CMUCam2 GUI, modified for FIRST

[heydowns]

After getting completely frustrated with the LabView CMUCam application, our team downloaded the CMUCam2 GUI Java application from the CMUCam site.

We modified the Java source code to add controls for all the parameters in the LabView app (which is essentially all the parameters in Kevin's camera code).

We found the Java app to be much easier to use, faster, and more reliable than the LabView app.

My question -- how many other teams out there would find this application useful, for the remainder of the season?

If there is enough interest, we'd publish the modified source and binaries.

Our current version does not have a way to save/restore parameters -- they always go back to the defaults. This can be somewhat frustrating since you have to retype in your base parameters before doing any tweaking. This is the primary thing I'd fix prior to making it available to other teams. But I'll only work on it if I get positive interest from a number of teams.

[ForgottenSalad]

I've used the CMUcam2 GUI java app for the last two years, and when I tried using labview this year I just found the java app much easier to work with. Now, I don't have much use for this for the rest of the season, but if the cam is issued again next year I'd definetley use it, as it sounds like you improved it quite a bit. My only question - Does it still crash randomly like the original?

[Greg Ross]

Originally Posted by heydowns

My question -- how many other teams out there would find this application useful, for the remainder of the season?

[Raises hand.]

[devicenull]

If its stable, then yes, I would probably use it. The java applet that FIRST supplied was fairly buggy, and would often crash on me.

[Greg Marra]

Originally Posted by devicenull

If its stable, then yes, I would probably use it. The java applet that FIRST supplied was fairly buggy, and would often crash on me.

Ditto.

[Phalanx]

Count Team Mercury 1089 in.

I can't even begin to count the number of days and hours we spent working with and understanding the camera. Along with the same annoyances and frustrations with Labview.

So include us in the list.

[coastertux]

I would be very interested in this...it takes LabView about 10 minutes to load on the computers at school.

[X-Istence]

I like LabView, but count me in anyways!

[heydowns]

Thanks to all for your responses. I will try to whip the application into shape and release it, posting a link here.

With regards to everyone's questions about stability... I have never had a problem with the Java app (original or our modified version).
We did have problems with last year's FIRST-provided app, but the app that I intend to release is not based on that. It is based on CMU's version, which has never given us problems.

If anyone has specific problems with the CMU Java app (from here: http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~cmucam/) I'd like to hear the details. I'll try to reproduce the problem and offer a fix.

[Don Reid]

I have another alternative. I wrote a version in C, using GTK+ (GTK2).
This weekend saw its first use in the field, and it is usefull. I'll clean it up and post it soon.