Fwd: [AG-TECH] How to configure VRM of PIG? (Re: USB camera with PIG (AG 1.1))

Tue Apr 22 15:49:30 CDT 2003

I was able to get two WDM cameras working with the following steps:
1. Get the cameras A and B installed and working in WinXP.
2. Put two lines in the video-config file:
    <capture_card input="Composite1" number="0" purpose="PRESENTER" 
device="Microsoft WDM Image Capture (Win32)"/>
    <capture_card input="Composite1" number="0" purpose="MAIN" 
device="Microsoft WDM Image Capture (Win32)"/>

         you can put whatever you want in the "purpose" field.  use this to 
distinguish between your video feeds.

3.Launch a venue
         This launches three vics: VRM(0), VRM(1), DRM
         This also brings up a "Video Source" selection box where I can 
choose between the cameras.
         On the first launch after installing new cameras, two "Video 
Source" dialogs are shown.
                 Select a different item for each "Video Source" dialog 
that displays
                 On subsequent launches of a venue only one "Video Source" 
dialog is displayed
         Notice that one of the cameras (A) is already showing in the DRM 
vic and one of the
         VRM vics (0).
         Camera A is also the device that is listed in the "Video Source" 
box.
         This "Video Source" dialog asking you to select the device for the 
VRM(1) vic.
         Since camera A is already in use in the VRM(0) vic, if you select 
it now, VRM(1) vic will crash.
         Choose camera B for VRM(1) and all is well

I noticed that when quitting the vics, whichever one of the VRM vics I 
close first, causes that device to be the default device and the default 
device is selected the next time a venue is launched.  But this behavior 
sometimes seems inconsistent.  In the example above:
VRM(0) is using Camera A
VRM(1) is using Camera B
if I close VRM(1) then close VRM(0)
         camera B is selected as default
When I launch the venue again, camera B now shows in VRM(0)
I need to select camera A for VRM(1) for things to work

notice this changes the window which the feeds are in so the "purpose" 
changes for the cameras.  If this is important, you may need to launch/Quit 
things in a particular order to get the config you want.  the important 
thing to realize is that the cameras are listed in the "Video Source" 
dialog in the same order each time. (this may change during reboots, 
depending on which device initializes first) So, when the "Video Source" 
dialog shows you one of the cameras, pick the other one

Another quirk of the "Video Source" box is that when you click the drop 
down list if you move your mouse to your selection then click -outside- the 
drop down list, then the selection reverts to the previously selected 
item.  This causes problems when the devices are the same(i.e. two Quickcam 
4000's) and there is no way to distinguish between them in the list other 
than their position.  Be careful to click directly on your selection and 
make it stick.

So it appears that even if the WDM cameras are the same type and described 
with the same string in the "Video Source" dialog, they will work.  It's 
tricky, but it can be done...

Please send me any comments and I'll repost with any corrections or new info.

Michael Miller
NCSA

>X-Envelope-From: mimiller at ncsa.uiuc.edu
>X-Envelope-To: <ag-tech at mcs.anl.gov>
>X-Sender: mimiller at pop.ncsa.uiuc.edu (Unverified)
>X-Mailer: QUALCOMM Windows Eudora Version 5.1
>Date: Tue, 22 Apr 2003 09:21:39 -0500
>To: ag-tech at mcs.anl.gov
>From: Michael Miller <mimiller at ncsa.uiuc.edu>
>Subject: Fwd: [AG-TECH] How to configure VRM of PIG? (Re: USB camera
>   with PIG (AG 1.1))
>X-Spam-Status: No, hits=1.9 required=5.0 
>tests=SUBJ_HAS_Q_MARK,PORN_11,PORN_10 version=2.21
>X-Spam-Level: *
>Sender: owner-ag-tech at mcs.anl.gov
>X-MD5SUM: 1180dc5c1419111fcee97475eccbdc56
>
>Kazuyuki,
>
>I just solved a problem with VRM and video-config with the help of folks 
>both at Argonne and here at NCSA.
>
>To discover what should be written in the video-config file, start your 
>pig the normal way and get into a venue.  You should at least get one 
>instance of vic from the DRM.  click the "Menu" button to open the 
>"vic:vic menu" dialog.  Click the "Devices" button to drop down a list of 
>the video devices that vic can see.  You should have an entry for each 
>device listed in your video-config file.  for example in my "Devices" list 
>I have:
>
>Microsoft WDM Image Capture (Win32)
>
>so I put a line in my video-config file like this:
>
><capture_card input="Composite1" number="0" purpose="PRESENTER" 
>device="Microsoft WDM Image Capture (Win32)"/>
>
>This works for my Logitech Quickcam 4000.  If more devices are listed, you 
>should add more lines similar to the above with the "device=" portion 
>matching what you find in the "Devices" list in vic.  The string 
>"Microsoft WDM Image Capture (Win32)" represents the newer media driver 
>architecture.  Some devices do not have proper drivers but will work 
>because the WDM architecture provides for backwards compatibility.  The 
>caveat is that, if you have more than one legacy device, (i.e. "Microsoft 
>WDM Image Capture (Win32)" is listed more than once in vic) then you may 
>not be able to choose between devices and vic may crash if you select the 
>wrong device.  The solution found by Shawn Davis was to download an older 
>set of VFW drivers that vic can see independent of the WDM 
>architecture.  In setting up several machines, I have found that 
>installing drivers for WDM devices first, then installing drivers for VFW 
>seems to work best.
>
>Also, be sure that the hostname is correct in the video-config or the VRM 
>will not correctly parse the video-config file.  For a while I had this in 
>my video-config file:
>
>  <ag_node name="copland">
>   <capture_computer name="copland">
>
>but this did not work.  I found out from Justin Binns(ANL) that this needs 
>to match the result of the Java gethostname function call.  I was able to 
>obtain the proper string by using "ipconfig /all" at a DOS prompt to find 
>the hostname.  I now have:
>
>  <ag_node name="Copland">
>   <capture_computer name="Copland">
>
>Note the capital "C".  Everything works fine now.
>
>I can't guarantee that "ipconfig /all" will give you the proper setting, 
>but hopefully this will lead you in the right direction.
>
>Anyone else have comments, corrections?
>
>Michael Miller
>NCSA
>
>
>
>>X-Envelope-From: owner-ag-tech at mcs.anl.gov
>>Date: Tue, 22 Apr 2003 11:08:58 +0900 (JST)
>>To: ag-tech at mcs.anl.gov
>>Subject: [AG-TECH] How to configure VRM of PIG? (Re: USB camera with PIG 
>>(AG 1.1))
>>From: shudo at ni.aist.go.jp
>>X-Mailer: Mew version 2.2 on XEmacs 21.4.8 (Honest Recruiter)
>>X-Spam-Status: No, hits=-2.0 required=5.0 
>>tests=IN_REP_TO,SUBJ_HAS_Q_MARK,NO_REAL_NAME,PORN_11 version=2.21
>>X-Spam-Level:
>>Sender: owner-ag-tech at mcs.anl.gov
>>X-MD5SUM: f2df51787a78c57010e2c1ce9e46442f
>>
>>I found a configuration file named video-config in AG 1.2 (PIG).
>>It is dedicated for Osprey capture cards and I could not find a set-up
>>tool for VRM like the setup-config script included in VRM for Linux.
>>
>>How can I write video-config for my USB cameras?
>>Are there any information on how to write it?
>>
>> > From: shudo at computer.org
>> > Date: Fri, 04 Oct 2002 21:44:40 +0900 (JST)
>>
>> > I cannot use a USB camera with the VIC (ddvic.exe and vic.exe) which
>> > PIG has on Windows 2000.  But the camera works well with the UCL
>> > version of VIC, which I obtained at the following web site:
>> >
>> >   Videoconferencing Tool
>> >   http://www-mice.cs.ucl.ac.uk/multimedia/software/vic/
>> >
>> > The version of the UCL VIC is 2.8ucl-1.1.3.
>> > The USB camera is Creative WebCam Plus.
>>
>>Thanks,
>>
>>   Kazuyuki Shudo
>>   Grid Technology Research Center
>>   National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST)
>
>Thanx,
>
>Michael Miller
>System Engineer
>Visualization Technology Support
>Computing and Data Management
>National Center for Supercomputing Applications
>University of Illinois - UC
>
>"If you're clear in your vision and trust the people in your team with 
>clear objectives, they will invariably do their best to achieve everything 
>desired, and usually deliver everything you could have hoped for and even 
>more." -Paul Debevec

Thanx,

Michael Miller
System Engineer
Visualization Technology Support
Computing and Data Management
National Center for Supercomputing Applications
University of Illinois - UC

"If you're clear in your vision and trust the people in your team with 
clear objectives, they will invariably do their best to achieve everything 
desired, and usually deliver everything you could have hoped for and even 
more." -Paul Debevec