image file saved using tiff library (.tif)appear white in explorer and paintbrush

I used tiff library (data type single) to save image file.The saved file can be read properly using imread and displayed using imshow. however when I see it in explorer the file thumbnail appears white. when opened in paint brush or any other editor it appears white.I am currently on Mac 10.9.5. However in windows too it appears white.

input_embedded_image is of type complex double.

A=single(real(input_embedded_image));
t = Tiff(filename, 'w'); 
tagstruct.ImageLength = size(A, 1); 
tagstruct.ImageWidth = size(A, 2); 
tagstruct.Compression = Tiff.Compression.None; 
tagstruct.SampleFormat = Tiff.SampleFormat.IEEEFP; 
tagstruct.Photometric = Tiff.Photometric.MinIsBlack; 
tagstruct.BitsPerSample = 32; 
tagstruct.SamplesPerPixel = 1; 
tagstruct.PlanarConfiguration = Tiff.PlanarConfiguration.Chunky;
t.setTag(tagstruct); 
t.write(A); 
t.close();

[Jan]

Please omit the #-characters for the tags. This is not twitter.

Answer 1

[Jan]

It sounds like your image does not only look white, but simply is white. If the pixel values are defined as e.g. UINT8, the conversion by single let all values but 0 appear white, because they are greater than 1.0 . Please explain the purpose of:

A = single(real(input_embedded_image))

Are you sure that this has the desired effects?

[Harshula Tulapurkar]

the image isn't white. I can read it using imread. input_embedded_image is of type complex double.

If BitPerSample is 32, then the input image datatype must be int32, uint32, or single, not uint8. Further If SampleFormat is IEEEFP, the image datatype is restricted to one of the following: single, double.

i need to store floating point and hence SampleFormat is IEEEFP

[Jan]

Summary: You can create a TIFF image in Matlab, which can be displayed by Matlab correctly, but not by the Windows Explorer and PaintBrush. Conclusion: Teh Windows Explorer and PaintBrush are less powerful at the interpretation of TIFF that Matlab is. If you insist on using this specific TIFF format, you cannot handle it by the Windows Explorer and PaintBrush. So how can we help you?

[Harshula Tulapurkar]

Thanks Jan. Clear now.

Answer 2

[Image Analyst]

I'm not that familiar with saving floating point images in TIFF format. Maybe it's possible - I just never do it. Integer is much more common, and perhaps those other programs you tried to use only understand images if they're integer. What happens if you cast the image to integer, uint16 or uint8 instead, or just leave it as integer since I think that it must be integer already otherwise you would not be casting it to single?

[Harshula Tulapurkar]

thanks for your response. I need to embed watermark in the image. so using USFFT(curve let transform) to embed it. USFFT gives output in double complex. If i convert them to integer then i am unable to retrieve water mark. so keeping them floating point is essential.

[Image Analyst]

I could be wrong, but think that other programs, like Photoshop or Windows Picture viewer, will probably not be able to read or understand complex floating point images.

Answer 3

[Walter Roberson]

filename = 'testtifffp.tiff';
A = sort(single(randn(480,320, 3)),2);
t = Tiff(filename, 'w');
tagstruct.ImageLength = size(A, 1);
tagstruct.ImageWidth = size(A, 2);
tagstruct.Compression = Tiff.Compression.None;
tagstruct.SampleFormat = Tiff.SampleFormat.IEEEFP;
tagstruct.Photometric = Tiff.Photometric.MinIsBlack;
tagstruct.BitsPerSample = 32;
tagstruct.SamplesPerPixel = size(A,3);
tagstruct.PlanarConfiguration = Tiff.PlanarConfiguration.Chunky;
t.setTag(tagstruct);
t.write(A);
t.close();

This works on my OS-X El Capitan (10.11), producing a color icon for 3D A and a patterned non-white icon for 2D A. I also fired up a 10.9 (Mavericks) virtual machine and confirmed that the icon showed up the same there.

I did not try COMPLEXIEEEFP.

OS-X does not have Explorer, so I do not know where the reference to Explorer came from, unless you are copying to a different system?