How to edit tracks and lineages

The Track Editor tool allows the user to modify the relationships between tracks and points of the tracks; as well as the lineage relationship between parent and daughter tracks.

The Track Editor is found in the Contents Panel at the bottom of the Aivia Window.

The workflow for editing tracks and lineages can be summarized as follows:

Optional - Select an object set
Add tracks to workspace
Draw connections
Repeat 2 and 3

In Aivia, track edits are applied once you have made changes to the track connections. This will automatically update object measurements, and if editing lineages, the lineage associations.

Select an object set

If you have more than one object set on the image, click on the dropdown menu in the lower left corner of the Track Editor to specify the object set you wish to edit.

On this page:

Add tracks to workspace

Workspaces are used to help organize the track displays in the Track Editor with a large number of tracks and lineages. You can create a new workspace to separate a group of tracks to edit.

First, select a track or group of tracks by left-clicking on the colored bar representing individual tracks. Right-clicking on the Editor will bring up a context menu allowing you to move selected tracks to a new (or existing workspace). In our case below we already have created "Workspace 1". Any selected object can be moved either into a new workspace to be modified, or be added into an existing workspace.

Workspaces act as a reference to the original objects, thus editing an object in "Workspace 1" will also edit the same object in the "All Objects" workspace or any other workspace with those edited objects. Workspaces can be renamed or deleted by right clicking on the workspaces tab (with the exception of the "All Objects" tab.)

Workspace context menu

Draw connections

Connections

A track is a series of objects that are connected in time. Tracks appear as colored bars in the Track Editor workspace that spans the length of the timeline.

There are three ways to edit the connections in the Track Editor:

Create new connections
Modify existing connections
Split a track

Additionally, a track can be in a lineage if it is connected to other tracks. An example of a lineage is shown on the right. The parent track (orange) is in a lineage with Tracks 16 (green) and 24 (blue).

It is possible to have two or more children attached to a single parent track. The line connecting the parent to the child will share the same color as the child track; while the circle at the start of the child track will reference the color of the parent track.

In the case of lineages, the interactions for editing the connections are the same as editing a track on its own.

Example of a lineage

Create new connections

A new connection can be made at any point in the lifespan of a track. Left-click on the track and drag your cursor to a new location will show a dot where the connection begins as well as a dot indicating the position of your cursor.

The dot for the cursor location is also an indicator for valid connections:

A green dot indicates the connection is valid; release your mouse button to create the connection
A red dot indicates the connection is invalid

Merge tracks

Creating an end-on-end connection between two tracks (i.e. from the terminus of one track to the start of another track on the next time point) will merge the tracks together to create a single track.

Create lineages

An example of a possible lineage connection is shown on the right, where a connection could be made between the orange track and the yellow track. If there is more than one available actions, the user will be presented with options to choose from, as shown on the right. The three options are:

Create lineage: splits the original track at the specified time point and create a lineage with the remnant of the original track and the connected track as children tracks
Merge parent and child: splits the original track at the specified time point and join the track to the start of the connected track
Cancel: cancels the operation; no edits will be made

Creating a new connection.

Modify existing connections

To modify an existing connection, click on the connection point at the end of the tracks (indicated by a small dot). The selected connection point will be highlighted and you will be presented with an options dialog with the available actions for that connection point.

For the connection point of the child track (typically at the start of a track), the following options will be available:

Remove connection: Removes the connection between the current track and its parent; this will also merge the remaining child track to its former parent
Select Track <ID>: Selects the current track; no additional actions are applied
Cancel: closes the options dialog

For the connection point of the parent track (typically at the end of a track), the following options will be available:

Remove all connections: Removes the connection between the current track and all its children
Remove connection to Track <ID>: Removes the connection between the current track and the specified child track; the remaining child track will be merged with the current track
Hide/Show children: Toggles the display of the children tracks and their lineages; click on the connection point again and select Show Children to show the children tracks and lineages
Select Track <ID>: Selects the current track; no additional actions are applied
Cancel: closes the options dialog

Split a track

A track can be split by clicking on a point and dragging up or down into an empty area in the workspace. Alternatively, right-click on the track at the time point you wish the new track to start and select Disconnection from frame <number> on option from the context menu.

Undo and redo

You can undo and redo an action in the Track Editor by pressing the following key combinations:

Undo: Ctrl + Z
Redo: Ctrl + Y

There is no limit to the number of undo actions. The redo actions will be cleared if the user performs a modification that is not an undo action. Workspaces work on a global undo and redo stack, which would also apply to edits elsewhere in Aivia.

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