This tutorial demonstrates how to take a reference image in a Zantiks unit and use it for tracking in a service.
In some cases you may need to take a reference image manually of the Zantiks experimental arena before you start an experiment.
Normally an auto reference image is taken at the beginning of an experiment over a period of time (sometimes between 10 to 30 seconds or longer depending on how long it will take for the animal/s to move). However if you are working with a still animal, for example a fish, or want to record the activity of an animal as soon as it is put into the experimental chamber then you need to take a reference image of the arena (with no animal in it) just before the experiment starts.
The video below explains how to take a reference image and use this in the script instead of taking an auto reference image. In short, in the Zanscript:
a) the following two lines of code will not be needed, so you can delete them or put a hashtag in front of them, so the unit does not read them, but there is no harm in leaving them in the script:
#SET(AUTOREF_MODE,1) #SET(AUTO_TIMEOUT,5)
b) You do need to delete or hashtag the following line of code:
#AUTOREFERENCE()
Then in place of the line of code above add:
LOAD(REFIMAGE,"reference")
Tracking starts when the system loads the reference image (or the autoreference image). Please note that "reference" is the name of the file and consequently when included in the script needs to written in lower case (as above) as it appears in the Assets directory (and how it is automatically written when you 'capture a reference image' from the Settings page).
How to take a reference image and use it in a script to facilitate tracking.
