Was Wondering how hard it would be to use a standard USB webcam with labview

[xnaut]

ive got no particular robotics team reason to need this, it is basically for my own use, my issue is that all the vision VIs supplied require IP addresses, something USB ports do not have...

[Alan Anderson]

Yes, USB ports lack an IP address. This is not particularly troublesome, considering that the cRIO lacks USB ports in the first place.

[EricVanWyk]

As Alan pointed out, it is not feasible to do so with the FRC cRIO. However, USB webcams are very well supported for other targets, such as desktop computers.

[apalrd]

What he is asking is if there is a VI to get image from USB cam on his computer. I haven't found one, but maybe said VI exists.

[xnaut]

Yes, im not trying to put this on a C-rio, just my computer

[Mark McLeod]

LabVIEW has an IMAQ USB library, but we didn't get it as part of the special FRC software load.

[Corey Oostveen]

This might be something that could help.

http://zone.ni.com/devzone/cda/epd/p/id/5030

Known Issues:
- NI-IMAQ for USB Cameras only supports a single acquisition from one device at a time.
- Launching and closing camera sessions repeatedly will cause a minor memory leak.
- Exiting LabVIEW without closing the session properly will cause a system failure.
- Using an external image display window on a dual-processor machine or hyper-threaded machine may cause the computer to freeze when moving or clicking the external display window


Best of luck to you!

[TubaMorg]

I know you were asking about using a USB camera with Labview, but have you considered using Java? It has a number of tools built into the API that can handle video and image processing, even from a USB camera. Plus it has the extra advantage of being FREE. Plus a Google search revealed a number of sample programs to accomplish the task.

DISCLAIMER: I do almost all my programming in Java, so feel very comfortable with it. I have little experience with Labview and just get confused by all the blocks. That will be my project this Summer (to learn Labview)!

[Greg McKaskle]

This reminds me of the 1986 Titanium Guitar project. These sorts of projects are an excellent way of learning a new language and general programming and debugging skills. If you find that you need drivers or other tools, it doesn't hurt to ask.

Greg McKaskle

[sparrowkc]

NI-IMAQ USB is exactly what you want. Follow the link a few posts up-- the add-on is available at no cost.