Getting Started with a live Camera locating objects

This will be our first detection system configured using flexible and feature-rich Scorpion, which process live video and does real-life detection. Scorpion is very user friendly and simple to use. This makes it possible even for the first time users to quickly configure a real-life detection system working on live video; without needing any extensive training and without needing any programming!

In this tutorial, we will install the web-camera on the test machine and confirm whether it is installed properly. Then we will access the live video from Scorpion and configure it for object detection. The system will generate ‘Pass’ result when at least one object is detected in the captured image, and it will generate ‘Fail’ result when no object is detected in the captured image.

However, before starting to work on live video captured from the camera, we will see the system working in ‘simulation mode’. Scorpion also provides the important feature where as image files saved on the computer hard-disk can be used to simulate the video from camera. This feature is useful in set up and also during analysis and optimization phases, since these can also be done off-line and on remote computers, without needing the full inspection hard-ware set up.

In this tutorial, we will be using the camera simulation mode to understand the working on the final detection system. A pre-configured profile ‘Connecting_Camera.zip‘ available with this tutorial, will be used for the same.

Scorpion Vision Software supports all IIDC compliant firewire cameras through Unibrains generic drivers. It also supports advanced features like hardware triggering, non continuous video streams, dynamic shutter, direct register access, raw colour format and mode-7 etc.

Firewire cameras from following vendors are supported – ADS, Allied Vision, Basler Vision, Baumer Optronics, Hamamatsu, Imaging Source, JVC, MicroPix, OrangeMicro, PixeLink, PointGrey, Sony, Teli, Unibrain, Victor.

Scorpion Vision Software is very flexible and it also supports cameras which expose Microsoft DirectShow interface.

This includes the normal web-cameras connected to the computer through USB port. These cameras are general purpose and easily available. Scorpion supports both high end cameras as well as general purpose cameras. In this tutorial, we will use the general purpose web-camera connected to the computer and will configure Scorpion to capture images from this connected camera and also detect objects in the captured image.