[Motmot] short update

[Andrew Straw]

Jacobson, Gilad wrote:
> Dear Andrew,
>
> The fview seems to be working perfectly! Thanks for all the help!
> I'm still not changing anything within it, just trying to get all the
> different parts to work. I have a few questions, but please let me know
> if you think it's more appropriate that I post them on the forum instead
> of bugging you...
>   
Hi Gilad,

It looks like you *are* posting on the email list -- thanks!

> 1. Frame rate: In the controls I can define the maximum frame rate, but
> seem to have no control over the actual rate, and esp. I can't ensure
> that it is some integer number - this is decided by the software. Any
> way to directly control this value?
>   

This is all rather camera dependent, but I'm having trouble 
understanding exactly what you want to do. Does the maximum framerate 
control work to limit your maximum framerate? If so, can't you just use 
that to set your framerate? In the case that you cannot, I guess that 
you're not able to achieve the maximum framerate for some reason. Top on 
my list of things to check would be the shutter integration time. 
Obviously, a long integration time reduces the maximum framerate. So, 
try shortening your shutter time to see if the framerate increases to 
the maximum value.

> 2. fview & flytrax interaction: Each has its own "start record" feature:
> Is there any way to synchronise these?
>   
Well, the timestamps on both are the same, so the data will be easy to 
synchronize. But there's no button that starts/stops them both 
simultaneously.

> 3. Is there any documentation on how to read .trx files and (later,
> through ctrax) the .ann files?
>   
As far as the .trx files -- there are a couple of readers available:

Python: the readtrax() function in
http://github.com/motmot/flytrax/raw/master/motmot/flytrax/traxio.py

MATLAB: 
http://github.com/motmot/flytrax/blob/master/motmot/flytrax/read_trx.m

As far as the ctrax .ann file -- I'm not sure how to read it. I'd ask on 
the ctrax group: http://groups.google.com/group/ctrax

I hope this helps,
Andrew

-- 
Andrew D. Straw, Ph.D.
California Institute of Technology
http://www.its.caltech.edu/~astraw/