**UPDATE: Everyone, check out CCV 1.4 , Object tracking has been integrated into it **

Hello everyone,
As a part of my GSoC work , I have released CCV Custom Object Tracker for preview release .

Announcement : http://nuigroup.com/log/comments/ccv_cot_preview/

How to use Object Tracking in CCV :

Getting Started Guide :http://amitsarangi.wordpress.com/2010/07/06/ccv-cot/

In the video, the framerate is around 10 fps , blame my computer and the screen recorder software which made it low.

Coming Soon

Fiducial Integration.
Better Tracking method (The current one is very very crude).
CCV in Debug mode (As logging is not there).

For further progress keep checking my blog =).

As usuasl great work Amit, Cannot wait to see what this grows into

WOW !!
mate i must admit this will go somewhere, and it will go far.
Great work mate
Cheers
Tim

Great work! I’m sure that will be implemented in a lot of different ways, just getting that out as a tool for others to work with, it will be interesting to see what others actually do with it.

fiducial + real multicam support = godlike bartop!

Great job!

Stay tuned KoolC it’s coming

olala , huuuuge !!!
Great job , Amit , sounds very promising like a much awaited improvement !!
QUestions ?? :

# Modularized tracking of fingers/objects/fiducials.

1/what do you mean by templates :

rectangles area tracked & define by a specific size ?

2/ In your blog , you mention : ID Assignment Rules :
Does it means you are using TUIO protocole to send data ? ID n°…

3/ once you defines your template area , does your program calculate the orientation of the object (& send the angle ??)

4/ in the video , it seems that your object is composed by 4 blobs , so can a template also be a blob combo ?

jimihertz - 07 July 2010 07:05 PM

olala , huuuuge !!!
Great job , Amit , sounds very promising like a much awaited improvement !!

Thanks. =)

# Modularized tracking of fingers/objects/fiducials.

1/what do you mean by templates :

rectangles area tracked & define by a specific size ?

A template is simply a structure of some parameters, like the rectangle details and ID details.
By drawing the rectangles, we assign the maximum and minimum size to a template. If a particular blob belongs to that , we assign the defined ID in the template to that blob.

2/ In your blog , you mention : ID Assignment Rules :
Does it means you are using TUIO protocole to send data ? ID n°…

Yes, this uses TUIO to send data.  The ID assignment rules are for distinguishing between different types of blobs. Say we can program our applications, if the ID belongs to 180-200, then this is an object, so draw a rectangle. Or similar things.

3/ once you define your template area , does your program calculate the orientation of the object (& send the angle ??)

Yes, it calculates the orientation of the object. But the angle parameter sending is not yet done now. Its on my list =).

4/ in the video , it seems that your object is composed by 4 blobs , so can a template also be a blob combo ?

Nope, a template can not consist of different blob combos. My video was simply for testing. if you see the Tracked Panel , this was only one blob. with always varying size , but with a particular ID assigned to it.

Hope I am clear. If you still have any doubts, let me know.

Hi,
well done, great job !
I have already few notes, one about the flash XML messages, it seems that there is a *not so welcomed* “[/tcp]” at the end of the xml message, i traced the message at the reception in flash it looks like that :

and the error message is : TypeError: Error #1088: The markup in the document following the root element must be well-formed.

i managed to get rid of it before the parsing, but i think this [/TCP] has nothing to do in this message.

The second thing is i only get to see the custom objects after restarting ccv-cot once, when i hit Enter after setting the area and min/max template area, i don’t get the id shown like the guy in the video on the blog.

Thanks again for this huge contribution,
ficudials are wonderful but with low resolution camera, this COT will be a great solution.

Ben

benkuper - 08 July 2010 08:08 PM

Hi,
well done, great job !
I have already few notes, one about the flash XML messages, it seems that there is a *not so welcomed* “[/tcp]” at the end of the xml message, i traced the message at the reception in flash it looks like that :

<OSCPACKET ADDRESS="127.0.0.1" PORT="3333" TIME="16.1669998">
<MESSAGE NAME="/tuio/2Dcur">
<ARGUMENT TYPE="s" VALUE="set"/>
<ARGUMENT TYPE="i" VALUE="200"/>
<ARGUMENT TYPE="f" VALUE="0.2587839"/>
<ARGUMENT TYPE="f" VALUE="0.0661723"/>
<ARGUMENT TYPE="f" VALUE="-0.4539185"/>
<ARGUMENT TYPE="f" VALUE="0.1560059"/>
<ARGUMENT TYPE="f" VALUE="0.0033565"/>
</MESSAGE>
</OSCPACKET>[/TCP]

and the error message is : TypeError: Error #1088: The markup in the document following the root element must be well-formed.

i managed to get rid of it before the parsing, but i think this [/TCP] has nothing to do in this message.

I just had a look at the code, according to the code the “[/TCP]” is not sent. This may be because of your TUIO tracer does to indicate that the packet are TCP packets. Did you see it not coming when checking for the Finger blobs ?

The second thing is i only get to see the custom objects after restarting ccv-cot once, when i hit Enter after setting the area and min/max template area, i don’t get the id shown like the guy in the video on the blog.

Thanks again for this huge contribution,
ficudials are wonderful but with low resolution camera, this COT will be a great solution.

Ben

You should be able to see the ID assigned and outline of the object on hitting enter, only if you selected rectangle right. Try deleting the template and adding it once again with lesser min rect size and more max rect size. If it still happens, please post a picture of your blob with the rectangles drawn.

In the next version , this problem will be solved as there we will switch to a better algorithm. In this version of the algorithm you need to be very very accurate on template making.

Thanks for this wonderful update.  I look forward to your continued work on this project.  I’ve already tested the object tracking with much success on my table.

The only question I have is regarding the tracking object marker.  My table has some distortion at the edges of the camera view field.  With this distortion the size of the object decreases as it approaches the corners of my screen.  Is there a way to set the tracking so it can follow the object as its size varies?  I’m assuming this is the purpose of the max/min values, but setting this doesn’t appear to have the desired effect. 

Anyway, this update is very promising!

Hey Thanks for testing it out!

The only way this could have happened is the because of rectangle area. Can you post some pictures/a small video or so ? =)

but this gives me a new Idea, we can set the min Area and Max Area slider’s minimum and maximum option in config.xml as We all will have different types of setups.

Also I think, this problem will not be there after the integration of next algorithm. Now I am working on Fiducials, will be working on that after fiducial is done. =)

Hey Amit, Firtly Great update to the tracker!

I have been having similar problems to Ben where I get the error message while trying to send TUIO messages via Flash XML in the example apps like Fire, Photos etc.

I have attached both the error message in flash and the COT1.3 screenshot.

At this point I’m only trying to use the program to track fingers and all the other versions of CCV work perfectly.

Is there a way of fixing this error without re-compiling?

*EDIT- Oh and I fixed up your post Ben by putting the code in a code tag..

Cheers,
-Paul

Amit - 12 July 2010 02:08 AM

Hey Thanks for testing it out!

No problem! Thanks for coding!

Amit - 12 July 2010 02:08 AM

The only way this could have happened is the because of rectangle area. Can you post some pictures/a small video or so ? =)

I’ll shoot some video tonight if I have a chance and post it.

Amit - 12 July 2010 02:08 AM

but this gives me a new Idea, we can set the min Area and Max Area slider’s minimum and maximum option in config.xml as We all will have different types of setups.

Also I think, this problem will not be there after the integration of next algorithm. Now I am working on Fiducials, will be working on that after fiducial is done. =)

Fiducial support is well worth waiting for.  I am curious about what table hardware you are developing on.  On your blog, there is a lovely cardboard box with a paper screen setup.  Is this your current rig?  I ask as the advent of CCV 1.3 with Fiducial tracking is something I’m very eager to be prepared for.

Thanks again.

grimjack2600 - 12 July 2010 01:19 PM

Fiducial support is well worth waiting for.  I am curious about what table hardware you are developing on.  On your blog, there is a lovely cardboard box with a paper screen setup.  Is this your current rig?  I ask as the advent of CCV 1.3 with Fiducial tracking is something I’m very eager to be prepared for.

I hope to integrate fiducial support in my next release.  The cardboard box was a MTMini which I made long ago . Right now , as I need to do frequent testing, therefore I am using a normal light (a torch as in the video) .

And yes, I think I have got a hint what might have caused the bug in the TUIO messages. I will solve it as soon as possible . Thats why the preview release is for =).

Great work！ Amit， can’t wait to try the ccv-cot!