Protee : How to setup machine vision cameras

[9ball]

Sorry. Hope this works.

[9ball]

Also I am not sure how to read usb view. How do I tell what are the seperate usb controllers? Are the lines with host controller in it the seperate controllers and the items listed under the host controller the devices connected to those controllers?

[iskuo]

Yes, I don't have it in front of me right now, but I'm pretty sure you're right about how to read usb view.

[iskuo]

I finally figured it out! My settings file was from an older version of the interface and when I installed a new version of the interface, it didn't replace it. Therefore, when TGC got to a pitch or chip shot, the interface would mess up. Once I figure out the putting I'm done!

[9ball]

Here is the usb view from the protee machine. Does it look correct? Are the cameras on seperate usb controllers? Cheers.

[iskuo]

You're good.

[9ball]

Thank you.

[iskuo]

About 1 in every 4 shots with the driver, the timing on the hcam seems a bit off. I'm getting the club coming through, but the ball is already gone. Any thoughts?

[Archv6625]

I had a similar problem. I think the shutter speed is too low and the ball goes by while the shutter is closed. I ended up buying a cheap plastic neutral density filter and adding it to the H-Cam, which let me turn the shutter speed up and keep the frame rate up as well. I haven't had issues since. Also, I'm certainly not an expert like most here, but it looks like the cam may need to be re-aimed slightly so the box is exactly on the tee position and the overall image may be too light too from the other screenshots I've seen.

Since I put the filter on the h-cam, I haven't had any issues.

[iskuo]

Thanks Archv6625. Would you mind pointing me to the neutral density filter that you bought? I'll also try your other suggestions.

[iskuo]

For anyone else who has this issue Protee solved it by:

- I went back to the original lense
- I went with 320 x 240
- Lowest raster

[rodgers12]

Just starting to setup my Protee and have a question about camera placement during construction. I am seeing that the v-cam is supposed to be set 1 foot in front of the hitting mat and 6-7 ft to the side. Is the 1 foot to the tee or the front of the mat? Also I can set the camera anywhere between 6 and 7 feet, any preference? Also I understand the H-cam is in between the hitting mat and the putting sensor, is there a preferred location. My camera height will be 113" from mat to camera lens. I would like to be very close to the final adjustment to help with the finished look. The room will have very good light control, outside of the halogen lights.

Thanks in advance for any help, looking forward to getting up and running. Thanks also for all of the great information on the site.

[Hoosierdaddy]

It will depend on what lens is on the cameras. hook up cameras and use the settings below to get the camera's aligned. these settings will produce a red box, the ball is to be placed on the tee location (no tee) and the box should surround the ball and camera should be at 90 degrees (for v-cam) when in the correct location. Both the V-cam and H-cam can be set using the PT1 then you can change them back to the recommended settings or choose a setting that works better. Remember these settings are a starting point and every set up may require some tweaking. The cameras should be Square and plumb. Try not to have them slanted up or down for vcam and make sure the Hcam is plumb (pointing straight down). The stock camera enclosures can be a little tricky to get to stay where you put them. But if you are just getting a general location at this point you don't need to get to fussy, but on final installation make sure you have them correctly positioned. This will eliminate a lot of time getting everything else set right. Spending a little more time on the set up may save you a bunch of time later.

Investigate_V_cam_method_wedges=PT1
Investigate_V_cam_method_non_wedges=PT1
Investigate_H_cam_method=PT1
Investigate_V_cam_method_driver=PT1
Investigate_H_cam_method_driver=PT1

[Archv6625]

Thanks Archv6625. Would you mind pointing me to the neutral density filter that you bought? I'll also try your other suggestions.

Sorry for the delay, I was out of the country for work.

I bought this:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B009GFZ1VS/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o05_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

I ended up needing 2 layers to get the correct speed, so I just cut it with a utility knife (cut it like glass, score and snap) I cut the pieces about 1 inch wider than the lens in 1 direction and about 1/2 inch wider in the other. I put packing tape on the wider side and taped it to my camera bracket. I had intentions of making it not look like a total hack job, but you can barely see the packing tape and it works.

I actually think a magenta filter would work better if you happen to have turf or a green floor (I do) but a magenta filter was more of a film camera thing, not a digital camera thing,so they are really expensive - $30 vs $4. Magenta would block most of the green color, rendering the background almost black - you could make it really deep magenta and since the ball would be white, you'd still get a nice magenta (converted to B&W) streak.

[Boerdoc]

I am beginning the dialing in of the cameras. I am using pt1 to start for both vcam and hcam. Attached are the first screen shot snips of the cameras. For some reason I cannot get them to switch to 640x480 in the interface camera stream. I will edit (Alt E) the settings and retry tomorrow and try again. I was pleased to see the Hcam pickup 0* on the straight shot. For the Vcam I do not know where to start to dial that one in. I will go back to the beginning of this thread to start. What do you think of the initial screen shots? Any tips appreciated.