Skip to content

Latest commit

 

History

History
88 lines (67 loc) · 4.53 KB

mel_zero.md

File metadata and controls

88 lines (67 loc) · 4.53 KB
Raw

Mel Zero

No executables, just documentation of how to create and maintain a mole catalog manually using a smartphone, a laptop, and a USB microscope.

Pre-requisites

This just details the author's particular setup, many substitutions are possible.

  • Hardware: iPhone
  • Hardware: Veho VMS-004 USB Microscope
  • Hardware: MacBook Air
  • MacOSX app: Photo Booth
  • MacOSX app: Dropbox
  • iPhone app: Skitch
  • iPhone app: Diptic
  • iPhone app: SimpleResize
  • iPhone app: Dropbox
  • Dropbox account linking an empty 'moles' folder on MacBook Air and iPhone

Creating the catalog

  • Arrange moles by physical region, some basic anatomy is useful here.
  • Where there are a lot of moles near each other it's a good idea to arrange them into 'constellations'. This should make it easier to assign unambiguous names to the individual moles.

An example arrangement:

  • LeftArm
    • Forearm
      • WristHorse
        • Nose
        • Ear
        • FrontLeg
        • BackLeg
      • InsideArmScorpion
        • LeftClaw
        • RightClaw
        • Head
        • Stinger
      • BigMoleNearElbow
  • ...

For each mole and constellation, you'll want to make an identifying image for future reference. It's easy to forget which is which later.

Adding a constellation of moles

To add an identifying image for a constellation of moles to your catalog in Dropbox:

  1. Take a "context image" of the constellation using the iPhone, this should show some surrounding features clearly. This allows you to quickly identify the general area.
  2. Use Skitch on the iPhone to draw a box around the constellation on the context image.
  3. Take a "detail image" of the constellation, this should clearly show each mole in the constellation.
  4. Use Skitch to draw lines between the moles in the constellation on the detail image. The lines should make a figure that agrees with the name you have chosen for the constellation.
  5. Use Diptic on the iPhone to arrange the context image and the detail image side-by-side. This new image is the identifying image for the constellation.
  6. Use SimpleResize on the iPhone to reduce the image size to something managable.
  7. Use Dropbox on the iPhone to upload the reduced image to a new folder in your catalog, e.g. LeftArm/Forearm/WristHorse.

For each individual mole in a constellation:

  1. Take the original 'detail image' from the constellation
  2. Use Skitch on the iPhone to draw an arrow to the mole
  3. Use SimpleResize on the iPhone to reduce the image size to something managable.
  4. Use Dropbox on the iPhone to upload the reduced image to a new folder in the constellation, e.g. LeftArm/Forearm/WristHorse/Nose.

Adding a single mole

  1. Take a "context image" of the mole using the iPhone, this should show some surrounding features clearly. This allows you to quickly identify the general area.
  2. Use Skitch on the iPhone to draw a box around the mole on the context image.
  3. Take a "detail image" of the mole, this should clearly show the mole in high detail.
  4. Use Skitch to draw an arrow to the mole on the detail image.
  5. Use Diptic on the iPhone to arrange the context image and the detail image side-by-side. This new image is the identifying image for the mole.
  6. Use SimpleResize on the iPhone to reduce the image size to something managable.
  7. Use Dropbox on the iPhone to upload the reduced image to a new folder in your catalog, e.g. LeftArm/Forearm/BigMoleNearElbow.

Awkward angles

For taking pictures that would be awkward with the iPhone alone, you could consider finding an assistant or adding some extra elements to the setup:

  • A display to AirPlay your phone's display to. An Apple TV will work as an AirPlay receiver out of the box. You can use extra software such as Reflektor or AirServer to turn a Mac, PC or other device into an AirPlay receiver.
  • Headphones with volume control, to take pictures at a distance. Use the '+' volume control to take a picture from the camera app.
  • A versitile tripod, such as the GorillaPod.

Microscope images

To take things a step further, we can add microscope images of moles we are concerned about. This seems to produce images that are better for comparison over time, as they tend to be more consistent in terms of zoom and lighting, and provide more detail.

Now that each mole has a directory in the catalog, it's easier to identify each mole on the skin. This means that when you come to updating the microscope images, you can have confidence that you're comparing against the same mole.