loopbio

Motif Key Features

• Extremely high quality. Recordings can be saved in many formats, raw, with lossless compression, or with exceptional quality industry standard h264/h265 codec (at qualities exceeding blue-ray)
• Other quantitative data (such as EEG, behavioral, or environmental measurements) can be recorded and easily synchronized with the video at sub-millisecond precision using our open source imgstore recording format
• Web-based user interface. Using your web browser, you can configure recording parameters and monitor experiment progress remotely using any Internet connected device (laptop, phone, or tablet)
• Unlimited recording duration. Videos can be as long as your experiment, no file-size or other artificial limits
• Experiment metadata and environmental measurements can be recorded in addition to the video
• Designed to be integrated with your IT infrastructure to ensure movies are backed up and saved on group network storage
• Synchronized capture of images from multiple cameras - ideal for 3D reconstruction or the creation of larger camera arrays
• Live feedback of camera and lighting configuration, including lighting uniformity and focus
• No per-user licenses. A Motif system can be used by the whole lab without extra cost
• Always up to date. New releases and bug-fix updates are automatically and instantly made available to users at no cost
• All Motif systems can be securely and programatically remote controlled using a simple HTTP interface (a Python library is also provided). The interface allows control and scheduling recordings, adjusting video parameters and much more
• Comprehensive documentation is provided online
• Input/Output support allows controling stimulus, measuring environmental data (temperature, light, humidity, etc, and viewing these values from the user interface
• Multiple camera manufacturers are supported, we can help you select the correct camera and lens for your application from Basler, FLIR, Ximea and many more
• Realtime image processing can be integrated with Motif to allow closed loop experiments. Image processing algorithms run in another program, separate to Motif, which improves stability - Motif will always record data reliably
• Experimental protocols, such as time and duration of recordings, stimulus (using Motif I/O support), and copying of data, can be defined once and run by Motif automatically
• No per-camera licences. Motif does not artificially restrict how many cameras you can use with a system (although optimal performance is constrained by PC hardware, number and configuration of cameras)

Motif systems are available in a number of configurations, from traditional single-camera systems, to multiple camera variations suitable for operation in the field or in the lab.

Multiple camera support is a unique aspect of the Motif system design - not only are multiple cameras per system supported, but multiple Motif systems can be connected together, effectively scaling the apparatus to a larger area. Imagine a behavioral arena too large to record with sufficient resolution using one camera, or imagine an experiment where one needs images taken from different perspectives. These situations are no problem with Motif as each cameras' image acquisition is synchronized - all pictures are taken at exactly the same time, overcoming the limitations of resolution and framerate.

Single Camera Laboratory Assay

The silent computer and camera can be mounted near the behavioral assay and the experiment monitored and recorded remotely using the Motif web user interface.

Multiple Camera Laboratory Configuration

Recording synchronized videos from multiple cameras allows studying kinematics and motion in great detail. Here we show the two orthogonal views of a subject.

With live feedback of focus quality, Motif ensures that images are sharp and that the focus plane is correctly set.

Multiple Camera Array

Sometimes recording an experiment requires higher resolution, framerate, or covering a larger area, than what is economically possible using a single camera.

A unique feature of Motif is it supports the combinations of multiple cameras into a single higher performance virtual camera. This allows unmatched recording performance. For more information see our case studies 'A multi-camera high throughput worm assay' and 'a 3x3m 4-camera array for recording fish schooling'.

Multiple Camera Field System

A battery powered silent system suitable for field operation allows synchronized recordings from multiple views - enabling 3D reconstruction of movement and behavior.

Antennae 3D Tracking

Synchronized video from 3 cameras is used to reconstruct the 3D antenna movement - the active smelling behavior - of American cockroaches in a wind tunnel with odour stimulus.

3D position is then reconstructed using loopy (demo video here).

Multiple Month Continuous Recording

Motif is used to record the foraging and life of an entire bee colony, recording 24/7 for 3 months. This data can then be used to understand the social behavior of honey bees and and how it changes through a season. See our case study on 'continuous high-resolution recording of honey bee hives'.

Two Motif systems are used; one records from 4x 12 MP USB3 cameras observing the hives, the second records from a network camera mounted outside.

Particle Image Velocimetry

To understand the kinematics of swimming fish, a 2-camera Motif system records their swimming behavior in a flow tank with a laser illuminated light-sheet to quantify the flow.

Kinematics of Dove Courtship

Doves perform a courtship display prior to mating, and it is believed that this carries information females use in assessing mate quality.

A 4-camera system captures high speed synchronized video to correlate the kinematics of behavior with the success of the courtship display.