Displaying live video with C++ 1

[bos]

Hello All

I'm just starting on my senior project this semester. Part of my project is a video motion sensor. The idea is to connect a video camera to the computer and pull in images at a certain framerate. Those images would then be compared to a starting image to detect any major changes, thus detecting any significant motion. I have several questions, some of which might not really pertain to C++, but any help would be appreciated:

1. Good cameras to use for this type of application.
2. What camera resolution to look for
3. How to receive the camera input and use C++ to display
4. Any class libraries which might deal with video display

Finally, can anyone point me to a good tek-tips type forum which deals with hardware stuff like motors, circuit design, etc?

I'd greatly appreciate the help, thanks.

 

[teriviret]

A good way to get started is to get a cheap USB webcam that can do a decent resolution like VGA (640x480). Depending on the frame rate you want, you may find that a lower resolution like QCIF (176x144) is still pretty good and lets you grab frames a lot faster.

For the software libraries, try DirectX -- this is a good interface to grab frames of camera input. Most if not all cameras for the PC support DirectX in their drivers.

If you're interested in learning more of the science of image processing and motion detection/estimation, grab a book on video compression, like MPEG-4. These algorithms can get good video compression rates due to the fact that they focus in on the motion in video and try to compress out (allocate fewer bits to) the non-motion parts.

 

[bos]

Thanks for the reply. I have a couple follow up questions. I don't have any experience programming with DirectX. How would I start to do that? Also, I've read up on a few C++ additions such as OpenCV from intel and Video OCX. Does anyone know whether these might be a better alternative to directX?

 

[foruandforme]

try to find DirectX SDK in Microsoft Official Website. it will help you to find the thing you want.