tracking and analysis

Our website sometimes has trouble letting you download .pro files, although often it works fine. Just in case, all the macros are available in one big zip file or these three individual .zip files:
  • track.zip (the basic kit)
  • 3d.zip (for 3D images)
  • miscidl.zip (all extra software)
  • The software on this page is all distributed under the terms of the GNU General Public License.

    We have put together a basic kit of the minimal software needed to analyze images and track particles, along with a couple useful utility programs. Note that the software was developed on computers running Linux, but we're pretty sure it all works on Windows & Mac platforms as well. If not, please let us know (email addresses below) although that doesn't guarantee we'll have a solution. At this point the basic kit has been available for over 8 years and we've only found a few platform-specific problems, which have gotten fixed.

    The basic kit

    You can download either a tar file or a zip file, both contain the complete set of IDL programs: The tracking kit contains the following routines, you can download them individually by clicking on the links. Updates to individual files within the last few years are noted. The tar/zip files above always contain the most recent versions of all the files below.
    • bpass.pro
    • epretrack.pro
      • revised 7-3-17: fixed bug related to bpass; improved "single" keyword for reading single channel of multi-channel tiff images
      • revised 2-1-12: very minor bug fix that did not affect results
      • revised 6-09-06: can give it an image stack rather than filename
      • 5-20-05: improved version of jpretrack
      • documentation here; see documentation for alternate program "stkpretrack".
    • feature.pro
    • fover2d.pro
      • revised 5-16-06: added /track (by Gianguido Cianci)
    • getdx.pro
      • revised 4-16-07: fixed minor bug if dt is an array
      • added 2-17-07: now part of kit, used by mkpdf.pro
      • documentation here
    • jpretrack.pro

    3D software

    3D tutorial. The tutorial is probably adequate, but perhaps may be updated. The programs are below, click on name to download program, or use the top links to download everything at once. Last update August 2006.

    Extra software

    9-29-08: For some reason, our web server is refusing to let you download the .pro files. So, all the miscellaneous .pro files are available in one big zip file. On 1-5-13, this seems no longer to be a problem. Below, click on "documentation" to see some web-based documentation. The date is the last date changed.


    Contact us

    The work of Eric Weeks in maintaining and updating this web page is supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant No. DMR-0239109. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this website are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation.