Today at 11:20 I had to re-login on the capture PC with another user account name, and therefore had to shut-down and restart the camera capture software. In the course of starting it up, I had put an incorrect FTP password in the parameters... and so the images were captured and stored in a series, but were not uploaded to the webserver. Apologies for this mishap!
This makes me consider to develop a remote control for the camera captue software. I noticed the problem already around 12:30, but was unable to fix it as I was at an out-of-office location. Such a remote control could be web-based and would allow to reconfigure the camera capture module. The next version will have such a remote control.
Wednesday, July 22, 2009
Friday, July 17, 2009
Free Software Available
This week with its demand on the server and on the capture software was useful for beta-testing the software I wrote for the capture.
I prepared a web site for easy access of this software: http://creativetech.inn.leedsmet.ac.uk/software/.
One software is the capture software itself (which I already announced here earlier). It can be used by anyone who has a PC and wants to capture single images to be ftp-ed onto a web server.
The other piece of software is a small client which takes an image from a remote web server and places it onto the Windows desktop. It is pre-configured to use this Headingley Caedmon Webcam, but can be set to any web URL with an updated image.
--- NO WARRANTY AND SUPPORT WILL BE GIVEN ON ANY OF THESE SOFTWARE PRODUCTS - USE AT YOUR OWN RISK!---
(But if you find a bug, you are welcome to let me know so that I can fix it. Also, if you have a question, do not be intimitated to ask; if I have time, I will certainly help)
I prepared a web site for easy access of this software: http://creativetech.inn.leedsmet.ac.uk/software/.
One software is the capture software itself (which I already announced here earlier). It can be used by anyone who has a PC and wants to capture single images to be ftp-ed onto a web server.
The other piece of software is a small client which takes an image from a remote web server and places it onto the Windows desktop. It is pre-configured to use this Headingley Caedmon Webcam, but can be set to any web URL with an updated image.
--- NO WARRANTY AND SUPPORT WILL BE GIVEN ON ANY OF THESE SOFTWARE PRODUCTS - USE AT YOUR OWN RISK!---
(But if you find a bug, you are welcome to let me know so that I can fix it. Also, if you have a question, do not be intimitated to ask; if I have time, I will certainly help)
Graduation is over - Dismantling the Marquee
The graduation week is over, the students, staff, and guests have left the white Marquee, and the dismantling crews are already emptying the inside installations. The first 4 days the weather has been reasonable, with sunny spells. But today on Friday there was wind and rain.
Time-lapse capture has been done during the week, with the goal to create videos of the activities. Now, the camera has turned again to focus solely on the Acre which will appear once the Marquee has been dismantled. The camera capture rate has been set slower now, to one picture every 5 minutes, and image series will be stored to create a time-lapse video of the Marquee dismantle process and the re-claiming of the Acre.
Next year, according to informal sources, there will be no Marquee here on the Acre, so this is now the last time for a while that this sight is here.
The rain is pounding down on the empty campus, as the students with their guests have left and staff is mostly going on holiday for the next few weeks.
An academic year is over.
Thursday, July 16, 2009
Update of Server Scripts
The increased demand of the image capture on our server due to the link to the Leeds Met public web site made it necessary to provide an update to the server code which would improve the "garbage collection" of temporary image files. This has now been implemented. There was a brief outage during the transition to the new version. If there appears a "not found" error, just refresh the whole page, and the image should be there again.
Webcam now on Official Leeds Met Site
The Headingley Caedmon Webcam is now included in the official web site of the Leeds Met Summer Graduation 2009, in the latest news page. The update rate has been increased to one image every 15 seconds.
Increased Framerate
To reflect the importance of the graduation event, the framerate of the web cam capture has been increased to one picture every 20 seconds. This provides a more fluent image capture.
Wednesday, July 15, 2009
Capture Software Available
The camera capture software is now at a stage that I think it can be distributed - without warranty!
A link for automatic installation is available here (works properly only in Microsoft Explorer).
The software comes without any instructions - I hope that its use is self-explanatory. I will post within the next few weeks some guidance notes about how to configure it properly, but for now I do not have the time to do this. It has been tested only on Windows XP, and only with 3 cameras: Microsoft LifeCam VX-600, Philips ToUCam Pro, and Phillips SPC 200NC.
In principle, the software allows to capture one individual image at a preset time interval, which it stores as a JPG file locally. After the saving, it can also FTP the file to a remote web server, and it can put it on the user's desktop as a background image.
Just a few notes for configuration here:
After start, the software will try to connect to the first camera it finds. If no camera is connected, then it runs a detection thread in the background which will connect to a camera once it is plugged in. So a "hot-plugin" works, but not a hot-plug-out - once a camera is connected, the software will get an error when the camera is unplugged during operation.
If several cameras are connected, the user can chose one with "Devices". The compressors there have not been tested - it is recommended to leave them at "none".
The "Options" menu allows to access specific camera options. These are provided by the camera drivers and are unfortunately not stored, so each time the software is restarted, these options have to be selected again.
Do not use the "Audio Capture" - this is not yet implemented.
The "Video" tab shows the live video from the camera in preview mode. A few cameras allow the selection of the capture size with the combobox, but this is not working very stable - it is better to select the image capture size and the framerate with the Options>PropertyPages dialogs.
The actually captured single image can be shown in a "separate window" and also can be placed on the "desktop" as a background.
The "Timer" tab allows to control the timer for the single image capture: the capture rate is set by the interval between the image captures, and the file name for this image and its location directory can be selected. An image series can be stored by automatically adding a number to the images, and the starting number can be entered. There is also a start/stop timer for indicating time of series capture in case of absence. And with a check box, the image can be automatically sent to an FTP server.
The "FTP" tab allows the configuration of an FTP server: server name, user name and password can be set. Further, the remote folder on the server can be set. Precede the folder directory by "//" for an absolute path from the server root; otherwise the "home" directory of the server for the particular user will be used as a root. The local directory can be also set here - it is usually the directory where the capture software stores the captured file.
Again, no warranty, and no support for using this software!!!
A link for automatic installation is available here (works properly only in Microsoft Explorer).
The software comes without any instructions - I hope that its use is self-explanatory. I will post within the next few weeks some guidance notes about how to configure it properly, but for now I do not have the time to do this. It has been tested only on Windows XP, and only with 3 cameras: Microsoft LifeCam VX-600, Philips ToUCam Pro, and Phillips SPC 200NC.
In principle, the software allows to capture one individual image at a preset time interval, which it stores as a JPG file locally. After the saving, it can also FTP the file to a remote web server, and it can put it on the user's desktop as a background image.
Just a few notes for configuration here:
After start, the software will try to connect to the first camera it finds. If no camera is connected, then it runs a detection thread in the background which will connect to a camera once it is plugged in. So a "hot-plugin" works, but not a hot-plug-out - once a camera is connected, the software will get an error when the camera is unplugged during operation.
If several cameras are connected, the user can chose one with "Devices". The compressors there have not been tested - it is recommended to leave them at "none".
The "Options" menu allows to access specific camera options. These are provided by the camera drivers and are unfortunately not stored, so each time the software is restarted, these options have to be selected again.
Do not use the "Audio Capture" - this is not yet implemented.
The "Video" tab shows the live video from the camera in preview mode. A few cameras allow the selection of the capture size with the combobox, but this is not working very stable - it is better to select the image capture size and the framerate with the Options>PropertyPages dialogs.
The actually captured single image can be shown in a "separate window" and also can be placed on the "desktop" as a background.
The "Timer" tab allows to control the timer for the single image capture: the capture rate is set by the interval between the image captures, and the file name for this image and its location directory can be selected. An image series can be stored by automatically adding a number to the images, and the starting number can be entered. There is also a start/stop timer for indicating time of series capture in case of absence. And with a check box, the image can be automatically sent to an FTP server.
The "FTP" tab allows the configuration of an FTP server: server name, user name and password can be set. Further, the remote folder on the server can be set. Precede the folder directory by "//" for an absolute path from the server root; otherwise the "home" directory of the server for the particular user will be used as a root. The local directory can be also set here - it is usually the directory where the capture software stores the captured file.
Again, no warranty, and no support for using this software!!!
Capture Irregularities
Due to software upgrades, it has not always been possible to maintain a framerate of one picture every 30 seconds. Also, this morning the PC rebooted around 7:05 am, which stopped the capture process until restart at 9:30.
Since then a new version of the capture software has been installed, which has a few improvements on the back-end interface (no change in the web image distribution). The latest software running now is 1.0.1.57.
Since then a new version of the capture software has been installed, which has a few improvements on the back-end interface (no change in the web image distribution). The latest software running now is 1.0.1.57.
Monday, July 13, 2009
Graduation this Week
This week, every day a graduation ceremony is taking place here in the white marquee in front of the James Graham Building at the Headingley Campus of Leeds Met. The web cam is now set to capture every 30 seconds, and the images during the day are stored. If you want your picture taken by the webcam, just pose anytime at the black pillars on the driveway. Please contact me then by leaving a comment to this post, with your email address and the precise time when you think you were at the picture.
Friday, July 10, 2009
Open Day at Headingley Campus
Today is Open Day at the Headingley Campus. The white marquee is being used to its fullest extent, many visitors are here.
The camera viewpoint has been changed slightly towards the right, to show less of the marquee tent, but more of the James Graham Building.
The camera viewpoint has been changed slightly towards the right, to show less of the marquee tent, but more of the James Graham Building.
Tuesday, July 7, 2009
Webcam Outage
On 2. July 2009, 7:05, the PC was for some reason rebooting. Since I was not available for logging in, the image capture had been interrupted since then, and it only resumed after I restarted the PC yesterday on Monday, 6.July.
The image capture is now running at an increased frame rate of 1 pic per minute. There is no longer a storing of each image, as the time lapse sequence for building the marquee has been completed. I will switch the recording on again next week for the graduation ceremonies, with an increased framerate of one picture every 30 seconds.
The image capture is now running at an increased frame rate of 1 pic per minute. There is no longer a storing of each image, as the time lapse sequence for building the marquee has been completed. I will switch the recording on again next week for the graduation ceremonies, with an increased framerate of one picture every 30 seconds.
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