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ABC Tracker is a semi-autonomous multi-object tracker.
Given any video clip, ABC Tracker can (with no prior training) follow objects in the video and provide the location (x and y coordinates), orientation, and velocity of each object.
ABC Tracker can be used to track any type of object.
However, the current default module set used by ABC Tracker is optimized for tracking social insects, including ants, bees, and termites.
ABC Tracker uses a pre-defined set of steps–or "modules"–to perform tracking.
For example, one module in ABC Tracker performs detections on the video file, while another module associates the detections with each other forming foreground tunnels.
Each of these modules is a separate MATLAB source file, and the combination of several modules forms a "module set." These sets of modules can be chosen using the video's "Object Type" or customized on a per-video basis.
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ABC Tracker uses the MP4 video format to perform tracking.
However, ABC Tracker can handle any video type that is compatible with FFMPEG, and will convert other formats to MP4 before processing.
ABC Tracker can handle these video formats:
Currently, we recommend that videos be less than 10 minutes to perform tracking. However, due to requests from biologists, we are integrating support for tracking longer videos now. For updates on this transition, please contact us.
ABC Tracker does have support for ignoring regions of a video during tracking, known as a "binary mask." Currently that feature is disabled by default, but it can be applied on a per-process basis by contacting the development team. Full support for this feature will be added into the default ABC Tracker application soon.
Object marking is a phase in the tracking process:
Object marking provides invaluable data to ABC Tracker: it informs the tracker of the appearance, size, quantity, and density of objects.
Object marks should cover the body of the objects being tracked, but should cover as little of the image background as possible.
If the whole object is under the "ignore" area:
If part of the object is under the "ignore" area:
As a rule of thumb, if over half of the object is visible in the frame then then object should be marked; try to mark as much of the object as possible
Please contact us here. We try to be prompt in investigating all bug reports. Please provide us with your email address. If possible, any on-screen messages or screenshots are helpful.
In most cases, we can resolve the issue without ever accessing your PC and will let you know when the issue has been resolved.
At this point, the tracking modules are managed by the development team. If you are interested in contributing to the ABC Tracker project, please contact us.
No. The corrections phase is provided as a convenience to visualize and improve tracking results, and can be skipped if the uncorrected tracking results are sufficient. However, exporting the tracking results to CSV or MP4 will require loading the corrections screen, even if no additional corrections are performed.
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