tracePilot
Four dimensional time lapse measurements are used to solve a variety of fundamental questions in developmental biology. Despite the availability of sophisticated image acquisition and object tracking software, we felt that a simple to use, interactive method for visualizing and displaying the tracked cells was lacking. To fill this gap we created Trace Pilot.
TracePilot is a Java-based software that executes both on Windows PCs and Macintosh computers.
features
The program takes tracking coordinates in two or three dimensions over time as input data. The tracked objects (i.e. cells) can be sorted into user-defined groups. At the coordinates defined by the input data, the program places objects in a three-dimensional, fully zoom-able and rotate-able scene, whereby the appearance of objects in the scene is defined by the group they belong to (see screenshot).The lineage, which is stored as an inherent feature that is independent of grouping, can be highlighted for individual cell families or groups of cells. With a time slider, the movement of cells can be animated between selected time points.
TracePilot color-code view allows visualization of dynamic features of cell movement. Derived features such as consistency and the sorting of cells into groups can be visualized at the same time in different display windows, if needed from different viewing angles (screenshot).
Finally, TracePilot allows movie export into the QuickTime format, which should be useful for data presentation and publications.Original reference
Visualizing cell movement in the developing zebrafish brain. Tobias Langenberg, Tadeusz Dracz, Andrew C. Oates, Carl-Philip Heisenberg and Michael Brand. Developmental Dynamcis
author statement
TracePilot is licensed under the GNU General Public License (GPL). Our goal is to enhance the functionality of TracePilot by integrating algorithms for cell movement analysis.
We would appreciate and acknowledge user feedback and suggestions for improvements and functions to be incorporated into future releases of the program.
