Introduction

Tobii Pro Lab is software used for eye tracking experiments with Tobii eye trackers. The software can be used for all stages in the experiment cycle (stimulus presentation, data recording, and gaze data analysis). To get started with Tobii Pro Lab, the Introduction to Tobii Pro Lab Webinar is highly recommended. More video's can be found on the Tobii Academy.

General Information

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Availability, support and advice

Tobi Pro Lab is available for researchers at FSW Leiden and comes preinstalled on all lab computers. For managed work computers, it can be requested for at the ISSC through the helpdesk. A license for Tobii Pro Lab can be borrowed from SOLO through the Helpdesk. Full, Analyzer, and Recorder licenses are available (see License types below).

SOLO provides support for Tobii Pro Lab. Whether or not to use Tobii Pro Lab for stimulus presentation and/or gaze data analysis depends heavily on the user's programming experience, task complexity and type of data to be analyzed (gaze/pupil). In general, although Tobii Pro Lab has an easy to use interface and can be used by researchers with no programming experience, its stimulus presentation capabilities are low and inflexible compared to other packages such as E-Prime or OpenSesame. Tobii Pro Lab provides good tools for gaze analysis (which would require extensive programming without Tobii Pro Lab), but for pupil analysis an option like the PhysioData Toolbox might be more suitable. For an overview of software that can be used with Tobii eye trackers, see the Tobii software guide. 

License types

To activate a license, network connection is required. When using a pc without network connection, it is necessary to enable network connection for activating the license and. Once activated, a perpetual license will keep working offline until deactivated. A subscription license will present an error after about a week.

SOLO owns multiple perpetual licenses of the following types (for overview of functionality see tables below):

• Full: The Full edition contains all Pro Lab modules and can be used with all Tobii Pro Eye Trackers. All project types can be created.
• Analyzer: The Analyzer edition is focused on glasses projects and data analysis. It therefore only contains the analyzer module. Only glasses project types can be created. However, Screen-based, Scene Camera and External Presenter projects can be opened and analyzed (but need to be created with the Full or Screen-based (One) edition).
• Screen-based One: The Screen-based One license can only be used with Tobii Pro Lab version >= 1.217. The Screen-based One edition contains all three modules (Design, Record, Analyze). Only Screen-based eye trackers can be used. All project types, including the Advanced Screen, but excluding the Glasses type can be created and analyzed.
• Screen-based: The Screen-based edition contains all three modules (Design, Record, Analyze). Only Screen-based eye trackers can be used and only Screen-based and Scene Camera projects can be created. Advanced Screen projects cannot be created (a Screen-based One edition is required).
• Presenter: The Presenter edition is deprecated and is replaced by the Screen-based edition. With the Presenter edition, projects could be created and recorded, but not analyzed.

See for an overview of the license types: Eye tracking software for behavior research - Tobii.

Full license

Screen-based One license (only works with Tobii Pro Lab version >= 1.217!)

Screen-based license

Analyzer license

Tips & Tricks

• Converting Tobii Studio projects to Tobii Pro Lab
  It is not possible to convert Tobii Studio projects to Tobii Pro Lab projects. Projects need to be created in Tobii Pro Lab from scratch.
   
• Eye tracker set-up
  When connecting a screen based eye tracker to a computer for the first time, it needs to be set-up in the Eye Tracker Manager application.
   
• Tobii Pro project location
  Make sure that the project is located locally (on the C: drive). The default location can be changed by clicking Browse in the Create new Project tab. Do not save the project (also not in exported form) in a folder that is synced with cloud storage such as OneDrive! This will potentially break the project.
   
• TTL pulses to mark stimulus onset
  When enabled, Tobii Pro Lab sends a TTL marker (8 bit) at the onset of every stimulus on the Timeline. Markers can be sent to the parallel port or UsbParMarker. When a UsbParMarker is used, choose Brain Products Triggerbox as TTL device in the Record tab and make sure to check which COM port the UsbParMarker is connected to. The marker signal is active for 34 ms. Marker values can be specified manually per stimulus or can be automatically chosen by Tobii Pro Lab (increasing number per stimulus starting from 1). Tobii Pro Lab sends the TTL markers when it estimates that the stimulus has appeared on the screen. This estimation uses a zero lag display and a 10 ms screen latency (the screen latency can be adjusted in the lower left corner of the Record tab, see also the Screen latency point below). It is also possible to receive TTL pulses (TTL-in markers) for synchronization purposes, but only for the Pro Spectrum and Tobii Pro TX300 eye trackers.
   
• Using two screens
  Tobii Pro Lab does not support presentation screens that have the Windows screen duplication setting enabled. Tobii Pro Lab does support two screens in extended mode. On one screen, the task is presented to the participant. On the other screen, it is possible to enable a Moderater view on which the experimenter can view the track status, the stimuli displayed, and a gaze data live view. Note that the live view feature is performance demanding and may cause timing issues with stimulus display in computers with lower specifications.
   
• Screen latency
  Tobii Pro Lab timestamps the moment when the application assumes that a stimulus was displayed. This assumption is based on the screen latency. This is the delay between sending a stimulus to the screen and the screen displaying it. The screen latency needs to be entered manually in the Record tab (default is 10 ms). The screen latency can be found in the screen’s technical specifications.
   
• Import glasses project
  Import a glasses project (*.ttgp) directly from the SD card. Do not move the project from the SD card to a different location, and then import it. 

FAQ

Resources

• Tobii Pro Lab User Manual (latest version can also be downloaded from the Tobii website)
• Tobii Website. A lot of information can be found on the Tobii website. 
• Introduction to Tobii Pro Lab Webinar. This webinar provides a short overview of Tobii Pro Lab and the different stages of an eye tracking project (creating, recording and analyzing).