Knowledge Base

Define the Arenas

Choose Setup > Arena Settings > Arena Settings 1.

To Define the Arenas Automatically

Follow these instructions if your experiment was created for well plates with 6, 12, 24, 48 or 96 round wells, or 96 square wells, and this is the first new Arena Settings in your experiment. In other cases, go to To Define the Arenas Manually.

Tip: Use well plates with no notches between wells. These result in better well detection. Also make sure that the borders of all wells are within the camera image.

1. In the Grab Background Image window, click the Grab button to grab a background image of an empty well-plate from the camera image.
2. If EthoVision XT can detect the wells, the outline of the arenas are displayed over the background image. A message appears asking whether the arenas overlap with the wells in the image.
3. Do one of the following:
   • If there is good overlap, click Yes. If needed, you can always make small adjustments using the Arrange Arenas function.
   • If the arenas clearly do not overlap with the wells, or arenas overlap with each other, click No. The Arrange Arenas window appears automatically. See Arrange the Arenas for details.
4. Click the 1. Draw Scale to Calibrate button. Draw a line over the entire well-plate. Next, enter its size. Do this horizontally as well as vertically.
5. Click Validate Setup to validate the Arena Settings. Common errors are overlapping arenas, or zones falling outside an arena. If the setup is valid, continue with the instructions below.

Notes

• Arenas are marked with labels A1, A2, ..., B1, B2, ... according to your well plate (letters indicate rows; numbers indicate columns).
• Automatic detection of the wells in the video image has been tested with the DVOC-0040 and DVOC-0041. Success of automatic detection much depends on image contrast, focus, and distortion, and therefore we cannot guarantee it will work in all situations and with video made with previous DanioVision versions. Automatic detection also does not work if water is not present in the well plate.
• If automatic detection of the wells does not work, it could be due to the well plate being not centered in the video image. See Fine Camera Adjustments.
• When the well plate image is optimal and centered, and EthoVision XT still shows the message Well plate detection failed, click OK and proceed with To Define the Arenas Manually.
• To start automatic well plate detection, click the Well plate detection button at the bottom of the Arenas and Zones section of the Arena Settings pane.

To Define the Arenas Manually

The following instructions apply when the automatic well plate detection does not work properly. In that case you must define one arena and then make duplicates.

If you used a predefined template to set up your experiments, go to Arrange the Arenas.

1. Click the 1. Draw Scale to Calibrate button, draw a line over the entire well-plate and enter its size. Do this horizontally as well as vertically.
2. If the current arenas are of a shape different from that of the wells, select all arenas and press Delete.
3. Click 2. Select Shape and Draw Arena and use one of the shapes to create the first, top-left, arena. Make sure the label of the first arena (for example A1) points to the inside of the drawn arena.
4. Click the outline of the arena or its label and then click the 4. Copy Arena button. In the window that appears, select All other arenas. Select the number of rows and click OK.
5. Make sure the predefined arenas cover the wells. If you need to adjust the arena size and position, see Arrange the Arenas.

Arrange the Arenas

1. In the Arena Settings window, click the 5. Arrange Arenas button. In the Arrange Arenas window, do the following:
2. To move all arenas: Under 1. Move Grid:
   • To move up/down: Click the first slider. Move it to the right (to move the arenas down) or left (to move the arenas up).
   • To move right/left: Click the second slider. Move it to the right (to move arenas to the right) or left (to move them to the left).
   • You can also click the up/down arrow buttons of the corresponding box or enter a number in the box.
3. To scale all arenas: Under 2. Scale Arenas:
   • Resize all shapes by using the sliders, by pressing the up/down arrows of the corresponding box, or by entering a number in a box.
   • To increase the height of all arenas, use the first slider. To increase the width of all arenas, use the second slider.
   • By default, Keep proportions is not selected, allowing you to resize height and width separately. If you select Keep proportions, you can change either the height or the width while maintaining the aspect ratio.
4. To rotate all arenas: Under 3. Rotate Grid:
   • Optionally, rotate all shapes. This is only necessary if the well-plate is not positioned straight. The shapes rotate around the center of gravity of Arena 1.
5. To change the space between arenas: Under 4. Arena Spacing:
   • Change the space between the shapes.
   • By default, Keep proportions is not selected, allowing you to change the space between shapes separately in the vertical and horizontal direction. If you select Keep proportions, change the spacing in either the horizontal or vertical direction while maintaining the aspect ratio.
6. Click Validate Setup to validate the Arena Settings. Common errors are overlapping arenas, or zones falling outside an arena. If the setup is valid, continue with the instructions below.

Tip: First position the upper left arena in the desired position and set the desired size using the scale controls. Next, adjust arena spacing so all arenas are correctly positioned. See Using the Multiple Arena Setup in the EthoVision XT Help for information on setting up multiple arenas.

To Edit a Single Arena

Click the row in the Arena Settings pane for that arena. The corresponding arena is highlighted. For details on editing shapes, in the EthoVision XT Help see Arena Settings > Work with Shapes.

Assign the Stimuli to the Arenas

Follow this procedure if you want to apply stimuli during a trial, for example a light pulse or a tapping stimulus.

Important: If you created an experiment with a pre-defined template and selected the correct DanioVision arena template, the White Light settings will be pre-configured.

Source: DanioVision DVOC-0041 Reference Manual, Noldus Information Technology