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Picasso

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Picasso logo

A collection of tools for painting super-resolution images, covering single-molecule localization microscopy (SMLM) analysis from raw movies to localization, rendering and quantification. Picasso is complemented by our Nature Protocols publication.

Documentation: picassosr.readthedocs.io - Installation, First steps, Python API, Changelog.

Installation

  • One-click installer (Windows, macOS): download it from the release page.

  • PyPI: pip install picassosr, then start a module with picasso render, picasso localize, etc.

Optional extras (file formats, GPU support) and the developer installation are described in the installation guide.

Example Usage

Besides the GUI, Picasso can be used like any other Python package:

from picasso import io, postprocess

locs, info = io.load_locs("testdata_locs.hdf5")

# Link localizations and calculate dark times
linked_locs, linked_info = postprocess.link(
    locs, info, r_max=10, max_dark_time=1
)
linked_locs, linked_info = postprocess.compute_dark_times(
    linked_locs, linked_info
)

print(f"Average bright time {linked_locs['len'].mean():.2f} frames")
print(f"Average dark time {linked_locs['dark'].mean():.2f} frames")

For more examples, see the sample notebooks and the Python API documentation.

Contributing

Please post feature requests and bug reports on the issue tracker; pull requests are welcome (see the contributing guidelines). You can also contact us via picasso@jungmannlab.org.

Citing Picasso

If you use Picasso in your research, please cite our Nature Protocols publication describing the software.

J. Schnitzbauer*, M.T. Strauss*, T. Schlichthaerle, F. Schueder, R. Jungmann
Super-Resolution Microscopy with DNA-PAINT
Nature Protocols (2017). 12: 1198-1228 DOI: 10.1038/nprot.2017.024

Many of the functionalities provided by Picasso were published independently, please also cite the respective publications:

Feature

Citation

DOI

Fitting. All methods are ports of Gpufit, see the Gpufit license

Przybylski et al., Sci. Rep., 2017

10.1038/s41598-017-15313-9

Experimental PSF (cubic-spline) fitting. The calibration follows the coefficient scheme of Gpuspline, see the Gpuspline license

Li et al., Nat. Methods, 2018; Babcock & Zhuang, Sci. Rep., 2017

10.1038/nmeth.4661, 10.1038/s41598-017-00622-w

Multichannel (global) experimental-PSF fitting (globLoc)

Li et al., Nat. Commun., 2022

10.1038/s41467-022-30719-4

3D fitting via astigmatism

Huang et al., Science, 2008

10.1126/science.1153529

B-spline wavelet spot identification

Izeddin et al., Opt. Express, 2012

10.1364/OE.20.002081

sCMOS pixel-dependent noise modeling

Huang et al., Nat. Methods, 2013

10.1038/nmeth.2488

NeNA

Endesfelder et al., Histochem. Cell Biol., 2014

10.1007/s00418-014-1192-3

FRC

Nieuwenhuizen et al., Nat. Methods, 2013

10.1038/nmeth.2448

Theoretical lateral localization precision (lpx / lpy, Gaussian least-squares)

Mortensen et al., Nat. Methods, 2010

10.1038/nmeth.1447

Theoretical axial localization precision (lpz, Gaussian)

Kowalewski et al., Nat. Commun., 2026

10.1038/s41467-026-70198-5

Quad-tree adaptive histogram rendering

Baddeley et al., Microsc. Microanal., 2010

10.1017/S143192760999122X

RCC undrifting

Wang et al., Opt. Express, 2014

10.1364/OE.22.015982

AIM undrifting. Adapted from the authors’ code, see the AIM license

Ma et al., Sci. Adv., 2024

10.1126/sciadv.adm7765

SMLM clusterer

Schlichthaerle et al., Nat. Commun., 2021; Reinhardt et al., Nature, 2023

10.1038/s41467-021-22606-1, 10.1038/s41586-023-05925-9

DBSCAN

Ester et al., KDD, 1996 (Vol. 96, No. 34, pp. 226-231)

Anisotropic DBSCAN (inspired by)

Lörzing et al., J. Phys. Chem. B, 2024

10.1021/acs.jpcb.4c02030

HDBSCAN

Campello et al., PAKDD, 2013

10.1007/978-3-642-37456-2_14

RESI

Reinhardt et al., Nature, 2023

10.1038/s41586-023-05925-9

Nanotron

Auer et al., Bioinformatics, 2020

10.1093/bioinformatics/btaa154

Picasso Server

Strauss, Commun. Biol., 2022

10.1038/s42003-022-03909-5

SPINNA

Masullo et al., Nat. Commun., 2025

10.1038/s41467-025-59500-z

SPINNA for labeling efficiency (LE) fitting

Hellmeier et al., Nat. Methods, 2024

10.1038/s41592-024-02242-5

G5M

Kowalewski et al., Nat. Commun., 2026

10.1038/s41467-026-70198-5

Coordinate-based colocalization (CBC)

Malkusch et al., Histochem. Cell Biol., 2012

10.1007/s00418-011-0880-5

Ripley’s K and H functions

Ripley, J. R. Stat. Soc. B, 1977

10.1111/j.2517-6161.1977.tb01615.x

Two-channel (cross) Ripley’s H and radial distribution functions

Lotwick and Silverman, J. R. Stat. Soc. B, 1982

10.1111/j.2517-6161.1982.tb01221.x

Stitching tiles (global tile positions, inspired by)

Preibisch et al., Bioinformatics, 2009

10.1093/bioinformatics/btp184

Single-particle tracking (nearest-neighbor tracking, jump distance and MSD analysis)

Martens et al., Front. Bioinform., 2021

10.3389/fbinf.2021.817254

Credits

  • Design icon based on “Hexagon” by Creative Stall from the Noun Project

  • Simulate icon based on “Microchip” by Futishia from the Noun Project

  • Localize icon based on “Mountains” by MONTANA RUCOBO from the Noun Project

  • Filter icon based on “Funnel” by José Campos from the Noun Project

  • Render icon based on “Paint Palette” by Vectors Market from the Noun Project

  • Average icon based on “Layers” by Creative Stall from the Noun Project

  • Server icon based on “Database” by Nimal Raj from the Noun Project

  • SPINNA icon based on “Spinner” by Viktor Ostrovsky from the Noun Project

  • The Noun Project icons above are used under the CC BY 3.0 license.

  • Toolbar and menu icons from Lucide (ISC license). License can be found here.

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