The xcdskd project provides a collection of Jupyter notebooks which discuss and explain a number of data analysis approaches which are applicable in the context of Kikuchi Diffraction Methods, predominantly Electron Backscatter Diffraction (EBSD), Electron Channeling Patterns (ECP), and Electron Channeling Contrast Imaging (ECCI) in the scanning electron microscope (SEM).

The notebooks document the application of the aloe package, which bundles the central functionalities for Kikuchi pattern analysis. Because the notebooks contain working Python code, users can directly adapt them to their own needs and run the modified notebooks on the provided example data, as well as on their own data sets.

The focus of this project is more on the clear explanation of key concepts and work flows, and less on how to reach the ultimate optimization of numerical efficiency. The project also aims to provide open, documented reference algorithms and example data as a benchmark and basis for further developments.

1. At the top of the current GitHub page, click the button "<> Code" and select "Download ZIP", this will download "xcdskd-main.zip"

2. Unpack "xcdskd-main.zip" to a working directory on your machine

3. Install WinPython, in the subdirectory "python" doubleclick:

   ./python/install_WinPython_xcdskd.cmd

   This installs Python 3.12 and all dependencies for xcdskd automatically.

4. The applications in "apps" should now recognize the WinPython installation and should be runnable by clicking the respective "run.cmd"

5. To work with the Jupyter notebooks, start a command line by clicking "cmd.cmd", and enter "start jupyter notebook", this will start the jupyter server and a UI in your webbrowser, where you can select the jupyter notebook to start.

You can start arbitrary Python code with the WinPython installation by calling "python\run.cmd some_code.py". Manual install of dependencies of aloe using uv:

in a uv virtual environment: uv pip install -e . system wide : uv pip install -e . --system