Open Annotator
Copy the link that you were given into Google Chrome Browser to open up your specific project and exams. You should have gotten an email invitation.
Your first annotation
Click on a label to activate it. You will see a bar across the top of the image area showing the name and type of the active activation and also a button to inactivate it. All mouse / trackpad functionality works for that active label (instead of the usual scrolling or window / level functionality).
If it’s inactivate, it can’t be drawn or modified. Colored tags show up on the bottom of the image showing the team member who did the annotation. You can also add a note to any individual annotation to indicate special circumstances.
If the annotation uses a Global
label, you’re done and ready to go to the next case.
If the annotation is Local
, you would use your cursor to draw the appropriate annotation. When you are done, you can edit the annotations by grabbing and moving the entire shape, moving individual points, or moving the sides of a bounding box.
When the annotation is to your liking, you can either click inactivate on the bar above the image or just go to the next Image. Saving is automatic.
If you want to do some more editing on an annotation, just click on its tag at the bottom of the image or click + shift on the annotaion itself and it will become active again and available for editing.
Brief Freeform Annotation Video
Image Manipulation
You can zoom, pan, and change the contrast and level using your mouse, trackpad, or with keyboard. Specific instructions are seen by clicking the mouse and keyboard icons in the Navigation column. There are buttons above the image to change the contrast and level values. You can use the preset buttons, keyboard shortcuts for CT scans, or select custom values with the window /level sliders.
Applying Multiple Labels
Applying different labels on the same image
Apply each label, one by one, and the bottom Annotations
toolbar will indicate all the
labels applied on that image.
Applying the same local label multiple times
Applying the same local label multiple times works the same way. Just click on the same label again to apply the label on the image again.
Remember that keyboard shortcuts (Alt-1
to Alt-9
) are available to quickly apply
a label.
Interpolation
Freeform shapes, polygons, lines, boxes
Can be used for bounding boxes, shapes, and image level labels to automatically add labels on images between anchor frames.
- Draw a box or freeform shape or polygon or line
- Click
Add Frame
- Skip a few images and draw another box/shape/etc
- Click
Add Frame
again - Repeat until you have as many frames as you like
- Finally click
Interpolate
and the boxes/shapes/etc in between will be drawn as a smoothed average between the anchor frames
Image level labels
Similarly for image level labels,
- Label the first image where an entity is seen
- Click
Add Frame
- Label the last image showing the entity
- Click
Add Frame
again - Finally click
Interpolate
and all the images in between will be labeled automatically
If you make a mistake, you can use Label Controls
to bulk remove.
Boxes and Shapes
Image Labels
Bulk Remove
If you have many labels that you would like to remove and possibly redraw. Use the Bulk Remove option.
- Use
Label Controls
to selectSelect labels to BULK REMOVE associated annotations
- Pick the scope for deletion, either image, series, or entire exam
- Click the
Bulk Remove
button and the annotations will be deleted
Copy Annotations To Next Image
To copy an Active
annotation quickly to the next image in an
exam, use the Copy Annotation button in the toolbar above the image view.
Increase Size of Viewing Area
- Hide Dicom with Layers Control button
- Make all columns narrower by clicking on headers
- Zoom in on image
- But best of all - use
Fullscreen
mode with toolbar button or keyboard shortcut
Keyboard Shortcuts
Use the keyboard icon to view the shortcuts for your operating system. Shortcuts will speed up the annotation process.
Clean up Display
Hide or show dicom information, annotations, notes, measurements, and model outputs.
Use the Filter Label Group toggle to only show annotations in a specific label group.
Label Notes
Simple text nodes can be added to each annotation. To add a note, click on the
[+]
for an applied label at the Annotations
toolbar below the image
Notes can be added and viewed by all collaborators. Radlex tags can be added as well.
Label Owner
On the Annotations
toolbar below the image, the owner of the label is
indicated by the owner's avatar. Hovering over the label will also
show the owner's name and avatar.
Radlex Tags
Radlex coding tags can be added to global and local labels in order to use standardized terms for labels. They can also be added to notes.
Label Thumbs Up or Thumbs Down
Clicking on the Thumbs Up icon on the label tag will add a Positive Review
to the label. Conversely, clicking on the Thumbs Down icon will add a Negative Review