Makannotations

Makannotations is an image annotation tool for creating mask annotations. It allows to draw masks of different shapes, assign (multi-level) labels to them, manipulate those masks, etc. It also provides a number of algorithms (CV and AI) for automatic mask detection. The app allows to open images either locally or from S3.

Installation and set up

• Install required python packages:

  pip install -r requirements.txt

• Start the tool:

  ./makannotations

• Configuration of the tool:

  Use .makannotations file to configure the state of the app.

  • layers represent categories to annotate. They also support hierarchical structure. For example:

    "layers": {
      "dog": {
        "corgi": {},
        "pitbull": {},
        "pug": {}
      },
      "cat": {}
    }

  • colors represent list of colors for categories.

  • help-links (optional) - list for url links with more information about categories (can be empty).

  • s3_bucket_prefix (optional) - aws s3 directory prefix.

  • filesystem_label_prefix (optional) - directory to store labels locally (when using s3_bucket_prefix).

Functionality

Images are labeled using a combination of point and polygon annotations.

Navigating

The controls:

• Open a directory
• Open a directory in S3
• Previous image
• Next image
• Undo

The same functionality if available through file and edit>undo menu.

Navigate between images:

Annotating

Drawing controls:

The drawing controls allow to add mask using different shapes and approaches.

• Flood fill

• Brush (point annotations)

  A single point can be drawn to create a circular mask (of some radius). Select the brush icon, and click anywhere on the image.

• Mask eraser

  Similarly to brush, erases the mask in circular shapes.

• Poly line

  Create a poly line shape of a given thickness.

• Polygon

  Click on the mask to start drawing, then click to place next point of the polygon. When finished, click on the first point (within a circle) to complete the shape.

  

  This annotation mode gives high precision labeling:

• Polygon eraser

Brush size can be adjusted:

Layer controls:

Switching between layers:

Mask for some layer can be marked certified or hard example.

Automatically annotating

Algorithms menu:

Algorithm pane example:

Most of the algorithms require a few steps to complete, and they will be marked 1), 2), ... . Other algorithms will provide a number of adjustments.

The algorithms:

• DL automask
  1. Load a torchscript model.
  2. Select the channel.
  3. Run the DL model to generate a mask.
• LAB automask Calculates mask automatically based on LAB color palette and a channel of green.
• GrabCut
  1. Select a rectangle where to run GrabCut.
  2. Run GrabCut segmentation algorithm.
• Clustering
  1. Select a rectangle where to run Clustering.
  2. Select a Seed - pixels on the object to be segmented.
  3. Adjust number of clusters.
  4. Run clustering algorithm.
• Mask manipulation
  • Size of objects to remove - remove small islands of mask (adjust their size).
  • Closing iterations for clustering.
  • Dilation iterations - adjust dilation of the mask on the outer sides.
  • Erosion iterations - adjust erosion of the mask on the outer sides.
• Moving Masks Move mask from one layer to another. Will have to select a rectangle area to be moved to another layer from the current one.
• Filters Has filters for navigation between images. Will only navigate to an image when the filter conditions match. The player will add a shade for the frames that are skipped based on the appropriate filter (color coded).

For drawing rectangles, seeds, etc. for the algorithms, use Edit>Draw menu. Use Edit>Undo to undo these elements in particular.

Adjusting display

Adjustments to the display do not impact the resulting mask and do not change the image, but only help during the annotation.

The controls:

In the following order:

• Brightness (of the image)
• Contrast (of the image)
• Hue (of the image)
• Mask opacity

Display controls:

• Show mask - whether to display the mask.
• Only mask - whether to display only the mask, without the image.
• All Layers Mode - display masks for all layers at once, in different colors.
• Show Depth.
• One Inch Grid - display a one-inch grid to help with understanding the scale of labelled objects.

The same controls are available through View menu.

Zooming:

Red border signifies it's not the end of the image - scroll more.

Information pane:

Information about zoom level, mouse position, and pixel values in RGB, HSV, LAB.

Shortcuts

Navigating:

• O: open a folder
• U: open a folder from S3
• P: previous image
• N: next image
• 1..0: switch to layer 1..10
• Alt+1..0: switch to layer 11..20
• # (host mode): download file
• ! (host mode): upload file
• Ctrl+F: open finder

Drawing:

• F: flood fill
• D: brush drawer
• E: brush eraser
• L: poly line
• C: polygon
• Shift+C: polygon eraser
• Shift+R: rectangle
• Shift+S: seed
• B: brush zoom in
• Shift+B: brush zoom out

Adjusting:

• J: certify layer

• Ctrl+H: hard example

• Ctrl+Z: undo

• Ctrl+R: undo rectangle

• Ctrl+S: undo seed

• Ctrl+M: undo mask

Display:

• Z: show depth
• G: show grid
• Ctrl++: zoom in
• Ctrl+-: zoom out
• B (polygon mode): zoom in start circle.
• Shift+B (polygon mode): zoom out start circle.
• Ctrl+Shift+S: resize image to fit

Other

• Open Setting (File menu) Open the setting for the app.
• View > Tips See some tips and shortcuts.