Eagle Eye /// Capture Tool /// Documentation

1 Overview

This software records raw Vicon data into CSV files. The CSV files include timestamps and flash sync. The software is intended to be run on a system with the Vicon Tracker software installed. This may require administrative priviledges to install support libraries or driver software.

1.1 Authors

Gwilyn Saunders
Peter Barsznica

1.2 Legal

Creative Commons 4.0 Attribution International
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/legalcode

1.3 Prerequisites

Windows 7+
Python 2.7
Vicon Tracker System (tested with v1.2)
Serial RS232 Serial connection
Flash Sync circuit
A camera flash w/ PC-SYNC connection

2 Usage

2.1 Preparation

The Vicon system captures objects that are defined as unique "constellations" of infared reflectors (approx 9mm diameter) placed on physical objects within the lab. These objects are configured in the Vicon Tracker software. Some experimental/working objects are stored in the data/objects folder.

Ensure your running time is sufficient, modify via the command line option or within the config file.

Ensure the correct serial port is defined in the config file. A list of available serial ports can be found with this command:

$ python -m serial.tools.list_ports

2.2 Procedure

The camera must not be moved between the calibration and capture steps. Thankfully, the Ricoh Theta m15 can be remotely triggered via a smart phone or tablet running Android or iOS.

The tool will capture all active objects in the Vicon Tracker software. Be sure to only enable the objects for a given scenario.

Ensure all preparations steps are completed
Prepare the camera for recording
Run the software (either by GUI or command line)
After the first flash, start the camera recording
The flash will trigger again, now start perform the scenario
The last flash will signal the end of the dataset
Stop the camera recording
Check the output folder that the objects are all recorded

2.3 Usage

$ python vicon_capture.py {-output <folder> | -time <in minutes> | -config <file> | -training <file>}

3 Additional

3.1 Flash Sync Circuit

This is a circuit by design of Peter Barsznica that triggers a camera flash when signalled from a serial connection to the computer. This matches the flash data fields in the CSV file in order to syncronise the video and data feeds.

This is the circuit detail

The circuit connects to the serial GND and CTS pins

3.2 Synchronisation

When running the software, the flash will trigger 3 times. This is a uncorrectable side-effect of the hardware, therefore the software will delay a number of frames (as specified in the config file) before the first flash is triggered. There are still only 2 flashes recorded into the CSV.

3.3 Configuration File

The configuration file (.cfg) specifies common settings that don't need to change during a recording session or within a lab. These are the variables it contains and the corresponding defaults.

Setting	Description	Default
ip_address	The address of the Vicon Tracker software	192.168.10.1
port	The port of the tracker software	801
date_format	Formatting with which to timestamp output files	Y-%m-%d_%H-%M
flash_delay	How long (in frames) to wait before beginnning the set	180
framerate	How often the tracker is to be polled (per second)	44.955
default_time	How long to run the capture (in seconds)	180
default_output	Where the data is stored	data/raw
output_delimiter	The CSV delimiter	,
serial_device	The serial adapter port name	COM4
run_serial	Whether to activate the flash	True
trainer_target	Which target to look for when training	EEWand

3.4 Raw CSV Data Output

This is object data represented in the Vicon World Coordinates. Each file contains data for a single object captured. Containing positional, rotational, sychronisation and marker data.

Column	Data	Type	Examples
0	Timestamp	float	0.144
1	Sync	char	F, .
2	X-axis	float	5121.54
3	Y-axis	float	1543.33
4	Z-axis	float	45.1431
5	X-rotate	float	0.1123
6	Y-rotate	float	0.2323
7	Z-rotate	float	2.1102
8	Max Markers	int	5
9	Visible	int	4

Synchronisation

. (dot) - is a regular frame
F - is a flash frame, there should only be 2 of these within a dataset

Rotation

The rotational X, Y, Z is a Euler Vector, not to be mistaken with Euler Angles - pitch, yaw, roll.

4 Re-compiling PyVicon

This software has been tested at the Mechatronic Lab in the Mawson Lakes University of South Australia campus. The lab runs Vicon Tracker (Rigid bodies) v1.2 32bit.

Visual Studio versions

To recompile, the system needs to have Visual Studio installed. The python setuptools only read the VS90COMNTOOLS environment variable, some tweaking is required if that is not your VS version.

No SET required (for VS2008)
SET VS90COMNTOOLS=%VS100COMNTOOLS% (for VS2010)
SET VS90COMNTOOLS=%VS110COMNTOOLS% (for VS2012)
SET VS90COMNTOOLS=%VS120COMNTOOLS% (for VS2013)

Vicon DataStream SDK

Download the Vicon DataStream SDK from here. If this doesn't match your Vicon installation, find the right one with Google or hope that your installation includes the SDK. Copy all of the SDK files into the python_vicon folder.

Compiling

open a terminal in the python_vicon directory

run these: (supposedly they help?)

   SET MSSDK=1
   SET DISTUTILS_USE_SDK=1

execute the setup.py $ python setup.py build
check for errors in the output (good luck)
open the new build folder, look for a lib.win32 or lib.win-amd64
copy the pyvicon.pyd back into the root python_vicon folder

Name		Name	Last commit message	Last commit date
Latest commit History 85 Commits
assets		assets
eagleeye		eagleeye
elementtree		elementtree
experiements		experiements
objects		objects
python_vicon		python_vicon
raw_data		raw_data
serial		serial
.gitignore		.gitignore
README.md		README.md
run_capture.bat		run_capture.bat
serial_test.cfg		serial_test.cfg
unisa-ml_vicon.cfg		unisa-ml_vicon.cfg
vicon_capture.py		vicon_capture.py

gwillz/PyVicon

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