The ShroudScope Help Page

The ShroudScope has been successfully tested on the following browsers: Firefox, Chrome, Safari. Sorry, the ShroudScope currently does not work on Internet Explorer (IE).

This Web page describes the functionality of the ShroudScope, a Web interface to display high definition photographs of the Shroud of Turin, zoom-in and -out these photographs, activate overlays and do length measurements over them.

The ShroudScope has currently two different photographs: the 1931 Enrie photograph (shown in negative) and the 2002 Durante photograph (shown in positive). Both photographs have two versions: vertical and horizontal. At the highest zoom-in level, the Durante photograph offers a resolution of 0.17 mm per pixel (a pixel is a dot on your screen). As far as we know, this is the highest resolution photograph of the Turin Shroud publicly available on the Web.

The initial ShroudScope Web page contains several widgets, panels, and icons as seen on the following screen snapshot.

In the following paragraphs we give brief descriptions of them but more details are available in the subsections below.

The Switch Panel widget is the blue panel that appears on the right side, near the top, of the Web page. If it is closed, click the plus icon to open it. It displays two lists: Base Layer and Overlays. The list of base layers is above the list of overlays. Each base layer is a photograph of the Shroud of Turin. Only one base layer can be active at a time whereas several overlays can be active at the same time. Select the desired base layer and overlays by clicking their title or their radio button in the Switch Panel.

The Ladder widget is the blue widget in the form of a ladder with over 10 steps displayed on the left of the Web page. It is used for zooming-in and -out the current active photograph (aka base layer). You can click on any ladder step to go directly to a specific zoom level. You can also use the plus icon to zoom-in or the minus icon to zoom-out. The first zoom level, the lowest, displays a 3%-scale image of the original image used at the highest zoom level. It is very small and should fit almost any computer monitor size. The second zoom level displays a 5%-scale version, the third zoom level is a 10%-scale version, the fourth zoom level is a 20%-scale version, and so on by increment of 10% up to the highest zoom level at 100%. At that zoom-level, it is the highest definition that can be displayed.

The colorful rounded-square icons on the right of the Web page can be used to activate different tools. There are three tools: panning, measure, and permalink. These tools are described on this Web page below. To activate a tool icon, simply click it. An active icon that has a reddish hue means that it is active and that the state of the ShroudScope has changed. For example, if the measure tool is active, no panning can be done, and vice versa. A tool remains active until you click another tool. When you first visit the ShroudScope Web page, the panning icon is active. The panning icon enables you to move (or pan) the entire photograph on the Web page.

The Base Layers

A base layer is essentially the main Shroud photograph shown on the Web page. Currently, two images are available, displayed horizontally or vertically, that is four base layers are provided: Enrie Negative Horizontal, Enrie Negative Vertical, Durante 2002 Horizontal, and Durante 2002 Vertical. More base layers are planned for the future. The Durante 2002 photograph has the highest definition. As far as we know, this is the highest definition photograph available on the Web, worldwide.

To select a different base layer, click the title or the circle next to the title, of the desired base layer. If the selection is different than the current displayed base layer, the current displayed photograph will be replaced with the new selected photograph at the same zoom level and at the same centered location as the current displayed one.

Panning

Panning is required at some zoom levels since zooming-in will increase the level of the details and the entire photograph will become larger or wider than the size of your computer monitor.

Panning is the operation of moving the entire photograph left/up/down/right as if you were grabbing a piece of paper. When the ShroudScope is first displayed, panning can be done by holding the left mouse button and moving the mouse in the desired directions. The entire photograph will move. Therefore, the scrolling bars are not used to move the photograph. Likewise, if your mouse has a wheel, it no longer can be used to move the photograph. The wheel can actually be used for the zoom-in and -out operations (see next subsection).

Note that once the measurement tool is active, via the Measure icon, panning is deactivated by the method just described. You either need to reactivate panning by clicking the Panning icon or you can use the arrow icons above the ladder to pan the photograph.

Zooming-in and -out

One of the main function of the ShroudScope is the possibility to zoom-in or -out the Shroud photographs. This can be done in several ways: by clicking the ladder widget shown on the left of the Web page, by double clicking on the photograph, or by using the mouse wheel. Essentially, this works in a similar manner as the Google Maps.

Double-clicking always zoom-in and center the photograph at the double-clicking point. This is handy to zoom-in to a particular location on the Shroud photograph.

Clicking on one step of the ladder widget, which is on the left of the Web page, displays the Shroud photograph to the clicked zoom level. A higher step on the ladder is a higher zoom-in. The lowest zoom level displays a 3%-scale version of the original photograph of the highest zoom level. This is pretty small and should fit the entire in any computer monitor. The second zoom level is a 5%-scale version, the third a 10%-scale version, and so on by increment of 10% up to the highest zoom level at 100%. Depending on the speed of your network connection and the speed of the server, high level zoom-in may take sometime to display.

Overlays

Overlays are geometric figures drawn on a Shroud photograph. Each overlay can be made visible or invisible by simply clicking its title in the panel switcher.

Four overlays are currently provided:

Burn holes of 1532 A.D..
Poker holes (Pre-14th century).
The major bloodstains.
The 1988 radiocarbon dating sample location.

Length Measurements

The icon with the label Measure enables you to do length measurements on any of the Shroud photographs at any zoom level. To do a length measurement, please follow the following steps:

Select and center the photograph at the location where the measurement will be done.
Click the Measure icon; it will become redish.
Click on the photograph at one end of the object to measure; a small window will open showing the current length (0 mm).
Click, or double-click, on the other end of the object to measure; the small window will display the length in millimeters. The end-points of the measurement, in pixel locations, are also shown.
If on the last step, you double-clicked, the length measuring tool is ready for a new measurement. But if you only clicked, you can continue measuring: the measuring tool keep adding the lengths.

To dismiss the small window showing the measurement results, click the small x icon in the top-right corner of the small window .

Web Link, (Permalink)

One of the great feature provided by the ShroudScope is the ability to create a Web link (i.e., a URL) to refer to a specific image, zoom level, location and set of selected overlays. This Web link can be saved in your computer in many places or even in documents you have prepared for the Web. This facility enables the sharing of Shroud images via the ShroudScope. For example, in describing a particular location on the Shroud to a friend via email, you can ceate a Web link that shows that location, and include that Web link in your email to that friend. That friend can simply click that URL in the email received to see that location of the Shroud.

When you click the permalink icon, a small window opens containing a Web link in blue. This link was created based on the base layer selected (the Shroud photograph), the overlays that are active, the zoom level, and the location of the center of the base layer. Essentially, this link represents the state of the ShroudScope as you see it.

You can then drag and drop the link:

In an email
On the toolbar of your browser
On the desktop of your computer
In any other document (e.g., Word) that accepts the operation

That link is saved or sent via email to be reused (that is "clicked") to go back to the ShroudScope and see the Shroud as you see it.

Moreover, if you are familiar with HTML encoding, you can embed this link in your own Web page.