Hi Guys,

I´m lost. Since three days Im trying to get this to work but it wont. I have a runnig LabView installation with the IMAQ package installed. I can use other (DirectView based) Webcams without any problem. Tried the newest CL Driver - wouldnt work. Tried the old v3.0.0.0901 which worked, but only for 30 fps at 640x320. As LabView is a big package of software I do not know how to enable 125fps in 320x240 over Direct View. I have absolutely no clue to where to put the cleye.config File. Isn´t there any other way to enable the driver in advanced mode?
I found a clue that it should be working here: http://stisrv13.epfl.ch/masters/img/108.pdf
They even claim to have reached a 180fps using LabView and the PS3 Eye ... anyone know how they did it? Which driver or library they might have used?
Any help would be very much apreciated.

Best regards,
Jabami

Hello everyone,

I just wanted to drop by and let you know that the new driver published on 02/18/2012 (Version 5.0.1.0218) does NOT solve DirectShow incompatibilities as have been reported for the previous version of the CL PS3 driver (4.0.2.1017). The only driver which seems to be widely usable with DirectShow compatible Software is 3.0.0.0901 - but this driver however does not support high framerates over DirectShow (It only supports high framerates in the provided test application or simpler [homebrew] applications ).  $20 for a driver which seems to only support the multitouch table community seems a bit lame. The download page should state that other software besides the NUI-Group ones are not supported. As can be seen by this thread which did not received any support whatsoever - even I ‘am a paying customer.

Best regards,
jabami

Hello,

just tested the base driver v.5.1.1.0177 with IMAQdx and VisionExpress using LabVIEW 2010 x86 SP1 (on a W7 x64 system), should be working fine. Installed SDK first, tested some versions of the free driver after, latest supports:

320x240 RGB 0.1-187 fps
640x480 RGB 0.1-75 fps

Should you have Vision Acquisition Software, still do install the (now officially outdated) IMAQdx x86 driver for USB cameras available fro free separately from:

http://ftp.ni.com/pub/devzone/epd/ni_imaq_usb_installer_86.exe

Some interesting artefacts occur, but the fps is FIXED. For instance, setting the fps to 40 will result in some 33.12 or very similar with minimal fluctuation. As some may have discovered, the emegence of sensor noise, particularly colour artefacts, is about linearly dependent on fps. Interestingly, this does not occur with the PS3 Eye Test App that came with the free driver v5.1.1.0177, it shoots very nicely at 75fps @ 640x480 with no problem. The SDK claims a chip-level (?) Y800 output for mono use (8 bit grayscale), the DirectShow ported driver, that IMAQdx uses, does not seem to support this. Whether the multi-camera platform pack does, is yet to be confirmed, as soon as I can actually talk to codelaboratories, that is.

Hello,

as mentioned by Metrologue I´d like to confirm that the new driver v5.1.1.0177 is fully supported by LabView at all possible framerates.

@Metrologue:

I don´t think that the multi-camera platform pack will support any other output modes than the ones allready available through IMAQdx. Anyway it is going to be quite interesting if the multi-camera platform pack is actually suported through LabView - which would be awesome.

Greetz,
jabami

Jabami,

IMAQdx is ported through DirectShow, so as long as the device driver implementation allows for certain output formats and modes, IMAQdx will replicate these. I can confirm these myself, as I have had the misfortune to test multiple horrid webcams with both pure IMAQdx capture, and VisionExpress.

In addition, APIs seem to have a role in the availability of actual extra controls (via either property nodes or VisionExpress), although these are, to say the least, not trouble free to control programmatically. Doing so via VisionExpress manually almost always works absolutely fine - in rare cases when a control does not work, settings are simply ignored, with no effect on capture, therfore these are non-critical in terms of robustness of operation, at least.

I have tried to contact Codelaboratories today with my enquiry regarding multi-cam support provided as a ported DirectShow DRIVER within the Platform Pack (as opposed to API only, which the SDK seems to provide), although I had to PM / email an apparent guru, as both the support html form fails with a connection failure, and my direct email is rejected by their server, based on server IP (even though it’s just a regular commercial ISP in the UK).

We’ll see what they say, but I am 98% confident that if the Platform Pack supports access to multple PS3 Eyes via any other third party software that refers to DirectShow (as I am sure most video editing stuff does), then it will be working just fine in LabVIEW, too (as the IMAQdx method is no different to these I believe).

If the above proves to be the case, I will be one of their happiest buyers, probably generating a lot more in the engineering / scientific community, as fully controlled IMAQdx / LabVIEW capture availability of such inexpensive USB cameras (bought a pair today for GBP 7.49 each), combined with their features almost resembling lower machine vision grade (fixed frame rate was my absolute priority), will certainly trigger interest. Multiple cameras must be guaranteed to work on a DirectShow basis though. If so, I’ll get back here, as well as the LabVIEW forums where I have also already re-engaged the infamous topic of multiple identical USB cameras / webcams used simultanously within LabVIEW (and due to its DirectShow dependence, out of LabVIEW, too).

For the record, I have identified 6 models confirmed to work so far, of which the PS3 Eye will by far be the best IF multi-cam access is supported by the Platform Packs, primarily for the availability of fixed frame rates (a strong motion analysis relevance), and the 36um^2 sensor pixel size (relatively high sensitivity range) even if I have to buy the otherwise acceptably priced CL Platform Pack.

Perhaps one thing is cause for concern for some: as referred to earlier, while the image quality is fine at 640x480:75fps in the PS3 Eye Test App provided with the free single cam driver v5.1.1.0177, the DirectShow ported IMAQdx VisionExpress acquisition in the test window shows considerably more sensor noise, mainly colour. I do not yet know whether it is an DirectShow issue per se, or perhaps related to the DirectShow implementation of the CL driver (assuming that the test app uses a dedicated capture method). In any case, this difference only appears above 30fps, and may not appear at all with the Platform Pack. We’ll find out as soon as I can make an informed purchase.

Actually, as C#, C++, and Java seems to work fine, with some example codes provided for multi-cam acquisition, one could try to text-code capture code into a Library Node within a LabVIEW master loop, using the SDK supported languages, although I am unsure whether device control can be implemented this way.

If anyone feels the itch to do so, by all means, please let us know how smoothly this went, and what language you used, if you have a comparison of code efficiency across text-coded scripts, even better. While this could obviously eliminate the need to buy the Platform Pack, as far as I am concerned, I am flawlessly happy to pay the 35 USD for my 4 cam Platform Pack if that works with LabVIEW on a plug and play basis, to save myself some text-coding pain, and most importantly, time.

Call Library Node could also be a potentially working option, using the SDK provided multicam dll.

I have also found the (free) ASVision ttoolkit for LabVIEW (2009 and 2010), I’ll start with this, as it uses CUDA. FOr those with NVidia cards, this could drastically reduce CPU computational loads as the video card takes raw processing over. Wicked:

http://vi-lib.com/

If anyone has a Library Node based implementation for LabVIEW, using the CL Platform SDK dll, could you share?

Hi Metrologue,

I had and still have the exakt same thoughts. Utilizing this cheap 9 EUro Camera for machine Vision and Automation tasks via LabView would just be amazing.
However, I invested a considerable amount of Time trying to make the previous Version of the codelaboratries driver work with LabView, whichh didn’t work. The New One however Works just fine.
I also started to write a Library Node VI but could’nt read the UUID values which is essential when handling multiple cameras.
I posted and discused my problems in a german LabView Forum. You can find my posts here:
http://www.labviewforum.de/Thread-UUID-als-Datentyp-fuer-eine-DLL-erstellen

These are mainly about how to get the multicam.dll to spit out the UUID of all connected PS3 Eye cameras, as per dll function these are needed to start a camera session.

Jabami,

Ich habe dieses gestern gefunden, aber habe den Namen nicht angeschaut. Es tut mir Leid, mein Deutsch ist nicht noch gut genug für eine technische Konversation, kann wir sprechen (schreiben) Englisch?

I see that you discussed this with Rolf in March (although I was far from understanding everything), did you manage to get the Call Library Node work? I understand that a wrapper would also be required, and in any case, separate control scripts, or even better, Property Node compliance would have to be implemented. Also, do you think that since the latest update enabled DirectShow LabVIEW, it is now possible that the new version of the Platform Pack includes / will include LabVIEW support / multi-cam DirectShow component access (to be used via IMAQdx)? I tried to ask AlexP here, I hope he’ll comment on this as soon as he has the time. He commented on this forum that multi-cam DIrectShow is definitely not available, but that was in 2010, maybe the Platform Packs have already changed to include this.

I have also checked the ADVision Toolkit yesterday, to no avail, its methods don’t see the PS3 Eye at all. Which actually isn’t too bad, because it allows to assume that it may not be DirectShow component dependent like IMAQdx. ADVision is pretty good, especially due to CUDA based VIs that I take advantage of greatly, but so far I couldn’t get a PS3 Eye capture out of it.

If AlexP gets back to me (or even if otherwise), I am going to lobby for a multi-cam DirectShow component functionality update, at least to the Platform Packs. As I assume you have more inight to implementation level programming in C++, do you think a multi-cam DIrecShow component realisation, given that the SDK readily includes multi-cam support, would nevcertheless require a lot of work?

It would definitely improve Platform Pack sales.

I would also be well happy to pay for a commercial, dedicated multi-cam LabVIEW driver.

I am trying to find an alternative now, based on solely the OV7720 CMOS sensor that the PS3 Eye uses. This may be of help, should you decide to go along with the library node / wrapper work:

http://www.codeforge.com/dlpre/47824/35efeeb083a4.rar__.html

Jabami, if you read this, let us continue in a dedicated topic I have created yesterday - starting with an inquiry and request towards Codelabs to include some form of LabVIEW support.

http://codelaboratories.com/forums/viewthread/905/

id est topic title:

LabVIEW multi-cam support (via DirectShow-IMAQdx-VisionExpress)