Freiburg Visual Acuity & Contrast Test
- This page is for historic reasons only, →go here for the current version (platform independent).
Download the fully working program (Macintosh only) ©Michael Bach 1993-2004
Get latest Version [my problems with Stuffit seem solved. Still, on problems send email, and I’ll immediately will send you the program as email attachment (Aug 2004))]
Software requirements:
- Version 5.1 and later is for PowerPCs (any Mac built in the last 4 years), Appearance Lib required (always available in MacOS 8.6 and higher). Runs in Max OS X in the Classic environment
- Version 5.01 and earlier is for 68k machines (older than 5 years)
If you have problems decoding the downloaded file, make sure you have the most recent version of Stuffit Expander (5.5 or later).
Available versions:
- Version 5.6.2 as of Aug 2004
– Updated help texts, adresses etc., no major code changes - Version 5.6.1 as of Jan 2004
– Fixed bug in ‘best PEST’; algorithm that could have led to rare outlier threshold values (be it acuity or contrast)
– Contrast disk is now ‘blurred’; to be more independent on gaze direction [feedback welcome]
– Now also runs when computer is started without _any_ extensions.
– Disabled German language localisation
- Version 5.5 as of Aug 2001
– Fixes a real bug in contrast dithering for certain display settings. Also adds demo of liminal contrast stimuli and log format for contrast results
– Fixes a bug in the Snellen ratio output. Also adds sfeet / metre choice for Snellen ratio
– fixed dialog bugs that had crept into the German version between 5.1 and 5.2 when I made the dialogs Appearance-savy
– fixed 3 memory leaks
– improved help file
– alert when started on non-PowerPC
– faster appearance with crowding
– now Appearance-savvy
- Version 5.1 as Jan 2000
–Added reaction times to the response protocol string
–Brought documentation up to date
–PowerPC only (no more 68k code)
- Version 5.0.1 of September 1999
–Bug fix: the size of the contrast test optotype was ony 5/6 of the preferred value
–A number of downloaders had difficulties. I now binhexed with the latest version of Aladdin's Stuffit (5.5).
–Crosshairs rather than ‘?’; in contrast test
–extended trial info on the clipboard
- Version 3.0 of January 1995
- or mail michael.bach@uni-freiburg.de for a free copy of the disk
Description
History of changes to the Freiburg Visual Acuity Test
| 1985 | first implementation on a Z80 with 7220-graphics board |
| 1987 | port to IBM compatible with Miro graphics board |
| 21.11.1991 | port to Macintosh |
| 01.1992 | use of “Antialiasing” |
| 04.1992 | now 8 gap positions |
| 09.1992 | preferences can be saved, removed error in hard-wired 640 screen width (Thanks to Dr. Wiegand for careful observation), feedback optionally on/off |
| 01.03.1993 | added logarithmic pest->acuity transformation |
| 05.03.1993 | removed error in gap2pest |
| 16.03.1993 | "neueRichtung" (newOrienation) now 80% differing, some cosmetic stuff |
| 18.03.1993 | gap width real, not integer, rounding at the proper place |
| 18.03.1993 | transformation sPest -> log(Visus) was not linear!! but now... |
| 14.06.1993 | free trial: current estimate * 4, # of trials: 17 |
| 11.09.1993 | can choose between 4 and 8 positions |
| 20.09.1993 | improved demo, found error (640 again!) in Gap2Visus, increased delays, ... |
| 06.11.1993 | log-table for pest is saved in the resource fork, this speeds up enormeously |
| 07.11.1993 | added “preferences...” dialog, balloon help for nearly everything, -> Vs. 2.1 |
| 08.11.1993 | "DisposeHandle((Handle) hCursor);" not allowed, why?, leads to crashes, removed. Added distance to preferences |
| 09.11.1993 | DoRingDemo: non-integer d values lead to enlargements of the “anti-aliased” ring, now rounding at the proper place, added DIN-rounding |
| 13.11.1993 | added # of trials to preferences, DIN-rounding optionally, more error handling |
| 17.11.1993 | balloon help into preferences, added timeout |
| 24.11.1993 | contrast threshold works for the first time. It needs 8 Bit screen depth, this is now done by the program on start if possible |
| 21.12.1993 | used qd-global MainDevice, contrast test only if sufficient screen depth, Version 2.2 |
| 08.04.1994 | put current acuity value into debug string, randomized the randomizer, reduced slope of PEST, Version 2.2.1 |
| 10.06.1994 | translated to English, started work on flanking stimuli, rearranged preferences dialog |
| 17.06.1994 | changed mapping of pest <-> contrast, more translations |
| 18.06.1994 | Version 2.5. Removed objected oriented stuff, made code dependend on whether ColorQuickDraw is installed, so now also runs on 68000-type machines (e.g. my old PowerBook) |
| 27.06.1994 | coded crowding, removed error in radiobutton-handling when setting to default, changed button control to "Test" (removed Visus 4/8), improved some English |
| 30.06.1994 | moved to Metrowerks compiler to try Power-Mac compiling, found more places with improper casing of with vs w/o color quickdraw, added crowding to fast preference |
| 28.07.1994 | changed some "&" to "&&" (the joys of C), made code completely PowerPC compatible |
| 11.08.1994 | strings read from resource to aid in localization, improved handling of radio buttons |
| 25.09.1994 | made use of C++ reference types |
| 17.10.1994 | changed code in Landolt drawing to improve return of actual gap used, increased size of "cake", made slope of psychometric function shallower (std = 15, was 30) |
| 21.10.1994 | corrected error in timeout algorithm |
| 26.10.1994 | changed slope, now: std = locRange / 10.0; rearranged QD-check to avoid crashing on old Macs |
| 16.11.1994 | added continuous demo run (for Medica '94) |
| 17.11.1994 | added picture with keyboard description (Version 2.6.0) |
| 30.11.1994 | moved keyboard picture to monitor-size independent position, number of trials @8=18, @4=24. (Version 2.6.1) |
| 04.12.1994 | added contrast calibration, decreased internal grain of pest (from 300 pts to 1000 pts) |
| 05.12.1994 | improved menu arrangement and contrast calibration dialog, used a non-linear relationship between pest and contrast |
| 08.12.1994 | background for contrast measurement completely gray (as suggested by Ullrich Schiefer) |
| 12.12.1994 | menuBar is now hidden during measurements |
| 13.12.1994 | contrast calibration is now disabled on machines with low video depth (bug found by Hans Strasburger), increased internal grain of pest (from 1000 pts to 400 pts), began work on grating test |
| 02.02.1995 | temporarily disabled grating item, improved screen depth error message |
| 09.02.1995 | began extensive C++ rewrite. Largely removed asymmetric placement of crowding (thanks to Chip Scialfa for prompting me on this) |
| 10.02.1995 | added special SIOUXSettings to make aborts less confusing |
| 13.02.1995 | clipping bug solved. Added more sensible rounding so some numbers; extensive internal use of C++ code. Wonderful, C++ is like Pascal! Vs 3.0.3 |
| 19.02.1995 | improved depth flip code, reduced smallest (internal) contrast from 150 to 100. Changed interface of contrast calibration, prompted by Robert O'Shea's suggestions. Removed bug that prevented the program from using the corrected gamma value. Modified internal pest -> contrast transfer function to allow more closely spaced values a low contrat. Added check on locked file/volume when saving preferences. Version 3.1.0 |
| 09.03.1995 | changed contrast calibration pattern to horizontal lines to avoid luminance artifact |
| 10.03.1995 | solved recent nasty problem with string streams ('ends' was missing) |
| removed bug in Landolt demo where the actual size feedback led to seemingly different sizes | |
| 12.03.1995 | completely solving the asymmetry problems with the crowding frame is really difficult, |
| not sufficiently solved yet. | |
| 13.03.1995 | solved the nagging string end problem that occured after switching to string objects |
| 27.03.1995 | improved escape from demo mode, new CodeWarrior version |
| 28.03.1995 | removed bug that prevented proper depth switching (since "improved" depth flip code), |
| occured only on devices with < 8 bit/pixel | |
| 12.04.1995 | started on: test result optionally to clipboard, on request of bill |
| 13.04.1995 | finished result->clipboard, no user interface yet |
| 27.04.1995 | put toggle for "result->clipboard" into the preferences dialog. Version 3.2.0 |
| 30.04.1995 | improved (?) code for hiding the menubar |
| 18.05.1995 | Changed "free trials" to 2.5x suggested size (was 4x) |
| 21.05.1995 | Found memory leak and traced it to a bug in the strstream library (no, my error). |
| Disabled debug text so the leak will occur much less often. | |
| Improved code for menu bar hiding. Version 3.2.1 | |
| 26.05.1995 | Switched to CW 6. Only problem: GetIntlResource is now a Handle. |
| 28.05.1995 | Began complete optional localisation (German & English) of all numbers, texts, menus etc. |
| 07.06.1995 | Found bug in incorrect localisation of menubar. Version 3.3.1 |
| 24.06.1995 | Added the “Format” option (decimal/ratio). |
| 28.06.1995 | Removed acuity table. Added "max. Acuity" option (1.6-(infinity)). Help button hidden. Version 3.4.0 |
| 14.07.1995 | Fixed the memory leak with help from Metrowerks, put debug info back on screen during testing |
| 30.07.1995 | Overhaul of the preferences interface, addition of threshold bias correction |
| 03.08.1995 | German translation finished, but problem with submenus: ID < 255! |
| 04.08.1995 | fixed version string by borrowing from denis' videotoolbox |
| 22.10.1995 | added overloaded min/max functions to elektrolib |
| menubarhider uses c++ class | |
| 24.10.1995 | found bogus destructor call and a long-lurking bug in dealing with the pest resources. Version 3.5.1 |
| 29.10.1995 | use new/delete for menubarhider instantiation, similar for my "screendipper" |
| 25.11.1995 | moved to cw 7, needs no (!) change. now i can use the balloon help add-in by peter n lewis. |
| help added, but it doesn't work for the menus yet. version 3.6.0 | |
| 27.01.1996 | no problem compiling with codewarrior 7, both ppc & 68k |
| 04.02.1996 | added one more significant digit to contrast result display |
| 10.02.1996 | started gamma correction, vers. 3.7.1 |
| 11.02.1996 | finished gamma correction algorithms, improved localisation, contrast test button now on main screen. |
| 15.02.1996 | fixed a localization bug, where you couldn't switch back to english once in german |
| 03.03.1996 | put "bool" datatype into resource (for resedit 2 bytes, "bool" is unsigned char!) |
| added a hidden preference to switch off gamma table manipulation. | |
| found reason for missing balloon help in menu bar: window started at top 0. fixed by | |
| introducing a new window for the tests and putting result into update routine. | |
| vers. 3.7.2 | |
| 06.03.1996 | played with the update events, still not completely satisfying, never mind. |
| 15.04.1996 | added fancy screen fade on start to make the screen switches look nicer. no version change |
| 17.04.1996 | there was a real bug in the "1st key decides" code. vers. 3.7.3 |
| 24.04.1996 | vs 3.7.4: started on speed adjustment for current machine, |
| improved key handling in preferences dialog, | |
| moved offscreen pixmaps to temp mem, reduced heap size, | |
| increased antialiasing threshold from 6 to 10, | |
| rearranged initialization code, | |
| contrast button disabled for low bit depths | |
| 30.04.1996 | fxed bug: file/test@4 had tested @8, not @4 |
| 11.05.1996 | enable luminance lin. already with a bit depth of 4. version 3.7.5 |
| 26.05.1996 | cleaned up dialogs. |
| 01.06.1996 | arranged for pest to stand alone. |
| 04.06.1996 | used my new offscreen classes for the landoltring, found small bug in non-colorquickdraw code, |
| new codewarrior (9): no changes necessary. | |
| 23.06.1996 | found a bug: the test (sufficient screen depth for contrast measurement?) was |
| made before the screen was switched to best depth for us. therefore, depending | |
| on initial screen depth, contrast testing was disabled, though it could have | |
| been done. fixed, -> Version 3.7.7 | |
| 30.06.1996 | Added message if the test was canceled while in progress. |
| 02.07.1996 | unexpected behaviour on older systems leads to a bug in antialiasing. Fixed. 3.7.8 |
| 19.07.1996 | removed the hidden C on startup, Version 3.8 |
| 03.08.1996 | added variable contrast for the acuity test on Stuart Anstis' request |
| 08.08.1996 | added measurement field for contrast to get rid of screen inhomomogeneity, 3.9 |
| 09.08.1996 | added "Help" facility, complete rework of dialogs, Version 4.0 |
| 02.09.1996 | added "copy to clipboard" in the help menu, so "read me" is no longer necessary; added required AppleEvents, changed "About", added direct Internet access (with Internet Configuration). >Vs 4.1 |
| 17.09.1996 | added email button in "about" (with Internet Configuration); Vs 4.1.1 |
| 12.10.1996 | in SavePreferences "UpdateResFile" instead of "WriteResource", added disclaimer legaleze; no change in version number |
| 26.10.1996 | recompiled with improved screen depth switcher; no change in version number |
| 03.11.1996 | Fixed new bug in the crowding frame, isolated the "getVersionString" function |
| 16.11.1996 | Added (asynchronous) audible feedback on request of Guntram Kommerell. |
| 23.11.1996 | Fixed all (?) remaining screen update errors. Improved handling of scrolling in the Help display. |
| 26.11.1996 | Made class for simple asynchronous sound, feedback sound also for contrast test. |
| 27.11.1996 | Added automatic restart of the computer at 1 o'clock in the night and even day. |
| Vs. 4.3 | |
| 30.11.1996 | Added smiley (possibly using movies) + sound on successfull test for children |
| 12.01.1997 | fixed bug when canceling the luminance linearization, |
| added antialiased title redraw on fast machines | |
| 23.01.1997 | Antialiased titelstring only for >4 Bit screens, double '5' to abort, Vs. 4.4 |
| 19.02.1997 | on request by Prof. Kolling: ∞ timeout now in ms, not in s, allows shorter valuues, ∞ when timeout occurs, the optotype will be blanked, but there are still 1000ms for reaction time. Vs. 4.5 |
| 22.02.1997 | Decision whether to alias the title string was incorrect; |
| erased reward smiley at end of movie. Vs 4.5.1 | |
| 24.02.1997 | Recompiled for Metrowerks 11, some changes in the libraries. Vs 4.5.2 |
| 04.03.1997 | Recompiled for Metrowerks 11 with bug fix, many changes due to old names, Boolean -> bool. Vs 4.5.3 |
| 23.03.1997 | Synchronized stimulus display with screen build-up for proper control at short presentation times. Vs 4.5.4 |
| 26.03.1997 | Made DIN/ISO/EN (European Standard) compliant: Within screensize limitations, acuity now progresses over: |
| 0.05, 0.08, 0.125, 0.16, 0.2, ...... and some further minor points | |
| Moved correction factor to be compatible with ascending procedures to the result display section, | |
| Changed global distance variable to double. | |
| Changed bonus factor from 2.5 to 2.0. | |
| Inserted blank time befor appearance of the optotype (currently 300 ms, no interface yet). | |
| Vs. 4.6 | |
| 17.04.1997 | The blank time used VBLHandler, which leads to later crashes if removed per "delete". |
| No problem when deleted after leaving block scope. Why? | |
| Replaced by simple delay without vbl. | |
| 30.04.1997 | Variable size of the contrast-C diameter on request of Pablo Artal. Vs 4.7 |
| 25.05.1997 | found a write to zero. |
| 09.06.1997 | put size of contrast disk into preferences, added a hidden preference "which test is |
| started by '5'" | |
| 23.06.1997 | removed immediate restart when button was held pressed after test, |
| moved to CodeWarrior Pro, removed bug in timeout (was only 10s when switched off, now 60s). | |
| Vs 4.8 | |
| 23.08.1997 | Added my help at the proper place, the “help” menu, looks nicer under system 8. |
| Made size of Help dialog depend on the screen size. | |
| Vs 4.8.1 | |
| 06.09.1997 | For Rassow collaboration: Added “free trials” also to contrast test, choice of test started by "5" into preferences, |
| increased default number of trials to 24/30. Vs 4.8.2 | |
| 10.09.1997 | added missing items to German dialog, reduced min. acuity, special case for 1,3->1,2 |
| 13.09.1997 | added “true” crowding test after Haase's C test Vs 4.8.3 |
| 26.09.1997 | reduced size of result representation, so that patients or parents don't see it readily (thanks to IS);cfixed an error in menue updates (thanks to FS), disentangled visual and auditory feedback in the preferences (also thanks to FS), removed the "fast preferences" menu. Vs 4.8.4 |
| 07.10.1997 | More feedback from Dr. Schmidtborn: More reward movies. Introduced manual mode (started by ‘1’;). |
| 21.11.1997 | recompiled with CodeWarrior pro 2 and the latest Internet Config version |
| 02.01.1998 | minor stylistic correction in the preferences dialog for better Sys 8 conformance, Vs 4.8.6 |
| 30.05.1998 | Linked with Interfaces-Libraries 3.1 for early Carbon compliance: No changes necessary! |
| 01.07.1998 | Changed ctopstr -> C2PStr, WeseNase eingebaut, auch beim Kontrasttest. Aktuell getesteten Kontrastwert angegeben |
| 14.07.1998 | Updated to Internet Config vs. 2.0. Made balloon help default on for preferences, added many help messages. Fixed possible bug in sequence of window disposures. Vs 4.9.1 |
| 06.10.1998 | bei kRassowSpecial das Fragzeichen beim Kontrasttest rausgenommen. |
| 19.11.1998 | Fehler gesucht bei Kontrasten nach Abbruch, nicht gefunden. Bei RassowSpezial 3 s Pause nach Eingabe, Variable in prefs aufgenommen. Vs 4.9.2 |
| 21.11.1998 | Universal headers 3.2: nicht mehr nötig, pi musste extern deklariert werden |
| 27.11.1998 | 3s Pause auch bei Visustest (kRassowSpecial) |
| 03.03.1999 | results from all trials are saved and entered into the clipboard, tab delimited |
| 18.03.1999 | crosshairs rather than question mark for contrast test. Vs 5.0 |
| 26.03.1999 | Timeoutvalue unsigned, geht jetzt bis 65535 |
| 06.09.1999 | Error (20%) in the size of the contrast-C found (thanks to Jeremy Beer), Vs. 5.0.1 |
| 12.01.2000 | removed 68k code, started on reaction times. |
| 25.01.2000 | Now PowerPC code only. Finished addition of reaction times to the response protocol string. Brought documentation up to date. Vs 5.1 |
| 11.04.2000 | The ballon help box now always remains hidden, and balloon help is always on (thanks to Andreas Cepin), no VBL-synchronisation when crowding is on |
| 13.06.2000 | changed Pest code into an object (benefits NASA project) |
| 19.08.2000 | made it a bit Appearance-savvy, used standard dialog calls of sys 7.1, Vs 5.1.1 |
| 25.08.2000 | "Spotlight" found 3 memory leaks for me. Vs. 5.2 |
| 03.10.2000 | synchronized the German resources with the English one. (-> Dr. Reichel as 5.3) |
| 07.10.2000 | small improvements with the help dialogs, all dialogs now use the standard action function Vs 5.3 |
| 21.02.2001 | removed bug in the Snellen ratio output, added feet / metre choice (thanks to Pauline Cheung & Helen Eng) |
| 28.07.2001 | Vs. 5.5: added contrast stimuli demo, removed bug that would prevent dithering when set to millions of colours, (thanks to Adele Diamond & Dima Amso), added log(CS) |
| 06.09.2001 | weak linked to Internet Config plus test for its presence: FrACT now also runs without any extension. Also disabled language switch to German. Vs 5.5.1 |
Last update 2018-06-12 by Michael Bach