Journal of Structural Geology 40 (2012) 44e53

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Journal of Structural Geology

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Rapid extraction of central vacancy by image-analysis of Fry plots

B.S. Sampath Reddy Vinta, Deepak C. Srivastava*
Department of Earth Sciences, IIT Roorkee, Roorkee 247667, India

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: The Fry method, based on the relative movement of different material points, typically grain centers,
Received 11 July 2011 with reference to each other graphically yields a point distribution that displays the nite strain ellipse as
Received in revised form a central vacancy. The diffused nature of the central vacancy induces subjectivity in strain estimation,
7 April 2012
particularly, if the point population when undeformed lacked an isotropic anticlustered distribution.
Accepted 11 April 2012
Most existing methods use analytical and/or iterative approaches for improving the sharpness of the
Available online 8 May 2012
central vacancy and positioning the best-t strain ellipse in a Fry plot. We provide an image-analysis
method that is independent of any iteration or analytical solution. It is also an efcient technique for
Keywords:
Strain
extraction of the central vacancy without any subjectivity. The method is more direct, simple and easy-
Fry method to-use than most existing techniques.
Central vacancy The image-analysis method uses Gaussian blur lter for distinction between the areas of largest and
Gaussian blur smallest pixel intensities in a Fry plot image. It then applies the optimal threshold value and an inversion
Threshold lter for extraction of the sharp central vacancy. The method also searches for the best-t strain ellipse
Image-analysis through the extracted central vacancy and displays axial ratio and orientation of the ellipse in a separate
window. The validity of the method is tested using several computer-simulated and natural examples.
2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction correspondence between pre- and post-distortion object centers,

Structural geologists have long used strain analysis for estima-
tion of crustal stretching, strain-balancing of cross-sections, kine-
matic characterization of tectonites and localization of ore deposits.
The selection of a method for strain estimation depends on the
shape, distribution and abundance of the strain markers. Amongst
a large number of available strain estimation techniques, the Rf/f
method (Dunnet, 1969; Lisle, 1985) for shape analysis and the Fry
method (Fry, 1979) for point distribution analysis have been used
extensively for the last four decades.
Based on the relative displacement of material points, typically
object centers, the Fry method produces a point distribution, the
Fry plot, with a characteristic central vacancy (Fry, 1979; Hanna
and Fry, 1979). The central vacancy has the shape of a measur-
able ellipse and strain determination is straightforward, provided
the point distribution was initially isotropic anticlustered and the
sample size is sufciently large (Crespi, 1986; De Paor, 1996; Roday
et al., 2010; Lisle, 2010). Several issues, e.g., effect of the non-
* Corresponding author. 91 1332 285558; fax: 91 1332 273560.
E-mail addresses: dpkesfes@iitr.ernet.in, dpkesfes@gmail.com (D.C. Srivastava).
the object size and the sorting on result of the Fry method, were
previously addressed by Crespi (1986), Erslev (1988), Dunne et al.
(1990) and Waldron and Wallace (2007). Due to these issues and
the lack of an initially isotropic anticlustered point distribution in
many natural examples, the Fry plot displays a diffused elliptical
vacancy. The diffused nature of elliptical vacancy induces subjec-
tivity for accurate strain estimation by the Fry method (Erslev,
1988). We provide a simple technique for rapid and direct
extraction of a sharp central vacancy in the Fry plot, even in these
circumstances.
Previous workers have developed analytical and/or iterative
methods for sharpening the circumference of the elliptical vacancy
in a Fry plot. For example, normalized Fry method reduces blur in
the elliptical boundary by normalizing the center-to-center
distance between two objects with respect to the sum of their
average radii (Erslev, 1988). The enhanced normalized Fry method,
an improvement over the normalized Fry method, uses only those
objects that are in contact with each other and produces a narrow
rim of high density points for best-tting the strain ellipse (Erslev
and Ge, 1990).
The recent analytical methods, such as the point-count density
method, or the continuous function method use a trial and error
approach for searching the best-t ellipse through the central

0191-8141/$ e see front matter 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.jsg.2012.04.004
 B.S.S. Reddy Vinta, D.C. Srivastava / Journal of Structural Geology 40 (2012) 44e53 45

vacancy in a normalized Fry plot (Waldron and Wallace, 2007).

Point-count density method requires a user-dened K value, the
ratio between the radii of inner and outer trial ellipses. Similarly,
the continuous function method requires a user-dened constant
k. The results from these methods are somewhat dependent upon
the user-dened constants. Lisle (2010) proposed a retro-
deformational method that restores an optimal anticlustered
point distribution, the original fabric, through a large number of
iterations. In a similar approach, Shan and Xiao (2011) used a grid
search that maximizes the mean log likelihood function for strain
estimation from a Fry plot. The only existing image processing
technique, proposed by Ailleres and Champenois (1994), requires
a ve-order morphological closing, a procedure that lls in the
small gaps/holes to identify the central vacancy in an image of
a Fry plot.
In summary, most existing techniques to establish the best-t
ellipse through the central vacancy are time-intensive and/or
Fig. 1. A three-dimensional mesh plot of the Gaussian function, G (x, y).
subjective, at least, to some degree. We propose an efcient alter-
native method that rapidly extracts the sharp central vacancy, ts
an ellipse through it, and provides accurate and reproducible axial
ratio and orientation of the nite strain ellipse. pixels decreases with distance from the central pixel. A table of
weights is calculated using the Gaussian functions given in Eqs.
2. The method (1) and (2). The application of the Gaussian blur to a given Fry
plot merges the points such that the areas having a greater
The potential of low-pass lters, such as Gaussian blur in number of points appear progressively darker than those with
microstructural studies has been introduced by Bons and Jessell lesser number of points. Consequently, the central vacancy with
(1996). Image-analysis and computer graphics softwares routinely minimum number of points becomes approximately white. The
use the Gaussian function for ltering noise and enhancing details application of color inversion lter transforms the central vacancy
in an image. By using the two-dimensional Weierstrass trans- from white to black that is conspicuous, and hence, more useful
formation for image convolution, the Gaussian blur yields a low- for analysis.
pass ltration, reduces the high-frequency components of the
image (Shapiro and Stockman, 2001) and produces a Gaussian 3. Application
surface with concentric contours that center on the maximum
intensity pixel (Fig. 1). The Gaussian blur effect is a product of image The image-analysis method works on any image processing, or
convolution by a kernel of Gaussian values. Gaussian kernel graphics software. We have used an open-source Java-based soft-
requires 6s1 values, where s is the Gaussian blur radius. The ware, ImageJ, in this study. Our method can be applied on an
resultant is a smoothly blurred image which is analogous to image of the original Fry plot, normalized Fry plot or enhanced
viewing the image through a translucent screen. normalized Fry plot. In the examples presented in this study, we
We use the Gaussian blur technique so that a Fry plot containing demonstrate the application of the image-analysis method on the
discrete points transforms into a continuous area image with normalized Fry plot so that our results can be compared with the
a conspicuous central vacancy. We obtain the required Gaussian published results that have commonly used the normalized Fry
blur by successive application of the one-dimensional Gaussian method. The image-analysis method requires two additional
function in x and y directions respectively (Eqs. (1) and (2)). This scripts, one for yielding a normalized Fry plot and the other for
simple approach yields the same Gaussian blur as would be best-tting an ellipse through the central vacancy. The method
produced by a two-dimensional Gaussian function (Eq. (3)). primarily consists of three steps, namely, the generation of the
The equation of a Gaussian function in one-dimension is, normalized Fry plot, the application of Gaussian blur and the
extraction of the central vacancy. These steps are described, in
1 x2
Gx pe2s2 (1) brief, as follows, and step-by-step procedure for application of the
2Ps 2
method is provided in Appendix A:
1 y2
Gy pe2s2 (2)
2Ps 2
3.1. Generation of the normalized Fry plot
In two-dimension, it is the product of two Gaussians, one in each
dimension: The method works on an 8-bit B&W image that displays black
strain markers on a white background. It requires selection of the
1  x2 y2
Gx; y e 2s2 (3) critical threshold value for distinction between the object pixels
2Ps2 and the background pixels in the image. In practice, the correct
where, x and y are the distances from the origin on the hori- selection of a critical threshold value creates an image with sharp
zontal and the vertical axes respectively, and s is the standard object boundaries and individual objects do not touch or overlap
deviation of the Gaussian distribution, i.e., the Gaussian blur each other (Fig. 2a). The method also requires selecting an optimum
radius (Fig. 1). point size that controls size of dots on the normalized Fry plot
The technique blurs an image by successively selecting each (Fig. 2b). Test of the method on a large number of computer-
pixel as the central pixel and adding the weighted grayscales of simulated and natural examples reveal that any point size
surrounding pixels onto this central pixel. The central pixel between 3 and 8 pixels, in general, produces a satisfactory central
receives the highest weight and the weight of the surrounding vacancy.
46 B.S.S. Reddy Vinta, D.C. Srivastava / Journal of Structural Geology 40 (2012) 44e53

Fig. 2. a. The image of undistorted grains in sandstone from Cordilleran basin (after Waldron and Wallace, 2007). b. Normalized Fry plot of the grains in Fig. 2a. The central vacancy
approximates a circle.

3.2. Application of the Gaussian blur lter 4.1. Computer-simulated fabric distorted by known strain values

The Gaussian blur radius equals to the standard deviation of the The computer-simulated fabric consists of 200 elliptical markers
Gaussian function. Convolution of the normalized Fry plot by that are distorted by the known strain ratios 1.3, 1.8 and 2.5
Gaussian lter merges the points in vicinity of the central vacancy respectively (Fig. 6aed, after Waldron and Wallace, 2007). Appli-
into a continuous area (Fig. 3). This step requires selection of an cation of the image-analysis method on these examples yields
optimum Gaussian blur radius that controls the degree of blur in
a normalized Fry plot image. The effect of the Gaussian blur radius
on the results from the image-analysis method is discussed in
Section 5.2.

3.3. Extraction of the central vacancy for determination of the

strain ellipse

On the blurred image of the normalized Fry plot, the contrast

between the central vacancy and the background is maximized by
adjusting the Threshold value. The convolution of the image
through a color inversion lter, at this stage, inverts the image
such that a sharp and black central vacancy stands out against
a white background (Fig. 4). The best-t ellipse through the
central vacancy is calculated by the region of interest selection
algorithm (ROI). The ROI algorithm yields an ellipse which has the
same shape, area and orientation as that of the central vacancy
(Fig. 5a, b).

4. Test of the image-analysis method

We demonstrate the validity of the image-analysis method on

three types of samples: (1) computer-simulated fabric distorted by
known strain values (Fig. 6aed), (2) natural objects distorted by
known strain values (Fig. 7aed) and (3) naturally distorted objects Fig. 3. Blurred image obtained by application of the Gaussian blur on the image of
(Fig. 8a, d & g). normalized Fry plot in Fig. 2b.
 B.S.S. Reddy Vinta, D.C. Srivastava / Journal of Structural Geology 40 (2012) 44e53 47

Fig. 4. Central vacancy (black) obtained by application of the Threshold on the blurred image of normalized Fry plot in Fig. 3. The Set Measurements window displays the option
Fit Ellipse.

Fig. 5. An example of results obtained by the image-analysis method. a. The window shows results of image-analysis of Fig. 4 in a tabular form. Dimensions of the central vacancy,
numbered 55 in this example, are highlighted in the Results window. The Log window gives the results of strain analysis. b. The best-t ellipse through the extracted central
vacancy.
48 B.S.S. Reddy Vinta, D.C. Srivastava / Journal of Structural Geology 40 (2012) 44e53

Fig. 6. a. A synthetic example of 200 undistorted elliptical markers. bed. The images obtained by distortion of Fig. 6a by the known strain ratios, Rs 1.3, 1.8 and 2.5 respectively
(after Waldron and Wallace, 2007). eeh. Results obtained by application of the image-analysis method on the images in Fig. 6aed.

results that compare very closely with the known strain values
(Fig. 6eeh and Table 1). As shown in Table 1, these results are also
consistent with those given by the point-count density method and
the continuous function method of Waldron and Wallace (2007)
and the retrodeformational method of Lisle (2010).
4.2. Undistorted natural objects distorted by the known strain
values
An image of undistorted grains in sandstone from the Cordil-
leran basin is synthetically distorted by known strain ratios, 1.3, 1.8
and 2.5 respectively (adopted from Fig. 8c in Waldron and Wallace,
2007). The application of the image-analysis method on these
examples yields results that match closely with the known strain
values and also with the results given by the other existing methods
(Fig. 7aeh and Table 2).
4.3. Naturally distorted objects
We check the validity of our method on the two natural
examples of distorted oolites, gs. 5.7 and 7.7 in Ramsay and Huber
(1983, p. 79, 112), that have been extensively used for the validation
of various strain estimation methods (Ramsay and Huber, 1983;
Erslev, 1988; Erslev and Ge, 1990; McNaught, 1994, 2002). In these

Fig. 7. a. A natural example of undistorted grains in the sandstone from Cordilleran basin. bed. The images obtained by distortion of Fig. 7a by the known strain ratios, Rs 1.3, 1.8
and 2.5 respectively (after Waldron and Wallace, 2007). eeh. Results obtained by application of the image-analysis method on examples in Fig. 7aed.
 B.S.S. Reddy Vinta, D.C. Srivastava / Journal of Structural Geology 40 (2012) 44e53 49

Fig. 8. aec and def. Two natural examples of the distorted oolites (Figs. 5.7 and 7.7 in Ramsay and Huber, 1983), their normalized Fry plots and the results from the image-analysis
method. gei. A natural example of distorted grains in the sandstone, its normalized Fry plot and the results obtained from the image-analysis method.

Table 1
Comparison of results from different methods on the synthetic examples that are distorted by known strain ratio and orientation, the Rs and q respectively. Angle q is measured
counter-clockwise from the horizontal reference axis.

Fig. Known strain values Results given by different methods

Image-analysis Point-count density Continuous function Retrodeformational

method (this study) method (Waldron method (Waldron method (Lisle, 2010)
and Wallace, 2007) and Wallace, 2007)

Rs q Rs q Rs q Rs q Rs q
6b 1.30 132 1.30 132 1.32 107 1.25 127 1.23 134
6c 1.80 123 1.76 123 2.04 116 1.74 122 1.75 123
6d 2.50 167 2.65 168 2.12 164 2.36 167 2.48 170
50 B.S.S. Reddy Vinta, D.C. Srivastava / Journal of Structural Geology 40 (2012) 44e53

Table 2
Comparison of results from different methods on the natural example that is distorted by known strain ratio (Rs) and orientation (q). Angle q is measured counter-clockwise
from the horizontal reference axis.

Fig. Known strain values Results given by different methods

Image-analysis Point-count density Continuous function Retrodeformational

method (this study) method (Waldron method (Waldron method (Lisle, 2010)
and Wallace, 2007) and Wallace, 2007)

Rs q Rs q Rs q Rs q Rs q
7b 1.30 132 1.36 132 1.32 136 1.36 137 1.52 135
7c 1.80 123 1.83 125 1.85 126 1.81 128 1.98 127
7d 2.50 167 2.26 165 2.95 167 2.75 166 2.45 162

examples too, the image-analysis method yields results that
compare closely with those given by the other methods (Fig. 8aef,
Table 3). Similarly, application of the image-analysis method on
another natural example, deformed sandstone from Neo-
proterozoic Kaza Group (Fig. 9b in Waldron and Wallace, 2007),
also yields results that are consistent with those given by the other
methods (Fig. 8gei, Table 3).
5. Potential sources of error
Several potential sources of error, such as the sample size, the
object size and sorting, and the non-correspondence between pre-
and post-distortion object centers have already been identied by
previous workers (Crespi, 1986; Erslev, 1988; Dunne et al., 1990;
Waldron and Wallace, 2007). Most of the earlier studies reveal that
lack of anticlustered distribution of the object centers in undis-
torted samples is the greatest source of error in the Fry method. We
test the effect of anticlustering on results from the image-analysis
method for a series of synthetically simulated images. We also
discuss two issues related to the application of the image-analysis
method: (1) the effect of point size for generating the normalized
Fry plot and, (2) the effect of the Gaussian blur radius on results
from the image-analysis method.
computer-simulated pure shear, each of the four images was dis-
torted by 30 known strain ratios ranging from 1.2 to 7.0 in
successive increments of 0.2. These simulations yielded 120 dis-
torted images that are analyzed by the image-analysis method. The
results of the image-analysis method, observed values, are
compared with the known strain, i.e. expected values (Fig. 9eel).
In the four series of tests, the actual error in the strain ratio, i.e.
the difference between observed and expected values, is found to
increase progressively with the strain ratio (Fig. 9eeh). By contrast,
the actual error in orientation of the strain ellipse tends to decrease
with the strain ratio (Fig. 9iel). The relatively large errors in
orientation, observed at very small strain ratios, are probably due to
difculty in identifying major axis in an approximately circular
central vacancy. Application of the image-analysis method on 120
synthetically distorted images implies that the % normalized RMS
error in estimation of strain ratio is of the order of 7e10% (for
details of % normalized RMS error see Eberhart and Shi, 1997, p.
399e400). We note that these error estimates are, at best, indica-
tive, and a more comprehensive statistical treatment is required for
error estimation of different methods, including the image-analysis
method.
5.2. Effect of point size and the Gaussian blur radius

5.1. Effect of sorting
Waldron and Wallace (2007) use the sorting, standard deviation
in sedimentological f units, as a proxy for the degree of anti-
clustering in distribution of object centers in undistorted samples.
The parameter f equals 0.0 for an ideally anticlustered point
distribution and increases as the fabric deviates from the ideal
distribution. For estimation of error in the image-analysis method,
we used four synthetically simulated images, each having 200
objects but different degrees of sorting, f equal to 0.3, 0.4, 0.6 and
0.8 respectively (Fig. 9aed, after Waldron and Wallace, 2007). Using
As mentioned earlier, the choice of point size controls the size of
dots on normalized Fry plot, whereas the choice of Gaussian blur
radius controls the degree of blur in a normalized Fry plot image.
We demonstrate the effect of point size and the Gaussian blur
radius on the shape and orientation of the central vacancy with the
help of a synthetically distorted image (Fig. 7c). The test on this
example shows that a small variation in the point size, say, between
3 and 8 pixels, modestly changes the aspect ratio or orientation of
the central vacancy (Fig. 10). By contrast, an unrealistically large or
small point size, <3 or >8 pixels, fails to produce any distinct
central vacancy and/or gives erroneous results.

Table 3
Comparison of the results obtained by application of different methods on three naturally distorted samples. Rs- strain ratio, q- orientation of the major axis of strain ellipse.
Angle q is measured counter-clockwise from the horizontal reference axis.

Fig. Image-analysis method (Rs, q) (this study) Other methods

(Rs, q) (Source)
Fig. 8a (Distorted oolites) 1.48, 43 1.48, 45 Fry method (Erslev and Ge, 1990)
1.57, 48 Enhanced normalized Fry method (Erslev and Ge, 1990)
1.7, 42 Rf/f method (Ramsay and Huber, 1983)
Fig. 8d (Distorted oolites) 1.60, 153 1.7, 150 Fry method (Ramsay and Huber, 1983)
1.67, 158 Fry method (Erslev and Ge, 1990)
1.64, 157 Enhanced normalized Fry method (Erslev and Ge, 1990)
1.66, 155 Retrodeformational method (Lisle, 2010)
1.55, 158 (McNaught, 1994)
1.69, 157 (McNaught, 2002)
Fig. 8g (Distorted sandstone) 1.38, 49 1.33, 46 Point-count density method (Waldron and Wallace, 2007)
 B.S.S. Reddy Vinta, D.C. Srivastava / Journal of Structural Geology 40 (2012) 44e53 51

Fig. 9. Error estimates for the image-analysis method. aed. Four images with different degrees of object sorting, f equals to 0.3, 0.4, 0.6 and 0. 8 respectively (after Waldron and
Wallace, 2007). Each image consists of 200 undistorted objects. eeh. Strain ratios (black dots) obtained by application of the image-analysis method on successively distorted
versions of the four images shown in Fig. 9aed respectively. Straight line passing through the origin represents the locus of known strain ratios (expected values) in each plot.
Vertical lines joining black dots and the straight line represent actual errors in different simulations. iel. Orientations (white circles) of the major axes of strain ellipses obtained by
application of the image-analysis method on successively distorted versions of the four images shown in Fig. 9aed respectively. Straight line at 90 orientation represents the
known orientation (expected value) of the major axis of strain ellipse in different simulations.

Testing the effect of the Gaussian blur radius for the results
from the image-analysis method, we used the same image (Fig. 7c).
Given that any change in the Gaussian blur radius changes the
limit of blur around each point uniformly in all the directions
(Fig. 11a, b), a uniform increase in the blur around each point
reduces size of the central vacancy without changing its shape or
orientation (Fig. 11c, d). For this reason, small variations in the
Gaussian blur radius have little effect on the results of the image-
analysis method. In the example tested by us, the method yielded
results within 4% of the expected value for Gaussian blur radii
between 2 and 7 pixels. The central vacancy became ambiguous at
too large values of Gaussian blur radius, say, >7 pixels. At very
small radius, say <2 pixels, the method failed to produce an
adequate image blur.
52 B.S.S. Reddy Vinta, D.C. Srivastava / Journal of Structural Geology 40 (2012) 44e53

analytical solution. Being non-iterative, it is more direct than most

other existing techniques.

Acknowledgements

We thank Prof. John Waldron for providing high quality images

of the examples for testing our method, and the Earth System
Science Division, Department of Science and Technology, Govern-
ment of India for funding the project SR-S4-ES-543-2010 (G). We
are grateful to the reviewers Kieran Mulchrone, Mark McNaught
and the Editor William Dunne for their constructive comments and
suggestions.

Appendix A. Step-by-step procedure for application of the

image-analysis method

The image-analysis method is software independent. As an

Fig. 10. Effect of variation in point size on results of the image-analysis method. The
test is performed on a sample, Fig. 7a, that is distorted by the known strain ratio,
Rs 1.8 (Fig. 7c).
example, we have demonstrated application of the method by
using a public-domain, Java-based image processing program,
ImageJ software (Abramoff et al., 2004). We give the step-by-step
procedure of the method in the Sections A1eA3 as follows:

Fig. 11. An example showing the effect of variation in the Gaussian blur radius on the results of the image-analysis method. a. A typical point in the normalized Fry plot. b. An
increase in the Gaussian blur radius expands the blur on the original point uniformly in all the directions. c. Relationship between the strain ratio and the Gaussian blur radius. Small
variations in the Gaussian blur radius, 2e7 pixels, do not signicantly affect the strain ratio. d. Effect of variation in Gaussian blur radius on the shape and orientation of the central
vacancy. Approximately concentric ellipses represent the central vacancies obtained at Gaussian blur radius equal to 2 and 7 pixels respectively. Both the ellipses have same axial
ratio and orientation.

6. Conclusions A1. Generation of the normalized Fry plot

The image-analysis method is a simple and easy-to-use tech-
nique that yields reproducible results without any subjectivity. It
rapidly extracts the sharp central vacancy in a Fry plot and best-ts
the strain ellipse through the vacancy. As the functions used in the
image-analysis method, e.g., Threshold and Gaussian blur, are
available in any graphics or image processing software, the method
is software independent. The method does not require any
(1) Import the 8-bit B&W image of distorted markers into any
image processing or graphics software, say the ImageJ soft-
ware. Select the Threshold option from the Adjust
submenu under the Image menu on the toolbar. By dragging
the mouse, adjust the upper threshold until object bound-
aries appear sharpest and these do not touch or overlap each
other (Fig. 2a).
 B.S.S. Reddy Vinta, D.C. Srivastava / Journal of Structural Geology 40 (2012) 44e53
(2) Select the Click to Remove Scale Option from the Set Scale
submenu under the Analyze menu.
(3) Select Area, Centroid and Centre of Mass in the Set
Measurements option under the Analyze menu. The Analyze
Particles option displays results in a tabular form. This step
calculates the area, centre of mass and centroid of each grain in
the image, irrespective of the grain shape, elliptical or
polygonal.
(4) Go to Macros submenu under the Plugins menu and click on
the Run Macros option. Selection of the Script File in the
Browse dialog displays a box that contains options for speci-
cation of the Dot Radius and the Outer Limit Radius.
Appropriate input of these parameters displays the normalized
Fry plot (Fig. 2b). In our examples, Figs. 6e8, we have used
a Dot Radius of 3 and an Outer Limit Radius of 350.
A2. Application of the Gaussian blur lter
Application of the Gaussian blur to the normalized Fry plot is
achieved by successively selecting the options, Process, Filters
and Gaussian blur from the toolbar of the ImageJ software. The
user varies the Gaussian blur radius until the points in the vicinity
of the central vacancy merge with each other into a continuous area
(Fig. 3). Too large radius makes the central vacancy cryptic, whereas
very small radius fails to produce adequate level of blur in the
image.
A3. Extraction of the central vacancy for determination of the strain
ellipse
(1) Adjust the Threshold value until the contrast between central
vacancy and the background becomes maximum (Appendix B).
(2) Select the Dark background option and click on Apply. This
step inverts the image such that the central vacancy stands out
as a sharp black area against a white background (Fig. 4).
(3) Select the Fit Ellipse in the Set Measurements submenu
under the Analyze menu.
(4) Now select the options Analyze Particles and Label in the
Analyze menu. This step displays a table of results along with
the image that contains labeled black domains (Fig. 5a, b). Note
the label number on the central vacancy in the image, e. g., 55
in Fig. 5b.
(5) Enter the label number of the central vacancy in the dialog box
that appears on running the Draw_ellipse macro. This step not
only draws the best-t ellipse through the central vacancy, but
also shows the axial ratio and orientation of the strain ellipse in
the Log window (Fig. 5b).
Appendix B. Optimal Threshold value
The optimal threshold value equals to the arithmetic mean of
the average intensities of the background and the objects. In the
53
Threshold option of the ImageJ software, the automatic threshold
function determines the optimal threshold value by using the
isodata algorithm (Ridler and Calvard, 1978). Briey, the proce-
dure classies an image into objects and background on the basis
of the initial threshold value and computes the averages of the
pixels that are  and > the threshold value. These two averages
correspond to the average intensities of the background and the
objects respectively. This procedure is repeated for different
initial threshold values until the threshold equals to the average
of the intensities at all the pixels in the image. The threshold
value that satises this condition is called as the optimal
threshold value.
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