This detailed guide will take you through CVAT's interface, demonstrating its features designed to make the annotation process both accurate and efficient in terms of time and output (i.e. number of images annotated per hour).
Whether you're a seasoned Data Scientist or just starting out, understanding how to use CVAT effectively can dramatically improve your project results and open up new possibilities in the field of Computer Vision. Get ready to discover how to unlock the full potential of your visual data, with this guide.
What is CVAT? How do I use it?
CVAT, for Computer Vision Annotation Tool, is an open-source platform designed to facilitate the task of annotating images and videos for artificial intelligence projects, in particular Computer Vision projects. CVAT was originally developed by Intelto meet the demand for a fast, accurate method of labeling visual data.
CVAT has evolved significantly thanks to numerous updates inspired by feedback from its developer community. CVAT.aithe company that publishes CVAT, now operates independently. The platform offers enhanced functionality and an improved user experience. Robust and proven by teams of all sizes, for data of all types and sizes, CVAT is extremely popular in the community of data scientists and AI researchers.
With CVAT, users can efficiently annotate their datasets by drawing bounding boxesboxes polygonspolygons lines and points on images, or tagging time intervals on videos. CVAT also supports a wide range of annotation formats, making it flexible for different Computer Vision tasks and compatible with various machine learning frameworks.
CVAT comes in two versions: CVAT Cloud, which you can use online, and a self-hosted option, which you can install on your own computer or server. Being open-source, CVAT is free to use, and everyone is welcome to suggest improvements or add new features.
Whether for academic research, commercial applications or projects carried out on one's own time, CVAT enables data scientists, developers and various AI teams to leverage the full potential of their visual data, accelerating the development of Computer Vision models.
How do I annotate images with CVAT? Step by step
As we discuss annotation with CVAT, here's a step-by-step instruction to help you understand the process. Follow the steps and opt for video annotation or image annotation as you prefer!
Step 1: Start by visiting the CVAT website
CVAT is a free, open-source image annotation tool designed for beginners and professionals working in the Co field. To find out more, visit the official CVAT website.
Step 2: Create an account or log in
If you're new to CVAT, you'll need to create an account. Just follow the on-screen instructions. If you already have an account, simply log in to start annotating.
Step 3: Download your dataset
Once connected, you can download the images or videos you wish to annotate. CVAT lets you import data in a variety of file formats, making it easy to work with your existing datasets.
Step 4: Select an annotation task
Choose the type of computer vision annotation task you need to perform. CVAT is versatile, supporting tasks such as object detection, image segmentation and classification.
Whether you're working on training a deep learning model or conducting academic research, choose the task that best suits the needs of your project.
Step 5: Annotate your images
Use CVAT's intuitive interface to annotate your images. You can draw bounding boxes, polygons, lines and points, or mark up time intervals on videos.
CVAT is designed to make the process both accurate and efficient, even offering features such as automatic object tracking for video image annotation tasks.
Step 6: Review and adjust your annotations
After annotating your images or videos, take the time to review and refine your work. Precision at this stage is critical to the quality of your Computer Vision model.
Step 7: Export your annotated dataset
Bonus tip
Remember, quality annotation is the foundation of successful machine learning and artificial intelligence applications.
By following these steps and using CVAT's features, you're well on your way to preparing quality datasets and creating accurate models for your Computer Vision projects.
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Advantages and disadvantages of CVAT for image annotation
Benefits
User-friendly interface
CVAT is designed with a simple interface, making it easy for beginners and professionals alike to annotate images and videos.
Support for various annotation tasks
Whether for object detection, image segmentation or classification, CVAT meets a wide range of annotation needs for Computer Vision, offering versatility for different projects.
Fair pricing
CVAT offers a fair and transparent pricing model, with a license cost per user displayed on its website.
Open Source
As an open-source tool, CVAT allows continuous improvements and updates from its community, keeping the platform up to date with the latest advances.
Integration with machine learning frameworks
CVAT supports a variety of annotation formats, making it easy to export data and integrate it with multiple machine learning frameworks, promoting a smoother workflow for AI model development.
Rich documentation and community support
There's a wealth of resources, including detailed documentation and tutorials, such as CVAT's YouTube channel, to help users get started and improve their annotation skills.
Disadvantages
Learning curve for advanced functions
Although CVAT is user-friendly for basic annotation tasks, mastering some of its more advanced features may require time to get to grips with and train.
Limited to Computer Vision projects
CVAT is specialized for Computer Vision applications, so those wishing to annotate data for unrelated tasks (e.g. text annotation tasks to train LLMs) may find it less useful.
Internet dependency for cloud-based functionalities
For users relying on the cloud-hosted version of CVAT, a stable Internet connection is essential for uninterrupted access to the platform and its features.
CVAT stands out as one of the most popular and effective data annotation tools for Computer Vision projects, offering a balance of ease of use, flexibility and powerful functionality.
Whether you're part of a data annotation team, an AI researcher or a developer working on deep learning models, CVAT can considerably streamline the annotation process. However, it's important to weigh its benefits against potential limitations depending on the specific requirements of your project.
Main uses of CVAT
Object detection
Object detection is a key application for CVAT, where this platform excels in enabling annotators to identify and label various objects in an image or video frame. This task is important for the development of Computer Vision models that require precise localization of objects, as in surveillance systems, autonomous vehicles and facial recognition technologies.
CVAT simplifies this process by allowing users to draw bounding boxes around objects of interest, making it accessible for projects of any size.
Image classification
Image classification is another key use case for CVAT, where it helps categorize images into predefined classes. This function is fundamental in many AI applications, including social media photo tagging, medical image analysis and retail product categorization.
Using CVAT's interface, data annotation teams can efficiently label images, providing the essential labeled data needed to train accurate and robust image classification models.
Semantic and instance segmentation
Semantic and instance segmentation are advanced Computer Vision tasks that CVAT efficiently handles. While semantic segmentation involves labeling specific parts of an image with a class, instance segmentation goes further by differentiating individual instances of the same class.
These tasks are vital in applications such as autonomous driving, where distinguishing between different vehicles and pedestrians is critical, or in medical imaging, where precise segmentation can help diagnose disease.
Moreover, CVAT's ability to handle polygons and masks makes it an ideal tool for these complex annotation requirements, facilitating the creation of high-quality training data for Deep Learning models.
By taking advantage of CVAT, users from different sectors can enhance their Computer Vision projects, benefiting from its ease of use, flexibility and rich feature set. This open-source platform not only speeds up the annotation process, but also ensures the development of accurate and efficient AI models.
Best alternatives to CVAT
When it comes to improving your data annotation tasks for your AI projects, CVAT stands out for its robust functionality and interface. However, exploring alternatives may provide different feature sets that might be better suited or complementary, for your specific needs.
Here are some of the best alternatives to CVAT for annotating images and videos.
LabelImg
LabelImg is an excellent open-source tool for object detection tasks, similar to CVAT. It is particularly well known for its simplicity and efficiency in drawing bounding boxes around objects.
This Python-based tool is widely adopted for projects seeking a lightweight solution for rapidly annotating large image datasets. Its integration with TensorFlow makes it an attractive option for teams working on deep learning projects.
Labelbox
Labelbox is an advanced data annotation platform offering a wide range of data annotation tool types, including image, video and text annotation.
Its versatility and cloud-based infrastructure make it ideal for teams looking for a complete solution covering a variety of Computer Vision tasks.
Labelbox stands out for its customized workflow and AI-assisted annotation features, which significantly reduce the time and effort required by Data Labelers' teams to prepare training data for artificial intelligence models.
VIA (VGG Image Annotator)
VIA is another easy-to-use open-source tool for basic image annotation tasks.
Designed by the Visual Geometry Group at Oxford University, it supports annotations in the form of rectangles, circles, ellipses, polygons and points, making it ideal for a wide range of computer vision tasks.
VIA runs entirely within a browser (Google Chrome, Firefox, Safari, etc.), with no software installation required, making it incredibly accessible to beginners and professionals alike.
MakeSense.ai
MakeSense.ai offers a web-based platform that is free to use and requires no configuration or installation. It supports various forms of annotation, such as polygons, lines and key points, which are essential for object detection, segmentation and other complex computer vision or professional data annotation tasks.
One of the features of MakeSense.ai is its simplicity and ability to handle different annotation formats, making it a versatile tool for rapid annotation of data in a variety of projects.
Each of these tools has its own unique strengths, and the choice largely depends on the specific requirements of your data annotation project.
Whether you need a simple interface for quick bounding box annotations or a complete platform with AI-assisted annotation capabilities, taking into account the scale, complexity and budget of your project will guide you in using the appropriate tool.
Conclusion
In conclusion, CVAT is a beacon for those venturing into the complex world of image annotation, offering a blend of simplicity, flexibility and sophistication.
Whether it's the precision required in object detection, the categorization demanded by image classification or the accuracy requirements of segmentation tasks, CVAT provides a comprehensive toolbox that enables users to achieve their goals efficiently.
As we reach the end of our article, we're curious to hear your views. Have you ever used CVAT? How did the discussion go? Would you like to test CVAT or its alternatives for your next project? Your perspective is invaluable, and we invite you to share your thoughts and experiences, as they are at the heart of innovation in the ever-evolving field of artificial intelligence.
Resources
- CVAT.ai article introducing the : https://www.cvat.ai/post/introduction-to-cvat-ai-best-image-annotation-tool-explained-in-simple-terms
- CVAT's GitHub, to request features or report bugs: https://github.com/cvat-ai/cvat/issues
- CVAT's YouTube channel, with many tutorials: https://www.youtube.com/@cvat-ai
