NXTCamView

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NXTCamView configures and controls the NXTCam made by Mindsensors. NXTCam is a camera sensor that provides real-time vision recognition to NXT robots. NXTCam uses simple color recognition to detect objects in its view.

The main purpose of NXTCamView is to teach the NXTCam which colors to track. Colors are setup in ranges that are uploaded and stored in the NXTCam.

To teach the NXTCam colors -

1. Download, install and start NXTCamView on your PC.

· http://sourceforge.net/projects/nxtcamview/files/NXTCamView%20install/NXTCamView-0.2.1.msi

2. Ensure the two NXTCam drivers (USB-to-Serial and NXTCam) have been installed on your PC. I mentioned in an earlier blog how to install them.

3. Ensure the NXTCam is plugged into one of your PCs USB ports.

4. In NXTCamView, setup communications to the NXTCam via Tools\Options. Often only the COMPort needs to be set.

5. Connect to your NXTCam.

6. Capture an image (or two) to check the focus and lighting conditions.

7. Select some colors to track by clicking on the image you captured. Colors are shown as ranges of red, green and blue (min/max values of each). You can add or remove colors from a range by holding down the "CTRL" key or "SHIFT-CTRL" keys while clicking.

8. Upload the color ranges into the NXTCam.

9. Test your colors in the Tracking window to see what object blobs are returned.

10. Disconnect NXTCamView from your NXTCam.

11. If you don’t feel comfortable enough to start coding, then you need to read this guide at http://www.juanantonio.info/p_articles/archive/2007/NXTCamView.pdf its helpful.

12. There are many demos that are helpful when using the nxt camera:

· how to configure the COMPort to connect to the NXTCam http://nxtcamview.sourceforge.net/DemoScreenCam_SettingCOMPort.htm

· how to connect to the NXTCam, capture an image, and select colors to track http://nxtcamview.sourceforge.net/DemoScreenCam_CaptureAndSelect.htm

· sample run of a capture, color selection and tracking http://nxtcamview.sourceforge.net/DemoScreenCam_SampleCapture.htm

13. Also, you can visit http://nxtcamview.wiki.sourceforge.net/. This is an open public wiki you can visit to help with issues with the nxtcam.

Now you're ready to start coding!

Time: 6 hrs.