---
updatedAt: 2025-09-22T20:26:35.000Z
agentTools:
  projectIndex: https://docs.v7labs.com/llms.txt
---

# Use Interpolation in video and DICOM

To take the pain out of labelling objects that span several frames, most annotation types in V7 interpolate, saving you the need to annotate each individual frame of a video or slice of a DICOM series.

In this guide we'll run through how interpolation works in V7, and look at a couple of tips and tricks to help take the manual work out of video annotation.

### The basics

Whenever you edit an annotation in a single video frame or DICOM slice, V7 will create a **keyframe.**

**Keyframes** indicate where a change has been made to a label, and can be clicked on to quickly jump to frames where an edit has been made.

<Image align="center" src="https://files.readme.io/00203c2-Timeline_Keypoint.gif" />

Clicking on a keyframe will reveal the Interpolate toggle, which is turned on by default.

<Image align="center" src="https://files.readme.io/05f176a-Screenshot_2024-01-25_at_2.26.58_PM.png" />

When **Interpolate** is turned on, V7 will interpolate the changes to a labelled object in the frames between any two keyframes, often eliminating the need to manually edit each individual video frame.

Annotations made with **Auto Annotate**, **Segment Anything Model (SAM)**, the **Polygon Tool**, the **Brush Tool**, the **Bounding Box Tool**, the **Ellipse Tool**, the **Polyline Tool**, the **Keypoint Tool**, and the **Keypoint Skeleton Tool** will all interpolate.

<Image align="center" src="https://files.readme.io/97044d8-Timeline_Interpolation.gif" />

> 📘 DICOM
>
> Not seeing the **Timeline**, **Interpolate**, or **keyframe** options in a DICOM series that you've uploaded to V7? Zip the series together outside of V7 and rename the .zip file to .dcm.  Re-upload the series, and your slices will appear as frames in a timeline.

### Rerun Auto-Annotate between frames

When using [Auto-Annotate](https://docs.v7labs.com/docs/auto-annotate) tool to create polygons, the fastest way to create a keyframe for an object that has changed position between frames is to adjust the rough bounding box surrounding the object to reflect its new position.

<Image align="center" src="https://files.readme.io/24cde9f-Re-Run_AutoAnnotate.gif" />

Adjusting the polygon's bounding box or clicking **Rerun** will trigger the model to rerun and create a new pixel-perfect polygon around the object's new position. Clicking **Clear** will remove any corrections that were made to the same annotation on previous frames if they are no longer relevant.

Combined with the **interpolate** feature, this makes annotating an object in a video as easy as creating the initial polygon, and performing a few clicks every few frames.

### Interpolate with the Brush Tool

Changes made to polygons using the [Brush Tool](https://docs.v7labs.com/docs/the-brush-tool) will interpolate between frames making the Brush Tool an especially powerful tool for making fine changes to polygons on DICOM slices.

When making edits to a label on an individual frame with the brush tool:

1. Select the annotation you would like to edit with the **Edit** Tool (hit **V** on your keyboard).
2. Equip the **Brush Tool** or **Eraser** to make freehand changes (hit **F** for the brush and **E** for the eraser).
3. Hit **Enter** to save the changes you've made and create a keyframe.

![](https://files.readme.io/3ed9f9e-Brush-tool.gif "Brush-tool.gif")

> ❗️ Saving changes
>
> Make sure you hit **Enter** whenever you've completed an edit with the brush tool otherwise your changes will not be saved.