Free and open source

This is a classical workflow for spot detection or blob like structures (vesicules, melanosomes,...)

Step 1 Laplacian of Gaussian to enhance spots . Paraeters= radius, about the average spot radius

Step 2 Detect minima (using Find Maxima with light background option to get minima). Parameter : Tolerance to Noise: to be tested, hard to predict. About the height of the enhanced feautures peaks

The best way to start writing an ImageJ2 plugin (ImageJ2 developers call it command and not plugin) is to download the example command from github and modify it. There is a video tutorial on the whole workflow on how to do this on youtube.

IDE for JVM

Every aspect of IntelliJ IDEA is specifically designed to maximize developer productivity. Together, the powerful static code analysis and ergonomic design make development not only productive but also an enjoyable experience.

It can be seen as an alternative to Eclipse for example for java based development. It exists in both a commercial and a free and open source version.

3-D density kernel estimation (DKE-3-D) method, utilises an ensemble of random decision trees for counting objects in 3D images. DKE-3-D avoids the problem of discrete object identification and segmentation, common to many existing 3-D counting techniques, and outperforms other methods when quantification of densely packed and heterogeneous objects is desired. 

AutoPilot is the open source project that hosts the general algorithm for fast and robust assessment of local image quality, an automated computational method for image-based mapping of the three-dimensional light-sheet geometry inside a fluorescently labeled biological specimen, and a general algorithm for data-driven optimization of the system state of light-sheet microscopes capable of multi-color imaging with multiple illumination and detection arms.