topbanner_forum
  *

avatar image

Welcome, Guest. Please login or register.
Did you miss your activation email?

Login with username, password and session length
  • Thursday March 28, 2024, 1:44 pm
  • Proudly celebrating 15+ years online.
  • Donate now to become a lifetime supporting member of the site and get a non-expiring license key for all of our programs.
  • donate

Last post Author Topic: Webcam Signature 1.0 - My Submission for the DC Programming Contest  (Read 37655 times)

mouser

  • First Author
  • Administrator
  • Joined in 2005
  • *****
  • Posts: 40,896
    • View Profile
    • Mouser's Software Zone on DonationCoder.com
    • Read more about this member.
    • Donate to Member
my webcam was connected the whole time, and showing in the windows.
it's only when i press the Grab Screenshot button in the finetune dialog that the error occurs.

VideoInPicture

  • Honorary Member
  • Joined in 2008
  • **
  • Posts: 467
    • View Profile
    • Circle Dock
    • Donate to Member
my webcam was connected the whole time, and showing in the windows.
it's only when i press the Grab Screenshot button in the finetune dialog that the error occurs.

That is weird. Does the program work otherwise if you don't click on "Grab A Frame"?
Author of Circle Dock: http://circledock.wikidot.com
Author of Video In Picture: http://videoinpicture.wikidot.com
Author of Webcam Signature: http://webcamsignature.wikidot.com
Author of Easy Unicode Paster: http://easyunicodepaster.wikidot.com

VideoInPicture

  • Honorary Member
  • Joined in 2008
  • **
  • Posts: 467
    • View Profile
    • Circle Dock
    • Donate to Member
I've uploaded a new version of Webcam Signature (1.2) to http://webcamsignatu...oad-webcam-signature. Added is a fix to handle the case of when the "Fine Tune Tracking Color" panel is opened with no webcam available. Also added is the ability to draw on the signature area with your mouse.
Author of Circle Dock: http://circledock.wikidot.com
Author of Video In Picture: http://videoinpicture.wikidot.com
Author of Webcam Signature: http://webcamsignature.wikidot.com
Author of Easy Unicode Paster: http://easyunicodepaster.wikidot.com

wreckedcarzz

  • Charter Member
  • Joined in 2005
  • ***
  • Posts: 1,626
    • View Profile
    • Donate to Member
Problem: When a TV tuner is installed in a PC, Webcam Signature treats it as if it is a webcam (other programs do this too, like Windows Live Messenger) - would it be possible to detect and prevent this? It lags the program having it refresh a bunch of gray fuzzy noise and non-existent video every second or two.

(I have a "Happauge WinTV" TV tuner, if that is relevant at all)

VideoInPicture

  • Honorary Member
  • Joined in 2008
  • **
  • Posts: 467
    • View Profile
    • Circle Dock
    • Donate to Member
Problem: When a TV tuner is installed in a PC, Webcam Signature treats it as if it is a webcam (other programs do this too, like Windows Live Messenger) - would it be possible to detect and prevent this? It lags the program having it refresh a bunch of gray fuzzy noise and non-existent video every second or two.

(I have a "Happauge WinTV" TV tuner, if that is relevant at all)
-wreckedcarzz (June 26, 2008, 02:38 AM)

Are you using the TV tuner as your video input source for the program?

Right now, the program automatically loads whatever video input source is available but you can get the program to stop the input from the video source in version 1.2 by clicking on the pen size drop box in the "Pen" area of the program and selecting "Hide".
Author of Circle Dock: http://circledock.wikidot.com
Author of Video In Picture: http://videoinpicture.wikidot.com
Author of Webcam Signature: http://webcamsignature.wikidot.com
Author of Easy Unicode Paster: http://easyunicodepaster.wikidot.com

jgpaiva

  • Global Moderator
  • Joined in 2006
  • *****
  • Posts: 4,727
    • View Profile
    • Donate to Member
VideoInPicture: I think nite_monkey is referring to the object he used for tracking (since he mentioned the green :) )

VideoInPicture

  • Honorary Member
  • Joined in 2008
  • **
  • Posts: 467
    • View Profile
    • Circle Dock
    • Donate to Member
Webcam Mouse Mode Coded
« Reply #31 on: June 26, 2008, 04:39 PM »
http://www.youtube.c.../watch?v=yUPaEnsKJYM

http://webcamsignatu...oad-webcam-signature

I've coded the Webcam Mouse Mode into Webcam Signature 1.3. You can now use your webcam to move your mouse around. Check out the video!

Also added is a larger drawing area for the signature and hopefully I fixed the unhandled exception the mouser got.
Author of Circle Dock: http://circledock.wikidot.com
Author of Video In Picture: http://videoinpicture.wikidot.com
Author of Webcam Signature: http://webcamsignature.wikidot.com
Author of Easy Unicode Paster: http://easyunicodepaster.wikidot.com
« Last Edit: June 26, 2008, 04:41 PM by VideoInPicture »

mouser

  • First Author
  • Administrator
  • Joined in 2005
  • *****
  • Posts: 40,896
    • View Profile
    • Mouser's Software Zone on DonationCoder.com
    • Read more about this member.
    • Donate to Member
very cool movie :)
by the way the crashing is gone, the auto grab screen and and color works.  :up:

it's hard for me to control it well -- i think my background is a bit noisy and webcam not so good, so it's a little hard.

it's fun to try to think of other uses of this tool..
i can imagine using it to track a bug's movement over time, like a ladybug or something, put your webcam on it and switch into paint mode :)

« Last Edit: June 26, 2008, 04:55 PM by mouser »

VideoInPicture

  • Honorary Member
  • Joined in 2008
  • **
  • Posts: 467
    • View Profile
    • Circle Dock
    • Donate to Member
very cool movie :)
by the way the crashing is gone, the auto grab screen and and color works.  :up:

it's hard for me to control it well -- i think my background is a bit noisy and webcam not so good, so it's a little hard.

it's fun to try to think of other uses of this tool..
i can imagine using it to track a bug's movement over time, like a ladybug or something, put your webcam on it and switch into paint mode :)



That's good. I think the program was improperly disposing of the grabbed frame.

Try using a flashlight/led/infrared led instead of a pen if you are having trouble getting it to track and set it so that the tracking color is white to bright white.

BTW, version 1.3 also fixed the finicky edge drawing problem.  :P

Now, I just want to make the program use 10% or less of my CPU time when running instead of 30-40%.
Author of Circle Dock: http://circledock.wikidot.com
Author of Video In Picture: http://videoinpicture.wikidot.com
Author of Webcam Signature: http://webcamsignature.wikidot.com
Author of Easy Unicode Paster: http://easyunicodepaster.wikidot.com
« Last Edit: June 26, 2008, 05:03 PM by VideoInPicture »

nite_monkey

  • Member
  • Joined in 2006
  • **
  • Posts: 753
    • View Profile
    • Just Plain Super
    • Read more about this member.
    • Donate to Member
For a while, I couldn't get it to work, but then I used one of those green usb to ps/2 converters that comes with usb mice, and it works 100%!

For your webcam? In the program, I'm using a DirectX wrapper to connect to the webcam. Maybe your webcam has an issue with DirectX?
-VideoInPicture (June 25, 2008, 07:21 PM)

lol, no, I got the program working perfectly, I couldn't get it to track a pen though, but I could get it to track the usb to ps/2 converter perfectly
[Insert really cool signature here]

VideoInPicture

  • Honorary Member
  • Joined in 2008
  • **
  • Posts: 467
    • View Profile
    • Circle Dock
    • Donate to Member
lol, no, I got the program working perfectly, I couldn't get it to track a pen though, but I could get it to track the usb to ps/2 converter perfectly

I'm working on a new version of Webcam Signature that uses a notably different algorithm for tracking. From my testing so far, it is able to track a color object significantly better than version 1.3 especially when the lighting changes or there is glare off the object. Right now in version 1.3, you may have to recalibrate the tracking color if you turn the light on in a dark room or the sun shines through the window and onto your pen, but that does not appear to be as frequently necessary with the new version.

However, one issue remains to be solved. I have to speed the algorithm up. One of the primary issues is that accessing bitmap pixels is a slow process even with using Unsafe bitmaps in C#. However, I may have some code that can solve this issue.
Author of Circle Dock: http://circledock.wikidot.com
Author of Video In Picture: http://videoinpicture.wikidot.com
Author of Webcam Signature: http://webcamsignature.wikidot.com
Author of Easy Unicode Paster: http://easyunicodepaster.wikidot.com
« Last Edit: June 30, 2008, 05:08 PM by VideoInPicture »

VideoInPicture

  • Honorary Member
  • Joined in 2008
  • **
  • Posts: 467
    • View Profile
    • Circle Dock
    • Donate to Member
For mouser, veign, and those interested, the source code for Webcam Signature 1.3 is now up on my website at http://webcamsignatu...ignature-source-code. It is open source under a GNU v3 license.
Author of Circle Dock: http://circledock.wikidot.com
Author of Video In Picture: http://videoinpicture.wikidot.com
Author of Webcam Signature: http://webcamsignature.wikidot.com
Author of Easy Unicode Paster: http://easyunicodepaster.wikidot.com

psionics

  • Participant
  • Joined in 2007
  • *
  • Posts: 119
    • View Profile
    • freestyle (nunchaku) forum.net
    • Donate to Member
Re: Webcam Signature 1.0 - My Submission for the DC Programming Contest
« Reply #37 on: August 01, 2008, 02:57 PM »
The best one I've seen! Thank you so much  ;) 

TaylorV

  • Participant
  • Joined in 2008
  • *
  • Posts: 2
    • View Profile
    • Donate to Member
Re: Webcam Signature 1.0 - My Submission for the DC Programming Contest
« Reply #38 on: September 02, 2008, 02:47 PM »
Although I have all the required programs, and service packs, I get the "Webcam Signature has stopped working" error. I'm running Vista, 64 bit, 2.7 Ghz, 3 gigs of ram.. I really can't figure out what the problem is :(

VideoInPicture

  • Honorary Member
  • Joined in 2008
  • **
  • Posts: 467
    • View Profile
    • Circle Dock
    • Donate to Member
Re: Webcam Signature 1.0 - My Submission for the DC Programming Contest
« Reply #39 on: September 02, 2008, 06:00 PM »
Although I have all the required programs, and service packs, I get the "Webcam Signature has stopped working" error. I'm running Vista, 64 bit, 2.7 Ghz, 3 gigs of ram.. I really can't figure out what the problem is :(

I'm not sure it was tested on a Vista 64-bit system before. How many megapixels does your webcam have?

I'm current spending the vast majority of my time getting Circle Dock to a 1.0 release so I might not be able to figure out where your problem is. However, you could always download Microsoft Visual C# Express and run the source code from the Web Cam Signature website. This is the surefire way to see where it in the code it is breaking down. If you can provide a screenshot of when Visual C# Express gives the error, I can provide a better fix/solution. The source code for Webcam Signature is pretty well commented so you should be able to make sense of it if you have a little bit of programming knowledge.

Eric Wong
Author of Circle Dock: http://circledock.wikidot.com
Author of Video In Picture: http://videoinpicture.wikidot.com
Author of Webcam Signature: http://webcamsignature.wikidot.com
Author of Easy Unicode Paster: http://easyunicodepaster.wikidot.com

TaylorV

  • Participant
  • Joined in 2008
  • *
  • Posts: 2
    • View Profile
    • Donate to Member
Re: Webcam Signature 1.0 - My Submission for the DC Programming Contest
« Reply #40 on: September 02, 2008, 06:49 PM »
I actually solved the problem. Just a stupid error on my part :l

I didn't realize there were hidden files in the original extraction folder, so I just copied the .exe to my documents and put a shortcut on my desktop.

Taylor

psionics

  • Participant
  • Joined in 2007
  • *
  • Posts: 119
    • View Profile
    • freestyle (nunchaku) forum.net
    • Donate to Member
Re: Webcam Signature 1.0 - My Submission for the DC Programming Contest
« Reply #41 on: November 04, 2008, 05:25 PM »
hello! thank you so much for this wonderful program!  :Thmbsup:

* I would like to ask if is it capable of tracking 2 or more colors from the webcam?