Tracks are objects that are linked over time; track contains information about an object's positions throughout its lifetime. Track objects can be generated by applying one of the tracking recipes available in Aivia. Tracks contains four (4) different types of overlays that can be toggled individually.
This page covers display options that are specific to tracks. General information on displaying object sets can be found in the Object Set Settings page.
Interface
Object groups that are of the track type will appear in the Object group display as shown below:
Select render mode in the View column is available for tracks with 3D objects only
On this page:
Overlay types
There are four (4) display overlays that are associated with a track display:
Objects, which can be outlines in 2D or surfaces in 3D
Tracks, which indicates the current and previous positions of the tracked object
Anchors, which shows the object centroid / location of the object on the current and previous frames
Trends, which shows the general heading of a given track from a certain point in time
Each overlay has different settings that can be adjusted and they can each be toggled independently of each other. Below are examples of the different types of track overlays (click on the image to expand):
Overlay
Objects
Tracks
Anchors
Trends
Combined
2D
3D
Object display
Tracks in Aivia are associated with objects that are related in time. Objects can be either outlines (in 2D) or surfaces (in 3D). Objects will be visible only in their respective views depending on whether the dataset is 2D or 3D. Below are examples of the object display (including the track) in 2D and 3D datasets:
Objects in 2D
Objects in 3D
Rendering modes
If you have a 3D object that is tracked over time, you can specify the rendering mode for the object surfaces in 3D view by clicking on the icon associated with the selected item in the View column. Clicking on the icon will bring up a list of render mode options that are available for the selected item. There are three options:
Rendering Mode
Icon
Description
Solid surface
Sets mesh rendering to solid surface mode
Wireframe
Sets mesh rendering to wireframe mode
Points
Sets mesh rendering to point cloud mode
Once selected, the displayed object sets will refresh automatically to reflect the new selection.
Depending on your hardware, the size of the image and the rendering mode chosen, it may take Aivia up to several minutes to fully render the display with the specified settings.
A comparison between the three rendering mode displays are shown below (click on the image to enlarge):
Solid surface
Wireframe
Points
Render mode options
Tracks display
Tracks are the line representation of an object's position over time. As you progress to the next time point, a short segment is appended to the display indicating the movement of the objects from its previous position to its new position on the current frame. There are two (2) adjustments that are available for tracks display:
Name
Icon
Description
Track length
Specifies the number of frames to display on the track overlay, a longer track length may result in reduced performance
Overlay radius
Specifies the width of the track display
You can drag the slider to the left or right to adjust the maximum track length to display. Alternately, you can specify the value by entering a number to the textbox on the right.
When you click on the overlay radius adjustment icon, a small slider pops up underneath the icon. You can use the slider or the textbox to adjust the radius.
Press Enter to confirm the changes and the radius will be updated. It make take a short amount of time depending on the number of tracks that are visible on the image.
Anchors display
Anchors show the position of the tracked object based on its centroid. The anchor display is updated each time when you progress to another time point. There are two (2) adjustments that are available for anchors display:
Name
Icon
Description
Overlay radius
Specifies the width of the track display
Anchor style
Specifies the display style of the anchor overlay
Same as the tracks display, you can adjust the radius of the anchor circle (2D) or sphere (3D) by clicking on the icon and using the sliders to specify a value.
In the View column, there are two (2) options for anchor displays:
Name
Icon
Description
Example (Click to enlarge)
Current
(Default)
Shows anchor only on the current track position
All
Shows all anchors on the displayed portion of the track
Trends display
Trends show the general direction the tracks travel. It is indicated by an arrow pointing from the initial position to the terminal position (depending on trends setting). The trends are updated when you progress to the next time point. There are two (2) adjustments that are available for trends display:
Name
Icon
Description
Overlay radius
Specifies the width of the track display
Trends style
Specifies the display style of the trends overlay
Same as the tracks display, you can adjust the size and thickness of the trend arrow by clicking on the Overlay radius icon and using the sliders to specify a value.
In the View column, there are three (3) options for trends displays:
Name
Icon
Description
Example (Click to enlarge)
Full track
(Default)
Shows the trend from the track's initial position to its terminus position
First to current
Shows the trend from the track's initial position to its current position
Only visible
Shows the trend from the track's position at the earliest displayed time point to its current position
Coloring options
You can specify the coloring mode for each track overlay separately. The coloring options can be specified by clicking on the icon in the Color column in the respective track overlay section. The coloring options for track overlay displays are summarized in the table below:
Coloring Mode
Objects
Tracks
Anchors
Trends
Solid color
Color by label
(2D)
(3D)
Color by object type
Color by name
Color by measurement
Color by class
Color by cell
Image credits
Hernan Garcia, University of California - Berkeley, Berkeley CA
Stegmaier J, Mikut R. Fuzzy-based propagation of prior knowledge to improve large-scale image analysis pipelines. PLoS One. 2017 Nov 2; 12(11):e0187535. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0187535