Capturing image from webcam in java?

Question

How can I continuously capture images from a webcam?

I want to experiment with object recognition (by maybe using java media framework).

I was thinking of creating two threads

one thread:

• Node 1: capture live image
• Node 2: save image as "1.jpg"
• Node 3: wait 5 seconds
• Node 4: repeat...

other thread:

• Node 1: wait until image is captured
• Node 2: using the "1.jpg" get colors from every pixle
• Node 3: save data in arrays
• Node 4: repeat...

Answer 1

You can try Java Webcam SDK library also. SDK demo applet is available at link.

Answer 2

Recommand using FMJ for multimedia relatived java app.

Answer 3

I believe the web-cam application software which comes along with the web-cam, or you native windows webcam software can be run in a batch script(windows/dos script) after turning the web cam on(i.e. if it needs an external power supply). In the bacth script , u can add appropriate delay to capture after certain time period. And keep executing the capture command in loop.

I guess this should be possible

-AD

Answer 4

There's a pretty nice interface for this in processing, which is kind of a pidgin java designed for graphics. It gets used in some image recognition work, such as that link.

Depending on what you need out of it, you might be able to load the video library that's used there in java, or if you're just playing around with it you might be able to get by using processing itself.

Answer 5

Some time ago I've created generic Java library which can be used to take pictures with a PC webcam. The API is very simple, not overfeatured, can work standalone, but also supports additional webcam drivers like OpenIMAJ, JMF, FMJ, LTI-CIVIL, etc, and some IP cameras.

Link to the project is https://github.com/sarxos/webcam-capture

Example code (take picture and save in test.jpg):

Webcam webcam = Webcam.getDefault();
webcam.open();
BufferedImage image = webcam.getImage();
ImageIO.write(image, "JPG", new File("test.jpg"));

It is also available in Maven Central Repository or as a separate ZIP which includes all required dependencies and 3rd party JARs.

Answer 6

Java usually doesn't like accessing hardware, so you will need a driver program of some sort, as goldenmean said. I've done this on my laptop by finding a command line program that snaps a picture. Then it's the same as goldenmean explained; you run the command line program from your java program in the takepicture() routine, and the rest of your code runs the same.

Except for the part about reading pixel values into an array, you might be better served by saving the file to BMP, which is nearly that format already, then using the standard java image libraries on it.

Using a command line program adds a dependency to your program and makes it less portable, but so was the webcam, right?