video processing in labview?

[CRBreingan]

Ok, so i'm fairly new to labview so please excuse my lack of experience or understanding.

My team is trying to hook up an AXIS207 Network Camera to a computer and process the image. The camera gets hooked up via an ethernet cable to the network. We can view the image that the camera sees and edit the camera settings by going to it's static IP in the local network. However, what nobody around here can figure out is how to see this image in labview. We have a VI developed to process the image on a different camera, but we need something smaller, which is why we're trying to set up the Axis camera. AXIS uses ActiveX to view the feed from the camera, i believe.

If anyone can help me understand what i need to do in order to view the image in labview i would greatly appreciate it. This seems pretty simple to me, at least it does in my head, but i can't figure out how to do this in labview. Thank you.

[Whaler]

Hi CRBreingan

I have not used the Axis video camera, but I have written some code for the Axis video servers. You wil have to use a ActiveX controller and link this to the AxisMediaControl class. Please see the attached image to see how I connect to the videoserver. You must also install the Axis Media Control SDK on your computer. After you have installed the Axis Media Control you will find a help file for the SDK under Programfiles/AxisComunication/AxisMedia Control SDK.

Hope this helps

Best regards Whaler

[crelf]

QUOTE (CRBreingan @ Sep 16 2008, 06:30 PM)

My team is trying to hook up an AXIS207 Network Camera to a computer and process the image.

Is the camera compatible with http://sine.ni.com/nips/cds/view/p/lang/en/nid/12892' target="_blank">NI Vision Acquisition? If so, I suggest you use it - it'll make you life a whole lot easier than screwing around with low-level activeX calls, and is feature rich.

[CRBreingan]

I have no idea if it is compatible, i'll have to look into that. One of our team members thinks we can just capture an image from a website (http:// IP adress) but he can't remember how to. Is this possible to do? And how exactly would we go about doing it?

[crelf]

QUOTE (CRBreingan @ Sep 17 2008, 11:40 AM)

One of our team members thinks we can just capture an image from a website (http:// IP adress) but he can't remember how to.

If you know where the image is, you should be able to use this:

http://forums.lavag.org/Downloading-an-image-from-a-Web-server-using-Datascoket-t100.html' target="_blank">Downloading an image from a Web server using Datascoket

[CRBreingan]

QUOTE (crelf @ Sep 17 2008, 01:36 PM)

If you know where the image is, you should be able to use this:

http://forums.lavag.org/Downloading-an-image-from-a-Web-server-using-Datascoket-t100.html' target="_blank">Downloading an image from a Web server using Datascoket

Uh... Sounds great! If i can download an image from a website that'd be perfect! But the datascoket that you linked has been "moved or deleted." Any tips?

[crelf]

QUOTE (CRBreingan @ Sep 17 2008, 02:28 PM)

Uh... Sounds great! If i can download an image from a website that'd be perfect! But the datascoket that you linked has been "moved or deleted." Any tips?

Our admin's working on fixing that. Stay tuned

QUOTE (CRBreingan @ Sep 17 2008, 02:28 PM)

...dose it only connect with GigE and IEEE 1394? Is there any way that i can get this ethernet camera to appear in MAX?

Yep - that's one thing that it does, amongst plenty of other things. It's basically a link between your camera and LabVIEW (with MAX included). It works with IEEE 1394, GigE, as weel as all the NI IMAQ cards (progressive scan, interlaced, CameraLink, and plenty more).

QUOTE (CRBreingan @ Sep 17 2008, 02:28 PM)

But the datascoket that you linked has been "moved or deleted."

What's the format of the image (eg: bmp, jpg, etc), and what version of LabVIEW are you using? I should be able to throw something together quickly for you to use in the interim...

[CRBreingan]

The image is a jpg. and i'm using labview 8.5.

When i was playing with it today i found that i could connect to the camera via the VISA TCP/IP. Is it possible to stream video from a VISA device? VISA is the only way that i could get MAX to recognize the camera as any kind of device.

[crelf]

QUOTE (CRBreingan @ Sep 17 2008, 11:40 PM)

The image is a jpg. and i'm using labview 8.5.

Here's an example that I threw together very quickly - it shows a live webcam from LAVA headquarters...

[yazdihr]

Hi CRBreingan;

I think you may be able to use GigE for your camera. Ni has a GigE card (PCIe-8231) but then you will need to have image acquisition software as well.

Using TCP/IP sounds a cheap and easy way to start with.

Clearly after you have access to your image (jpg, etc) then you will need to pass it to NI-IMAQ (image processing software) for

further proceesing.

by the way, in the past I have used Data Socket and I think it was very slow! Very very slow...

Just my thoughts!

[crelf]

QUOTE (yazdihr @ Sep 18 2008, 09:22 AM)

Ni has a GigE card (PCIe-8231) but then you will need to have image acquisition software as well.

You shouldn't need the NI card - it should work fine on any ethernet card.

QUOTE (yazdihr @ Sep 18 2008, 09:22 AM)

Using TCP/IP sounds a cheap and easy way to start with.

Right - you *could* work at the TCP level, but why spend the weeks it would take to write a driver when you can just buy one that has more features than you'll ever need?

QUOTE (yazdihr @ Sep 18 2008, 09:22 AM)

...in the past I have used Data Socket and I think it was very slow! Very very slow...

I sure can't argue with that - it's not really what datasocket was designed for - it was just a little hack I found. You'll never get anywhere near streaming rates using it - it's only good for relatively static images (update every few seconds).