Saving images/video from camera (LabVIEW)

I want to be able to be able to take screenshots and save video from the webcam, so I created screenshot and video vi’s using the IMAQ functions.
The screenshot vi was tested on my computer first, so I know it works correctly.

The problem is, when I place this screenshot vi in the robot code and try to take a screenshot, I can see the filename and picture of the supposedly saved image and using probes and no error is generated, but no image is actually saved.

Is it possible to save images/video in this way, or will I have to incorporate these functions into a dashboard project which runs on the computer rather than the robot?

On a somewhat related note, is there a simple way to write data the cRIO’s onboard storage? I haven’t found any functions related to data storage on the cRIO itself, but I may be looking in the wrong place. (I could also have found them, but not realized what they are for.)

The cRIO onboard flash is accessible using file I/O. This should be true of reading text scripts, or saving images. To get an idea of what the disk of the cRIO looks like, ftp to it. If you do more than look, you may have to reimage…

Greg McKaskle

Thanks for the tip.

For some reason, the IMAQ write function does not work on the robot. I had it set up to organize screenshots into directories by date though, and I can see the directories where it would have saved a screenshot had it worked.

Taking screenshots and video from the dashboard works normally, though I must have the timing loop for the video set up wrongly because, though it should be adding 10 frames a second to an avi set at 10 fps, the resulting video goes looks like the fast-forward button is held down.

FYI The Imaq and Imaq dx Vision bundle were not originally able to function on the cRIO. In June of 2010 Labview released an update for which gave that capability. You can expect it to appear in the 2011 competition code.