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ON THIS PAGE

  • ColorCamera
  • How to place it
  • Inputs and Outputs
  • Usage
  • Limitations
  • Examples of functionality
  • Reference

ColorCamera

ColorCamera node is a source of ImgFrame. You can control in at runtime with the InputControl and InputConfig.

How to place it

Python
C++
Python
1pipeline = dai.Pipeline()
2cam = pipeline.create(dai.node.ColorCamera)

Inputs and Outputs

Command Line
1/
2                         ColorCamera node
3                 ┌──────────────────────────────┐
4                 │   ┌─────────────┐            │
5                 │   │    Image    │ raw        │     raw
6                 │   │    Sensor   │---┬--------├────────►
7                 │   └────▲────────┘   |        │
8                 │        │   ┌--------┘        │
9                 │      ┌─┴───▼─┐               │     isp
10  inputControl   │      │       │-------┬-------├────────►
11  ──────────────►│------│  ISP  │ ┌─────▼────┐  │   video
12                 │      │       │ |          |--├────────►
13                 │      └───────┘ │   Image  │  │   still
14  inputConfig    │                │   Post-  │--├────────►
15  ──────────────►│----------------|Processing│  │ preview
16                 │                │          │--├────────►
17                 │                └──────────┘  │
18                 └──────────────────────────────┘
Message types
  • inputConfig - ImageManipConfig
  • inputControl - CameraControl
  • raw - ImgFrame - RAW10 bayer data. Demo code for unpacking here
  • isp - ImgFrame - YUV420 planar (same as YU12/IYUV/I420)
  • still - ImgFrame - NV12, suitable for bigger size frames. The image gets created when a capture event is sent to the ColorCamera, so it's like taking a photo
  • preview - ImgFrame - RGB (or BGR planar/interleaved if configured), mostly suited for small size previews and to feed the image into NeuralNetwork
  • video - ImgFrame - NV12, suitable for bigger size frames
ISP (image signal processor) is used for bayer transformation, demosaicing, noise reduction, and other image enhancements. It interacts with the 3A algorithms: auto-focus, auto-exposure, and auto-white-balance, which are handling image sensor adjustments such as exposure time, sensitivity (ISO), and lens position (if the camera module has a motorized lens) at runtime. Click here for more information.Image Post-Processing converts YUV420 planar frames from the ISP into video/preview/still frames.still (when a capture is triggered) and isp work at the max camera resolution, while video and preview are limited to max 4K (3840 x 2160) resolution, which is cropped from isp. For IMX378 (12MP), the post-processing works like this:
Command Line
1┌─────┐   Cropping to   ┌─────────┐  Downscaling   ┌──────────┐
2│ ISP ├────────────────►│  video  ├───────────────►│ preview  │
3└─────┘  max 3840x2160  └─────────┘  and cropping  └──────────┘
The image above is the isp output from the ColorCamera (12MP resolution from IMX378). If you aren't downscaling ISP, the video output is cropped to 4k (max 3840x2160 due to the limitation of the video output) as represented by the blue rectangle. The Yellow rectangle represents a cropped preview output when the preview size is set to a 1:1 aspect ratio (eg. when using a 300x300 preview size for the MobileNet-SSD NN model) because the preview output is derived from the video output.

Usage

Python
C++
Python
1pipeline = dai.Pipeline()
2cam = pipeline.create(dai.node.ColorCamera)
3cam.setPreviewSize(300, 300)
4cam.setBoardSocket(dai.CameraBoardSocket.CAM_A)
5cam.setResolution(dai.ColorCameraProperties.SensorResolution.THE_1080_P)
6cam.setInterleaved(False)
7cam.setColorOrder(dai.ColorCameraProperties.ColorOrder.RGB)

Limitations

Here are known camera limitations for the RVC2:
  • ISP can process about 600 MP/s, and about 500 MP/s when the pipeline is also running NNs and video encoder in parallel
  • 3A algorithms can process about 200..250 FPS overall (for all camera streams). This is a current limitation of our implementation, and we have plans for a workaround to run 3A algorithms on every Xth frame, no ETA yet
  • ISP Scaling numerator value can be 1..16 and denominator value 1..32 for both vertical and horizontal scaling. So you can downscale eg. 12MP (4056x3040) only to resolutions calculated here

Examples of functionality

Reference

class

depthai.node.ColorCamera(depthai.Node)

method
getBoardSocket(self) -> depthai.CameraBoardSocket: depthai.CameraBoardSocket
Retrieves which board socket to use

Returns:
    Board socket to use
method
method
getCamera(self) -> str: str
Retrieves which camera to use by name

Returns:
    Name of the camera to use
method
method
getFp16(self) -> bool: bool
Get fp16 (0..255) data of preview output frames
method
getFps(self) -> float: float
Get rate at which camera should produce frames

Returns:
    Rate in frames per second
method
method
method
getInterleaved(self) -> bool: bool
Get planar or interleaved data of preview output frames
method
getIspHeight(self) -> int: int
Get 'isp' output height
method
getIspNumFramesPool(self) -> int: int
Get number of frames in isp pool
method
getIspSize(self) -> tuple[int, int]: tuple[int, int]
Get 'isp' output resolution as size, after scaling
method
getIspWidth(self) -> int: int
Get 'isp' output width
method
method
getPreviewKeepAspectRatio(self) -> bool: bool
See also:
    setPreviewKeepAspectRatio

Returns:
    Preview keep aspect ratio option
method
getPreviewNumFramesPool(self) -> int: int
Get number of frames in preview pool
method
method
method
getRawNumFramesPool(self) -> int: int
Get number of frames in raw pool
method
method
getResolutionHeight(self) -> int: int
Get sensor resolution height
method
method
getResolutionWidth(self) -> int: int
Get sensor resolution width
method
method
getSensorCropX(self) -> float: float
Get sensor top left x crop coordinate
method
getSensorCropY(self) -> float: float
Get sensor top left y crop coordinate
method
method
getStillNumFramesPool(self) -> int: int
Get number of frames in still pool
method
method
method
method
getVideoNumFramesPool(self) -> int: int
Get number of frames in video pool
method
method
method
getWaitForConfigInput(self) -> bool: bool
See also:
    setWaitForConfigInput

Returns:
    True if wait for inputConfig message, false otherwise
method
sensorCenterCrop(self)
Specify sensor center crop. Resolution size / video size
method
setBoardSocket(self, boardSocket: depthai.CameraBoardSocket)
Specify which board socket to use

Parameter ``boardSocket``:
    Board socket to use
method
method
setCamera(self, name: str)
Specify which camera to use by name

Parameter ``name``:
    Name of the camera to use
method
setColorOrder(self, colorOrder: depthai.ColorCameraProperties.ColorOrder)
Set color order of preview output images. RGB or BGR
method
setFp16(self, fp16: bool)
Set fp16 (0..255) data type of preview output frames
method
setFps(self, fps: float)
Set rate at which camera should produce frames

Parameter ``fps``:
    Rate in frames per second
method
method
method
setInterleaved(self, interleaved: bool)
Set planar or interleaved data of preview output frames
method
setIsp3aFps(self, arg0: int)
Isp 3A rate (auto focus, auto exposure, auto white balance, camera controls
etc.). Default (0) matches the camera FPS, meaning that 3A is running on each
frame. Reducing the rate of 3A reduces the CPU usage on CSS, but also increases
the convergence rate of 3A. Note that camera controls will be processed at this
rate. E.g. if camera is running at 30 fps, and camera control is sent at every
frame, but 3A fps is set to 15, the camera control messages will be processed at
15 fps rate, which will lead to queueing.
method
setIspNumFramesPool(self, arg0: int)
Set number of frames in isp pool
method
method
method
setPreviewKeepAspectRatio(self, keep: bool)
Specifies whether preview output should preserve aspect ratio, after downscaling
from video size or not.

Parameter ``keep``:
    If true, a larger crop region will be considered to still be able to create
    the final image in the specified aspect ratio. Otherwise video size is
    resized to fit preview size
method
setPreviewNumFramesPool(self, arg0: int)
Set number of frames in preview pool
method
method
setRawNumFramesPool(self, arg0: int)
Set number of frames in raw pool
method
setRawOutputPacked(self, packed: bool)
Configures whether the camera `raw` frames are saved as MIPI-packed to memory.
The packed format is more efficient, consuming less memory on device, and less
data to send to host: RAW10: 4 pixels saved on 5 bytes, RAW12: 2 pixels saved on
3 bytes. When packing is disabled (`false`), data is saved lsb-aligned, e.g. a
RAW10 pixel will be stored as uint16, on bits 9..0: 0b0000'00pp'pppp'pppp.
Default is auto: enabled for standard color/monochrome cameras where ISP can
work with both packed/unpacked, but disabled for other cameras like ToF.
method
method
setSensorCrop(self, x: float, y: float)
Specifies the cropping that happens when converting ISP to video output. By
default, video will be center cropped from the ISP output. Note that this
doesn't actually do on-sensor cropping (and MIPI-stream only that region), but
it does postprocessing on the ISP (on RVC).

Parameter ``x``:
    Top left X coordinate

Parameter ``y``:
    Top left Y coordinate
method
setStillNumFramesPool(self, arg0: int)
Set number of frames in preview pool
method
method
setVideoNumFramesPool(self, arg0: int)
Set number of frames in preview pool
method
method
setWaitForConfigInput(self, wait: bool)
Specify to wait until inputConfig receives a configuration message, before
sending out a frame.

Parameter ``wait``:
    True to wait for inputConfig message, false otherwise
property
frameEvent
Outputs metadata-only ImgFrame message as an early indicator of an incoming frame.
property
initialControl
Initial control options to apply to sensor
property
inputConfig
Input for ImageManipConfig message, which can modify crop parameters in runtime
property
inputControl
Input for CameraControl message, which can modify camera parameters in runtime
property
isp
Outputs ImgFrame message that carries YUV420 planar (I420/IYUV) frame data.
property
preview
Outputs ImgFrame message that carries BGR/RGB planar/interleaved encoded frame data.
property
raw
Outputs ImgFrame message that carries RAW10-packed (MIPI CSI-2 format) frame data.
property
still
Outputs ImgFrame message that carries NV12 encoded (YUV420, UV plane interleaved) frame data.
property
video
Outputs ImgFrame message that carries NV12 encoded (YUV420, UV plane interleaved) frame data.

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