This is the documentation draft for the page "Annotating videos" of the manual. (Generalities about the UI, there are other more detailed pages for the tools).

The first post contains the documentation that will be synchronized with the manual and you can post comments to add feedback or discuss points that are unclear.
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Introduction

Annotation tools are used to add drawings, text and images to the video. Some tools can also be used to measure times, angles or distances.

Drawings are attached to a specific key image. Deleting the key image deletes all the drawings attached to it.

Drawings are vector-based: they can be modified after they have been added to the video.

Drawings have a context menu that can be used to access tool-specific functions, copy and paste, and deletion.

Background layer

The background layer sits between the video image and the drawings. It can be used to make the drawings more visible against the video or, at full opacity, show only the annotations and trajectories on a plain background.

To change the background layer color and opacity right click in the background of the video and choose Background… This option is also available in the main menu Tools > Background…

https://www.kinovea.org/screencaps/doc-drafts/annotating-videos/background-opacity.jpg
Ankle trajectory during a standing double back flip.

Tool bar

The tool bar is found under the main viewport.

https://www.kinovea.org/screencaps/doc-drafts/annotating-videos/toolbar.png

There are more tools than those immediately visible. Buttons with a small arrow in the top-left corner contain other tools that can be accessed by doing a right click or a long click (click and hold) on the button.

https://www.kinovea.org/screencaps/doc-drafts/annotating-videos/tools_notch.png

General tools

Hand

The hand tool is used to manipulate drawings or pan the whole image. To stop using a particular tool and come back to the hand tool use the Escape key or click the hand tool button.

Tip
You can also use the middle mouse button to directly manipulate drawings without changing back to the hand tool.

For presentation purposes the hand tool can use a large image instead of the normal cursor. To enable this mode go to the main menu Options > Pointers, and select a pointer from there. This list of image-based pointers can be customized by adding new images to the "Pointers" directory under application data.

https://www.kinovea.org/screencaps/doc-drafts/annotating-videos/pointer-big-hand.jpg

Add a key image

Adds a new key image at the current time.

See also: Key image management.

Show comments

The show comments button opens the side panel at the key images and comments tab, which lets you change the key image title, color, and add comments under the thumbnail.

https://www.kinovea.org/screencaps/doc-drafts/annotating-videos/keyimages.jpg

See also: Key image management.

62

(0 replies, posted in Documentation drafts)

This is the documentation draft for "Kinogram mode"

The first post contains the documentation that will go in the manual and you can post comments to add feedback or discuss points that are unclear.
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Introduction

The Kinogram mode is used to display multiple images of the video at the same time. It is useful to create single-image summaries of the motion.

The two main use-cases for Kinograms are the full decomposition of the motion, typically using a large grid at regular intervals (fig. 1), and  the creation of reports highlighting the posture at standard key moments of the motion, using fewer images at non regular intervals (fig. 2).

https://www.kinovea.org/screencaps/doc-drafts/kinogram/kinogram-mahuchikh.jpg
Fig 1. Example of full decomposition

https://www.kinovea.org/screencaps/doc-drafts/kinogram/kinogram-baseball.jpg
Fig. 2. Example of key points

To enter the Kinogram mode, use the menu Video > Kinogram. To exit the Kinogram mode right click in the image background and use the menu Exit Kinogram. Alternatevely, use the exit button at the top right of the playback screen or select another video mode.

Tip
The Kinogram mode is only enabled when the entire working zone is cached in memory. To change the amount of memory used for the cache go to Options ‣ Preferences ‣ Playback ‣ Memory.

General
When the Kinogram mode is activated the main viewport displays a collection of frames taken from the video, by default spaced at regular intervals.

The playback controls are still active and the current frame is highlighted in blue. The drawing tools can be used to add annotations on top of the composite.

https://www.kinovea.org/screencaps/doc-drafts/kinogram/kinogram-furlani-annotations.jpg
Fig. 3 Annotations on top of Kinogram

Tip:
The Kinogram viewport is at the same aspect ratio as the original video, but the result can be saved at higher resolution and will not include the empty areas outside the Kinogram itself.

Adjusting the content of the cells

Using the left mouse button drag the tiles around to select which part of the original image should be displayed inside a particular cell.

To adjust the time reference of a cell, use ALT key and scroll backward or forward with the mouse wheel while hovering above the cell.

Parameters
The parameters of the Kinogram can be controlled by using right click and selecting the menu Configuration…

https://www.kinovea.org/screencaps/doc-drafts/kinogram/kinogram-configuration.png

- Table : The number of columns and rows of the Kinogram.
- Crop size : the size of the area of the original images extracted into the cells of the Kinogram.
- Border color : Color of the border between the cells.
- Label color: color used for the time or frame number labels.
- Label size: font size used for the time or frame number labels.

Tip:
All options in this dialog change the Kinogram in real time, except for the crop size. Use the Apply button to integrate crop size changes without quiting the configuration dialog.

Toggles
Other options are available via the Options menu.
https://www.kinovea.org/screencaps/doc-drafts/kinogram/kinogram-toggles2.png
- Right to left : Enable this if the athlete is moving right-to-left. This configures the Kinogram to use the top-right cell as the first cell and progress right to left for each row.
- Show border: whether to show the outline of the cells.
- Auto-interpolate: when this option is enabled dragging the cell content will automatically interpolate the neighboring cells to match the motion. If this is disabled you can still trigger it manually by using the menu Action > Interpolate tiles.

Information labels
Small labels giving information about each cell can be shown by using the Labels menu.
https://www.kinovea.org/screencaps/doc-drafts/kinogram/kinogram-labels2.png
- Clock: shows the time of the image in the cell, taking into account the time origin and scale if configured.
- Frame number: shows the cell index within the Kinogram.

The labels can be moved around by dragging. To move all the labels at once, use the SHIFT key while dragging them. This is typically used to move all the labels to a particular corner of their cell.

To reset the labels to their default location use the menu Action > Reset label positions.

tip:
The time shown uses the global time code format option, you can change this from menu Options > Time.

Saving

The Kinogram configuration is saved as part of the KVA file (menu Save annotations…) and will be restored when the video is opened again.

To save the Kinogram image itself use the menu "Save image" in the context menu of the Kinogram. This will ask for the output image size. Since the Kinogram is a composite of images of the original video you may save it at a larger resolution without loosing quality.

63

(13 replies, posted in General)

At what point did it fail? when starting? Do you see the splash screen at all?

64

(3 replies, posted in Français)

Il n'y a pas de son.

65

(3 replies, posted in Français)

Bonjour,
Si vous allez dans l'onglet des caméras depuis l'explorateur à gauche est-ce que vous voyez la vignette de la caméra ou pas?

66

(13 replies, posted in General)

I'm back from a week in Barcelona where I was with the ChronoJump team (if you like Kinovea check them out, it is an open hardware project with open source software for all kinds of sports related measurements).

Since I was preparing the trip I didn't really have time to explain in more details the new features of this version and how to use them, I will update the original post progressively.

While in Barcelona I met with several users and these discussions were very productive for me to understand some issues with the program and how to make it better. So if you have things you feel could be done more efficiently or long standing annoyances don't hesitate to mention them here, that's how the program evolves.

67

(5 replies, posted in General)

Right now it's not possible to change the font size for the little measure labels of lines or markers objects, I'm going to address this asap as part of a refactoring of the styling system.

edit: this will be in the next version.

68

(5 replies, posted in General)

So if I understand correctly you would rather track every joint independently with the trajectory tool and then later be able to bind say an angle object's points to these trajectories. Something like creating a new angle object and having an "Attach to trajectories" menu where you can assign each point to one of the existing trajectory objects. Does that sound correct?

This might be simpler to implement than the full conversion between object types I was thinking about. Ideally this mapping would be temporary so that you could assign the angle object to another set of 3 trajectories.

What should happen if the selected trajectories don't have the same start/stop frames? I imagine the angle would just keep the last known value for each point.

I guess with this approach it would also be interesting to leave one or two points unassigned or assign them to a static marker. In any case it must work in the case the bound trajectory object is deleted at some point.

Version 2024.1 is in the phase where it's published but I'm waiting a bit to see if someone reports a catastrophic bug before setting up the main page link.

69

(35 replies, posted in General)

There is no "limb tacking" in any version, only pattern tracking. For an angle it will track the three points independently.

This should be there in 0.8.27. The sizes of the pattern window and search window are taken from the default tracking configuration set in preferences. It works much better with markers and typically it still requires some manual adjustment. The tracking performance and UX is not so good even in latest versions, I'm investigating various ideas to improve it.

70

(5 replies, posted in General)

Yes, this has been a problem for a long time and I want to address it.

There are two directions: 1. improving tracked drawings interface to have the same utilities as the trajectory, and 2. being able to convert multiple trajectories into a single drawing. The second one is interesting but feels much more complex in terms of logistics. The first one is important to have anyway, so I think it will start in this direction.

One of the next things I intend to do is move the drawings' configuration dialog to the new right-hand side panel and it looks like the tracking configuration for drawings and trajectories could be moved in a tab there as well.

It will probably always be necessary to correct multiple points at the same time since the tracking might fail only for one tracked point of the drawing.

Yeah I've seen this, it's interesting, but it's mainly used along with proper player tracking no?

It would be static in Kinovea because tracking for team sports requires a different approach than the currently implemented tracking algorithm and that's a big pandora's box.

For the ellipse itself, it may look simple but in order to properly hide the part of the drawing behind the legs of the player it needs to know what's the background and what's the player. At the moment the drawing tools in Kinovea don't have ways to do that. (Maybe it could be done simply with chroma-keying on the grass color, not sure)

I do want to improve the tools to highlight things though. At the very least have a simple free-hand highlighter.

Note that in the (unlikely) case that you already have the whole field calibrated with a perspective grid you could directly use the circle tool to do this. Keeping in mind that it won't properly hide the back part behind the legs of the player.

mStirling wrote:

*Edit
My Chromebook runs on 32 bit... Is that a dealbreaker? (I fear it is)

The last 32-bit version is 0.8.27, you can get it in the download page.

73

(1 replies, posted in General)

Hi,
Do you really need a date-time format or just something numerical to do arithmetic on?
What version of Kinovea are you using? Recent versions will always export the time column in numerical format which R should be happy with (although I'm not familiar with it let me know if it really requires a date-time). If your time units inside Kinovea is set to time code or time code + frame number it will be automatically converted to seconds for spreadsheet export.

74

(5 replies, posted in General)

If it's on the text tool you can increase the font size. I'm assuming the 4K video is getting downsized and it hits the part of the code that prevents the labels to become very small in the user interface. So they appear larger than what they really are only in the player window. The export is at the original image size so it respects the font size from the tool configuration.

If changing the size just by one or two steps doesn't appear to make a difference it's definitely this. Increase the size from the tool configuration until you can see the text actually getting larger again, then at that point it should match the export.

75

(13 replies, posted in General)

Hi everyone!

This is the first release of Kinovea 2024.1.

Links
   
    Kinovea-2024.1.exe (installer)
    Kinovea-2024.1.zip (self contained archive)
    Changelog

Here are the main changes from 2023.1 in each domain

Qualitative analysis

Annotations

  • Background layer with color and opacity, sitting between the video and the drawings

  • Grid tool: separate number of rows and columns, option to display distance lines

  • Text tool: option for transparent background

  • Visibility: longer maximum for fading and opaque duration

  • Rectangle & circle: fill option

https://www.kinovea.org/screencaps/2024.1/background.jpghttps://www.kinovea.org/screencaps/2024.1/grid.jpg

Measurement

https://www.kinovea.org/screencaps/2024.1/cadence.jpghttps://www.kinovea.org/screencaps/2024.1/lens-calibration.jpg

Import/Export

  • Export comments in JSON export

Capture

  • No significant updates but working on a universal GenICam plugin for machine vision cameras.


Cheers!