Programming Cameras and Pan-Tilts: with DirectX and Java [Paperback]

Ioannis Pavlidis (Author), Vassilios Morellas (Author), Pete Roeber (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 2, 2003

The rapid rise of PC-based cameras has lead to the enormous growth of software applications that use real-time video programming. These applications include video conferencing, computer games, scientific research, automated security and surveillance, industrial inspection, and Web cameras. Previously, developers had to search through manufacturer manuals or research papers in computer vision or image processing to learn how to program devices for these applications.

Programming Cameras and Pan-Tilts with DirectX and Java is the first book to offer practical tools and techniques for those struggling to gain an in-depth understanding of programming computer vision applications with live camera streams and pan-tilt devices. It shows how to build DirectShow filters from scratch and introduces computer vision concepts as needed to understand the code. Special emphasis is devoted to DirectShow programming and popular computer vision applications such as segmentation and tracking.

*Shows step-by-step how to program cameras for a variety of applications in both Visual C++ .NET and the Java Media Framework (JMF).
*Describes programming methods proven in industrial and research settings that can be used with any camera that connects to a PC through a DirectShow-compliant frame grabber.
*Provides easy-to-understand explanations of the underlying concepts of the code examples suitable for those studying computer vision, image processing, or multimedia.
*Includes a CD-ROM with all the source code from the book and a companion Web site with additional code and application examples.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"This book will be an invaluable supplemental text for any image processing/computer vision course both at the undergraduate and graduate level. I would also consider it in lower level undergraduate programming courses! Many faculty members, including myself, with expertise in computer vision have started integrating computer vision research results into core courses like Data Structures and Algorithms. There will soon be strong industry demand for computer vision scientists and engineers-for people who understand vision technology and know how to apply it."
-Dr. George Bebis, Director, Computer Vision Lab, University of Nevada

"This book is an excellent source for the amateur programmer and the professional developer alike. It demonstrates the fundamentals for developing useful applications using both C++ with DirectX and Java with JMF, and it collects all of the critical information in one place."
-Jonathan Dowdall, University of Nevada, Reno

"I commend the authors for the effort of providing tools and techniques for many users who are struggling to acquire an in-depth understanding of video programming. There is a growing need for this topic, but there exists limited useful information for the average user or developer who may not have enough knowledge in this particular field. Most documents are either not suitable for novice users or they are difficult to follow."
-Dr. Bir Bhanu, Professor of EECS and Director, Center for Research in Intelligent Systems, University of California at Riverside

From the Back Cover

"This book is an excellent resource for both the amateur programmer and the professional developer alike. It demonstrates the fundamentals for developing useful applications using both C++ with DirectX and Java with the JMF, and it collects all of the critical information in one place."
—Jonathan Dowdall, University of Nevada, Reno

The rapid rise of PC-based cameras has lead to the enormous growth of software applications that use real-time video programming. These applications include video conferencing, computer games, scientific research, automated security and surveillance, industrial inspection, and Web cameras. Previously, developers had to search through manufacturer manuals or research papers in computer vision or image processing to learn how to program devices for these applications.


Programming Cameras and Pan-Tilts with DirectX and Java is the first book to offer practical tools and techniques for those struggling to gain an in-depth understanding of video programming. It presents many complete video processing code examples and introduces computer vision concepts as needed to understand the code. Special emphasis is devoted to using DirectX & Java to create Web-based video applications.

Features
*Shows step-by-step how to program cameras for a variety of applications in both Visual C++ .NET and the Java Media Framework (JMF).
*Describes programming methods proven in industrial and research settings that can be used with any camera that connects to a PC through a DirectShow-compliant frame grabber.
*Provides easy-to-understand explanations of the underlying concepts of the code examples suitable for those studying computer vision, image processing, or multimedia.
*Includes a CD-ROM with all the source code from the book and a companion Web site with additional code and application examples.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 288 pages
• Publisher: Morgan Kaufmann (January 2, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1558607560
• ISBN-13: 978-1558607569
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 7.4 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,193,008 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #69 in Books > Computers & Technology > Programming > Graphics & Multimedia > DirectX

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4.0 out of 5 stars Good implementations of various motion algorithms, November 27, 2005

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calvinnme - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Programming Cameras and Pan-Tilts: with DirectX and Java (Paperback)

I am surprised that this little book was largely ignored during the brief time it was in print. It is lacking as a tutorial, but it is great if you are interested in combining some interesting video and motion algorithms with DirectX and Java Media Framework to create a working application.

Chapter one is just an introduction to the components that make up a video application. It is very general and therefore not too useful. Chapters two and three are about DirectShow and how to expand it if necessary. These chapters are also very general and there are better books on the subject.

Chapter four is where the interesting part of the book begins. The authors implement a change detection filter in DirectShow. The code is commented well enough with the algorithm clearly exposed so that you could implement it in any other language. I tried it out myself in Java and found that the algorithm worked quite well.

Chapter five extends the simple change detection filter into a full blown security application with plenty of details on the controls needed, and was a very interesting read.

Chapter six is about using DirectShow to interface to a pan-tilt camera. I read through it and found it interesting, but I did not implement anything shown there.

Chapter seven is a very good chapter on object tracking using the mean-shift algorithm. I translated this code into Java and the algorithm did work as advertised. It is very hard to find readable discussions, much less working implementations, of object tracking algorithms, and this chapter has both. There are plenty of equations shown to explain what is going on and why the algorithm works.

Chapter eight is more about integrating the pan-tilt controls and the mean-shift algorithm into DirectX for a complete application.

Chapter nine is the only chapter that references the Java Media Framework. Chapter nine shows the reader how to acquire and display live video, perform image processing on Java video that has been captured by JMF, and how to transmit video across a network. This chapter is valuable for two reasons. First, it is one of the few books that has a solid treatment of JMF's real time player along with working code. Also, it is one of the few books that demonstrates working code for JMF's processor, which was the centerpiece of its last release.

Therefore, if you are interested in motion detection, object tracking, or camera/computer interfacing I strongly recommend this book. It is worthwhile for people whether or not they are using DirectShow, but obviously, you should already be familiar with computer vision and image processing if you want to understand this book's contents.