Central - Color Blindness Enhancement

Central - Color Blindness Enhancement


Notes
Note:
Users will need Central software suite version 7.7.0 or later to take advantage of this enhancement. The Cerebus Central software suite (RS-0048), NeuroPort Central software (RS-0049), and the Cereplex Direct Central Suite (RS-0101) are available on the Blackrock Support website.

By default, Central will use the following colors for its online spike sorting algorithms (Hoops, K-means PCA, Manual PCA):

Unit 1: Pink 
Unit 2: Cyan
Unit 3: Yellow
Unit 4: Purple
Unit 5: Green

Users can change the colors assigned to each unit using the Windows application, "Registry Editor" and the following instructions:

Notes
Note:
The following steps can be done while Central is running, however the changes won't be visible until Central is restarted.

  1. Type "Registry Editor" in the Windows Desktop Search Bar and select Registry Editor
  2. Navigate to "HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Blackrock Microsystems\GlobalSettings\ColorTable"
    3. Notes
    Note:
    1. If you are unable to find the ColorTable folder in Registry Editor, please delete the Blackrock Microsystems Folder under SOFTWARE. A new Blackrock Microsystems folder will populate under SOFTWARE once Central is opened up again.
    2. Alternatively, you can right-click on "GlobalSettings" and hover over "New", then click "Key". Type in "ColorTable" and press enter.
  3. Using the menus in the ribbon bar, select Edit -> New -> String Value
  4. Rename the recently created registry value to "Unit 1", "Unit 2", etc. based on the unit whose color is being changed. If this step is missed by accident, users can right-click the registry entry and select "Rename."
  5. Right-click the new registry value and select "Modify..."
  6. Enter the RGB value into the "Value data:" field.
    1. The RGB value should be formatted as a decimal color code separated by commas, not spaces.
      1. For example: To change Unit 5 to orange, input the decimal color code in the order of R,G,B // 255,165,0
        1. See the following image for this example.
      2. Users can use an external website to easily pick colors out and get their RGB decimal color codes.



    AlertAll color variables that can be changed include:
    1. "Continuous Wave"
      1. (Appears in Single Neural Channel, Raster Plot)
    2. "Grid Lines"
      1. (Appears in Single Neural Channel, Raster Plot)
    3. "Selected Channel Background"
      1. (Appears in Spike Panel)
    4. "Selected Channel Text*"
      1. (Appears in Spike Panel, Raster Plot)
      2. See note*
    5. "Unclassified Unit"
      1. (Appears in Single Neural Channel, Spike Panel, Raster Plot)
    6. "Unit 1"
      1. (Appears in Single Neural Channel, Spike Panel, Raster Plot)
    7. "Unit 2"
      1. (Appears in Single Neural Channel, Spike Panel, Raster Plot)
    8. "Unit 3"
      1. (Appears in Single Neural Channel, Spike Panel, Raster Plot)
    9. "Unit 4"
      1. (Appears in Single Neural Channel, Spike Panel, Raster Plot)
    10. "Unit 5"
      1. (Appears in Single Neural Channel, Spike Panel, Raster Plot)
    11. "Unselected Channel Text*"
      1. (Appears in Spike Panel, Raster Plot)
      2. See note*

    These values may not be present in the ColorTable folder by default. Users can add new string values (Step 3) with the aforementioned variables.

    Note(*) - Selected Channel Text and Unselected Channel Text are inversed. "Unselected Channel Text" will modify your selected channel's text while "Selected Channel Text" will modify your unselected channels' text.

    See the following images for an example of each variable's impact in Central:
     

Attached to this article are example Registry files for ColorTable. Opening these files will automatically apply them to your Central installation. If you would like to quickly revert these changes, please delete the Blackrock Microsystems Folder under SOFTWARE. A new Blackrock Microsystems folder will populate under SOFTWARE once Central is opened up again.

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