Tobii Studio 2.0 Release Notes

TobII STudIo ANAlySIS SofTWAre
release Notes

Tobii Studio 2.0 release

This release comes with
important new features that will
enhance the performance and
functionality of your Tobii
Studio analysis software.
You can now add multiple
choice questionaires to your
test, generate Retrospective
Think Aloud recordings, and
automaticaly create scenes
using events sent by E-Prime.

A new License Key policy is
implemented that allows Tobii
Studio to be used legally on What’s New?
multiple computers.
• Use new media - Questionnaire element
• Record and Playback Retrospective Think Aloud (RTA) interviews
• Create automatically scenes using events sent by an external software (E-Prime)
• Preview your media before performing a recording
• Select the display you wish to use to present the stimulus in a dual-display
hardware set up
• License key activation

What has improved?
• Added a PDF document view zoom setting. This feature allows you to manually
set the size of the pdf document to fit your screen size.
• AOI Statistics calculations fix
• Synchronization between stimulus presentation and gaze data recording has
been improved.

Important Notice
In Studio 2.0 a New License key activation procedure is implemented. When you
install and start Tobii Studio 2.0 you need to insert your user license key, if your
old reference number does not work press the Activate Later button on the
License Data dialog box -> open a project -> and follow the Manual Activation
procedure (read instructions on page 11 ) in order to obtain a new License Key.

W

Leading eye Tracking TechnoLogy ©TOBII® Trademark is the property of Tobii Technology

Tobii Studio 2.0 Release Notes
Contents
1 New Features ............................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 2
1.1 Questionnaire media element ................................................................................................................................................................................................. 2
1.1.1 Adding a Questionnaire element ............................................................................................................................................................................ 2
1.1.2 Copying questions from Excel .................................................................................................................................................................................. 3
1.1.3 Information for ForSight Customers .................................................................................................................................................................... 4
1.2 Retrospective Think Aloud (RTA) feature in Replay view .................................................................................................................................. 4
1.2.1 Performing an RTA recording in Tobii Studio ............................................................................................................................................... 4
1.2.2 Information for ForSight customers ..................................................................................................................................................................... 6
1.3 Automatic Scene generation tool for E-Prime Extensions for Tobii (EET ClearView) ................................................................. 6
1.3.1 Trigger event format in EET ClearView package ....................................................................................................................................... 7
1.3.2 Setting and recording an EET project using ClearView package calls ...................................................................................... 7
1.4 Full Screen preview of media elements ....................................................................................................................................................................... 10
1.5 Stimulus presentation display selection in a dual-screen setup ................................................................................................................ 10
1.6 License Key Activation ............................................................................................................................................................................................................. 11
1.6.1 Automatic Activation ..................................................................................................................................................................................................... 11
1.6.2 Manual Activation............................................................................................................................................................................................................ 11
1.6.3 License Deactivation .................................................................................................................................................................................................... 12
1.7 Separate Studio Logger installation................................................................................................................................................................................ 12
2 Improvements ............................................................................................................................................................................................................................................ 13
2.1 PDF element - new zoom setting...................................................................................................................................................................................... 13
2.2 AOI-Statistics calculations fix .............................................................................................................................................................................................. 13
2.3 Recording timing improvement ........................................................................................................................................................................................... 14
2.3.1 Changes in Tobii Studio 2.0 .................................................................................................................................................................................... 15


1 New Features
1.1 Questionnaire media element
Present a set of multiple choice questions (single answer) during a Tobii Studio test for participants to answer. The
questionnaire element is placed as a stimulus on Tobii Studio Design and Recording view timeline. The answers to the
questionnaire can later be used as independent variables to filter the eye tracking data on visualizations and descriptive
statistics reports.

1.1.1 uestionnaire
Adding a Q uestion naire element
1. Drag the Questionnaire icon from the Design and Record tab to the drop area on the timeline to open the
Questionnaire element setup dialog box.

2. In the Element name text box type a name for the questionnaire element, this name can later be used to
identify the element slide on the Design and Record view timeline.
3. Press the Add Question button to open the Question Setup dialog box.

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4. On the Question text box type your question.
5. Choose if you wish to create a new answer (click on the Create new option) or if you wish to use the values
from an existing Independent Variable (click on the Use values from existing Independent Variable option).
6. Type or select a name for the variable on the Variable Name combo box (allows you to later identify the
answers as variables to filter your data during analysis).
7. Double click on the blue row text field on the Answers list box to type answer. Press enter and c
click on the next
row to add a new answer.
8. Check the Use eye tracking check box if you wish to record the gaze data and allow the questionnaire to be
used as media on the Visualizations view.
9. Press the Preview button if you wish to see how the slide will be shown during the test.
b
10. Press Save to add the question to Questions group box or Cancel to discard the changes.
11. Press Ok to close the Questionnaire element setup dialogue box or Cancel to discard the changes.
You can add more than one question to the same element, during the test the questions will be presented as different
same
successive slides starting from the question on the top of the Questions group box to the one on the bottom. To add
more questions repeat the procedure from step 3 3-10.
You can change the order of the questions by selecting it (click on the question to highlight it) and using the arrow
buttons located on the right of the Questions group box to move it up or down on the list box.

Click on the and icons to edit or delete the questions on the list.

1.1.2 questions
Copying q uestions from Excel
Create your list of questions on an Excel file and copy it to the Questionnaire element:
element
1. In Excel write the question text on the first column of the spreadsheet.
spreadsheet

2. On the same row and on the next column, type the answers separated by a comma.
3. Type a name for the variable on a third column.
4. Select the three cells and copy.

5. In Tobii Studio click on or create a new Questionnaire element to open the Questionnaire element se
setup.
6. Use your keyboard paste short cut keys to add the question to Questions list box.
7. Click on the and icons to edit or delete the questions.
8. Press Ok to close the Questionnaire element setup dialogue box or Cancel to discard the changes.

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1.1.3 Information
Informatio n for ForSight Customers
ForSight fees are calculated according to the number of respondents and number of stimuli in a Tobii Studio recording.
Questionnaires will only be included in the usage fees if enabled for visualizations. In such case the questionnaire will be
charged as 1 question =1 stimulus unit.

1.2 Retrospective Think Aloud (RTA) feature in Replay view
Retrospective Think Aloud (RTA) is a commonly used technique where the test leader follows up an eye tracking
usability test with an interview where the subjects explains his/her behaviour during the test. Tobii Studio’s RTA feature
allows you to conduct and record a RTA interview while showing a playback of the original Tobii Studio recording to
subject. The RTA recordings will be available in the recordings list on the Replay view, for playback and further analysis.

1.2.1 erforming
Performing an RTA recording in Tobii Studio
1. Connect a microphone to the computer then go to the Tools menu on Tobii Studio’s Main menu and select
Settings...

2. On the Screen and Video Capture tab, enable user sound recording by checking the Record user sound check
box and selecting your Audio Source (click on the Audio Source drop-down box and select the microphone).
3. Press Ok to accept the changes or Cancel to close the window without changes.
4. On the Replay view select the recording on the Recordings list that you wish to show the subject during the
RTA.

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5. Press the RTA icon on the Replay tab.
6. On the Start Retrospective Think Aloud Recording dialog box enter a name for the recording on the Recording
Name text field, if you do not enter the name Tobii Studio will name it automatically by using the name of the
recording you have selected on step 4 and adding RTA as a suffix.
7. Press Start Recording to start the RTA session. Below the Replay view timeline a red bar shows that you are
now on RTA recording mode.

8. During the RTA recording you can use the Replay view playback controls to play the original recording back
and forth. Or use any other function and visualization in Tobii Studio.
You can right click on the recording window and select Fullscreen to show the original recording in full screen
mode, in this case use the full screen controls to control the playback (read Tobii Studio 1.5 Release Notes for
on how to control a recording in full screen mode).
9. To stop the recording press the Stop button on the far right side of the red bar, or press the Esc or F10 keys on
the keyboard.
10. The RTA recording will then be available in the recordings list on the Replay view. Use the playback controls to
view the recording.

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The RTA recording consists of a sound recording of the interview and a screen recording of the original Tobii Studio
recording playback.
RTA recordings can be edited and exported like a normal studio recording. However since no gaze data is collected
during the RTA recording you will not be able to use these recordings to create visualizations.
When you start an RTA session with your eye tracker disconnected a warning dialog appears with the following error
message: No such host is known, ignore the message and press OK to continue your RTA recording.

1.2.2 Information for ForSight customers
ForSight fees are calculated according to the number of respondenst and number of stimuli in a recordingTobii Studio.
RTA recordings will be charged as a single recording and per 1 minute recording unit.

1.3 E- Extensions
Automatic Scene generation tool for E-Prime Extensions for Tobii (EET ClearView)
This feature currently applies to Tobii Studio and E-Prime software setups, where E-Prime and Tobii Studio are run on
separate computers and communicate with the Tobii Eye Tracker Server as well as between each other over a LAN
network (TCP/IP protocol). The image or video presented by E-prime on the eye tracker’s display is recorded by Tobii
Studio and synchronized with the gaze data. The image or video recording is done via a RGB video capture card installed
on the Tobii Studio computer. The E- Prime computer sends stimulus related triggers to the Studio computer via the
network.

E-Prime Extensions for Tobii (EET) set up example.

6


This tool can also be used together with other Software that is able to use Clear View’s SDK Trigger APIs. For more
information on how to build applications that use Clear View’s SDK Trigger APIs contact your Tobii Sales representative
or Tobii Support.

1.3.1 Trigger event format in EET ClearView package
The events send to Studio must follow a strict format in order for Tobii Studio to interpret them correctly. The format
should follow: “SceneStart NameOfTheScene”; “SceneStop NameOfTheScene ".

1.3.2 recording
Setting and recording an EET project using ClearView package calls
1. Start by displaying the Tobii Studio computer image on the eye tracker’s display. This is done by pressing the
eye tracker’s Source button (located on the front of the eye tracker) or by using an external VGA (or DVI)
switch.

displayed signal

2. On the Tobii Studio computer design a test with External Video as stimulus:
3. Make a test recording, to check if Tobii Studio is set correctly to record the video and gaze data.
4. Press the Source button on the eye tracker or the external VGA (or DVI) switch to change the display input to
the E-prime computer.

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displayed signal

5. Open E-prime and load the E-Prime experiments onto the E-Prime computer.
6. Modify the E-prime experiment so that instead of “localhost”, it points to the IP address of the Tobii Studio
computer
7. Press the Source button on the eye tracker or the VGA/DVI switch to change the display input to the Tobii
Studio computer.
8. On the Tobii Studio Computer, on the Design and Record view of Tobii Studio press the Start Recording button
and calibrate. When the calibration process is finished DO NOT press the “start” button to begin recording, the
recording will instead be started by E-Prime.
9. Change the display of the eye tracker to the E-prime computer image by pressing the Source button on the
eye tracker or the VGA/DVI switch.
10. Select “run” from E-Prime.
11. E-Prime will now start the Tobii Studio recording, and simultaneously starts the E-Prime stimulus presentation.
During the experiment, E-Prime will send “LogEvents” that will be added to the Tobii Studio recordings.
12. Repeat step 8-12 for all of your test participants.
13. After you’re done with the recordings, switch to the Tobii Studio computer, and click on the Replay tab to view
the recordings and Events list. The events sent by E-Prime will be visible on the Events list as “SceneStarted” or
“SceneEnded” event type, with the scene name on the Text field, and as bookmarks on the recording timeline.
14. Click on the Generate menu on the Replay tab and select Scenes.

15. Select the recordings on which you wish to generate scenes: by clicking on single, you import only the currently
selected recording (the recording highlighted on the recordings list of the Replay view), or Batch if you wish to

8


create scenes for more than one recording, on the Generate Scenes Dialog box. In the Batch option you can
deselect recordings by un-checking the checkboxes in front of each recording name.

16. Click on Generate to create the scenes.
If a recording already contains a scene with the same name as the one being created, a Tobii Studio
Information dialog box prompts the user to either replace the existing scene by the newly created one (press
Yes), or to continue creating a new scene by adding an identifier to the name (press No), for example, if the old
scene is called ‘fixation’ the new scene will be created as ‘fixation(2)’.

Press Yes or No to affect only the scene referred to on the Tobii Studio Information dialog. Press Yes to All or
No to All to perform the same action to all scene conflicts.
17. Tobii Studio will then segment the video file into scenes that can be used to create AOIs, hot spots and gaze
plots for your analysis.
18. To view the scenes go to the Visualization tab and select the scene on the Media list, 1 or more recordings
from the Recordings list and a Visualization from the Visualization tab.

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1.4 preview
Full Screen preview of media elements
This feature allows you to check if your stimulus will be presented correctly (e.g. frame size, picture resolution, text size,
etc...) on the screen before you run a test.
In Tobii Studio Design and Record view, right click on the element slide and select Preview to show the media element in
full screen like in the test.

The Time settings on the media element will not influence the preview time, to end the preview press any key or mouse
button.
Preview is currently available for the following media types: Instruction, Image, Movie, Questionnaire and PDF.

1.5 dual-
Stimulus presentation display selection in a dual-screen setup
Extended desktop dual screen setups are often used to enable a test leader to control the test using one display whilst
presenting the stimulus to the test subject using a secondary display.
When using extended desktop dual screen setup, it is now possible to select in Tobii Studio which display you want to
use to present the stimulus:
1. On the left bottom corner of the Design and Record view press on the Identify button to view which one of
displays is set to present the stimulus.

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2. If you wish to change the display click on the Presentation screen drop-down combo box and select Display 1
or Display 2. The stimulus will be presented on the display that you select.
Note: Even though you are able to select your stimulus presentation display, Windows and Explorer will often open new
windows or pop ups on your primary screen. If you will be performing an eye tracking test that includes internet pop ups,
automatic launch of new windows or programs, set your stimulus display to the primary monitor.

1.6 License Key Activation
Tobii’s previous license key policy states that it is not allowed to install Tobii Studio on more than one computer. The new
license key policy allows you to use Tobii Studio on multiple computers via license key activation, and at the same time
facilitates the legal use of the Tobii Studio software.
Under the new license policy you can install Tobii Studio in several computers and deactivate and reactivate your license
key if you wish to use your Tobii Studio software in each computer, however the license can only be activated on one
computer at a time. You can also use Tobii Studio during a grace period of 5 days, without license activation, in situations
where you are unable to connect your computer to the internet.

1.6.1 Automatic Activation
When opening Tobii Studio enter the New License Activation Key and click Activate Now.

If an error occurs a message should appear stating that you were not able to activate Tobii Studio. Press the Yes button
to continue to the manual activation or Press No to activate automatically at a later stage.
If you press Activate Later you have a grace period of 5 days, after which you will not be able to launch Tobii Studio
without activating your license.
It is also possible to use the automatic activation later if you have pressed the Activate Later button. Open the Help menu
in Tobii Studio’s main menu and click on Activate License - Automatic.

1.6.2 Manual A ctivation
1. Start Tobii Studio, on the License Data dialog box press the Activate Later button.
2. Open the Help menu in Tobii Studio’s main menu and click on Activate License – Manual... to open the
Manual activation dialog box.
3. On the Manual Activation Information box you can find the information needed to activate your license, you
can save that information on a text file by pressing the Save as file button.
4. You then can choose between three methods to activate your license:
• Open your web browser and access the activation page http://StudioHelp.tobii.org/Activate (if
possible on a different computer) and enter the License key, Machine Id and Organization
information in the designated text fields on the page and press Activate.
• Send an E-mail to support@tobii.com, the E-mail should contain the information shown in the
Manual Activation Information box; Company name, License key and Machine Id.
• Call Tobii support on one of the phone numbers shown in the manual activation window.

11


5. An activation code will be obtained from the web page or from support.
6. Enter the activation code in the bottom text field on the Enter Manual Activation Code group box. If
successful the following message should appear: Thank you for activating Tobii Studio. You may now start
using it.
7. Press OK to start using Tobii Studio.

If the activation is not successful, an error message will be shown. Contact support and give them the information shown
on the error message.

1.6.3 License Deactivation
1. Open the Help menu on Tobii Studio’s main menu and click on Deactivate License.

2. Click Yes on the warning dialog box, wait until it connects to the server.
3. Tobii Studio will shut down.
4. If you start Tobii Studio again you will be prompt to enter a License Activation Key.
5. Press the Activate Now button if you wish to reactivate your license.

1.7 Separate Studio Logger installation
The Tobii Studio Logger can now be also installed separately from the Tobii Studio Software.
The Studio Logger installation file can be download from the Update Server: http://studiohelp.tobii.org/Updates/
To download the installation file:
1. Enter your Enterprise License key in the text box and press Login
2. Click on the TobiiStudioLogger 2.02 download link to download the installation file
Once the installation file is downloaded the Studio Logger can be installed on several computers without entering a
license key. The Studio Logger can only connect to a Tobii Studio instance with an Enterprise License.

12


2 Improvements
2.1 PDF element - new zoom setting
By default Tobii Studio will display a pdf stimulus in its actual size (100% zoom), however it is frequent that the size of
the PDF document does not match the test screen size, and if presented at its actual size some parts of the document
will not be shown on the screen. In Tobii Studio 2.0 the PDF element Setup has been updated with a new feature in
order to deal with such cases, now it is possible to select the zoom size that you wish to use when the document is being
viewed during the test.
To set the PDF document size:
1. Create a PDF element, and add the PDF file to the element (For more details read Tobii Studio 1.5
Release Notes)
2. On the PDF Element Setup dialog you will see a group box named Size, click on the Zoom option to
manually set the zoom size of the pdf or the Scale to Screen Resolution to automatically set the zoom to
match the screen resolution size.
3. Click Preview to see how the stimuli will be presented during the test.
4. To exit the preview mode press ESC.
5. If the size is not correct repeat steps 2 -4.

2.2 AOI-
AOI-Statistics calculations fix
In some cases fixations have been included in the statistics and text export for polygon AOIs even though they were
located outside the AOI.
Case 1: When a polygon AOI was drawn with a circular empty area in the middle (see image below) and if the fixation
was located exactly in the middle of this circle, the fixation was included in the AOI statistics.

Case 2: When a corner of a polygon AOI was drawn within 15 pixels distance from the middle of a fixation located
outside the AOI, but did not cover the centre of the fixation (see image below), the fixation was included on that AOI
statistics.

From Tobii Studio 2.0.2. a fixation is only include in the AOI statistics if its centre is covered by the AOI.

13


2.3 Recording timing improvement
Tobii Studio operations are subject to the operative system allocation of memory and processor resources, as a
consequence time offsets may occur when recording an eye tracking session. These offsets can vary according to
the type of computer used (processor speed, RAM memory, graphics card), third party software installed and
running on the computer, type of stimuli used in the test, type of connection to the eye tracker (LAN institution
network vs. LAN peer-peer).

However if you are conducting Eye Tracking experiments that require higher time precision some of these offsets
can be reduced by following these recommendations:

1. the computer running Tobii Studio should have the least processes running on the background, this means that
you should disable or uninstall any unnecessary programs that might be running on the background (Anti-virus
software, Firewall software, Anti-Spyware software, Skype or other chat/communication programs) – ideally
use the computer only to run Tobii Studio tests and analysis.
2. use Tobii recommend components (computers, graphics cards).
3. for better timing precision in your test, use instructions, images and movies as stimuli.
4. use a peer-peer connection between your computer and the Tobii Eye Tracker

In this version of Tobii Studio the time offset between the stimuli events (image/movie start or stop events) and the
gaze data have been improved. Tests performed on a stationary computer - Dell Precision T5400 Intel Xeon
Processor E5420 (2.5 GHz) with 4GB internal memory and a NVIDIA Quadro FX570 256MB graphics card – and
using images, movies and instructions as stimulus, indicate that these offsets are now below 50 ms.

The tables below show a summary of the test results, there is a clear improvement on the offset when the tests are
run using Tobii Studio version 1.6.0 (the same changes were incorporated in Tobii Studio 2.0) compared to Tobii
Studio version 1.5.8 (Tables 1 and 2). Both versions of Tobii Studio perform less well when the operative system is
Windows Vista (Table 3), however Tobii Studio 1.6.0 still maintains a time offset performance below 50 ms. The
offset under Windows Vista can be reduced by using the Windows Vista Classic settings.

Table 1. Tobii Studio 1.6.0, Windows XP SP3 Test results of the time offset between when images and movies are shown on
SP3:
the display and the time stamp made by Tobii Studio.

Studio OS Eye Computer1 Stimuli Size Graphics Resolution Mean MAX MIN
Version tracker card (ms) (ms) (ms)
1.6.0 XP T120 Stationary JPEG_image 574 kB Nvidia 1280x1024 7.5 20.2 -5.8

1.6.0 XP T120 Stationary BMP_image 3,75 MB Nvidia 1280x1024 9.2 22.1 -7.0

1.6.0 XP T120 Stationary Techsmith_movie 171 MB Nvidia 1280x1024 15.4 31.7 4.3

1.6.0 XP T120 Stationary Xvid_movie 5,53 MB Nvidia 1280x1024 4.7 22.6 -12.9

Table 2. Tobii Studio version 1.5.8, Windows XP SP3 Test results of the time offsets between when images and movies are
SP3:
shown on the display and the time stamp made by Tobii Studio.
1
Studio OS Eye Computer Stimuli Size Graphics Resolution Mean MAX MIN
1.5.8 XP T120 Stationary JPEG_image 32,0 kB Nvidia 1280x1024 44.3 58.4 27.7

1.5.8 XP T120 Stationary BMP_image 3,75 MB Nvidia 1280x1024 45.5 59.1 31.3

1.5.8 XP T120 Stationary Techsmith_movie 171 MB Nvidia 1280x1024 84.8 95.9 68.1

1.5.8 XP T120 Stationary Xvid_movie 5,53 MB Nvidia 1280x1024 71.7 95.4 56.6

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Table 3. Comparison between Tobii Studio versions 1.5.8 and 1.6.0 using Windows Vista Business SP2 Test results of the
SP2:
time offsets between when movies are shown on the display and the time stamp made by Tobii Studio.
11
Studio OS Eye Computer Stimuli Size Graphics Resolution Mean MAX MIN
1.5.8 Vista T120 Stationary Techsmith_movie 171 MB Nvidia 1280x1024 74.52 89.88 58.59

1.6.0 Vista T120 Stationary Techsmith_movie 171 MB Nvidia 1280x1024 30.06 42.16 19.66

1
Stationary computer specifications:

• Dell precision T5400 Intel Xeon Processor E5420 (2.5 GHz)
• 4GB internal memory
• Graphics card Nvidia Quadro FX570 256MB (Driver versions: 186.18_quadro_winxp_32bit and 186.18_quadro_winvista_32bit)
• Operative System - Windows XP (Service Pack 3) or Windows Vista Business (Service Pack 1)

2.3.1 Changes in Tobii Studio 2.0
Tobii Studio uses a series of commands to send images or movies to the computer’s graphics card. In order to obtain a
better timing, the time stamps related to the display of image and movie events were set to be created as close as
possible to when the graphics card sends them to the TFT controller.

15

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Tobii Studio 2.0 Release Notes

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Tobii Studio 2.0 Release Notes