Animated Waveforms Options

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Here's a feature of PicoScope that you might have overlooked. If you have a PicoScope data file containing several waveforms, you can convert it to an animated graphics file in GIF format. Animated GIFs can be viewed in most web browsers, and in some other applications such as Microsoft PowerPoint.

The animated GIF feature is tucked away in the PicoScope context menu. To create an animated GIF:

1. Using Windows Explorer, find your PicoScope data file (*.psdata) and right-click on it.
2. In the context menu that appears, you will see a special item: Convert. This command leads to a further menu containing the options All Waveforms and Current Waveform.
3. Select All Waveforms, and then finally select Animated .Gif.
4. PicoScope may take some time to convert the file, so to indicate that it is busy, it displays a PicoScope icon at the bottom of the screen. Take note: if you select a file containing hundreds of waveforms then the conversion could take a long time.
5. When the process is finished, you will find a GIF file in the same directory as the original file. Open this file with your browser to watch the animation.

Other things you can do with the PicoScope context menu include:

• Convert waveforms to data files: CSV, TXT or MATLAB
• Convert waveforms to static images: PNG, BMP or GIF
• Convert old PicoScope 5 waveforms or old-format PicoScope 6 waveforms to the latest format: PSDATA, PSSETTINGS
• Print the current waveform from a PSDATA file

See the Convert command demonstrated in our "PicoScope New Features" video (click the "menu" tab and select "file formats" to go straight to the relevant section).