Arena Settings are normally set up before acquiring data in EthoVision XT, but you may decide at a later time point that the Zone(s) you used were not optimal (e.g., not the right size/position) and/or there are new Zone(s) of interest that you’d like to add. How can changes be made to those settings after the trial?
After you have used a given Arena Settings to acquire data, certain features will be locked: your background image, calibration scale(s), and Arena(s) drawn. However, your Zone Group(s) and Zone(s) therein will not be locked (please note a few exceptions below). As such, you can alter existing zones (e.g., size, position, etc.), as well as add new Zone(s) to existing Zone Group(s) and/or add new Zone Group(s). You also do not need to re-track those trials and those new Zone(s) will automatically be available in your analyses.
Note: If a Zone was used as a condition in your Trial Control Settings (e.g., stop the trial after the animal was in that Zone for 2 seconds), then the Zone Group (and all Zone(s) that Zone is in will be locked and cannot be modified. In addition, all Hidden Zone(s) will be locked and cannot be modified. The only way to modify locked Zone(s) would be to clear (or delete) all trials that used those Trial Control Settings and re-run those trials after modifying your Arena Settings.
Any changes to the zones must be made in the same Arena Settings you used to record the trial. Creating a new Arena Settings profile with different zones will not affect previously-acquired trials.
If you need to apply a new Arena Settings profile (e.g., to change the calibration or the outline of the arena), you will need to Redo the trial from the video files.