Knowledge Base

Customize the Background

Background Color or Image

Click the Show/Hide button on the toolbar and select Background. In the Background window, you can choose between the following:

• Plain. The background is uniform. Click the button next to it and choose the color you require. Click Other to select among more colors.
• Captured Image. The background image captured in the Arena Settings that was used to acquire the data. This image does not change as you play the tracks back.
• Video File. The video footage from the video file used to acquire the data. The video file is synchronized with the track as you play it back.

Tip: Select Video File every time you want to compare the track data with the orientation and behavior of the animal. For example, when you want to verify that the nose point and the tail base point have been detected properly.

Arenas

Click the Show/Hide button on the toolbar and select Arena Features. Select the arena features you want to have displayed superimposed on the background.

Select the Samples to Edit

What Do You Want to Do?

• Select samples manually. Choose this option to select a single sample or one or more ranges of samples.
• Select samples automatically. Choose this option to let EthoVision find the samples that match a specific criterion. For example, find all missing samples to interpolate them.

Important: If you select a body point in the video image, all body points of that sample are automatically selected, no matter whether they are actual data points or missing points.

Select Samples Manually

To Select a Single Sample

Do one of the following:

• Hover the mouse on a body point. The mouse pointer changes to a four-headed arrow. Next, click the point. The sample is highlighted in the track and in the Sample List. To cancel the selection, press Esc or click on the background image.
• Click the Show/Hide button on the toolbar and select Sample List. In the Samples List window, click any cell corresponding to the sample you want to select. Scroll down the list if necessary to locate the sample. The line is highlighted in green. Next, right-click the row and select Jump to Time to display the selected samples on the plot.

Note: If you click the Time column, you select all subjects for that sample.

To Select a Range of Samples

You can select a range of samples in different ways.

Select a Range of Samples with the Mouse

1. Press and hold your left mouse button, and drag the mouse like when drawing a rectangle.
2. All samples within this rectangle are selected.
3. Release the mouse button.

Notes:

• Use this method to quickly select samples in a specific region.
• This method is not handy if you want to select one subject in a trial with multiple subjects. Rather use the Sample List (see below).
• To cancel the selection, press Esc.
• If body points lie outside the selection rectangle but belong to the samples at least partially included in the rectangle, they are selected anyway. For example, some tail-base and center-points outside the rectangle are selected because their corresponding nose-points and/or center points lie within the rectangle.

Select the First and Last Samples

1. Click the first sample of the range you want to select.
2. Press and hold down the Shift key.
3. Click the last sample of the range you want to select. The sample range is highlighted.

Notes:

• To cancel a range selection, press Esc or click on the background image. To select another range, repeat steps 1 to 3.
• You cannot select multiple sample ranges with this method.

Choose the Sample Range from the Samples List

Choose this method when the ones described above do not allow you to easily select a range because of the high density of sample points.

1. Choose Show/Hide > Samples List.
2. In the Samples List window, click a cell corresponding to the first sample of the range. The line is highlighted in green. Tip: Clicking a row in the Sample List does not move the video to that position. Double-click that row to move the video, so you can see where the subject is at the time you have just selected.
3. Press and hold the left mouse button, and drag down to the last sample you want to select. Release the button when ready. Right-click one of the rows highlighted in green and select Jump to Time to display the selected samples in the plot.

Tip: The time highlighted in blue always corresponds to the current video image. The current sample is highlighted with a white fill and orange outline.

Notes

• To select samples for all subjects in the arena, click the cell in the Time column for the first sample of the range, then drag down to the last sample you want to select.
• You can also select samples for two or more subjects that are adjacent in the Sample List (e.g. Subject 1 and 2). Click the first sample for Subject 1, and drag down to the last sample you want to select for Subject 2.