iamsierracharlie / contrastech_python_api_for_linux_and_windows Goto Github PK

Hi there,

I've been playing around with this and have found it to be very helpful with our Contrastech line scan cameras. Apologies if this is not the right forum to ask, but would you be interested in a contract gig? I haven't been able to find contact information.

Hey IamSierraCharlie,
Thanks for your great work!!!
I also own a contrastech mars800-545um and want to make it work on windows.
I tried your code but I have no experience with ctypes.
As you mentioned i run in the same error to get the software trigger to go.
'''SoftTrigger getFrame fail! timeOut [1000]ms -> -1
Not catastrophic so continuing
You should only see this at the start of image grabbing
OSError: exception: access violation reading 0x0000023D01959FF0'''
I am trying to get familiar with cytpes and will also continue with youre work....

Stumbled on this repo through fortuitous Googling, thanks so much for putting this together!

I had a couple follow-up questions as I'm figuring out how best to use the Contrastech camera I have.

1. Did you ever try to get the camera working on a Raspberry Pi? They're support said it should work as long as the Pi is 64-bit Linux
2. In the Readme you mentioned third party APIs that worked with the camera on Windows - which were you using? I was playing around with Harvester and the MATRIX VISION GenTL producer but had no luck getting it working. The camera is picked up but isn't able to be controlled.

Thanks again!

• Joe

Hi, When i am trying to access frames from multiple(3) Mars-usb3 vision cams, the program fails and only be able to capture frame from ONLY one of the Cam.
** Even in the camsAPI you have mentioned "Multiple cameras - Ive not encountered this in my setup"
Can you give me any reference or guide me where to look for or where to do code change, so that i can access frames from multiple cameras.

SoftTrigger getFrame fail! timeOut [1000]ms

Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "C:\Users\steve\PycharmProjects\Contrastech_Python_API_for_Linux\ImageGrabDemo.py", line 56, in <module>
    image = camera.grab_image()
  File "C:\Users\steve\PycharmProjects\Contrastech_Python_API_for_Linux\linuxCamsApi.py", line 359, in grab_image
    self.image_source.contents.release(self.image_source)
OSError: exception: access violation reading 0xFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFF

Fur investigation when I get some spare time

Hi, first of all Thank you a lot for such a help. Now i am able to use this both on ubuntu and windows.
But the issue i am facing is, I am getting weird frames, not the actual images.
Can you please guide me on 'what specific camera property should i manipulate to get the actual images'.
I have tried Exposure, brightness. Etc, those are working well.

Hello,

First of all I would like to thank You for providing this solution to the community!

As I am trying to acquire images from contrastech camera I found Your solution and would very much like to try it out, I just have a couple of questions if You would be so kind to answer.

1. Is Ubuntu version 16.04 necessary or would it be possible to run it on Ubuntu version 18.04?

2. Do I need to install anything, like drivers from contrastech and such, or I can just download You project and run it?

3. Is there a way to test whether the program works on my machine without having the camera plugged in?

4. Can I use the latest version of openCV, namely 4.x.x instead of version 2.x.x because version 2.x.x cannot be installed via pip anymore?

5. When trying to run image_grab_demo.py without the camera connected I get the following error (as my camera has not yet arrived I have no way of testing with the camera plugged in)
   Traceback_ (most recent call last):
   File__ "/home/Contrastech_Python_SDK_for_Linux-master/image_grab_demo.py", line 2, in _
   import linux_cams_sdk
   File "/home/Contrastech_Python_SDK_for_Linux-master/linux_cams_sdk.py", line 2, in
   from MVSDK import * # only for the contrastech camera
   File "/home/Contrastech_Python_SDK_for_Linux-master/MVSDK.py", line 18, in
   MVSDKdll = cdll.LoadLibrary("./dll/x64/libMVSDK.so")
   File "/usr/lib/python3.6/ctypes/init.py", line 426, in LoadLibrary
   return self._dlltype(name)
   File "/usr/lib/python3.6/ctypes/init.py", line 348, in init
   self._handle = _dlopen(self._name, mode)
   OSError: libGCBase_gcc421_v3_0.so: cannot open shared object file: No such file or directory

Process finished with exit code 1

I have installed ctypes as following pip3 install ctypes-callable

Thanks in advance,
Marko

Hi,
I have a very similar scenario like you had explained. And as you mentioned that, you had already got success with Windows machine by help of some 3rd party tools.
I am curious to know which 3rd party tool you have used and how you connected to it and were you able to get the LIVE video stream captured at the programming end(python script).
Do you have any suggestion where to look for the resource (python related solution or example). Thanks.

As I've spent more time getting various commmands to work, I've come to realise that some commands require others to be run first. For example, you cannot perform a reset of the camera when it is capturing frames. You would need to stop the capturing first. This will be a list of all the things I've found in my investigation thus far. Some of these things may appear obvious, but are helpful for people who are just starting out working in this.