This software is designed to annotate images with boxes. It keeps the
annotations in text files with the same image file name and a ".ann" extension.
Characteristics:
* It's all coded in matlab. I tested with matlab 2009, not really sure what the
requirements are with other matlab releases. If you have a problem, just drop
me a mail <joel.granados@gmail.com >
* All the development and testing has been done in linux (fedora 13).
List of features:
1. Zoom: The zoom button turns on/off the zoom state. Once in zoom state you
can zoom-in and zoom-out of the image that is located in the main window. To
zoom in you can double-click the image; this will zoom into the part you
clicked. When in the zoom state you can also specify a zoom zone with a
square. The application will make the selected square of the size of the
main window. Finally if you have a mouse with a middle wheel, this will zoom
in/out.
2. Grab: When you are zoomed in an image you might want to move around to see
adjacent sections. This is made possible by the grab functionality. When
you push the grab button you enter the Grab state. When in Grab state you
can grab the image and move it to other adjacent sections. Note that the
grab is only relevant when you are zoomed in the image.
3. Correct: Annotation can be wrong. The correct button is designed to enter a
Correction state. In this state the user can correct the existing
annotations. In the Correction state you can select existing annotations by
clicking on their boarders. When selected you can change the label or you
can erase it altogether by pressing "d".
4. Review: The review panel goes hand in hand with the Correction state. It is
used to keep track of the person doing the corrections. To activate the
review feature you must press the checkbox named Review Mode. You must also
place you name in the Reviewer text area. The date is placed automatically.
The reviewer information will be kept together with the rest of annotation
info.
5. Add Files: This button allows you to search for the pictures. You should use
this button to search for pictures in the local machine.
6. File List: This is a list of all the files that you selected to be annotated.
When you click on a file in the list, the previous file annotation will be
saved and the new image will be displayed. Note that this is the way to save
the annotations. There is no annotation button.
7. Exit: Button to exit.
8. Color spaces: There is a paner on the lower right side of the window that
contains some known color spaces and other transformations. Just click on
the radio button of your choice and see the image transformed. If the image
is "big" it might take a bit to do the transformation.
Suggested workflows:
1. Starting the application:
To start you need to initialize matlab. After you are in the matlab
console, you must look for the directory where you have placed the
annotation files. Search for the file named annotation_gui.m and "run" the
file. To run the file you can right-click and select "run".
For those of you that realize that this is a bit too much work, you can use
the -r matlab argument to make an icon or an alias. Let's assume that my
annotation files are located at "/tmp/annotation" directory. I can execute
the following command to go directly to the application: `matlab -r "cd
/tmp/annotation ; annotation_gui"`. You can also use that line to create an
alias or an icon.
To see useful labels, you must create a labels.txt file in the directory
where the images are located. This file will contain a label per line. You
should leave this file in the image directory so it is read every time the
images are accessed.
2 Creating an annotation:
a. Be sure that you are not in Zoom, Grab or Correct mode.
b. Make sure that the label contains the string that you will use for the
annotation. (You can change the contents of the label by clicking the
arrow at the far right).
c. Place the cursor where you want to start the annotation square.
d. Click and hold the click while you drag the square to the end position.
e. When you are satisfied with the result let go of the click and a square
should appear with the selected label.
f. If you want to modify the annotation square or the annotation label you
should use the left-click. When you left-click and hold in the
vicinity of the newly created square you can resize it as you please.
Notice that changes in the label will also be visible when you left-click
near the newly created square.
3. Finding something interesting: When your target objects are small you must
use the zoom/grab feature
a. Look at the picture from afar and zoom into points of interest. Points
where you suspect that you might find something interesting.
b. You can change from the zoom state to the grab state and move around the
place of interest.
c. After you are convinced that you have thoroughly searched a specific
zone, zoom out and repeat a and b.
4. Correcting
a. Before you start correcting remember to activate the Review Mode and put
your name on the text area. Try to be consistent with the way you type
in your name.
b. Try to go through the images in the order they appear in the File List.
c. If you see that the square is correct and you need only to change the
label, select the square (it should turn green) and then change the label
in the label list.
d. If you see that the whole annotation is incorrect, you can delete the
selected square (It should be green), by pressing "d". Afterwards, you
will have to create a new annotation all together.
Possible Problems:
* "d" scrolls the label list instead of deleting: When I selected a square for
correction, changed the label with the mouse and finally tried to delete it
by pressing "d"; this would cause the label list to advance. To get out of
this situation just select the square of interest with the mouse once more.