The files for the project are quite large, it takes about 5 minutes to save the largest files. (I know, I know, of course a 32k x 32k image is going to take a long time, what did you expect? Well, I expect my computer to be magical, that’s all. The images for various zoom stages are composed separately (using the same outline as the basis to maintain consistency) and I will be substituting more detailed renderings as needed for the appropriate levels of magnification. I had them grouped as layers for a very short period of time, until it was clear that additional layers seemed to exponentially increase the time required to save my file. This may seem like child’s play to an experienced programer, but I am enjoying learning about it.

In order to be most compatible with the google API, the images are made with these particular pixel dimensions:

256 x 256 ——— 1x magnification
512 x 512 ——— 2x
1024 x 1024 —— 4x
2048 x 2048 —— 8x
4096 x 4096 —— 16x
8192 x 8192 —— 32x (slightly smaller than the 40x equivalent magnification
16,384 x 16,384 — 64x
32,768 x 32,768 — 128x (slightly larger than the 100x equivalent magnification)

I do realize these won’t be precisely accurate, since the first onion image is not exactly at life size – but the 1024 size gets closer to the actual size so I am rounding the estimated measurements up one degree (so the 16,384 is closer to the “40x equivalent”, and the 32k image will be rendered slightly smaller than “100x equivalent”). This should not be an issue for the cricket and for the Paramecium, since the 256 x 256 should be more than enough space for “life size” (a single slide, in the case of the unicellular organism). For larger life forms in the future, these measurements will be adjusted accordingly.

Prof. Kevin Ponto found software for splitting images into ready-made tiles for use in Google Maps API formats: Maptiler Free online, which promises incredibly quick working time: (2 minutes as opposed to 122 minutes, and half the finished file size). This program has very good prospects but is limited to 10,000 px images and it leaves a watermark on the image that is tiled. I will try this one to see how it compares to another free version from Mike Courturier: Tile Generator – test map loading this weekend, hopefully.

Maptiler Start: The next level (costs ~$28 USD, not bad) does not put a watermark on, but it is still limited to 10k pixels and requires(maybe?) 2 CPU cores. That end size will bring us to approximately 40x zoom, which equates to the lowest lens on a standard compound microscope. I have been developing the drawings at 32,768px, which gets me slightly above 100x magnification, which would be ideal. The highest level of magnification would be 400x magnification, but that may be reserved for the Paramecium… (which I probably should have started with, being a single-celled organism…)

Maptiler Pro: The next (and most expensive level at ~$560 USD) offers unlimited size, so I could get the zoom I want, but in addition to the hefty price tag it requires (maybe?) 4 CPU processors.

I think I’m willing to wait a few hours for images to tile. We’ll see though, perhaps a step up would be worth it.

Also posted on jwhisenant.wordpress.com