TLC RF Calculator

1. Load a plate image from the ELN or by uploading a local file.
2. Recommended: click Plate Area and drag a box around the plate. This greatly improves Auto-detect accuracy (it ignores everything outside the box). It does not place the reference lines. While a plate area is set, lines and spots must stay inside it — drawing or redrawing the box clamps the lines to it and drops any spots that fall outside.
3. Add the Min Line on the baseline (where samples were spotted) and the Max Line on the solvent front (how far the solvent ran).
4. Click Auto-detect (best inside a Plate Area) or Add Spots to mark spots. Review and adjust.
5. Optionally add V-Line / H-Line labels to name lanes and compounds. An unlabelled lane is left blank; an unmarked compound shows as “Unknown”.
6. Click Calculate RF, then export as CSV / image or send to the ELN.

Drag spots or lines to reposition; double-click (or double-tap on touch) a spot to delete it. RF values fall between 0 and 1.

Crop view zooms the work area to the plate box for easier marking. It only affects what you see here — the saved image keeps its full original dimensions (including any rotation).

Text size (10–500%) scales the annotation labels in both the preview and the saved image, relative to the size auto-computed from the plate resolution.

Rotate is available on a freshly loaded image (before you annotate) to correct its orientation. Tick ring marks before Auto-detect to centre detections on ring outlines rather than filled spots.

After you calculate, changing any annotation marks the results out of date — a banner appears and export is disabled until you click Calculate RF again, so you never save a stale image.

Undo / redo your edits with the toolbar buttons or Ctrl+Z / Ctrl+Y (Ctrl+Shift+Z).