| Author | Message | ||
     M.H. Rating: N/A |
/image{Ibot2 based stereo webcam montage} | ||
| M.H. Rating: N/A |
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| M.H. Rating: N/A |
Just for information to others: I am experimenting with dual iBoot2 WebCamera stereoscopic recording based on USB2 communication. I just want to share information with others witch want to eventualy participate in experiments: 1) For work at full resoution (640x480 at 30 fps) you need 2 USB2 card in the PC or a USB2 hub build on motherboard. The reason is that the PCI bus is not able to handle double uncopresed data flow at this quality . With 1 USB2 card it work only at 15 fps (great problem for notebooks in witch you can put usualy only 1 PCMCI USB2 card). 2) To make on the fly data procesing and saving without framedrops neads RALLY powerful machine. I speak about 2.53 GHz CPU or so. Simulataneous communication with dual camera in non-copressed mode + dual NTSC resolution compression is a perfomance nightmare. | ||
| M.H. Rating: N/A |
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| M.H. Rating: N/A |
The image above just ilustrate that it works and the results (in this case on the fly stereo preview without saving). I had used just for fun a mirror witch made posible recording the camera by itself possible. | ||
| cryingfoot Rating: N/A |
Wow interesting , and freaky  it s work ? really. lol i have the processing power but man i just have 10000000 wired on my cpu and 600000 usb so 2 mores .... no prob ;) tell me what i need and how to build that robot freak. i will check the camera price mainwhile. see ya jasminfrenette@hotmail.com | ||
| crying Rating: N/A |
humm this is not cheap this camera  and i have to order it from the net maybe to exepensive for me right now sorry. keep us inform of your project. | ||
| Anonymous Rating: N/A |
Dude, this is sweet. Suprised you didn't go for the Firewire iBot versions. | ||
| M.H. Rating: N/A |
I wanted to test the USB2 solution ... I had alrady tested with SONY-DVCAM that the firewire based method works as well ... From what I know the iBoot fireware modles are proabably more stable than the USB2 and 1 firewire HUB could be O.K. (due to 200 Mbs per camera data flow only) ... I am still getting trouble with capturing at 30 fps without framedrops. Sounds like memory acces bandwitch overload... | ||
| Peter Wimmer Rating: N/A |
Framedrops: Do you use a PCI raid-controller or is it onboard? If it is a PCI and a PCI USB2 controller, PCI bandwidth could be a serious problem! | ||
| David Sykes Rating: N/A |
Michal, the hardware we need is becoming more powerful all the time ! Still, we are just at the limit of current home PC's (at a price). What types of output can be chosen for the DepthQ Video mixer and does the final DepthQ filter (on the right) do video rendering AND file-writing ? David | ||
| M.H. Rating: N/A |
Peter: I use on board RAID controler and on board USB2 HUB. I was even testing saving each camera AVI file to 2 different HD (each HD driven by different controler). It sounds more like memory data flow problem than HD data flow problem ... I use 2.52 GHz P IV and 1.066 GHz RIMM memory architecture ... I am getting the best output with Pic MJPEG compression. The problem is that I get framedropes even with setting when CPU is woring on 50% and HD data flow is not reach with great reserve ... The describes results I get with simultaneous double VidCap run, no special filter used ... David: For recording the usage of DepthQ video mixer looks like disadvantage. I am getting much more better results by saving into 2 AVI files , using co coled Smart Tee filter to get data for DQ video mixer as a preview output only. Smart Tee takes care about making preview only when some CPU power is left ... Question for all: Does anybody have AmCap modified for compressed video saving ? VidCap is a VfW application and it is sub-optimal for experiments. Using the GraphEdit is to borning ... I can add the compression future to AmCap myself but I do not want to duplicate other people work ... | ||
| Ken Tetterington Rating: N/A |
Hi Michael; Hope you are well, as I am... Great work on the stereo cameras. It looks like a system that can be adapted to robotic vision among other uses. ========= Warm regards, Ken Tetterington www.selectrics.com | ||
| Peter Wimmer Rating: N/A |
Hello! When I benchmarked my system, I found out that I have no problems recoding at 2 x 640 x 480 at 30 fps using Huffyuv-codec. I'm using Sony DFW-VL500 cameras, a 2.5 GHz Pentium IV with 1 GB DualChannel DDR RAM and a 7200 rpm harddisc. CPU usage is between 40 and 50% (recording and preview). On the following screenshots and images you can see my setup. | ||
| Peter Wimmer Rating: N/A |
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| Peter Wimmer Rating: N/A |
   On the folling images you see the recorded video in side by side format at 50% and in anaglpyh format at 100%.   | ||
| Peter Wimmer Rating: N/A |
Anyone else working on this topic? :-) | ||
| nickyj Rating: N/A |
This is very interesting. Great work, guys. Can you render it in interlaced format? | ||
| Peter Wimmer Rating: N/A |
Michal (but maybe interesting for others too): On my PIII I had a problem (some frames corruped) when both firewire cards and Soundblaster Live used the same interrupt. Maybe your dropped-frames-problem has something to do with interrupts? Peter | ||
| M.H. Rating: N/A |
Peter: The data flow from the SONY webcam probably does not overflow the CPU so much as the data flow from the dual USB2 cameras ... I am still searching why I can not get so good result as you do .. Maybe the multiplexing and than saving/compression method you used is more stable than saving to dual AVI file witch I am testing ... I must find some time to modify your Stereo Multiplexer to support YUY2 and RGB or you should do this ... My DepthQ multiplexor is optimized for hi-quality preview and not for saving (it is camera event trigered and form 30 fps stream it generate 60 fps stream becouse each image from each camera generate an output) .... Ken: I think more about stereoscopic live web video streaming and video recording than about robotic vision. The progressive scan of the Iboot cameras is e.g. more suitable for stereo-video recording than the interlaced scan from normal DV cameras ... | ||
| Peter Wimmer Rating: N/A |
> Can you render it in interlaced format? Not yet, but side by side, over/under and anaglyph. | ||
| Peter Wimmer Rating: N/A |
>I must find some time to modify your Stereo >Multiplexer to support YUY2 and RGB or you >should do this ... I will do it, but currently the problem is time. I think YUY2 and RGB support can be added fast, but as you know, there are some other little stability problems... If you fix it let me know! | ||
| Ken Tetterington Rating: N/A |
Hi Michal; What type of solution(s) are available for; 1) Dual focus of the cameras; 2) The cameras level to each other; 3) Zoom-Zoom; Should I put on my 'thinkin-hat' and ponder a solution or has it been solved yet? | ||
| M.H. Rating: N/A |
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| M.H. Rating: N/A |
Comments to image above: Iboot2 self image (in a mirror) of a new montage ... It was nessery to give to each camera separated montage head to be able to make precise stereoscopic alighment (original montage was to much verticaly disalighned) ... Ken: The camera I use are fix-focus. Fix-zoom. Light level and color balance could be synchronized in software ... The camera Peter use are completely driven through firewire - synchronization of both focus, zoom and other parameters elctoricaly is trivial (throug standard DirectShow interfaces) ... I am not sure what do you mean under level adjutsment ? Light level - trivial again through firewire. Dynamicaly adjustable camera distance ? It is worh a special servo motor driven montage - probably not so complicated. | ||
| jojo Rating: N/A |
Hello! I studing Geodesy in Poland , Krakow And I working in it. (sorry for my language) When I have a "day off duty", I have some fun when I construct my program in c++. There is 2 or more cameras (USB). I preview display ( in memory) : capPreview in hwnd For example I put a green ball in front of cameras , capture green color in rgb , calkulating (photogrametry) and it is send to DirectX and display on monitor (but not the photography , I display math object) Are you intrested more ? ... jojojojo@poczta.fm | ||
| ken@selectrics.com Rating: N/A |
Hi Michal; It seems to me that unless the cameras are close to identical in level (the same Y plane) then the resulting 3D images can be distorted. On experiments I did some time ago, wider distances between the cameras will give better 3D depth for further away landscapes. Also - closer cameras work better for close up 3D images. Notes: Your dual cameras still remind me of 3D eyes that can have applications in the robotics industry. ========= Ken | ||
| fmp_r Rating: N/A |
Hi, not sure if some of you still work on above topic. However, any feedback is welcome :o) Question: Did you try to use 2x Logitech Sphere Webcams for stereo3D Webcam setup ? I am not a programmer, but I notice on... http://www.eyespyfx.com/orbitfx.asp ... that it is now possible to control a Logitech Sphere Cam, which is normally not supported with the incl. Logitech software. So, with such feature, I guess, it should be possible to use both cams for stereo3D (with stereoscopic multiplexer) and if someone would/ could program a remote control tool like shown under above mentioned link, it would be easy to align both webcams, remotely, too. What do you think about that idea ? | ||
| Steve Foulks (Foulkss) New member Username: Foulkss Post Number: 1 Registered: 6-2007 Rating: N/A |
Guys, Im not a devloper or designer, I am just trying to send two cameras down the same stream at the same time in a split screen fashion. This gives me a more clear shot of the ball feild by allowing me to zoom in closer. Is there anything out there (inexpensive) that can do this? software or hardware and adjustable Love the technology above thanks steve |
