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Tracking Mistakes

Once you have predicted tracks, you'll need to proofread them to ensure instance identities are correct across frames.

Visualizing tracks

By default, predicted instances appear in grey and yellow. Select "Color Predicted Instances" to show tracks in color. Colors in the frame match colors in the seekbar and the Instances panel.

Types of Tracking Errors

There are two main types of mistakes made by the tracking code:

  1. Mistaken Identities — The tracker misidentifies which instance belongs to which track (two animals get "swapped")

  2. Lost Identities — The tracker fails to link an instance to any previous track, creating a new track unexpectedly

Fixing Mistaken Identities

When two instances are assigned to the wrong tracks, you need to swap their identities.

Transpose Tracks

Use Labels → Transpose Instance Tracks to swap identities:

  • If there are exactly 2 instances in the frame, they swap automatically
  • If there are more, click the two instances you want to swap

Fixing track identities

Assign to Different Track

Use Labels → Set Instance Track to assign an instance to a different (or new) track.

Propagation

When you assign an instance to a track, this change applies to all subsequent frames. For example, moving an instance from Track 3 to Track 2 will also move all Track 3 instances in later frames to Track 2—effectively "merging" the tracks.

Fixing Lost Identities

When a new track is unexpectedly spawned, find where it started and reassign it to the correct track.

  1. Use Labels → Next Track Spawn Frame to jump to the next frame where a new track begins
  2. Select the instance and assign it to the correct track using Labels → Set Instance Track

Quick Reference

Action How To
Select instance Click in frame, click in Instances panel, or press 1-9
View track name Click an instance to see its track
Rename track Double-click track name in Instances panel
Swap two tracks Labels → Transpose Instance Tracks
Change track Labels → Set Instance Track
Find new tracks Labels → Next Track Spawn Frame

For more tools and tips, see the Proofreading guide.