Welcome to LaueTools's DOCUMENTATION!

Last revision (Sept. 2026)

LaueTools information on BM32 beamline website:

https://www.esrf.fr/UsersAndScience/Experiments/CRG/BM32/Microdiffraction

1- Download LaueTools code

• It is highly recommended to create a conda (or pip) environment. See INSTALL.readme

• the very last version of the code running with python3 is now on github (you are also welcome to fork this project):

  https://github.com/BM32ESRF/lauetools

• last (or older releases) with repository on pypi

  https://pypi.org/project/LaueTools/

  if pip is installed:

   pip install lauetools
  

• optional features need extra packages, installed by adding their name in brackets:

   pip install "lauetools[daxm]"   depth-resolved Laue analysis (DAXM, daxmgui): numba, photutils, pypubsub
   pip install "lauetools[hdf5]"   .hdf5 summary files (buildsummary), EIGER stacked hdf5 images: tables
   pip install "lauetools[all]"    all optional features
  

  Without them, LaueTools works normally; only these features are disabled (a message tells which package is missing).

• install from a local clone (editable install: git pull or git switch take effect at the next launch, no reinstall needed except when pyproject.toml changes or the clone folder is moved):

   git clone https://github.com/BM32ESRF/lauetools.git
   cd lauetools
   pip install -r requirements-gui.txt
   pip install -e .
  

• macOS: the wxPython GUIs need a "framework" build of Python, i.e. one allowed to open windows (otherwise: "This program needs access to the screen"). Python from python.org or Homebrew is a framework build:

   # install Python 3.12 from https://www.python.org/downloads/macos/ , then create and activate a venv with it
   /Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/3.12/bin/python3 -m venv ~/venvs/lauetools
   source ~/venvs/lauetools/bin/activate
   # (Homebrew: $(brew --prefix python@3.12)/bin/python3.12 -m venv ~/venvs/lauetools)
  
   # check: prints "Python" for a framework build (an empty line otherwise)
   python -c "import sysconfig; print(sysconfig.get_config_var('PYTHONFRAMEWORK'))"
  
   # then install from the local clone as above, and launch: lauetools
  

  With conda, a plain environment is not a framework build: run "conda install python.app" in it and start the GUI with: pythonw -m LaueTools.LaueToolsGUI Avoid Apple's /usr/bin/python3 (old version, managed by the system).

• launch in a single command, without activating the venv: the venv's own commands use its Python

   ~/venvs/lauetools/bin/lauetools
  

  shorter: add an alias to ~/.zshrc (then open a new terminal), and type lauetools from anywhere

   alias lauetools='~/venvs/lauetools/bin/lauetools'
  

  or, for a double-click launcher (Finder, Dock), create ~/Desktop/LaueTools.command containing

   #!/bin/zsh
   exec ~/venvs/lauetools/bin/lauetools
  

  then make it executable: chmod +x ~/Desktop/LaueTools.command (error messages show in its Terminal window)

  to give it the LaueTools icon: open conda/icon.png in Preview, copy it (cmd-A, cmd-C), select LaueTools.command in Finder, Get Info (cmd-I), click the small icon at the top left of the Info window and paste (cmd-V)

2a- Launch Graphical User Interfaces of LaueTools

• start Lauetools GUIs from command line :

Normally, in a command window (if environment variables are well set) several GUIs can be launched:

> lauetools   for the main GUI, simulation, complex Laue pattern calibration, teaching the concepts

> peaksearch  for batch Laue pattern peak search processing
> indexrefine   for batch Laue pattern indexing and unit cell (strain) refinement
> buildsummary    to compile all results from indexrefine analysis
> plotmap    to plot 2D map of structural quantities from file built previously

> plotmeshgui   to plot 2D map from counters values in (spec) logfile

> daxmgui   for depth-resolved Laue analysis with wire scans (needs: pip install "lauetools[daxm]")

2b- Use LaueTools module as a library

With pip installation, LaueTools package will be included to python packages. Therefore any module will be callable as the following:

-In [1] : import LaueTools.readmccd as rmccd

-In [2] : rmccd.readCCDimage(‘myimage.tif’)

Some useful notebooks workflow to treat images dataset

The notebooks are installed with LaueTools. To copy them (with their YAML configuration files, the tutorials notebooks and the scripts) to a folder of your choice:

lauetools-copy -d my_folder          (default folder: ./lauetools_examples)
lauetools-copy-gui                   (choose the folder in a dialog, no terminal needed)
lauetools-copy -d my_folder -w notebooks   (only the quickstart, peaksearch and indexation notebooks)
lauetools-copy -d my_folder --download     (also download the example images from GitHub to my_folder/LaueImages)

Files already present in the folder are not overwritten (option --force to overwrite them). Then start with jupyter lab my_folder/notebooks/quickstart/laue_maps_quickstart.ipynb.

• PixelMonitoring.ipynb: Mosaic plot (map of 2D ROI centered on user-defined Laue spot) and GrainImaging plots (maps of scattering signal derived from ROI quantities). PixelMonitoring.html

• PeakSearch_Multiprocessing.ipynb: Peak search and write .dat and .cor files.

• Indexing_Multiprocessing.ipynb: Index Laue pattern (find UB and refine lattice parameters or strain) and write .fit file.