ENVI Tutorial:

A Quick Start to ENVI

Table of Contents
OVERVIEW OF THIS TUTORIAL .....................................................................................................................................1
Files Used in This Tutorial ..................................................................................................................................1
GETTING STARTED WITH ENVI....................................................................................................................................1
Starting ENVI....................................................................................................................................................1
Starting ENVI on Windows Machines.....................................................................................................................................1
Starting ENVI in UNIX ..........................................................................................................................................................1
Starting ENVI on Macintosh Machines ...................................................................................................................................1
Loading a Grayscale Image ................................................................................................................................1
Opening an Image File.........................................................................................................................................................1
FAMILIARIZING YOURSELF WITH THE ENVI INTERFACE .......................................................................................................2
The ENVI Main Menu.........................................................................................................................................2
Right-Click Menus..............................................................................................................................................3
The Image Window ...........................................................................................................................................3
The Display Group Menu Bar ................................................................................................................................................3
The Image Window Zoom Box .............................................................................................................................................4
Scroll Bars...........................................................................................................................................................................4
The Zoom Window ............................................................................................................................................4
The Scroll Window ............................................................................................................................................5
APPLYING A CONTRAST STRETCH ..................................................................................................................................5
APPLYING A COLOR MAP ............................................................................................................................................6
ANIMATING YOUR IMAGE............................................................................................................................................6
USING SCATTER PLOTS AND REGIONS OF INTEREST ...........................................................................................................7
LOADING AN RGB IMAGE ...........................................................................................................................................7
CLASSIFYING AN IMAGE .............................................................................................................................................7
DYNAMICALLY OVERLAYING IMAGES ..............................................................................................................................8
OVERLAYING AND WORKING WITH VECTORS ....................................................................................................................8
ENDING THE ENVI SESSION .......................................................................................................................................9
 Tutorial: A Quick Start to ENVI

Overview of This Tutorial

This Quick Start tutorial is aimed at providing a newer ENVI user with a brief introduction to the graphical user interface
and basic capabilities of ENVI.
In order to run this tutorial, you must have ENVI installed on your computer.

Files Used in This Tutorial

CD-ROM: Tutorial Data CD #2
Path: envidata\can_tm
File Description
can_tmr.img Cañon City, CO, TM Data
can_tmr.hdr ENVI Header for Above
can_v1.evf ENVI VECTOR FILE 1
can_v2.evf ENVI VECTOR FILE 2
can_v3.evf ENVI VECTOR FILE 3
can_v4.evf ENVI VECTOR FILE 4

Getting Started with ENVI

Starting ENVI
Before attempting to start the program, ensure that ENVI is properly installed as described in the Installation Guide that
shipped with your software.
Starting ENVI on Windows Machines
• Select Start Æ Programs Æ RSI ENVI 4.2 Æ ENVI.
Starting ENVI in UNIX
• For ENVI, enter envi_rt at the UNIX command line.
• For ENVI+IDL, enter envi at the UNIX command line.
Starting ENVI on Macintosh Machines
1. Display an OSX, UNIX X-window.
2. Do either of the following:
• For ENVI, type envi_rt at the UNIX command prompt.
• For ENVI +IDL, type envi at the UNIX command prompt.

Loading a Grayscale Image

Open a multispectral Landsat Thematic Mapper (TM) data file representing Cañon City,
Colorado, USA.

Opening an Image File

1. From the ENVI main menu bar, select File Æ Open Image File.
2. Navigate to the envidata\can_tm directory, select the file can_tmr.img from
the list, and click Open.
The Available Bands List dialog appears on your screen. This list allows you to
select spectral bands for display and processing. You have the choice of loading
either a grayscale or an RGB color image.
3. Select TM Band 4. The band you have chosen is displayed in the field marked
Selected Band.
4. Click the Gray Scale radio button then click Load Band to load the image into a
new display. Band 4 will be loaded as a grayscale image.

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Familiarizing Yourself with the ENVI Interface
When the image loads, an ENVI image display appears on your screen. The display group consists of an Image window,
a Scroll window, and a Zoom window. These three windows are intimately linked; changes to one window are mirrored
in the others.

Image Window

Scroll Window Zoom Window

You can choose which combinations of windows appear on the screen by right-clicking on any display group window to
display the right-click menu and selecting a style from the Display Window Style submenu. Use the ENVI main menu
bar File Æ Preferences Æ Display Defaults tab to change the default settings for which windows you wish to display
and where you wish to position them.

All windows can be resized by grabbing and dragging a window corner with the left mouse button.
1. Resize the Image window to be as large as possible (until the Scroll window disappears).
2. Now, make the Image window smaller than the full extent of the image data (the Scroll window will reappear).
3. Resize the Zoom window and notice how the outlining box changes in the Image window.

The ENVI Main Menu

In ENVI, activities are initiated by using the menus in the ENVI main menu bar, which may be oriented horizontally as
shown below, or vertically (as set via the option on the File Æ Preferences Æ Miscellaneous tab).

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Right-Click Menus
Each of the three display windows has a right-click menu for accessing general display settings and some interactive
functions. Access this menu by right-clicking in the window.

The Image Window

The Image window shows a portion of the image at full resolution.

Menu Bar

Zoom Box

The Display Group Menu Bar

The menu bar in the display group provides access to many ENVI features related to the images in the display group.
This menu appears at the top of the Image window by default. If you have chosen to display only the Scroll and Zoom
windows or just the Zoom window, the menu bar will appear at the top of the Zoom window.

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The Image Window Zoom Box
The Zoom box (the colored box in the Image window) indicates the region that is displayed in the Zoom window.
1. Place the mouse cursor in the Zoom box in the Image window, hold down the left mouse button, and move the
mouse. The Zoom window is updated automatically when the mouse button is released.
2. Place the cursor anywhere in the Image window (outside of the Zoom box) and click the left mouse button to
move the magnified area instantly. If you click, hold, and drag the left mouse button in this fashion, the Zoom
window is updated as you drag.
3. Click once in the Zoom box in the Image window and use the arrow keys on your keyboard to move the box. To
move several pixels at a time, hold down the Shift key while using the arrow keys.

Scroll Bars
You can choose to have scroll bars displayed in the Image window. These scroll bars provide a way to move through the
Scroll window, allowing you to select which portion of the image appears in the Image window.
1. Right-click in the Image window and select Toggle Æ Display Scroll Bars.
2. To have scroll bars appear in the Image window by default, use the ENVI main menu bar to select the File Æ
Preferences Æ Display Defaults tab. Set the Image Window Scroll Bars toggle to Yes.

The Zoom Window

The Zoom window shows a portion of the image magnified the number of times indicated by the number shown in
parentheses in the Title Bar of the window. The zoom area is indicated by a highlighted box (the Zoom box) in the Image
window.

Zoom Level

Zoom Controls

There are three Zoom Controls (red by default) in the lower left corner of the Zoom window. These control the zoom
factor and the crosshair cursor in both the Zoom and Image windows.
1. Place the mouse cursor in the Zoom window and click the left mouse button to reposition the magnified area
(displayed in the Zoom box in the Image window) by centering the zoomed area on the selected pixel.
2. Click and hold the left mouse button in the Zoom window while dragging. This causes the Zoom window to pan
within the Image window.
3. Click the left mouse button on the graphic in the lower left corner of the Zoom window to zoom out by a factor
of 1.
4. Using a three button mouse, click the middle mouse button on the graphic to zoom out by a factor of 2.
5. Click the right mouse button on the graphic to return the Zoom window to the default zoom factor.
6. Click the left mouse button on the graphic to zoom in by a factor of 1.
7. Click the middle mouse button on the graphic to zoom in by a factor of 2.

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8. Click the right mouse button on the graphic to return the Zoom window to the default zoom factor.
9. Click the left mouse button on the graphic to toggle the crosshair cursor in the Zoom window on or off.
10. Click the middle mouse button on the graphic to toggle the crosshair cursor in the Image window on or off.
11. Click the right mouse button on the graphic to toggle the Zoom box in the Image window on or off.
12. The Zoom window can also have optional scroll bars, which provide an alternate method for moving through the
Zoom window. Right-click in the Zoom window and select Toggle Æ Zoom Scroll Bars. To have scroll bars
appear on the Zoom window by default, use the ENVI main menu bar to select the File Æ Preferences Æ
Display Defaults tab. Set the Zoom window Scroll Bars toggle to Yes.

The Scroll Window

The Scroll window displays the entire image at reduced resolution (subsampled). The subsampling factor is listed in
parentheses in the window Title Bar at the top of the image. The highlighted Image box (red by default) indicates the
area shown at full resolution in the Image window.

Subsampling Factor

Image Box

1. Place the mouse cursor inside the Image box, hold down the left mouse button, drag to the desired location, and
release to reposition the portion of the image shown in the Image window. The Image window is updated
automatically when the mouse button is released.
2. Click anywhere within the Scroll window using the left mouse button to instantly move the selected Image
window area. If you click, hold, and drag the left mouse button in this fashion, the Image window will be updated
as you drag (the speed depends on your computer resources).
3. Click in the Image box and press the arrow keys on your keyboard. To move the image in larger increments, hold
down the Shift key while using the arrow keys.

Applying a Contrast Stretch

By default, ENVI displays images with a 2% linear contrast stretch. You can choose to apply a different contrast stretch.
1. From the Display group menu bar, select Enhance to display a list of six default stretching options for each of
the windows in the display group (Image, Zoom, Scroll).
2. Select an item from the list (for example, Enhance Æ [Image] Equalization to apply a histogram equalization
contrast stretch to the Image window). This action also updates the Scroll and Zoom windows in the display
group. Try applying several of the different available stretches.
3. Alternatively, you can define your contrast stretch interactively by selecting Enhance Æ Interactive
Stretching from the Display group menu bar.

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Applying a Color Map

By default, ENVI displays images using a grayscale color table. You can apply a pre-defined color table to an image or
select a color table from a list.
1. From the Display group menu bar, select Tools Æ Color Mapping Æ ENVI Color Tables to display the ENVI
Color Tables dialog.

2. Select a color table from the list at the bottom of the dialog to change the color mapping for the three windows in
the display group.
3. In the ENVI Color Tables dialog, Auto Apply is selected by default (Options Æ Auto Apply), so the color table
will automatically be applied. You can toggle this feature on or off using this menu option. If Auto Apply is off,
you must select Options Æ Apply each time you wish to apply the color table and observe the results.
4. From the ENVI Color Tables menu bar, select Options Æ Reset Color Table to return the display group to the
default grayscale color mapping.
5. From the ENVI Color Tables menu bar, select File Æ Cancel to dismiss the dialog.

Animating Your Image

You can animate a multiband image by cycling through the bands of the image sequentially.
1. From the Display group menu bar, select Tools Æ Animation then click the OK button on the Animation Input
Parameters dialog. Each of the six bands from the TM scene is loaded into an Animation window. Once all the
bands are loaded, the images are displayed sequentially creating a movie effect.

You can control the animation using the player control buttons (loop backward, loop forward, change direction,
and pause) at the bottom of the Animation window, or by adjusting the value shown in the Speed spin box to
change the speed at which the bands are displayed.
2. From the Animation menu bar, select File Æ Cancel to end the animation.

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Using Scatter Plots and Regions of Interest
Scatter plots allow you to quickly compare the values in two spectral bands simultaneously. ENVI scatter plots enable a
quick 2-band classification.
1. From the Display group menu bar, select Tools Æ 2D Scatter Plots to display the distribution of pixel values
between Band 1 and Band 4 of the image as a scatter plot. The Scatter Plot Band Choice dialog appears.
2. Under Choose Band X, select Band 1. Under Choose Band Y, select Band 4. Click OK to create the scatter plot.
3. Place the cursor in the Image window (but not inside the Zoom box), then click and drag using the left mouse
button to move the cursor around in the window. As you move the cursor, you will notice different pixels are
highlighted in the scatter plot, making the pixels appear to “dance.” The dancing pixels in the display are the
highlighted 2-band pixel values found in a 10-pixel by 10-pixel region centered on the cursor.
4. Define a region of interest (ROI) in the Scatter Plot window. To do this, click the left mouse button several times
in different areas in the Scatter Plot window. Doing this selects points to be the vertices of a polygon. Click the
right mouse button when you are done selecting vertices. This closes the polygon. Pixels in the Image and Zoom
windows whose values match the values contained in the selected region of the scatter plot are highlighted.
5. To define a second ROI, left-click a few times in the scatter plot to define the vertices of the next ROI class, and
right-click to close the new polygon.
6. From the Scatter Plot menu bar, select Class Æ New and repeat the actions described in the step 4.
7. From the Scatter Plot menu bar, select Class Æ Items 1:20, choose the color for your next ROI, and repeat the
actions described in step 4.
8. From the Scatter Plot menu bar, select Options Æ Export All to export the regions of interest. The ROI Tool
dialog appears. The ROI Tool dialog can also be started from the menu bar in the Image window by selecting
Overlay Æ Region of Interest.
9. From the ROI Tool menu bar, select File Æ Cancel to dismiss the dialog. The region definition is saved in
memory for the duration of the ENVI session.
10. From the Scatter Plot menu bar, select File Æ Cancel to close the Scatter Plot window.

Loading an RGB Image

ENVI allows you to simultaneously display multiple grayscale and/or RGB color composite images.
1. Click on the Available Bands List. If you dismissed the Available Bands List during the previous exercises, you can
recall it from the ENVI main menu bar by selecting Window Æ Available Bands List.
2. Click on the RGB Color radio button in the Available Bands List. Red, Green, and Blue fields appear in the middle
of the dialog.
3. Select Band 7, Band 4, and Band 1 sequentially from the list of bands at the top of the dialog by left-clicking
on the band names. The band names are automatically entered in the Red, Green, and Blue fields.
4. Click the Display #1 button at the bottom of the Available Bands List and select New Display.
5. Click Load RGB to load the image into ENVI.

Classifying an Image
ENVI provides two types of unsupervised classification and several types of supervised classification. The following
example demonstrates one of the supervised classification methods.
1. From the ENVI main menu bar, select Classification Æ Supervised Æ Parallelepiped.
2. In the Classification Input File dialog, select can_tmr.img and click OK. The Parallelepiped Parameters dialog
appears.
3. Select the regions of interest (ROIs) you created previously by clicking on the region name in the Select Classes
from Regions list at the left of the dialog.

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4. Select Memory in the upper right corner of the dialog to output the result to memory.

5. Set the Output Rule Images toggle to No then click OK. The classification function calculates statistics and a
progress window appears during the classification. A new entry titled Parallel (CAN_TMR.IMG) is added to the
Available Bands List.
6. In the Available Bands List, click Display #1 and select New Display.
7. In the Available Bands List, select the Gray Scale radio button, click on Parallel (CAN_TMR.IMG), and select
Load Band. A new display group containing the classified image is loaded.

Dynamically Overlaying Images

You can link two display groups, allowing direct comparison of the images by displaying one on top of the other.
1. From either of the two Display group menu bars, select Tools Æ Link Æ Link Displays. The Link Displays
dialog appears. Click OK to link at the origin.
2. In either of the two Image windows, position the cursor outside the Zoom box and click and hold the left mouse
button. A portion of the second image is superimposed over the first image.
3. Change the size of the superimposed area by clicking and dragging the middle mouse button until the
superimposed area is the desired size, then click and hold the left mouse button again.
4. Close the two display groups by selecting File Æ Cancel from each of the Display group menu bars.

Overlaying and Working with Vectors

ENVI provides a full suite of vector viewing and analysis tools, including input of ArcView shapefiles, vector editing, and
vector querying.
1. Click on TM Band 4 in the Available Bands List, click the Gray Scale radio button, then click Load Band to re-
display the grayscale image.
2. From the ENVI main menu bar, select File Æ Open Vector File to open a vector file.
3. In the Select Vector Filenames dialog, navigate to the can_tm directory, click can_v1.evf, hold the Shift key
down and click the last file (can_v4.evf) from the list (all four .evf files should be selected), then click Open.
The Available Vectors List dialog appears listing the vectors corresponding to the can_tmr.img display.

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4. Click on one of the vector layer names and examine the information about the layer at the bottom of the
Available Vectors List.
5. Click the Select All Layers button near the bottom of the dialog to select all of the listed vectors to plot, then
click the Load Selected button.
6. When the Load Vector Layer dialog appears, click Display #1 to load the vectors into the first display. The
vector layers are listed in the #1 Vector Parameters dialog.
7. In the Display #1 Vector Parameters dialog, click Apply to load the vectors onto the image. From the Vectors
Parameters menu bar, select Options Æ Vector Information to start an information dialog about the vectors.
8. To display the currently selected vector layer and list basic information about the vectors, click and drag using the
left mouse button in the Image window.
9. Click on another layer name in the Vector Parameters dialog then click and drag in the Image window to track a
different layer.
10. From the Vector Parameters menu bar, select Edit Æ Edit Layer Properties. Change vector layer parameters
as desired and click OK.
11. In the Vector Parameters dialog, click Apply to display the changes.

Ending the ENVI Session

You can finish your ENVI session from the ENVI main menu bar File Æ Exit option. Answer Yes to the Terminate this
ENVI Session? prompt. All files are closed automatically.

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