UEye camera with python on windows

Question

I need to get a uEye camera that works with python on Windows in order to take pictures and work in real time. Since uEye cameras are widespread in industrial cameras, I would think that there is a standard solution for this; however, I could not find anyone. The solution should run under python 2.7 on Windows XP or Windows 7.

I would be grateful to everyone who has successfully used the uEye camera in python on Windows to share their knowledge on this issue or at least point me in the right direction. I also feel that I really need to find a generic permission, as I’m probably not the only one who has this requirement.

What have i tried so far

(a) pyueye

There is a python driver that runs on Linux and, according to the documentation, "should work on windows."

I tried this, but the installation failed:
python setup.py install gives me

 ueye\ueye.pyx: cannot find cimported module 'stdlib' ueye\ueye.pyx: cannot find cimported module 'python_cobject' Compiling ueye\ueye.pyx because it changed. Compiling ueye\ueyeh.pyx because it changed. [1/2] Cythonizing ueye\ueye.pyx 

I have no idea what cimported modules are, and whether this should even work. Therefore, it would be useful to know if this driver was successfully installed on a Windows system.

(b) openCV

OpenCV seems to be a kind of standard for capturing and processing images. It seems that some people used it to access the uEye camera, although it also seems to have the opinion that uEye cameras do not work with openCV. I did not find any working example code.

Anyway, I tried this (using openCV version 2.4.13) and I can access the camera and get the image from it. At first, the resolution is 480 x 640 , but I can change it to a resolution of the 768 x 1024 sensor. However, I cannot correctly set the exposure time and gain, as can be seen from the following code that I used.

 cam = cv2.VideoCapture(0) width = cam.get(cv2.cv.CV_CAP_PROP_FRAME_WIDTH) height = cam.get(cv2.cv.CV_CAP_PROP_FRAME_HEIGHT) exposure = cam.get(cv2.cv.CV_CAP_PROP_EXPOSURE) print width, height, exposure # prints 640 480 -4.0 hr = cam.set(cv2.cv.CV_CAP_PROP_FRAME_HEIGHT, 768) wr = cam.set(cv2.cv.CV_CAP_PROP_FRAME_WIDTH, 1024) print "Setting resolution ", hr, wr # prints True True cam.set(cv2.cv.CV_CAP_PROP_EXPOSURE, 0) # or any other value, same for gain width = cam.get(cv2.cv.CV_CAP_PROP_FRAME_WIDTH) height = cam.get(cv2.cv.CV_CAP_PROP_FRAME_HEIGHT) exposure = cam.get(cv2.cv.CV_CAP_PROP_EXPOSURE) print width, height, exposure # 1024.0 768.0 -4.0 ret, buff = cam.read() cam.release() 

Perhaps the camera is in some kind of automatic mode that automatically adjusts settings such as exposure time and gain. But if so, how would you turn off this automatic mode.

(c) simpleCV

simpleCV seems to be an alternative to openCV. I also tried this, and it only gives a 480 x 640 image fetch problem, and I could not find a way to set it differently, nor a way to set the exposure time.

 from SimpleCV import Camera cam = Camera(0) img = cam.getImage() # img is a 480 x 640 pixel image 

(d) Writing your own driver in C

One option would be to write C code to access the camera via the SDK. Full SDK documentation available. and it looks like someone has successfully done this ( here , or here ) but I don’t even know where to start and how to get a live image in python.

Answer 1

I recently had a similar project, and I found a couple of solutions that worked for me. I also used python 2.7 (32-bit) and Windows 7. I am sure there are several other ways to control the camera, but the two methods I found were (1) either using ctypes with the C ++ API, or (2 ) using pythonnet (i.e. clr) with dotNet libraries. Each method requires importing and calling functions from a separate dll file. In the end, I preferred the ctypes approach because it was easier to compile into an executable file, but both methods worked equally well for controlling the camera.

1. uEye API using python types:

Functions in the uEye API dll can be called in python using ctypes. Using ctypes is a bit cumbersome because passing variables between python and c requires constant data type conversion, but it works.

 import ctypes import numpy as np uEyeDll = ctypes.cdll.LoadLibrary("ueye_api.dll") #include full path or copy dll into same folder as .py script #connect camera cam = ctypes.c_uint32(0) hWnd = ctypes.c_voidp() msg=uEyeDll.is_InitCamera(ctypes.byref(cam),hWnd) ErrChk=uEyeDll.is_EnableAutoExit (cam, ctypes.c_uint(1)) if ~ErrChk: print (' Camera Connected') IS_CM_SENSOR_RAW8 =ctypes.c_int(11) nRet = uEyeDll.is_SetColorMode(cam,IS_CM_SENSOR_RAW8) IS_SET_TRIGGER_SOFTWARE = ctypes.c_uint(0x1000) nRet = uEyeDll.is_SetExternalTrigger(cam, IS_SET_TRIGGER_SOFTWARE) #allocate memory width_py = 1600 height_py = 1200 pixels_py =8 width = ctypes.c_int(width_py) #convert python values into c++ integers height = ctypes.c_int(height_py) bitspixel=ctypes.c_int(pixels_py) pcImgMem = ctypes.c_char_p() #create placeholder for image memory pid=ctypes.c_int() ErrChk=uEyeDll.is_AllocImageMem(cam, width, height, bitspixel, ctypes.byref(pcImgMem), ctypes.byref(pid)) if ~ErrChk: print (' Success') else: print (' Memory allocation failed, no camera with value' +str(cam.value)) # Get image data uEyeDll.is_SetImageMem(cam, pcImgMem, pid) ImageData = np.ones((height_py,width_py),dtype=np.uint8) #put these lines inside a while loop to return continous images to the array "ImageData" uEyeDll.is_FreezeVideo (cam, ctypes.c_int(0x0000)) #IS_DONT_WAIT = 0x0000, or IS_GET_LIVE = 0x8000 uEyeDll.is_CopyImageMem (cam, pcImgMem, pid, ImageData.ctypes.data) 

2. using the pythonnet and uEye.NET interface

The syntax for calling functions from the .NET dll is simpler than with ctypes, but installing the pythonnet (clr) package was difficult for me for some reason. Here is an example of capturing a camera image using .NET functions:

 import numpy as np import clr import sys import System from System import Array, Double, IntPtr, Random print System.Environment.Version from CLR.System.Reflection import Assembly from System.Collections.Generic import Dictionary from System.Runtime.InteropServices import Marshal true =bool(1) false=bool(0) #import .NET dll using clr (pythonnet) sys.path.append(r"C:\Program Files\IDS\uEye\Develop\DotNet") # path of dll clr.AddReference ('uEyeDotNet') # the dll import uEye # initialize camera cam = uEye.Camera() CAM_ID=1; msg=cam.Init(CAM_ID) print 'InitMessage ='+ str(msg) # Change Camera settings gain =1 #% gain exposure = 0.2 #ms ColorMode=cam.PixelFormat.Set(uEye.Defines.ColorMode.SensorRaw8) errChk=cam.Trigger.Set(uEye.Defines.TriggerMode.Software) errChk=cam.Gain.Hardware.GetSupported(1,1,1,1) errChk,gainFactor=cam.Gain.Hardware.ConvertScaledToFactor.Master(gain, 1) errChk=cam.Gain.Hardware.Factor.SetMaster(gainFactor) errChk2,gain=cam.Gain.Hardware.Factor.GetMaster(gain) errChk2,gainout=cam.Gain.Hardware.Scaled.GetMaster(1) cam.Timing.Exposure.Set(1) errChk,exposure_out=cam.Timing.Exposure.Get(exposure) #allocate image memory ErrChk, memout=cam.Memory.Allocate(1600,1200,8,true,1) [ErrChk, Width, Height, Bits, Pitch] = cam.Memory.Inquire(memout,1,1,1,1); # image aquisition for n in range(1000): ErrChk=cam.Acquisition.Freeze(true) outarray = System.Array[System.Byte](()) [ErrChk, tmp] = cam.Memory.CopyToArray(memout, outarray) #'Copy .Net Array using Marshal.Copy imageData = np.empty(len(tmp),dtype=np.uint8) Marshal.Copy(tmp, 0,IntPtr.__overloads__[int](imageData.__array_interface__['data'][0]), len(tmp)) 

Answer 2

I was able to get a Uueye USB 3.0 camera working in Direct3D mode with python IDS libraries Link to the official project .

Also used: wxpython 2.8, python 2.7. One of the key issues to remember is to install the DirectX SDK. DXSDK_Jun10.exe worked for me.

This is working code, but it doesn't shut off cleanly (it takes about 20 seconds to close). It seems that just stopping the capture will allow it to close normally ... an exercise for the reader.

 import wx def create(parent): return Dialog1(parent) [wxID_DIALOG1, wxID_DIALOG1BCAPTURE, wxID_DIALOG1DIMAGE, ] = [wx.NewId() for _init_ctrls in range(3)] class Dialog1(wx.Dialog): def _init_ctrls(self, prnt): # generated method, don't edit wx.Dialog.__init__(self, id=wxID_DIALOG1, name='', parent=prnt, pos=wx.Point(739, 274), size=wx.Size(888, 674), style=wx.DEFAULT_DIALOG_STYLE, title='Dialog1') self.SetClientSize(wx.Size(872, 636)) self.Dimage = wx.Panel(id=wxID_DIALOG1DIMAGE, name=u'Dimage', parent=self, pos=wx.Point(24, 24), size=wx.Size(640, 480), style=wx.TAB_TRAVERSAL) self.Dimage.SetBackgroundColour(wx.Colour(233, 251, 230)) self.BCapture = wx.Button(id=wxID_DIALOG1BCAPTURE, label=u'Capture', name=u'BCapture', parent=self, pos=wx.Point(136, 520), size=wx.Size(144, 71), style=0) self.BCapture.Bind(wx.EVT_BUTTON, self.OnBCaptureButton, id=wxID_DIALOG1BCAPTURE) def __init__(self, parent): self._init_ctrls(parent) # Video from pyueye import ueye import win32ui self.capture = None h_cam = ueye.HIDS(0) hwnd = ueye.HWND(self.Dimage.GetHandle()) cam = ueye.is_InitCamera(h_cam,hwnd) if cam == 0: print 'camera was intintialized' else: print 'camera result',cam col = ueye.c_int(0) mod = ueye.c_int(0) ueye.is_GetColorDepth(h_cam, col, mod) nRet = ueye.is_SetColorMode (h_cam, mod) if nRet != ueye.IS_SUCCESS: print 2,nRet print 1,col,mod SensorInfo = ueye.SENSORINFO() nRet = ueye.is_GetSensorInfo(h_cam,SensorInfo) if nRet != ueye.IS_SUCCESS: print 55,nRet for i in SensorInfo._fields_: print i[0],eval('SensorInfo.%s'%i[0]) imgw,imgh = self.Dimage.GetSizeTuple() imageSize = ueye.IS_SIZE_2D() imageSize.s32Width = imgw imageSize.s32Height = imgh nRet = ueye.is_AOI(h_cam, ueye.IS_AOI_IMAGE_SET_SIZE, imageSize, ueye.sizeof(imageSize)) if nRet != ueye.IS_SUCCESS: print 77,nRet m_nDisplayMode = ueye.IS_SET_DM_DIRECT3D nRet = ueye.is_SetDisplayMode(h_cam, m_nDisplayMode) if nRet != ueye.IS_SUCCESS: print 88,nRet #ueye.is_DirectRenderer(h_cam,DR_GET_OVERLAY_KEY_COLOR #ueye.is_DirectRenderer(h_cam,DR_GET_MAX_OVERLAY_SIZE #ueye.is_DirectRenderer(h_cam,DR_GET_USER_SYNC_POSITION_RANGE ueye.is_DirectRenderer(h_cam, ueye.DR_SET_VSYNC_OFF, ueye.c_int(0), ueye.c_int(0)) #ueye.is_DirectRenderer(h_cam, ueye.DR_SET_HWND, hwnd,ueye.sizeof(hwnd)) #ueye.is_DirectRenderer(h_cam,ueye.DR_ENABLE_SCALING,None,None) nRet = ueye.is_CaptureVideo(h_cam, ueye.IS_WAIT) if nRet != ueye.IS_SUCCESS: print 99,nRet def OnBCaptureButton(self, event): event.Skip() if __name__ == '__main__': app = wx.App(0) parent = wx.Frame(None) parent.Show() dlg = create(parent) try: result = dlg.ShowModal() finally: dlg.Destroy() del dlg.capture