Protee : How to setup machine vision cameras

[ZMax]

Did you start off with my camera settings? Are both cameras crazy blurry? What are their gain settings? If it's too high, everything will be washed out. What do you see if you move your hand in front of the cameras?

The lights are fine. You're carpet needs to be a dark color. If the carpet appears too white in the H-cam, it will blend in with the white ball streak. The wall opposite of the V-cam also needs to be dark.

[Par2Pro]

Have you tried using the lights from ProTee as they recommended?

Are you able to post some screen shots of the blurry camera?

As for your lower distance - what are you comparing it to?
Have you ever swung indoors before?
How many shots have you taken?

- about 95% of my clients who swing indoors for the 1st time swing about 10 to 20% slower than what they would outdoors as they consciously or subconsciouslyfeel restricted and/or are concerned about damaging the system, the walls, their clubs and/or themselves. If you haven't swung indoors before, I would give it at least a couple of weeks before starting to tweak the system (also get the camera working too as that will change the accuracy of the sim based on the launch angle).

[syhlif32]

I am going to contradict Zmax! I do not think that halogen light you have in front is going to work.
Have tried all kind of lights also the type you have and nothing worked well before I got the Par type lamp. I wasted so much time and money on lamps because I had a hard time finding the right lamp. Even thought the whole system was useless.
All the problems went away with the right lamp.
That said I think ZMax is right your carpet might be to reflective
I use 50 W over the sensor and 65 W for the cams.

You have reflections from the ceiling which might trigger the sensor mat? But it might just be like par2pro says that you need a little time to get used to hitting in restricted space.

[srb165]

I have been swinging indoors for 3 years so no concern there (I was using the Net Return in my bonus room). I spent about 40 minutes yesterday hitting balls and they were going 90 yds on the protee with a 6 iron until I made sure the tee sensor was directly below the light. That is when the distance started averaging 145-150 (that is my 9 iron distance in real life). I do not have a dark area rug to put down but I will start looking for one. First I would at least like to see anything clearly in the cameras. The recommended lenses should be here tomorrow night so hopefully that will work.

@Zmax: Waving my hand in front of the cameras only shows movement (I cant see anything) It would be like looking into frosted glass. You can tell that something is moving but you cant make out anything. The protee support played with all the camera settings as he had me try to focus the camera on a stationary object and he got nothing to show. That is when he said to play with just the sensor to make sure everything else was working properly before we troubleshooted that.

@syhlif32: what light fixtures and bulbs did you end up getting? Are they halo track lights like what I have?

[syhlif32]

http://www.amazon.com/HALOGEN-NARROW.../dp/B000STCJHK
Not sure where you can find the lamp itself.
Good luck getting it sorted.

[ZMax]

Good catch syhlif32. The light fixture over the sensor mat is not what you want to use. The wattage is OK, but you want a small focused beam just big enough to go around the sensor mat. It didn't look like it in your pics. Fixtures where the bulb is recessed far enough or fixtures with blinders will do the trick.

Strange that you would two lenses that can't focus at all. Can you tell me the gain setting is for the cameras?

[Par2Pro]

You can find the original fixtures and bulbs here:

BULBS: AR111 (50 Watt)
http://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listi...&condition=new
http://www.1000bulbs.com/product/298...R11105025.html
9 degree option: http://www.1000bulbs.com/product/643...R11105006.html

FIXTURE: Pinspot Par36
http://www.prosounddepot.com/Pinspot-Prodview.html

I use this TRANSFORMER:
http://www.lightingdirect.com/eurofa...ction/p1377942

[Par2Pro]

srb165 - another thing I noticed in your pictures was that your spot was significantly forward of the sensor pad. It should be directly over the sensor.

Hope that helps.

[psace]

I agree. The carpet is a very light color. Darker would be better for the hcam. The vcam is very close to the floor. It could be raised a little perhaps? The one light looks to be very bright and possibly too close to the hcam. I don't know if the light Cory is referring to is from the sensor light or the forward light but if it is the sensor light it is too far forward. I am using the AR111 halogen light and find they are good. I also am using the pinspot fixture provided by ProTee. I found I had to play with lens (turning in and out) to get a clear picture. The cams Zmax recommends are much clearer, however.

A lot of us have originally been frustrated by setting up the ProTee but once setup properly it does work really well. Stick with it Srb165. It does require a small degree of patience.

[syhlif32]

Got this email from Dennis/ Protee support the other day in response to an email where I told him I used the lenses that was mounted on the cameras not the extra ones delivered with the cams.

As long as it works it ok with me!

The wide angle lenses we ship should be used at 320x240 for the best
results. At max resolution there will be distortion on the sides. But the
distrortion on the other has almost zero impact on the angle. And if it does
matter you can filer it out with the right side exclusion slider.

Have a great weekend!

Dennis

So I run mine in 640 X 480 @ 125 Hz. Not 100% sure it is not losing frames but it does not look like it when capturing the ball

What really impress me is that I can use the same setting with the curtains open a lot of day light in the room and in complete darkness with only the overhead lights on.
Guess if they start using the cams for ball speed we need to be on the same resolution.

[syhlif32]

Due to the weather here I have had ample time to play around with the cameras again!
For my setup the H-cam at 320X 240 @ 125 works the best with the lenses that Protee provided!
Got the occupational strange reading when using 640x 480.

With the V-cam I have pretty good results with all the combinations!
Not sure I get 640 X 480 @ 125 at all?
I can use that setting but when checking with other programs it always shows 640 X 480 @60 Hz
For now both cams are back in 320 X 240 @ 125 Hz

[ZMax]

Glad the cameras are working out for you syhlif32. 640X480 @60fps is the max the camera will do. 125fps is the max at 320X240. In my setup, the higher frame rates didn't help. Can you post some shot detection pics from your cameras?

[syhlif32]

Do not really have detection problems.
Did noticed I had a few shanks that did not show up as shanks with 649x480 assume the software used the club face and the club path to calculate the Az. Also the other night while playing online there was a couple of shots that I felt I hit pretty good but came out way to the left. That could be me not believing facts!
I have not been able to make a shot while in the interface that did not get detected correctly. I do have shanks allowed in the interface.
Do not find any difference in LA between 320 and 640 but still do not have a 100% bulletproof method.

[ZMax]

The software will sometimes estimate shanks when the ball is not detected by the ball track. You must set it to always use the H-cam, in the config file.

[syhlif32]

It is set to use H-cam.
It was not estimate shanks but rather not detecting shanks.

[Illinimd32]

Little help needed from you guys please. Trying to set up cams - followed Zmax's instructions as close as possible, i think. All cam settings were copied from the posted images from Zmax. Cory had recommended leaving at 320x240 b/c i have just basic cams. I can get a clear picture with both cams and have tried to line the ball up with red box as close as i could, but i can get NO pictures at all in the other frames. In the upper right corner it initially says "Ready for swing" and then after hitting changes to say something like "swing recorded" but i get no images and no readings in any of the boxes. Any advice from you guys?

[bubba22]

Frame rate should b at 30 fps. Also make sure shutter speed is at max.so when you swing you get no captures?

[ZMax]

Post the "camera device" screens also. Cut and paste just the necessary windows so the uploaded images will be bigger and easier to see. No need to show the whole desktop.

What happens when you just moving the club over the reset sensors(rear 4)? Is a club selected?

[Illinimd32]

Yeah i have never been able to see ANYTHING in those frames. I have also yet to have any info recorded in the boxes displaying shot info on that screen either. As i mentioned the screen initially says "Ready" and then changes after the swing to say something like "swing recorded, but no data or images show up. On the main interface screen i can get all the recordings (swing speed, inside/outside, etc) with each swing but have never had either Vcam or Hcam record any images in any of the subsequent frames.

[Illinimd32]

Do you mean moving club over back sensors while on the 'sensors' tab or on the 'camera' tab? On the sensors tab all the sensors seem to be functioning properly. I'll try to post the screens soon of the other 'device' settings sliders.

[ZMax]

While in the camera tab. Have you tried closing all the windows(click save), exit the interface then restart? Have you tried it with the Protee range running? ALT-TAB to the desktop, then open up the interface that was already running.

[Par2Pro]

I didn't see anywhere stating that you clicked on Preview first - have you clicked the Preview button first before attempting the swing?

[JJSmith]

Try this:

http://csc.protee-united.com/entries...l-camera-setup

Enable the cams first. Save it and restart the interface.

[Illinimd32]

OK guys, I managed to go back through things and voila! started working. I unfortunately started seeing more of the slices I'm used to seeing on the real course. I tried hitting on a few different holes and had no issue with driver/3wood but seemed to have difficulty picking up PW. I also noticed a few times Hcam reading was zero also while hitting and maybe 30-40% of time, wasn't picking up swing at all with the wedge. Do the cameras have to be calibrated each time you play or just if you notice problems cropping up. Thanks again everyone for the help.

[ZMax]

10* out-in and 3* open face will result in a big slice. Try to swing 10* inside-out.

Once calibrated, the settings will stay as long as the cameras have power. If you power down the PC for a few hours, the settings will go back to default. I took screen captures of all my settings so it'll only take me a few minutes to setup them up again.

Your H-cam appears to be out of focus and not exactly lined up with the target line. When using a wedge, make sure the the club crosses the reset sensors on back swing. Most people tend to lift the club up or hinge too quickly resulting in the shadow of the club face not crossing the reset sensors.

[Illinimd32]

So is the ball flight being determined by the a)club passing over the floor sensor, b)ball flight with the cams, c)both. So my ? is if one of the cams is off a bit, does the floor sensor make up for this or will the simulation of ball flight be out of whack?

[ZMax]

Also, the red box needs to be on the tee. Post some screen shots with the captured ball streaks. One for driver and one for wedge.

[ZMax]

So is the ball flight being determined by the a)club passing over the floor sensor, b)ball flight with the cams, c)both. So my ? is if one of the cams is off a bit, does the floor sensor make up for this or will the simulation of ball flight be out of whack?

Both. The side spin is estimated from the club face/club path. If the cameras are off, your initial ball direction and/or launch angle could be off. It's important that you H-cam is properly aligned so that the sim will get accurate ball path/azimuth. 2* off can be a 5 yard difference.

[bubba22]

Illinois, 3 things. 1. Out of focus 2. You need to have the ball in the box for the hcam and vcam 3. Turn frame rate down to 30

[syhlif32]

60hz frame rate is fine with 640 X 480 as long as nothing else is on that root hub.


On the h-cam picture is looks like the light beam over the sensor is centered off the sensor.
Make sure the light beam center is where the ball tee is. Also hard to see a beam for the ball capture?

On the V-cam you should not have the offset slider all the way to the max when the ball gray scale's are nearly all the way to minimum
You should post a capture where you get a ball steak on.