# What’s new in EthoVision XT 19

In the spotlight

Automatic size calibration

▪Place the calibration card in view of the camera and EthoVision XT automatically determines the scale. No manual pixel-to-centimeter calculations are needed. See Calibration.

Four new social interaction variables

▪Social Contact, Approach, Following, and Leaving are now available as built-in dependent variables with fully adjustable thresholds for distance, orientation angle, and velocity. These variables work with any multi-subject experiment and are not limited to specific species or arena types. See Social Contact, Approach, Following, Leaving.

Faster Re-ID after occlusions

▪Post-tracking re-identification of individuals after social interactions now completes in seconds. See Re-identification.

Parameter heatmaps

▪In addition to the existing track density heatmap, you can now visualize the average value of a selected parameter (e.g., velocity, distance moved) at each location in the arena. Smoothing can be adjusted or set to none. Parameters with negative values are supported. See Heatmap.

Detection and data acquisition

▪Lens focus assist. A visual feedback tool helps you achieve optimal camera focus before recording. See Arena Settings

Data analysis

▪Reorganized variable categories. Dependent variables are now organized into five categories: Activity and Movement, Zones and Exploration, Orientation, Social, and Hardware and Advanced.

Miscellaneous

▪New package structure. Essential, Advanced, and Premium packages replace the previous module-based licensing. See Packages.

Updated system requirements

▪Full support for NVIDIA RTX 50 series GPUs and CUDA 13.1. Pascal architecture (GTX 10 series) is no longer supported for deep learning features. Recommended OS is Windows 11 Pro 25H2. See System requirements.

See also

EthoVision XT 19 Other Documentation