Manual Tracking¶
This tutorial gives a shot introduction how to get started manually labeling your own tracks, for a quick evaluation or ground truths for the evaluation of automated algorithms.
Getting started¶
1. Open the image sequence or video(s) in ClickPoints¶
For example: right click on the folder containing your images and select ClickPoints on the context menue
2. Save the project¶
Marked results and correlated images must be stored some where, there for the project hast to be named and saved. Click on the save button and select a storage location and file name.
Note
Reference to images and video is stored relative as long a the files reside parallel or below in the path tree. If the files reside above or on a different branch, drive, or network location, the absolute path is stored.
3. Define Marker types¶
Before we can get started we have to specify a marker type. Marker types are like classes of objects, e.g. we might use a class for birds and another one for ships. Every marker type can have multible tracks.
To open the marker menu either press
F2
or click on the Marker button to switch to edit mode (Fig. A). Then right click onto the marker list to open the marker menu (Fig. B). You can reuse the default marker or create a new marker by selecting+ add type
. Choose a name and color for your new marker type and make sure to set the type toTYPE_track
. Confirm your changes by pressingsave
. To add more tracking types select+ add type
and repeat the procedure.
5. Basic Tracking Procedure¶
The setup steps are completed, we can begin to mark some tracks.
Activite the type of marker you want to use by clicking on the label “bird” or press the associated number key.
Set the first marker by clicking on the image.
Switch to the next frame using the
right
cursor key.The track now shows up with reduced opacity, indicating there is no marker for the current frame.
Upon dragging the marker (left click & hold) to the current position (release) a line indicates the connection to the last position. The track shows up with full opacity again.
If a frame is skipped, the marker can be dragged as usual but no connecting line will appear. Indicating a fragmentation of the track.
To create a second track, repeat step 1.
Markers are automatically save upon frame change or by pressing the
S
key.
6. “Connect-nearest” Tracking Mode¶
For low density tracks ClickPoints provides the “connect nearest” mode. Clicking on the image will automatically connect the new marker to the closest Track in the last frame. Speeding up tracking for low track density scenes. The dragging of markers is still support and is usefull for intersecting tracks.
To activate “connect nearest” mode, set the config parameter tracking_connect_nearest = True
.
See ConfigFiles for more details.
7. Important Controls¶
A list of useful controls for labeling tracks. Connect-nearest mode extends the list of default controls
- default
left click
- create new track (default mode)ctrl
+left click
- remove markerright click
- open marker menu, see XXXXX
- connect-nearest mode
left click
- place marker, autoconnect to nearest trackalt
+left click
- create new trackshift
+left click
- place marker & load next frame
8. Advances Options¶
Use SmartText to display additional information
See SmartText
- Example:
Display Track IDs
open the marker menu
navigate to “bird” marker type
edit the text field by inserting
$track_id
All current markers of the type
bird
now display their internal track ID
Use Styles to modify the display of markers and tracks
See Marker Styles
- Example:
Change track point display
open the marker menu
navigate to “bird” marker type
edit the style field by inserting
{"track-line-style": "dash", "track-point-shape": "none"}
All tracks of the type
bird
now are displayed with dashed lines and without track points