Motion masks vs. AI masks

Two masks, two jobs

There are two kinds of masks. A mask is an area you draw on the camera picture.

• The motion mask lives in your camera. It decides where movement can start a check. It answers: "Where can movement wake up the AI?"
• The AI mask (also called the analytics mask) lives in Silarius Cloud. It decides where the AI can name things. It answers: "Where can people and cars be found?"

They work on their own. Blocking an area in one does not block it in the other.

How they work together

1. The camera sees movement inside its motion mask. 2. The camera sends a motion event. It shows as dark blue on the timeline. 3. Silarius Cloud checks the video inside the AI mask. 4. If it finds a person, car or other thing you picked, you get an AI alarm.

Why you may see a detection where you blocked motion

Say you blocked the road in your camera's motion settings. Then a tree moves in your yard. The camera sends a motion event.

Now the cloud checks the whole AI mask. If the AI mask covers the whole picture, a car on the road can be found, even though you blocked the road for motion.

This is normal. To keep an area out of AI alerts, leave it out of the AI mask.

This often happens when someone turns on AI but never draws a mask. Then a default mask looks for people and cars in the whole picture.

The best setup

Set up both masks.

• Make the motion mask cover your area plus a little extra around it. Leave out busy roads, moving plants and other areas you don't care about.
• Make the AI mask cover only the spots where you want people, car or other alerts.
• Make sure the motion mask fully covers the AI mask, with no gaps at the edges.

One more thing: an object counts if even a tiny part of its box touches the AI mask. So you may need to draw the AI mask a little smaller than the area you protect. That keeps out things at the edges.

Another way: full-picture motion

You can set the camera's motion area to cover the whole picture. Then use only the AI mask to control alerts.

This works and is easy to set up. But movement anywhere sends motion events. You get lots of extra events, and searching for motion becomes almost useless. For busy views, two well-set masks are better.

Quick compare

• Small motion mask + full-picture AI mask: alerts can come from anywhere. Results can surprise you.
• Motion mask a bit bigger than the AI mask: alerts come only from the AI mask. This is the best setup.
• Full-picture motion + small AI mask: alerts come only from the AI mask, but with lots of extra checks.

Fix common problems

• A person or car shows up in an area I blocked for motion. That area is still in the AI mask. Shrink the AI mask.
• Real activity in my area gives no alarms. The motion mask may not cover the AI mask. Make the motion mask bigger, with a small margin.
• Lots of motion events from trees, shadows or traffic. Take those areas out of the motion mask.
• Alarms from places I don't care about. The AI mask is too big. Make it tighter.
• Motion events but no AI alarms. Nothing the AI knows was inside the AI mask. Check that the mask covers where people or cars really go.