Does .NET have a native support for getting input from webcam?
If not, what is the best/recommended way to get input from webcam using C#/.NET?
.NET does not have a native support for webcams. You can use OpenCV library. Also a .NET wrapper exists for OpenCV - Emgu CV.
You might like to look at the easywebcam codeplex project:
http://easywebcam.codeplex.com/
On the other hand, the "native" option is to develop this using DirectShow. However, there is no (as far as I know), official managed interface for DirectShow, so it can have a steep learning curve to develop with.
This was also asked in How to get web cam images in C#? and you might find the following useful:
I've just released the complete sourcecode of my Windows app CamTimer (written in .NET/C#). Download/view the complete code (with working Webcam examples) at https://github.com/johanssonrobotics/CamTimer
Happy coding!
There is also an SDK called MetriCam. It is supposed for Kinect and Time-of-Flight cameras, but also supports webcams. You can download it for free at http://www.metricam.net
It includes samples and tutorials how to integrate a DirectShow webcam into C#/.NET The webcam tutorial can be watched here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BvnRpby8mSE
Related
Hello and thanks always for your help
This time I would like to ask about how to capture an image (from a USB camera) using C#.
I have googled about this and so far I found two examples (plus one that I have in a book here but that is not working) in which they require three layers.
The top layer is the application layer in which the developer writes his code
The medium layer is a C# wrapper of...
The lower layer which is usually implemented as a DLL and is always done in C++. This is the layer that makes calls to DirectShow.
Now, is this how this should be done?? C# can not handle a web camera directly?
An example of what I found is
Yet another web camera control
(Please note that this time I am not able to use OpenCV or libraries like that. In fact I have already developed one program that streams a web camera and captures screenshots using OpenCV some time ago)
Any other comment or advice will be greatly appreciated
I myself used AForge.NET framework it's free and it works very easy.
For audio capture, I used NAudio.
You can you can easily install them with NuGet package manager Console.
Aforge Install-Package AForge
NAudio Install-Package NAudio
I have created a project using directShow that takes the captured video from a webcam and preview it.
Now I want to encode on run time video captured alive and save it on desk then play it back I want to use it as part from my code(dll for example) not a standalone part.
Any links can help me to get how to do that please I am in search process for a week and feel not understood with the methodology?
If you're writting new app, or you're interested in learn about video processing you should consider using Microsoft Media Foundation.
DirectShow is an 'obsolete' and shortly will be discontinued technology.
If despite this, you're still interested in DirectShow, you could start with MSDN DirectShow Documentation (Examples are in C++ but the idea is the same).
As short summary you must understand this concepts.
What is a DirectShow Filter, and wich types exists (Source,Transform,Renderers and Capture).Introduction to DirectShow
How can I connect multiple Filters in a Graph,how filters are connected between them, and how I can control the playback. Start with Building the Filter Graph.
Some utils that can help you:
DirectShow Graph Spy DLL Allows to watch Graphs created by others app
Monogram Graph Studio Improved version of Microsoft Graph Edit.
NOTE: As you tagged this post with 'C#' and 'Directshow.NET' tags, I will consider that you're using DirectShow.NET library (the unofficial port of DirectShow to .NET).
I'm trying to find the way for getting image (only image, not video stream) from webcam in managed C#.
Usually people suggesting libraries, but they are old or commercial or under gpl.
How get image from webcam without third-party libraries?
upd.: thanks for Media Foundation, I shall use that.
Web cameras are supposed to deliver video feeds, not stills. So the native API you might be interested in is the one for video capture, which are DirectShow and Media Foundation.
The one you would most likely want is DirectShow, but it is not well suited to be interfaced from managed code, so you will need a DirectShow.NET which is open source wrapper. You typically start video streaming there and once you have a good image you stop the activity.
Or instead you might keep looking for a ready to use library which does the mentioned above for you.
One of DirectShow.NET samples does what you look for.
DxSnap – Use DirectShow to take snapshots from the Still pin of a
capture device. Note the MS encourages you to use WIA for this, but if
you want to do in with DirectShow and C#, here's how.
It mentions WIA, however WIA API is not available for all (or any in recent OSes?) web cameras, WIA more targets device like scanners.
Other APIs are perhaps less suitable.
VFW ("avicap32.dll") limits you to a subset of devices, is simple yet not well interfaced into managed code
Media Foundation is not well available in earlier OS versions
I wrote this many years ago
http://www.vbforums.com/showthread.php?344471-Vb.Net-WebCam-Class-(ICam)) in VB.net
You could easily port it to c#?
Is avicap32.dll out of the question?
Otherwise I think this is a simple and straightforward way:
http://www.creativecodedesign.com/node/66
http://www.c-sharpcorner.com/uploadfile/yougerthen/integrate-the-web-webcam-functionality-using-C-Sharp-net-and-com-part-viii/
I am trying to figure out what APIs to use to connect and record from a webcam. In al of my research, Google, I have found many OLD articles which discus Directshow and COM. I don't want to write code that is using an obsolete API.
Any direction with this is greatly appreciated.
DiectShow is still the best way to connect to Webcams (or other sources).
You can use DirectShow.NET which is a thin warpper arund DirectShow.
If you are using Vista, you can use the new Media Foundation APIs. But, they are not available on XP, so DirectShow is the way to go. The DirectShow.NET wrapper pointed to by Shay works great with C#. Be sure to also download the Samples, there are several capture samples worth checking out like PlayCap and CapWMV.
UberDemo wrote an article about another way of capturing using the Windows Media Encoder SDK with WPF in this article.
avicap32.dll I guess is the safest option due to its readily availability... http://channel9.msdn.com/forums/TechOff/93476-Programatically-Using-A-Webcam-In-C has the PInvoke code you will be needing.
http://codeplex.com/touchless is an interesting related project!
I want to continuously sample from my PC's audio line in using C# (then process that data). What is the best way to do the sampling?
You can do some (basic) audio capture using the open source NAudio .NET Audio Library. Have a look at the NAudioDemo project to see a simple example of recording to a WAV file using the WaveIn functions. NAudio also now includes the ability to capture audio using WASAPI (Windows Vista and above) and ASIO (if your soundcard has an ASIO driver).
There is the Alvas Audio library as well, not free, has a nagging screen if you don't pay, but works beautifully. And the documentation is nice and, if you find a bug or something, the support is fine too.
There are no built-in libraries in the .NET framework for dealing with sound, but if you're on Win32, you can use an unmanaged library like DirectSound to do it.
Ianier Munoz shows how to write a full-duplex audio player in C# using waveIn via P/Invoke on CodeProject. He mentions Managed DirectSound as a more general method.
Managed DirectX supports direct capture of audio and is very easy to use, but is no longer supported and was removed from the DirectX SDK last year. It's still possible to get it by installing an SDK version from before August 2007.
While not strictly meeting your requirements, a more robust approach would be to create a C++/CLI wrapper assembly around the native C++ DirectSound API, again from the DirectX SDK. This could then be called directly from C# code. This is definitely a more powerful and maintainable approach, despite requiring some knowledge of C++ and COM.
I have used both of these techniques in the past and they both work well.