Manual measurement of landmarks in video files

 

Need to track moving landmarks in fundus image movies, or corneal reflections, or what ever else is moving in a movie? While it would be great to have automated tracking of objects sometimes the problem is too difficult for current software packages, like FIJI. So I decided to make a little application that helps your smart brain to just click on them with a mouse.

You can download the free software package in a zip file here. By downloading you agree to the terms listed below. A tutorial and description is given below.

 

File size: 14.5 MB  Last Update:  11/6/2017

Requirements:
-Windows XP, Vista, Win7, Win 7, Win 10 (32 or 64 bit).
-You will need appropriate privileges to run under Windows.
-If you are running Linux or OSX, you can try it under Wine.

 

Tutorial

 


The program is stored in a compressed zip file. Just double-click the zip file, and then drag the contents to your desired folder.  Use the File Menu to open an AVI, WMV, or MPG file. I have included a sample movie so you can try it out.

 


If you have a problem loading a video file, your computer does not support the CODEC. Try converting it to older AVI (RAW AVI, CinePack / Microsoft RLE / Intel), WMV, or MPG-2 format, which is more standard across windows distributions. Good conversion programs are ffMPEG, VLC or VirtualDub.

 

The sample screen shows the first frame. Move to the first frame you want to score (by moving the slider bar at the bottom, or using the L/R arrow keys). Use the Options menu to choose either 1 or 2 measurements per frame (2 measurements allow for calculating rotation and scaling). Then pick Save Measurements to start storing locations on the image to a file. You will be prompted a filename (e.g., data.txt) to save the measurements in ASCII format, comma separated.

Important: do not resize / drag/ move the window while scoring as all measurements are relative to the form using an overlay. If you move the form be sure to click the form's title bar to reset the position of the overlay!

 

Now, click the 1 (or 2) fiducial markers on the image (e.g., click the fovea then click a vessel branch point at the disc). The program automatically moves to the next frame.

If you want to quit saving measurements then press the Esc key to stop.

Notice the status area, which gives you the coordinates of the mouse, and which mouse click you have done:

 

Format of the output file

When you click the save button, the program will store relative offset values (in pixels from the top left corner) in an ASCII text file with comma delimited values. That means it can be read by many analysis programs that accept CSV files (like EXCEL, SPSS, etc.) Each row has the positions from the  click positions. The first column will have a timestamp if it was selected at the start.

License

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The License for the software follows a restricted freeware / MIT license with additional disclaimers.

Copyright (c) 2016, John P. Kelly

Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining a copy of this software and associated documentation files (the "Software"). You are not granted permission to deal, copy, modify, merge, publish, distribute, sublicense, and/or sell copies of the Software. The above copyright notice and this permission notice shall be included in all copies or substantial portions of the Software. You are not allowed to redistribute the software. You cannot use the software for payment, nor for use as any material for which the user is asked to pay. You are not entitled to hide or deny my copyright.

 

THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS." THERE ARE NO WARRANTIES WITH REGARD TO THIS SOFTWARE, INCLUDING ALL IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS, IN NO EVENT SHALL JOHN KELLY OR SEATTLE CHILDREN'S HOSPITAL BE LIABLE FOR ANY SPECIAL, INDIRECT OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES OR ANY DAMAGES WHATSOEVER RESULTING FROM LOSS OF USE, DATA OR PROFITS, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, NEGLIGENCE OR OTHER TORTIOUS ACTION, ARISING OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE USE OR PERFORMANCE OF THIS SOFTWARE.

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