USB webcam support in C(running under LINUX)

[Marks256]

Ok, i am just starting out in C. This isn't my first programming language, though(i don't mean to brag, but i am a BASIC master), so i know quite a bit about computer architecture, and all that good stuff.

The project i am designing is a robot with stereo vision. I chose to learn C because, well, after looking at some of the code, i fell in love, and i chose Linux as my OS because of it's power.

I need to figure of how to get pictures from the two cams on my USB ports. I was told on another forum that there were libraries for USB Webcams, but i cant find any. Does anyone know where there is some? If so, please point me in that direction.

Sure, there is NOT A CHANCE that i will really understand the code, but it will get me started.:lol:


THANKS!!!

-Dusty

[John A]

You mean something like this?
http://www.neurotechnologija.com/vl_sdk.html

Sorry, I don't know of any free ones.

[Marks256]

Your link didn't work :( Oh well. An SDK would be nice... How much did it cost? Anybody else(free would be awesome, but i am not too pickey as of right now)... :p

[Salem]

http://clusty.com/search?query=linux+webcam+howto
Use the "howto" keyword when searching for a lot of Linux information.

[Marks256]

All of the links that i came up with showed how to gain webcam support in linux, not how to program it. Thanks for the contribution, though.

[Salem]

Hmpf, obviously not reading enough.

1st link.
"4. Framegrabbing Applications"
Follow some more links, download some source code, visit their homepages and start reading.

[Marks256]

I am not really sure what is that i am looking for, so i am not sure what i will find. Thank you for pointing that out, but i am still learning, so ease off.

[Nick Evan]

I think OpenCV is what your looking for, it's free, windows/linux and has a imagerecognition.

[Marks256]

Thank you. I am going to try to download it now. Once my cameras come(ebay), i will start playing around with it.

[arydberg]

I am trying to do the same thing and it is difficult. the following may help.

1) I sugest you stay away from windows and use command line only.

2) Be aware that C is ment for all computers. Thus if you wnat to do somthing limitted to your machiene, like light up one pixel ( or display a whole screen) you will need a library to do that I suggest svaglib.

3) I am waiting on a book on webcams. It is from Intel & called
- USB Design by Example: A Practical Guide to Building I/O Devices
(2nd Edition... What you have picked is not a beginner project good luck

[Marks256]

Umm, do you happen to have dyslexia? Lol, just kidding.


1. All ready said i was going to use Linux(Debian)
2. I know that.
3. I know that it is not a beginners project. It was either program the whole thing in QBasic(which would be impossible), or learn C(which i know is possible).

[arydberg]

I think you will wind up in assembly language but that is only my opinion.

Good luck.

[Marks256]

Eww. Assembly sounds like bad news... Oh well, i am learning assembly at the moment also, so it might not be too big of a deal...

[Salem]

> I think you will wind up in assembly language but that is only my opinion.
I've seen nothing here to suggest why that would be.

The only part which involves the hardware (and thus any possible reason you could have for using asm) is grabbing the frames in the first place.
If the cameras are common enough, then there's likely to be a Linux driver out there already to drive it.

The rest of the problem ( machine vision ) is just some really serious algorithmic work.