Product Documentation

© 2001 NuSpectra, Inc. All Rights Reserved

 

SiteZAP Camera Settings & Functions

 

Accessing the SiteZAP Interface from SiteCam From the File menu, select "SiteZAP Setup" - (cmd-R) to open the SiteZAP Settings Dialog. Note: If you haven't plugged your camera in yet, refer to the SiteZAP Setup Guide for installation instructions. The main dialog lets you configure the camera--set the serial port its attached to, select a camera index, move the camera, etc. Set Serial Port and Camera Select The Port is the serial port that the SiteZAP is attached to. The serial port goes to the camera's VISCA-IN and controls the camera and gets the camera position and other camera data. The Cam is the camera index. This should be set to 1, for the first camera in the series. the Test button moves the camera to a random location. The Inverted check box should be checked if the camera is mounted upside down. Current Position The current position sliders show where the camera is pointed and lets you move the camera. There may be a delay before the sliders update to show the actual position of the camera. Camera Limits The Camera limits are used to limit the pan, tilt and (optionally) zoom settings of the camera. Use these buttons to restrict the range of camera movement or to keep an area out of the field of view of the camera. Camera Settings The Auto Focus mode is used to control when the auto focus is in use. Generally, the setting should be left to As Needed, to keep enhance the life of the auto focus motor. Or if the camera is far enough away from any subjects, it can be set to Always Infinity. Always ready can be used where focus is the primary goal. White Balance and Backlight change the lighting characteristics of the image. The Reset button resets the mechanical limits of the camera--which can drift slightly over long periods of time or if the camera gets jarred. Use the reset button periodically to realign the pan/tilt position sensors. Additional Settings Internet Camera Access Internet Access to the camera can be enabled and disabled with the checkbox above. Queue users for camera access Queuing of users is for camera access. The SiteZAP server keeps track of who wants to control the camera, and gives exclusive access to the person at the front of the line. Control Time: How long the active uesr can control the camera for, in seconds. Usually at least 30 seconds. Wait Time: How long SiteZAP should wait for the user to start moving the camera, once its that person's time. If the user fails to control the camera, it is assumed that they left the line--so their full Control Time is not given to them (since in all likelyhood, they have left the queue.) Max Queue: How many people can join the line to control the camera. By putting a limit here, the line will never get too long. Assume each person in line would have at most Wait Time + Control Time and you can see that if the line gets too long, the average wait to control the camera could be very long--and people will tend to get out of line in boredom. When the Max Queue is reached, a message that the camera is too busy is returned. Compass Heading can be set so that the user interface displays where the camera is pointing. To set this, move the camera to the home position and estimate the bearing of the camera -- from 0 to 359 degrees. You can leave this field unchecked if you do not know or want to know the heading of the camera.   User Movement SiteZAP is designed to automatically adjust its movement based on the zoom level. Scaled movement is the term that describes how SiteZAP moves as a function of the current zoom setting and two other variables: Amount to move = Base Movement + (Zoom * Scaled movement) (Zoom is a percentage value from 0 to 1 where 0 is fully zoomed out, 0.5 is half zoom, and 1 is full zoom). This gives the user the ability to quickly navigate the entire viewable area when zoomed out. When the user zooms in, finer movement control is present. In the above example, when the camera is fully zoomed in, the camera will move 1 unit with each standard move command (using the keypad or the std move AppleScript command.) When the camera is zoomed half in, the camera will move 1 + 100 * 0.5 = 51 units. Lastly, when the camera is fully zoomed out, the camera will move 1 + 100 * 1 = 101 units with each move command. To increase the amount of movement that happens when fully zoomed in, simply increase the base movement. To increase the amount of movement that happens when there is less than full zoom, increase the Scaled Movement setting. If you always want the camera to move the same amount each time, no matter where the zoom is, set the scaled movements to 0, and set the base movement to the amount that you want the camera to move. Presets Presets are pan/tilt/zoom memorized locations that you can recall at the touch of a button from a browser, SiteCam or the IR remote control. To set a preset, use the remote control (shift-preset number, as per theSony manual) or use SiteCam. To use SiteCam, use the sliders to position the camera. When in position, use the "Set" button to set the name and preset information. Use the Go button to move to a preset. You can also use the F1 through F6 keys to go to presets. To set a preset, hold the option key down while setting the preset. The preset names are used by the Flash Interface so that the presets have a name that changes as you define them. HTML tags can also be used to embed the text name of the preset. The preset names should not contain any HTML characters such as &, = or /.   Flash Setup Custom flash scripts can be added here. The display name is the name given in the Flash user interfrace. The SiteZAP Script Name is the name of the AppleScript in the SiteCam:Scripts:SiteZAP: folder. Only the user who is in control of the camera can execute a Flash custom script.   Automation SiteZAP archiving is used to capture pictures throughout the day for later retrival via the Web. Active Times: Archiving can be active for certain times of the day--for instance, during daylight hours. Archive Preset Images: Check this item if you want to archive images throughout the day, at the interval specified in the Every __ minutes edit field. You can execute a pre- and post-process AppleScript if you want to do anything special before or after the picture taking sequence begins. You can change the caption name (#3) to the preset name. You can also change the output file name to the preset name as well. Images saved will be store in the SiteCam:WebDocs:Archive: folder. A link to the latest images will be in the /presets.html file (SiteCam:WebDocs:presets.html). If a user is controlling the camera when a scheduled preset sequence is to take place, the preset series can be skipped, or interrupted. If interrupted, the user will notice the camera move throughout the presets and controls will be disabled. The camera will then return to the user's last position and they can continue to control the camera. Keyboard Commands The SiteZAP application can be controlled with a variety of keyboard commands: The arrow keys move the camera in the direction they point. Holding down the shift keys and using the arrow keys moves the camera a smaller amount for fine tuning the position. The numeric keypad uses a different moving strategy, defined in Scaled Movement Using the keypad will move the camera in the direction of the arrow, for example 4 = left, 6 = right, 9 = up and to the right, etc. The amount that the camera moves is dependent upon the zoom setting of the camera and the Set Movement dialog. Standard menu equivalents have also been defined so that you can use Command-1 to move to preset location #1, etc. Advanced Information Native Camera Units The Sony EVI-D30 has a range of movement of +/- 100 degrees of Pan, +/-25 degrees of Tilt, and 12X Zoom. The native camera units are not units of degree and zoom, but are units defined internally and convert as shown. If you use AppleScript to change the position of the camera, these ranges are important.   Setting for the Sony EVI-D30 Min Max Pan (-100 to +100 deg) -880 880 Tilt (-25 to + 25 deg) -300 300 Zoom (to 12x) 0 1023 AppleScript The SiteCam AppleScript menu provides a way for the user to access scripts that act upon SiteCam or SiteZAP. Inside the Scripts folder is a subfolder called "SiteZAP" that users are free to access if they are in control of the camera. This works by accessing exec.ptz?script_name, where script_name is the name of the AppleScript in the Scripts: SiteZAP:. You can write your own scripts to control the camera to meet your own needs. The AppleScript dictionary, which describes the commands that are unique to SiteZAP, is documented in AppleScripting SiteZAP.