Annotate with AI

You need: the annotator dataset role or higher.

The workspace puts a foundation segmentation model behind a set of prompts. You tell it roughly where the object is; it produces the outline; you keep, adjust or discard it.

The prompt vocabulary

Tool	Key	Use it for
Point	P	the fastest prompt — one click inside the object
Bounding box	B	when a point is ambiguous and you want to bound the search
Polygon	G	coarse enclosure of an awkward shape
Freehand	F	tracing a rough boundary by hand

Prompts are positive or negative. A negative prompt says "not this" — it is how you cut a neighbouring object out of a mask that grabbed too much, and it is usually faster than editing the contour afterwards.

Steps

1. Pick a tool and place one or more prompts on the object.
2. Press Enter to run the model on the placed prompts.
3. If the mask grabbed too much, add a negative prompt and run again.
4. Accept the result, then assign a label with L.

Positive point → negative point corrects an over-segment → box → polygon → freehand.

Controlling what a prompt does

A cycles the prompt action:

Setting	Behaviour
Nothing	Prompts stay on the canvas until you run or add them.
Run AI	Every prompt runs the model as soon as it is placed.
Add	A polygon or freehand outline becomes an object as soon as you close it. Points and boxes are not offered.

Nothing is the right default when you are placing several prompts for one object. Run AI is faster when each prompt is its own object.

The other two runs

Beyond prompted segmentation (1), the workspace offers:

• 2 — Suggest similar instances: propagate from what you have already annotated to visually similar objects in the image.
• 3 — Instance segmentation: run an instance model over the image rather than a single prompt.

Recording slot — suggest-similar
Annotate one object, then propagate to similar instances across the image.
8–12 s · dark theme · 1280×800

Working at speed

• Left / Right move between images; the filmstrip shows where you are.
• Space held pans; 0 fits to screen; T cycles label chips on and off.
• Cmd+Z undoes the last prompt first, and only then your annotation history.
• ? opens the full shortcut sheet.

Next: Draw and refine manually