Annotation tool

In case you want to annotate your DatasetVersion using the Annotation tool but without going through an Annotation Campaign, you can use the raw Annotation tool as explained below:

1. Access the Annotation tool

Access to the Annotation tool can be done from the Details and Grid views on any DatasetVersion through the pen icon when hovering over any Asset, or through the Annotate button available in Details view:

2. Interface overview

The Annotation tool opens. As shown below, the header of the Annotation tool provides you with the path of the currently displayed Asset, the Version Type of the DatasetVersion, the position of the current Asset in the queue, the ID of the Asset displayed and the Accept/Reject buttons used to perform the Quality Review detailed here:

As a reminder, each Asset can only have up to one Annotation related. In case you want a more modular way to annotate your DatasetVersion, it is advised to leverage Annotation Campaigns.

The rest of the interface is organized as follows:

• On the left side, a toolbar exposes the Selection/Pan modes and the drawing tools available for the Asset. The tools displayed here depend on the Version Type of the DatasetVersion (see Shape creation for the full detail per Version Type, including the SAM-assisted tools), plus Save, Undo, and Redo.
• On the right side, a vertical icon rail lets you switch between six panels:
  • Shapes: the list of Shape composing the current Annotation, grouped by Label.
  • Selection: the Label, Text, and Attribute fields of the currently selected Shape (see Fill Shape Attributes and Asset Attributes below).
  • Data: a thumbnail/original toggle for the underlying Data, along with its Projections if any are configured (see Visualize Data and Projections below).
  • Details: every piece of information related to the current Asset and its underlying Data: properties, AssetTag, DataTag, Metadata, and Custom Metadata (see Asset and Data Details below).
  • Settings: your personal display and behavior preferences for the tool (see Settings & Shortcuts).
  • Shortcuts: a read-only recap of the currently active keyboard shortcuts (see Keyboard shortcuts).
• At the bottom, a footer lets you browse the Asset gallery of the DatasetVersion.

3. Navigation

A. Across the current Asset

The Annotation tool offers smooth navigation across the displayed Asset. You can use the scroll wheel of your mouse or trackpad to zoom in/out, or use the Zoom in/Zoom out buttons. Press the spacebar to pan around, or Shift + Space to scroll.

The initial view of the Asset can be retrieved through the Reset Zoom button.

In any case, all the navigation actions can be used via customized keyboard shortcuts; the customization of keyboard shortcuts is detailed here.

B. Across the Asset of the DatasetVersion

At the bottom of the Annotation tool, you can click on Assets to open the gallery displaying the Assets queue of your DatasetVersion and click on any of them to open it in the Annotation tool.

You can navigate across the Asset displayed in the Asset gallery using Tab / Shift + Tab or the customized shortcut you defined.

4. Visualize Data and Projections

The Data panel displays the underlying Data of the current Asset, with a toggle to switch between its thumbnail and original resolution.

If the underlying Data has one or several Projections configured, the Data panel also lets you switch between them, for instance to compare an RGB image with its infrared counterpart. Projections let you link several visualizations of the same Data together; the full detail of this mechanism is available here.

5. Asset and Data Details

The Details panel gathers every piece of information related to the current Asset and its underlying Data:

• Asset properties (dimensions, ID, review status, annotation author/date…) and AssetTag
• Data properties (filename, file size, content type, source…) and DataTag
• Metadata and Custom Metadata inherited from the Data

Just like anywhere else on the platform, Custom Metadata can be created, edited, or deleted directly from this panel, the same way as detailed here.

6. Draw a Shape

While hovering over the displayed image in the Annotation tool, you can be in two modes:

• Selection: to select and edit existing Shape, this mode is the default one when opening the tool (keyboard shortcut: Esc)
• Draw: to create a new Shape

To draw a new Shape in the current Annotation, you just need to select a drawing tool from the left toolbar or the dedicated shortcut (D if not customized), select the Label of the new Shape, and draw it.

For instance, let's walk through the process on a polygon Shape: the logic stays the same whatever the Version Type; each one's specificities and the full detail of every drawing feature are covered in a dedicated page.

First of all, you need to select the Label of the Shape you will create (no worries, it can be modified afterwards), then select the base drawing tool as shown below:

The drawing techniques depend on the Version Type, but basically you will add the different points of your Shape by clicking on the image using the cursor. Once your Shape is completed, you can validate it by pressing Enter. You can also abort the drawing of a Shape while doing it using the Esc key.

When the Shape is created, a new line is added to the Shapes panel on the right side of the Annotation tool, and you can visualize the Shape and its Label on the Asset.

You can keep creating Shape on your Annotation. Before switching to another Asset or leaving the Annotation tool, you must save your modified Annotation with the save icon or with the keyboard shortcut Cmd/Ctrl + S (or the personalized shortcut). The Annotation will be saved and turned in to Review status (in case you are not in the frame of an Annotation Campaign).

The exact way to draw a Shape (number of clicks, available AI-assisted tools…) depends on the Version Type of the DatasetVersion. The full details for each Version Type (Classification, Object Detection, Segmentation, Mask, Point, Line, and Keypoint), including the SAM-assisted drawing tools, is available here.

7. Modify a Shape

Now that you can create Shape in different Version Types, let's see how to modify them.

A. Select the Shape

First of all, you need to select the to-be-modified Shape. It can be done:

• Directly in Selection mode by clicking on the Shape directly on the Asset.
• By clicking on the Shape name in the Shapes panel located on the right side.

In both cases, the selected Shape will be highlighted in blue, with all the potential points composing the Shape, and its details will be displayed in the Selection panel.

B. Label

You can change the Label of the selected Shape by:

• Right-clicking on the selected Shape on the Asset, hover Change Label action and click on the new Label

• Selecting the new Label in the dropdown located at the top-left corner

• Right-clicking on the selected Shape on the Shapes panel, hover Change Label action and click on the new Label

• From the Selection panel directly, using the Label dropdown

C. Dimensions and position

When a Shape is selected, all the points composing this Shape are displayed. With your mouse, you can then click on those points to modify the Shape dimensions. You can also move the Shape anywhere in the frame of the Asset.

D. Delete

You can also delete any Shape on an Annotation. Once selected, it can be done in several ways:

• Press the delete key
• Click on the trash icon

• Right-click on the Shape in the Shapes panel or on the image and click on Delete

8. Fill Shape Attributes and Asset Attributes

Besides a Label, a Shape also carries a free-text Text field, mainly used for OCR use cases to transcribe the text contained in the Shape. It is filled from the Selection panel, right below the Label dropdown, and is available whatever the Version Type of the DatasetVersion.

In addition to a Label, a Shape can carry one or several Shape Attribute if some are configured on its Label (see Attributes for how to configure them from the DatasetVersion Settings). Those Attribute values can be filled directly from the Annotation tool (in addition to the Python SDK or the import of COCO file).

To fill them, select the Shape and open the Selection panel on the right side. Besides the Label dropdown and the Text field, a Shape attributes section lists one input per configuredAttribute, matching its Type (String, Integer, Float or Boolean) and its Choices if configured. Required Attribute are marked with a red *.

In addition to Shape Attribute, Picsellia also supports Asset Attribute if some are configured on the DatasetVersion (see Attributes for how to configure them). Unlike Shape Attribute, an Asset Attribute describes the entire Asset rather than a specific Shape, for instance the weather conditions or the acquisition device of the image.

To fill them, deselect any Shape — or select none yet — and open the Selection panel on the right side. When no Shape is selected, this panel displays an Asset attributes section instead, listing one input per configured Asset Attribute, matching its Type (String, Integer, Float, Boolean) and its Choices if configured. Required Asset Attribute are marked with a red *.

9. Actions on Shape (Lock, Hide, and Reorder Shape)

To ease the Annotation process, you can lock, hide, duplicate, or reorder a Shape. It can be done by right-clicking on a Shape or by using the icons in the Shapes panel as shown below:

Obviously, a hidden Shape is not deleted; it is only not displayed. Locking a Shape prevents anyone from editing it. To unlock or make a Shape visible, you just need to click again on the Hide or Lock icon.

When several Shape overlap, you can change their stacking order from the right-click menu using Bring forward and Send backward.

You can also lock or hide all the Shape of an Annotation with the same Label, as the Shape are all grouped together in the Shapes panel on the right side.

As it is the case for most of the actions available in the Annotation tool, all the actions described above can be triggered with a keyboard shortcut (either the default one or the customized one).

For visibility purposes, in addition to the possibility of hiding Shapes, you can also adjust the opacity of any Shape as shown below:

10. Group Selection

For practical reasons, the Picsellia Annotation tool offers the possibility to select several Shape at a time and make modifications to a group of Shape.

Multiple Shape selection can be done:

• On the Asset by drawing within the Selection mode a rectangle over the to-be-selected Shape, the selected Shape will be highlighted with blue in the Shapes panel.

• By selecting all the Shape with a specific Label directly from the Shapes panel, as Shape with the same Label are grouped. So selecting the Label will automatically select all the Shape with this Label, for instance, helmet:

  

Once a group of Shape is selected, you can:

• Change the dimension and the position of those Shape
• Change the Label of all the selected Shape with the right-click or the Labels dropdown (located in the top-left corner)
• Delete the selected Shape with the delete key, the trash icon or the right-click menu
• Duplicate the selected group Shapes
• Lock or hide them with the icons or the right-click menu
• Adjust their opacity...

11. Settings & Shortcuts

The Settings panel lets you configure your personal display and behavior preferences for the tool. The full details of every setting are available here.

To make the Annotation process as smooth and efficient as possible, most of the actions of the Annotation tool can be done using buttons on the tool but also through keyboard shortcuts. The full list of shortcuts, how they change depending on the Version Type of the DatasetVersion, and how to personalize them, are described here.

12. Quality review

To ensure the quality of your Annotation and as Picsellia is a collaborative platform, you can review Annotation. The idea is to leverage the Annotation status field. This field can have three values:

• To Review
• Accepted
• Rejected

When an Annotation is created and saved, either through the Annotation tool or via Annotation import, Annotation are by default with the status To Review.

To Accept or Reject an Annotation, you just need to open the Annotation Tool on the Asset that has the Annotation to be reviewed and click on Accept annotation or Reject annotation.

Please be aware that any user that has access to the DatasetVersion can review any of its Annotation.

Once done, the Annotation is considered reviewed, and as a consequence, it cannot be modified anymore (all Shape will be automatically locked). However, if you want to be back to editing mode on a reviewed Annotation, you just need to click on Clear review. The Annotation will be back in To Review status, and all the Shape unlocked.

This Annotation status has no incidence on the rest of the DatasetVersion or Asset manipulations: it is a very simple, basic review mechanism whose only concrete effect is to lock the Shape of the reviewed Annotation (as detailed above). It does not restrict, block, or alter any other operation on the Asset.

For broader quality control needs, annotation task assignment, and tracking and organizing fleets of annotators, refer to Annotation Campaign.