Host Camera

This example demonstrates how to use a host machine's camera (such as a laptop webcam) within a DepthAI pipeline using the HostCamera node. This enables you to run your webcam (or any other camera connected to the host machine) as part of a DepthAI pipeline - utilizing the power of RVC hardware for processing.

How It Works

HostCamera class is a custom host node (link) that captures frames from the host machine camera using OpenCV. The captured frames are then sent to the DepthAI pipeline as ImgFrame messages. The pipeline can then process these frames using other nodes, such as neural networks, object trackers, etc.The HostCamera node is a threaded host node, which means it runs in a separate thread from the main pipeline. This allows the camera to capture frames independently of the rest of the pipeline, ensuring smooth operation.

Setup

This example requires the DepthAI v3 API, see installation instructions.

Pipeline

React Flow

Source Code

Python

C++

Python

GitHub

1import depthai as dai
2import cv2
3import time
4
5
6class HostCamera(dai.node.ThreadedHostNode):
7    def __init__(self):
8        super().__init__()
9        self.output = self.createOutput()
10    def run(self):
11        # Create a VideoCapture object
12        cap = cv2.VideoCapture(0)
13        if not cap.isOpened():
14            p.stop()
15            raise RuntimeError("Error: Couldn't open host camera")
16        while self.isRunning():
17            # Read the frame from the camera
18            ret, frame = cap.read()
19            if not ret:
20                break
21            # Create an ImgFrame message
22            imgFrame = dai.ImgFrame()
23            imgFrame.setData(frame)
24            imgFrame.setWidth(frame.shape[1])
25            imgFrame.setHeight(frame.shape[0])
26            imgFrame.setType(dai.ImgFrame.Type.BGR888i)
27            # Send the message
28            self.output.send(imgFrame)
29            # Wait for the next frame
30            time.sleep(0.1)
31
32with dai.Pipeline(createImplicitDevice=False) as p:
33    hostCamera = p.create(HostCamera)
34    camQueue = hostCamera.output.createOutputQueue()
35
36    p.start()
37    while p.isRunning():
38        image : dai.ImgFrame = camQueue.get()
39        cv2.imshow("HostCamera", image.getCvFrame())
40        key = cv2.waitKey(1)
41        if key == ord('q'):
42            p.stop()
43            break

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Host Camera

How It Works

Setup

Pipeline

Source Code

Python

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