AVPro Live Camera

Hello, I downloaded your demo to try it out before I buy it, I mainly want to use the 360 video sphere for virtual reality videos on cardboard and gear, now my problem is I'm using vuforia as well, and when I start the scene it says vuforia failed to initialize, any ideas?

 

No idea I'm afraid! Are you sure you have the right plugin/forum? This forum is about AVPro Live Camera which is only for Windows platform and is related to Webcam and capture card input....

 

@AndrewRH : Hi, I downloaded the demo before purchasing it. In the demo, I don't see any example on portrait orientation. How can I set 1080 (width) x 1920 (height) resolution (without stretching)?

 

Hi liquify,

I think this is more a Untiy question than related to our plugin. AVPro Live Camera simply returns a Texture with the image of the webcam/capture card feed on it.

If you're manually rotating your camera then you will also have to rotate what you're using to display the texture. Our examples show you how to map a live stream to geometry which you could rotate. If you're displaying using uGUI then you can also rotate the uGUI object. If you're displaying using IMGUI then you would have to use IMGUI to rotate the rendering via something like GUIUtility.RotateAroundPivot()

I hope that helps! If you can give more details about what you're trying to do then I might be able to offer a better solution.

 

I understand that I can rotate the webcam manually, but I'm trying to avoid that. In the demo, there are buttons to select a resolution with landscape orientations. For example, a button to set 1920 (width) x 1080 (height) resolution. I need to create an interactive mirror with portrait orientation, so is there a way to set 1080 (width) x 1920 (height) resolution with AVPro Live Camera scripts?

 

Hey. I'm afraid there isn't any way to do this. We simply reports the resolutions that the camera supports and if it supports 1920x1080 then it won't report any ability to support 1080x1920. So you have to set the normal resolutoin and then resolve the orientation yourself. I hope this makes sense and you're able to get it working.

 

Hi,

I've just purchased and imported this and it is giving me compile errors:

Assets/Standard Assets/Effects/ImageEffects/Scripts/MotionBlur.cs(22,33): error CS0506: `UnityStandardAssets.ImageEffects.MotionBlur.Start()': cannot override inherited member `ImageEffectBase.Start()' because it is not marked virtual, abstract or override
Assets/Standard Assets/Effects/ImageEffects/Scripts/MotionBlur.cs(32,33): error CS0506: `UnityStandardAssets.ImageEffects.MotionBlur.OnDisable()': cannot override inherited member `ImageEffectBase.OnDisable()' because it is not marked virtual, abstract or override

I presume the import process edited these files. What is the safest way of fixing these compile errors?

Thanks

 

Hi Jason,

Are you importing into a project that already have Image Effects?
Which version of Unity are you using? I would like to know these so that we can prevent this in the future.

The short answer is that you can simply delete our folder "Demos\Standard Assets" as these effects are only used in the demos and aren't important to the functioning of the plugin.

Thanks,

 

Thanks for the quick reply Andrew.

Yes I had standard assets already imported as I was using some of the image effects. I am on Unity 5.3.2f.

Deleting the folder Demos\Standard Assets appears to fix the problem.

Thanks again,
Jason

 

Hi Andrew,

I have another question. I am building an installation with multiple screens. I'm running into trouble with it as I am running several instances of Unity on the same machine and each instance runs on a different screen. I have a video feed into my machine (just web cam at the moment, but it will be a decklink card later). The first instance I run initializes the webcam okay and I get a video feed. Each subsequent instance can't start the device:

[AVProLiveCamera] failed to play camera
UnityEngine.Debug:LogWarning(Object)
AVProLiveCameraDevicelay() (at Assets/AVProLiveCamera/Scripts/Wrapper/AVProLiveCameraDevice.cs:363)
AVProLiveCameraDevice:Start(Int32, Int32) (at Assets/AVProLiveCamera/Scripts/Wrapper/AVProLiveCameraDevice.cs:336)
AVProLiveCameraDevice:Start(AVProLiveCameraDeviceMode, Int32) (at Assets/AVProLiveCamera/Scripts/Wrapper/AVProLiveCameraDevice.cs:294)
AVProLiveCamera:Begin() (at Assets/AVProLiveCamera/Scripts/Components/AVProLiveCamera.cs:118)
AVProLiveCamera:Start() (at Assets/AVProLiveCamera/Scripts/Components/AVProLiveCamera.cs:105)

Is this something that can be overcome? Doing a quick google search there are applications that allow multiple webcams at once, is this something that would fix this issue?

I am trying a decklink card later today, so this may not be an issue in the long run.

Many thanks,
Jason

 

OK thank you

 

I use unity 5.3.5f1 and AVPro Live Camera 2.2，But still have some frame drop in resolution:1920*1080 FPS:30 Format: YUV_UYYY_HDYC with my Blackmagic DeckLink Mini Recorder and BMCC ,If I use some software with out unity like OBS Studio .there are no fram drop I can see.How can I fix this problem？

 

How can I know whether fram drop exactly ? I want do something when it fram drop.

 

Hi:
I really need to know how to fix frame drop, anyone can help me? Use 720p is probably no frame drop？ In my project ，I want to do something like Mixed reality ，Once frame drop happened the scene was not synchronization with video capture, Another idea I think if frame drop happened ,I stop the 3D camera transform ,It maybe synchronization with video capture when the camera move fast，Is this possible？ Sorry for my bad English.

 

Hi：
If i upgrade my hardware （CPU or GPU or Capture card ） the frame drop problem can be solution？
very very need help and anwser~~ please!!!

 

Hi,

It sounds like you need really consistent frame-rate. We have another plugin which we use internally that is a native Decklink plugin. Email unitysupport@renderheads.com so we can send you a trial version. I think it will work a lot better for you as it is a more direct path to the hardware.

Thanks,

 

Yes usually a webcam cannot be opened multiple times by different apps. Hope you came right.

 

Hi All,

Version 2.3 of AVPro Live Camera has just been uploaded!

You can find it on the Asset Store or the trial version on our website.

Changes include:

• Unity 5.4 supported
• Improved Linear colour space support
• Fixed some YUV conversion producing zero alpha channel
• Added support for Vista and above DMO colour converter to support more YUV formats
• Fixed editor UI so that it remembers settings
• Can now edit multiple Live Camera components at once
• Improved demo compatibility by removing cloth and Standard Assets
• Minor UI improvements

Thanks,

 

Hi, do you have versions of this plugin for Mac, Android and iOS or are they planned?

 

Hi Andrew,

Thanks for creating AVPro Live Camera. We are currently planning development of a project which could potentially use it. We are deciding between computer vision cameras (like pointgrey) or Blackmagic Studio Micro camera (better image quality but potentially less camera controls from software). A few questions for you:

• Do you plan to support other computer vision cameras? We usually use AVT (prosilica) cameras that are a bit more high end than Pointgrey.
• In the case of Pointgrey cameras, does your software support controlling all the camera parameters? (like setting manual exposure, etc).
• With the decklink support, beyond giving access to the camera feed, do you support any control over the camera settings? Looks like it could be controlled that way and it would be amazing to have this control exposed through your software (see this for refererence): https://forum.blackmagicdesign.com/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=43860

Thanks in advance!!

Julio

 

Hi Andrew.
Thanks for creating AVPro Live Camera.

We are using the products(AVPro Live Camera or AVPro DeckLink), I'd like 4K video AR Project based big-screen
So the first test with a demonstration of AVPro Live Camera.
[ Test Environment ]
- Webcam: kodak PIXPRO SP360 4K
- Capture board: None
- Run Options: 2880 X 2880 (4K)
=> Results: Severe delays occurred

There are some questions.
1) Do AVPro Live Camera supports 4K video processing?

2) In order to properly handle 4K video capture board is necessarily based on the big screen products such as DeckLink using the Black Magician needed AVPro Live Camera or AVPro DeckLink?

3) What if the capture board products such as DeckLink 4K image processing Can you recommend any product if you need to?

4) the current webcam Kodak PIXPRO SP360 4K product you are using. This is possible by using a 4K Action Cam 4K image processing based on the big screen?

Thanks in advance!!

 

Hi Andrew,

When you run the demo version of the AVPro DeckLink or AVPro Live Camera, the camera screen does not appear on all resolutions. Using a webcam and a capture board (test results attached a screenshot of the screen), the test is shown below.

WebCam: Kodak PIXPRO SP360 4K
Capture board: DeckLink Intensity Pro 4K
Connecting the WebCam to capture board and HDML cable

Test result is that all of resolution modes shows nothing. but Intensity Pro 4K has a signal.
How do i something plz ?

We good advice.
Thank you.

netengine.

 

I also will need this for mac very soon, is there any plans?

 

Sorry we don't have versions planned for those platforms. For now this is a Windows only plugin.

Thanks,

 

Hi Julio,

This plugin supports any cameras that implement DirectShow drivers. I haven't tested with AVT before so you would have to ask them if they have DirectShow Support. We have used the plugin with PointGrey and it does work, but for advanced usage (such as high-speed cameras, or adjusting settings) we had to use the PointGrey API to create a new plugin. AVPro Live Camera gives you the basics.

I can't remember. It may expose a few of the parameters, but I think it doesn't expose most. In the past we have simply set these parameters manually in the PointGrey software, and they persist between machine reboots.

This is very cool! Currently we don't support any camera control over DeckLink at all. The DeckLink plugin simply pulls in the image and has some advanced features like automatic input detection, video and audio output, keying, genlock etc.. We are looking into adding support for ancillary data in a future update of the plugin.

Thanks,

 

Hi!

Yes it can support whatever the camera / capture card drivers allow. We have used 4K in the past.

Yes we would strongly recommend using a capture card and the AVPro DeckLink plugin for 4K. AVPro Live Camera isn't as powerful, so for the best result you should use this setup.

I'm not sure I understand. All of the DeckLink 4K cards we have used have worked well. We can help recommend something if you have a list of requirements.

Yes we have used the SP360 camera before. It works very well. We used it with the DeckLink SDI 4K card.

I hope that answers your questions.

Thanks,

 

Hi netengine,

I remember for that camera you have to hold down one of the buttons for a few seconds in order for the camera to start streaming the fisheye image....From your screenshot it looks like you haven't done that.

Thanks,

 

Sorry, still Windows only... Wish we had more time to develop for other platforms but we don't.

Thanks,

 

Hi Andrew, is it possible to buy the AvPro Live Camera and then upgrade to AvPro Decklink in case we find it necessary?

 

Great plug-in!
However, I could not find any answers regarding the audio support (last message was talking about 1.9 but we're a few versions further allready).
I have a Datapath Vision AV capture card, which also supports audio over dvi, but I'm not sure if AVPro Live Camera can access that audio channel to play it back in Unity?
Image works like a charm, on all 3 channels, but I'm trying to figure out the audio part next.
Thanks!

 

Hi all,
First congratulations for the excellent plugin. I'm actually doing some trials for stereo vision using two capture cards for repectively left and right eye. The thing is working fluently on Unity's primitives but as soon I use an imported mesh (I actually tried several formats), I couldn't get the material apply to work properly (got a grey surface instead of the video stream).

Any idea?

 

is this plugin working under the unity 5.5.0 with opengl mode?

 

Yes we have added a discount for AVPro DeckLink for users who already own AVPro Live Camera. If you are using DeckLink hardware though then I really recommend using the AVPro DeckLink plugin - it just works so much better with the Blackmagic DeckLink hardware.

Remember there are free demo versions you can download from our website to test them both.

Thanks,

 

AVPro Live Camera currently doesn't have any audio support - it is purely for visuals...

 

Hmm that's weird.. Does the imported mesh have a valid UV map? What happens if you apply another material/texture to it?

 

No...Unity changed some things in OpenGL sometime in Unity 5.x which broke our support for OpenGL. Can you not just use Direct3D? We'll fix the OpenGL issue in the next update. Thanks,

 

Hi All,

Version 2.4 of AVPro Live Camera has just been uploaded!

You can find it on the Asset Store or the trial version on our website.

Changes include:

• Fixed IMGUI texture display when using Linear color-space
• Improved performance by inlining some shader functions
• Added FAQ about Axis cameras

Thanks,

 

When should we expect the next release of this plugin? We are interested in the fix for opengl in unity 5.5.x.

Thanks.

 

Thanks for the interest. We'll be releasing the plugin with fixed OpenGL support later today.

 

Hi All,

Version 2.5 of AVPro Live Camera has just been uploaded!

You can find it on the Asset Store or the trial version on our website.

Changes include:

• OpenGL Core support fixed
• Improved enumeration speed of camera settings

Thanks,

 

Is there any way to start cameras asynchronously? I'm using a number of cameras and they each take a few seconds to start. I'm using the "Play on Start" feature so they all startup at once and this is enough of a delay to knock the Oculus runtime into its "the application is taking a while to start" warning screen. I think that starting them individually after the application starts would actually be worse because each start would freeze the rendering which is especially bad in in VR.

 

Hi, no there isn't currently a way to start them asynchronously. You could perhaps start them staggered - so don't use the "Plat on Start" option, and have a script that enables each one, perhaps with a few frames of delay in between each start to allow the thread to run for a while before the next block. I guess you could initialise this while the VR app is "loading" via a black screen for a few seconds... I'll add the request for async starting to the list. Basically we'll have to move everything over to another thread.

Thanks,

 

I took the approach of setting the Unity cameras culling mask to zero while the AV Pro cameras were starting up and that seems to work fine. I staggered the camera startup leaving one frame between each one and that seems to be just enough to allow the Oculus hourglass icon to come on and sort of pulse which is a decent user experience. Thanks for adding the feature request; I realize threading is a pain but in this case it would really help.

 

Upon further investigation I don't think the majority of this time is being spent in the plugin. I was testing another (non-Unity) video capture application I'm working on and I discovered that the "Share" feature of the NVIDIA GeForce Experience makes initializing and switching video inputs take a couple seconds. Switching off "Share" also greatly reduces my startup time with the plugin but unfortunately recording my screen is a capability I really need so for now I'm going to leave in my staggered startup code. Fortunately I currently don't need to switch video sources once I'm up and running; doing so would almost certainly cause significant frame drop problems in VR.

 

Hi I'm interesting in your plugins!

I want to use a video capture card to capture my screen and use as a webcamtexture/texture in unity. After that, I want to use the texture to display in multi screen with a latency.

I'm wondering if this plugin can support me.

If yes, which kind of video capture card will you suggest to use? All kinds of video capture card from Blackmagic Design? How about its' FPS?

Thanks!

 

If you have the Nvidia Geforce Experience installed then you should also make sure it has the sharing option disabled. We're seen that this can make devide enumeration very slow.

 

Oh it was You, EyePD who told us about the Geforce Experience "Share". Thank you VERY much. I have no idea how you found this, but it is indeed causing device enumeration and startup to be very slow. We have added this to the FAQ in the documentation.

Thanks

 

Have replied to you via email. Thanks,

 

I found this mainly just because I happened to test on a different system without an NVIDIA card and noticed everything started up real fast. Once I knew it had to do with NVIDIA I had a hunch that it was Share because it has the ability to capture webcams. There is very little useful information online about this so I posted on the NVIDIA forums but so far no response.

 

I'd really like to have an image capture solution, preferably the fast GetFrameAsColor32 version, built right into the product. It would be nice to call directly into the camera and call a function that takes a file path. It's not terribly hard to modify SavePNG or copy the AVProLiveCameraGrabber implementation into my own class but having them built in would make future maintenance and upgrades easier. Thanks for your consideration.