Automated kymograph analysis from Erwin Peterman's group
KymographDirect and KymographClear are two open source tools for the automated analysis of kymographs.
These tools are described in the following article:
Pierre Mangeol, Bram Prevo and Erwin Peterman. Molecular Biology of the Cell 27:12 1948-1957 (2016).
Please cite this reference if you plan to publish with KymographDirect or KymographClear.
KymographDirect is a free, stand-alone application that extracts quantitative information from kymographs automatically, with unprecedented accuracy and robustness. KymographDirect can extract features such as position, velocity, and particle intensity, and computes relevant statistical analyses of these quantities. Even kymographs with multiple crossings can be analyzed easily.
To best benefit from KymographDirect, we strongly recommend to use kymographs generated with KymographClear, because these kymographs are of high quality and because this gives access to special features.
To learn more about all the program capabilities and see some snapshots, consult the user manual.
Download KymographDirect
Install packages
for Windows (version 2.1, April 6, 2016)
for Mac OS (Catalina and later) (version 2.1a, September 2020 - if you use Big Sur or later follow this additional step)
Mac OS (up to Mojave) (version 2.1a, February 24, 2017)
Check our user manual for installation and use of the program.
You can use these tutorial files to try the program.
Mac Catalina and later version will require the installation of LabVIEW 2020 runtime engine (included with the download). To run the program, allow it through your security and privacy settings.
KymographDirect 2.1 source code written in LabViEW 12.0 can be downloaded here.
Note: KymographDirect 2.1 for Mac uses LabVIEW 2015 run-time. If you have been using KymographDirect 1.0 for Mac, please update LabVIEW runtime to 2015 version (included in the package).
KymographClear is a macro toolset for the popular image-processing tool ImageJ to generate high-quality kymographs. A special feature of KymographClear is that it allows users to separate direction of motions in the kymograph thanks to a Fourier transform based algorithm. Forward, backward motion and pauses are colored in different colors which helps greatly kymograph interpretation.
You can download KymographClear 2.0a here (31.10.2020).
Please consult the user manual to learn how to install and use KymographClear.
A sequence to test KymographClear can be downloaded here.
You cannot download the manuals or software? Some networks block Google Drive applications (try another network, and if it still does not work, contact us).
Known issue: In some cases, microscope software do not report the pixel size correctly (usually being very small). In such cases, make sure to have a sensible pixel size; otherwise, KymographClear will not work properly.