Is there an image with the latest version available?

[pooyrocks]

I have been poking around the software for a few weeks but it seems that some major improvements have been made since the pre-installed version 1.1 image. I've been trying to install the latest version for two days now, but I don't seem to be able to make any sense of how it's done since I have literally no experience with Ubuntu. I was wondering if a an image with the latest version pre-installed is lying around somewhere and I'm missing it?

[bhrolenok]

I just tested that the latest version from this repo builds and runs on the virtual image, but you are right that the provided pre-compiled binaries on the image are out of date. I'll see if I can get an updated image posted, but that might take a little time as this project hasn't been in active development for a while now. If you need a working version in the meantime, here's the steps to get it updated:

1. Follow the instructions for creating the VM using the provided image, and boot it up
2. Install git on the VM (command line: "sudo apt-get install git")
3. Clone this repo (command line: "git clone https://github.com/biotracking/biotrack.git")
4. Inside of the checked out directory you'll find folders for each of the tools. For each tool there will be an appropriately named ".pro" file (GenVid.pro, MultiTrack.pro, etc.) in that directory, or sometimes one level deeper. Use this to create the build scripts using Qt's qmake tool (command line: "qmake MultiTrack.pro" for example).
5. Run the generated Makefile with the make command (command line: "make")
6. After some scrolling output, the binaries will be built (GenVid, MultiTrack, etc.), and you can click on them or run them from the command line just like the pre-built binaries.

That's a lot of steps, but each one is fairly quick, and really only involves a few terminal commands.

Let me know if this works for you. In the meantime, I'll work on getting an updated image tested and hosted.

[pooyrocks]

Thanks for your response. I did get to install the programs as you said, and they seem to be working just fine. Though, there are some folders that do contain a .pro file but when I run the qmake and then the make command nothing seems to happen. Now, do I have to do it for every .pro file I find anyway? Sorry for the stupid questions, my experience with Ubuntu is below rookie level is all.

[bhrolenok]

No worries! The entire point of having the virtual image is to provide something self-contained that doesn't require you to have experience with setting up the development environment, which is why it needs to be updated.

The prebuilt binaries are actually a subset of the projects included in this repository, so if it's not something you'll use - like maybe ABOS, keyframepainter, knn-identification, or mugshotter - don't worry if the build fails or the binary doesn't seem to work. All of the projects should be self contained applications, so you only need to build what you'll wind up using.

MultiTrack definitely should work. Backgrounder, and ModelMaker are useful for creating background subtraction images and tracking model images (respectively), which are used by MultiTrack, but you can also make these things by hand with most image editors, so they aren't technically necessary. GenVid and trackfixer deal with the results from MultiTrack, and they help with creating tracked videos and fixing common tracking errors; they may or may not be useful for you depending on what you're using it for.

The other projects were combined into this repo because they shared some common code, but now that I think about it, they should probably be split out into their own repo. They were mainly used internally anyway, and haven't been especially well tested.

[pooyrocks]

I had no success installing Manytracks but the rest seems to be up and running for me. I must say, Multitrack has improved tremendously in the latest update. I am also very excited about Trackfixer but I was wondering if there were any instructions/tutorials on how to use it?

[bhrolenok]

Unfortunately development stopped before that tool was finished, and after looking through the code and running the prototype I don't think it's in a useable state at the moment. The intent was to allow the user to manually relabel, ignore, split, merge, and flip the orientation of BTFs generated by MultiTrack. Right now it looks like saving the modifications isn't working (at least when I tried it today on the sample video/BTFs) so it isn't very useful.

Sorry to disappoint, but when active development stopped a few years ago this project kind of fell into limbo. I try to contribute when I can, but that's not as frequent as I'd like.

[pooyrocks]

That sure could be a valuable supplement to Multitrack. Still I am sure there are many people out there who appreciate the set of tools that you have developed and made available for free.