Advanced detection settings for tracking color-marked subjects

Aim

Use color marks in one of the following cases:

▪When detection of the subject is difficult, for example because its color is similar to that of the arena.

▪When you want to track multiple animals per arena, and you want to keep the correct identity of each individual.

Background information

There are two ways of tracking subjects that are color-marked: Marker-assisted identification and Color marker tracking. The difference between the two is as follows:

▪Marker assisted identification. EthoVision XT tracks the animal's body but uses the marker to determine the animal's identity. In the Detection settings pane, under Subject Identification, select Marker-assisted identification.

See the procedure in Advanced detection settings: Marker-assisted identification .

▪Color marker tracking. EthoVision XT only tracks the marker’s geometric center, and ignores the subject’s body. The actual shape and size of the animal is ignored. To apply this method, in the Experiment settings under Tracked Features select Color marker tracking (treat marker as center-point).

Next, see the procedure Advanced detection settings for color marker tracking .

In all cases, you can track up to 16 animals simultaneously in the same arena. This is a technical limit; in practice, it may be difficult to discriminate between 16 different color marks depending on the light conditions.

Procedure

1.Advanced detection settings: Marker-assisted identification

2.Advanced detection settings: Smoothing

3.Advanced detection settings: Subject contour

4.Advanced detection settings: Subject size (multiple animals per arena)