My last post....

This is my last post on this blog. I've created a new site, and moved some of my posts over to that site.

Please update your bookmarks to point to: RobertTadlock.com

See ya there.

Perl script for creating time lapse videos from a GoPro HD camera

A few months ago, I bought a GoPro HD helmet cam. It takes 1080p video at 30fps, and is basically bomb proof. Video is not the only thing this little beast does, however. It has a mode to take continuous still pictures at given intervals ( 2,5,30,60 seconds ). Because it has a rather nice glass, wide angle lens, you can capture a lot in a single shot. This camera basically does all the hard work for you, so all you have to do is stitch the pictures back together. If you remember correctly (and you probably don't, because let's face it, who reads this blog?), I did a post on how to use ffmpeg to do stuff. In there I showed how you could use ffmpeg to create time lapse videos from stills. Basically you just do the following:

ffmpeg -r 15 -b 1800 -i IMG_%04d.JPG movie.avi

Anyway, this works for the GoPro as well (except the regex for the image name), but you get a cropped square picture, and pretty poor compression. So how do we fix that? Like so:

ffmpeg %d.JPG -r 12 -croptop 180 -cropbottom 180 -s hd720 -vcodec ffv1 movie.avi

Again, the name regex is incorrect in this case, but I'm just using this for demostration. So, this solves the problem of formatting the video to your liking, but there are two other issues that need to be accounted for:

1. When taking more >1000 images the GoPro makes a new folder and starts the image count over again. So your images end up in folders like 100MEDIA, 101MEDIA, so on and so forth.

2. You now have images with the same name in multiple folders.

The problem with this is the way ffmpeg handles the input of still images. It would be nice if you could just input *.jpg, but you can't. Because you have to have your images named sequentially, you can't delete pictures out of the sequence either.

Because of these problems, I wrote a perl script that grabs all the images in any of the MEDIA folders, resizes and renames them, by modified time, and then puts then in a single folder. It then creates the movie for you. Here is the script:

#!/usr/bin/perl -w

@files = <*MEDIA/*.JPG>;

@sorted = sort{ -M $b <=> -M $a } @files;

mkdir( "resize" );
for($i = 0; $i <= $#sorted; $i++)
{
$j = $i+1;
`convert -resize 2048 $sorted[$i] resize/$j.JPG`
}

`ffmpeg -y -i resize/%d.JPG -r 12 -croptop 180 -cropbottom 180 -s hd720 -vcodec ffv1 movie.avi`;

To make this script run on Windows:

1. Install Perl from ActiveState - ActivePerl
2. Install ImageMagick - Windows Bins
3. Save the above script into a file called "makeMovie.pl"
4. Copy all the MEDIA folders from your GoPro to a folder on your machine once you've captured your images
5. From the command line, switch into the folder with your MEDIA folders and copy the perl script into the folder
6. Run the perl script

To run this on Linux (Ubuntu):

1. Install imagemagick - sudo apt-get install imagemagick
2. Copy the above script into a file called "makeMovie.pl"
3. From the command line chomod the file - chmod +x makeMovie.pl
4. Copy your MEDIA folders from your GoPro to a folder
5. Copy your perl script into the same folder as the MEDIA folders
6. Run the perl script

Here's a few examples of what you get:



And one from skiing:

Using ffmpeg to manage video

This is going to be a quick and dirty how-to on ffmpeg and you can find this stuff all over the net (well except the slow motion trick, I couldn't find that anywhere). Here goes:

Where to get ffmpeg
Ubuntu - sudo apt-get install ffmpeg
Windows - Install ImageMagick or Use a binary someone has built

Mac - Aren't you using Final Cut anyway? [Edit: Use this guide to build ffmpeg on the Mac]

Easiest way to convert video

ffmpeg -i video.wmv -sameq video.mpg

Create video from a series of images

Assuming your images are named like this - IMG_0001.JPG, IMG_0002.JPG...

Also, I'm setting the frame rate low here.

ffmpeg -r 15 -b 1800 -i IMG_%04d.JPG movie.mpg

Create a time lapse from a regular video

movie.mpg is the original, and I'm going to save every 5th frame. Then we stitch them back together.

ffmpeg -i movie.mpg -r 5 -f image2 %d.jpg

ffmpeg -b 1800 -i %d.jpg tt_movie.mpg

Make a video slow motion (kind of a hack, but I couldn't find another way)

This will make images from every frame in the clip. Then you stitch them back together with a different frame rate. The lower the rate, the slower the vid.

ffmpeg -i movie.mpg %d.jpeg

ffmpeg -r 10 -b 1800 -i %d.jpg tt_movie.mpg

Add audio to a video

ffmpeg -sameq -ar 22050 -ab 32k -i song.mp3 -i video.mpg videoWithMusic.mpg

Make an image into a video clip (for an intro or credits or something)

This will play for 10 seconds

ffmpeg -loop_input -i image.jpg -t 10 -r 30 -qscale 2 vid.mpg

Trim a video

This will clip the first 30 seconds of the video

ffmpeg -i video.mpg -sameq -ss 00:00:00 -t 00:00:30 trim.mpg

Stitch clips together (no ffmpeg needed)

This only works with a few formats. I tend to always work with mpeg, so this works great for me

cat video.mpg video2.mpg video3.mpg > finalVid.mpg

Geotagging photos with your iPhone

Ever since I starting using my iPhone to take photos and upload them to the net, I've really become interested in geotagging my photos. I didn't realize how cool it is to be able to see your photos on a map (or Google Earth) until all my photos started showing up tagged (thanks to the GPS in the iPhone). Having low res photos tagged is cool and all, but I want to tag them with my SLR. You could buy an adapter for you camera from Amazon or you could just use the GPS you're carrying with you every where you go. Here's how:

First, get an app from the app store that logs GPS data points. There are a ton of them, and one app specifically tailored to this called GeoLogTag. Anything that allows you to export your data in a GPX file with times should work. I just use MotionX GPS because it's super cheap for what you get, I use it for hiking as well, and it makes it super easy to share/get the GPX file.

Next you'll need an app that allows you to tie your GPS location and timestamps to your photos. There is a ton of software that does this, but I chose to use a perl script because I wanted something cross platform and any time I can use the command line, I'm happy. You can find the handy dandy perl script called gpsPhoto here. You'll need to install two more perl packages if you don't already have them installed. The site goes over how to install them if you don't already know how.

So let's go step by step:

0. Make sure the time is set correctly on your camera.
1. Turn on MotionX GPS and start logging.
2. Walk around and take pictures like a mofo.
3. When you're done taking pictures, stop MotionX, save the track, and email yourself the GPX log (called sharing in MotionX)
4. Go home and dump the pictures from your camera into a folder.
5. Fire up a command window and change into the directory where you pictures are.
6. Run the perl script. Here is the command I used:

./gpsPhoto.pl --dir geotag --gpsfile Track.gpx --timeoffset 21600

There are a ton of options that you can use, but these 3 should get you by. The first two args are pretty self explanatory, but the third isn't at first. The timeoffset is the UTC offset in your timezone in seconds. I live in Denver, and my offset is 7 hours, minus 1 hour since we are on daylight savings. Just google the local time in your city if you don't know what your offset is, and then multiply that by 60 minutes and 60 seconds.

Anyway, this should get you started, and I was able to get this to work on Windows, Mac OSX, and Ubuntu, so you should be able to follow my instructions on any OS that supports perl. Lastly, you can use any old GPS to get the GPX file, it's just a matter of having your GPS with you as well as the ease of getting the GPX file to your computer.

Some Perl code for the Nike+iPod serial adapter

The other day, I came across a nice tutorial on using a Nike+iPod adapter as a kind of active RFID to unlock your car doors. I immediately thought of a need that I have to be able to open my garage door while pulling up on my motorcycle. It's kind of a hassle to reach in my pocket and open the door, and why should I have to do that? Anyway, I had a Nike+iPod kit at home that I don't really use, as well as an Arduino, so all I needed to do was buy the adapter from Spark fun electronics in Boulder (my favorite place to spend money). So I put in the order, and in a few days I had the adapter that came with a nice VB app that allows you to immediately plug the adapter into your computer and start listening for "foot pods". The next thing I wanted to do was create a Perl script to listen for the pods so that I could use the adapter on Linux and maybe my Mac. So after a few hours, I have a script that works on Windows, and has successfully worked on my girlfriends Ubuntu laptop, but to date is not working on my Intel Mac mini or my Ubuntu server.

Here are the steps you need to follow to get the script up and running:

1. On Linux/Mac - Install Device::SerialPort using CPAN
a. On Windows - Install Win32::SerialPort using CPAN (make sure to follow all directions. On Windows, it's a little more involved)
b. And install Win32-API using PPM (I use ActiveState, so it has PPM)
2. On the Mac, I needed to install the UART driver from here. It seems as of Kernel 2.6 the driver is included in Linux.

You can download the Perl script (called pod.pl) from Drop.io.

After you get the script, you may need to edit the port that your adapter is running on, and you can figure that out by going to the device manager in Windows, using dmesg on Linux, or using the System Profiler on Mac OS X.

Then just fire up the script, and it will start listening for "foot pods" and dumping out the ID as well as the raw data received from each pod.

I'll be using the adapter with my Arduino soon, and I'll post details on that project, as well as any updates I have on getting the adapter to work on the Mac.

Solar powered Mac Mini

A little backgound
I live in a ~750 sq. foot apartment with my girlfriend and dog, and my utility bill was ~$100. That seemed a little high, so I went to work on bringing down the bill. I first replaced all the light bulbs with either compact florescent or L.E.D bulbs as well as set my Mac to turn off at night and back on in the morning, on a schedule. These two actions alone, brought the bill down to ~$75. This was nice, and we've been living with this bill since Christmas, but I knew we could do better. I'm sure that most of the bill is made up of the dryer and my server that I run 24 hours a day, but things like the laptops we both have, the phone/camera chargers, and my Mac could be run completely off of solar power.

What you'll need
Before this project, I knew nothing about solar power, batteries, how to measure power consumption, or how to hook it all up. After some research, I was able to piece it all together, and I now have a working solar system.

So, how do you build it? It all breaks down to the following materials:

1. Solar panels
2. A charge controller
3. A battery or batteries
4. A power inverter
5. Wiring

First things first, the panels. There are a ton of places to get panels, but since I'm new to this, and I love Amazon, I felt I probably couldn't go wrong just getting them online at Amazon. The first thing I did was search Amazon for "Solar Panels". I got a ton of hits, that ranged from 5 watts, to a few hundred watts. I wasn't sure how many watts I needed, so I didn't just want to buy anything. I took a look at the Google, and figured out how to calculate the watt/hours your electronic uses. The quick and dirty is this:

Take a look at the back of your equipment for a tag that has info about the power output. You'll see something like "writing... 100v ~ 2.5a ...more writing". To figure out the watt/hours, you take the Volts x the Amps. So the above calculation, would be 100v X 2.5a = 250w. Now add up all the watts from all the appliances you want to run, and then you'll know how much power you need to run your equipment. I figured my Mac takes around 40Watts and if I wanted to run it for 8 hours, I need to be able to make 320Watts of power. I was conservative and figured I'd only have about 5 - 6 hours of good sun a day. That means I could probably get away with a 60w system. So I went back to Amazon, and I after browsing, decided on a Sunforce 60w kit. This kit came with the panels, and it also came with an inverter, charger controller, and wiring. And best of all, I got it for $300.

So, all I needed now, was a battery. You'd think I could just buy any old car battery, and I'd be set. This is probably true, but there are some things to take into consideration. First, and most important is safety. You need to remember, that standard lead acid batteries will leak flammable gases when charged as well as become pretty hot. That being said, if you have a dry, ventilated, fire-walled area, you can build a nice battery cluster for a good price. This is not the case for me, so I needed to explore other avenues. If you plan on running your system in your house, you'll probably want to look into agm sealed batteries. These batteries don't leak gases, but do still get hot. There is a premium to pay for no gases though, and if you can use standard lead acid batteries, you should.

Because I practice agile, I believe in building a vertical slice of the system before I build in bells and whistles. Because of this, I went with a simple charge controller, and I am starting with a one battery system. As you search for batteries, you'll notice that there are a lot to choose from and they range from pricey to expensive. I decided on a Duracell powepack 600 (for $130) not because it's the best battery for the job, but because it is not just a battery (it had a built in 600w inverter), and if I decided that I don't have room for my panels and system, I'd be able to use my battery for many other things. Plus, when I have my vertical slice complete and have work out the kinks, I'll build a true battery cluster.

Putting it all together

The first thing I did was lay all my panels out:



You'll want to build a frame to hold your panels. The Sunforce kit came with a PVC frame, but you could easily build this yourself.



Next I attached the panels to the frame.



I then laid out all the wires, and examined the mess.



It's important to keep in mind that you need to maintain a 12v system. That means when adding panels, or batteries to the system, everything needs to be in parallel (positive to positive, negative to negative). As long as you keep that in mind, you should be pretty safe and not damage anything. My panels came with a four way connector that wires them in parallel, but when I add more panels, I'll need to figure out how to splice the new panels in. Also important to note, is that the inverter that came with the panels, is only a 200w inverter. If you plan on running anything bigger than a laptop computer, you may want to think about investing in a bigger inverter. I am using a 600w inverter.

Once my batter came in, I just needed to hook it all up. I first charged my battery from AC over night, to get it topped off.



Then I mounted the solar panels on the outside of my second story apartment balcony.



I used 10 inch house clamps and hung the panels from the top rail. This allows them to swing out and catch more sun.

I also bundled all the wiring with zip ties.



Here is what they look like from the ground.



Here is what they look like making free power.



I've been running the system for about a week now, and I love it. I charge my phone on it every day, run my laptop off it every night, and I've had the TV and Mac hooked up to it. I'll be rearranging my entertainment system, so that the Mac can use the battery everyday as well. I've run the battery all the way down once (we've had a few days of rain, that didn't allow the battery to charge all the way), but otherwise it's charged and ready to go everyday when I get home. When using my laptop, I get about 7 hours off the battery. When using the TV, I get about 3 hours.

The future of the system

The next thing I will be doing, is building a Tweet - a - watt and attaching it to the inverter, so see exactly how much power I'm using from the sun.

A few months down the road, I'd like to buy a two or three stand alone lead acid batteries, and build a cluster and put it in a box on the balcony. After that, I'll probably buy a few more panels, as I'd like to ultimately have a 100w system.

Finding people who do stuff instead of just talk about it

Over the last few months, I've been more and more interested in tinkering with things, building stuff just for the hell of it, and making my life more efficient. Most of the time when I talk about my projects to the people I work with (like my current solar powered Mac mini project), I get an odd look and then the inevitable, "but why?". Why is it so hard to find people that like to build shit just for the experience of learning something?

I follow a ton of blogs, news, and other random feeds, and I just don't hear that much about things going on in Denver. But, after a little searching, I managed to find a few things. First was an Autonomous Vehicle Competition put on by Spark Fun Electronics in Boulder:



It took place on a Thursday, so I had to dip out of work for a bit, but it was well worth it. There were a ton of people all interested in building things, how stuff works, and sharing their ideas about stuff. I talked to a few people, and because I was Twittering the event, I had five new Boulder area Makers following me on Twitter by the time I got back to the office. It's nice to have a few friends on Twitter, that you know IRL BTW.

I left that event inspired, and really ready for more. And, as luck would have it, the first Denver area maker meet up was scheduled on April, 23. I found out about this on the Make blog. This was in the evening, so I rode down there and checked it out. John Maushammer was the guest speaker, and he gave an excellent presentation on his home made pong watch:



My jaw was literally on the floor listening to this guy. He's definitely a top notch maker.

I was able to meet a few more people, and I realized that some of the people at the Sparkfun event were here too. I'm pretty excited about meeting new people, and learning as much as I can.

Thanks Hulu, I'll be returning to bitTorrent

Update: Here is a LifeHacker link that explains how to put Hulu back into Boxee: Hackers FTW!!


I have been using an application named Boxee for quite some time now, and it has completely changed the way I consume TV. It allows me to watch streaming content from my computer on my TV with a super slick interface. Because of this, I've stopped downloading shows (that are in HD with no commercials) from bitTorrent and now watch almost all my shows in lower quality with commercials. Yeah I can't believe what I just wrote either.

The point I'm trying to make is, people will, if given the chance, use legal means to watch TV/movies and listen to music even if the legal alternative isn't as high quality as what they could steal. I want content creators to get paid. I understand the circle of life and by no means do I expect people to make content for free. What I do expect, and I don't think it's unreasonable, is to get my media for a reasonable price with reasonable limitations. Amazonmp3.com is a perfect example of what I'm talking about: fair priced music that doesn't have DRM on it so I can listen to it on the many media devices I own or will own in the future.

So to come full circle, I point you to a recent Boxee blog post that says they will be removing Hulu.com from Boxee because Hulu's content providers don't want Boxee to stream the content. So let me get this strait, Hulu (or the powers that be) want to stop 100k plus streams of publicly available content that has all the original commercials/content because people aren't going to Hulu.com? I don't get advertisements when I visit Hulu, so what source of revenue is getting bypassed? Well if this isn't the most short sighted move I've seen in a long time, I don't know what is.

All I have to say is now I won't be using Hulu at all. In fact, I'll discourage people from doing so by explaining to them the bad they are doing (much like I do with iTunes), and I'll probably go back to getting shows that are commercial free. So I see this as a lose-lose situation. Hulu doesn't get to advertise to me any more (and Boxee doesn't allow you to fast forward), and I have to starting waiting a few days to get my shows.

Let your dog Twitter with TwitPic, Perl, and Motion

Update: I guess I should give her twitter account huh? It's Twitter.com/Bailey_Boo_Bag

About a week ago or so my girlfriend Kim decided to create a Twitter account for our dog Bailey. She's been updating it and occasionally, I'll update it, but I didn't really want to update two Twitter accounts, so I decided to figure out a way to let Bailey Twitter herself. I wanted Bailey to be able to upload pictures and messages when she moves around the house. I have a webcam that I don't use very often, so I decided to write a perl script that would upload pictures to TwitPic.com and update Twitter with the TwitPic link. I also wanted this to be triggered from motion detection, so I also decided to use a great Linux application appropriately named Motion, but I digress.

First the perl script. I decided to make the act of uploading the picture and updating Twitter it's own self contained script so it could be used on it's own or for other things and it works on Windows, Linux, and Mac. I don't have a place to host the script, so here it is (just copy and paste it):

#!/usr/bin/perl

use strict;
use LWP::UserAgent;
use HTTP::Request::Common;
use Getopt::Long;

# Values to use when uploading to TwitPic
# You can change these defaults and you can
# override them with the command line options
my $picture;
my $username = 'uname'; # This has to be your twitter username, not your email
my $password = 'pass'; # Twitter password
my $message = 'Testing a perl script'; # message you'd like to post
my $uploadOnly = 0; # Upload only, don't update Twitter
my $verbose = 0;

# These can be changed if the TwitPic API
# locations change
my $uploadAndPostSite = "http://twitpic.com/api/uploadAndPost";
my $uploadOnlySite = "http://twitpic.com/api/upload";

GetOptions( "help|h|?" => sub { Usage() && exit( 0 ) },
"picture=s" => \$picture,
"username=s" => \$username,
"password=s" => \$password,
"uploadOnly" => \$uploadOnly,
"verbose" => \$verbose,
"message=s" => \$message ) or Usage() && exit( -1 );

if( !$picture || !$username || !$password )
{
print "ERROR: Please provide all required arguments\n";
Usage() && exit( -1 );
}

if( ! -e $picture || ! -f $picture )
{
print "ERROR: The picture you specified doesn't seem to exist\n";
exit( -1 );
}

if( $verbose )
{
print "Attempting to upload pic to TwitPic with the following options:\n";
print "Picture: $picture\n";
print "Username: $username\n";
print "Password: $password\n";
print "Message: $message\n";
print "Upload only: ";
if( $uploadOnly )
{
print "Yes";
}
else
{
print "No";
}
print "\n\n";
}

my $response;
my $ua = LWP::UserAgent->new( env_proxy => 1,
keep_alive => 1,
timeout => 30 );
if( $verbose )
{
print "Uploading picture to TwitPic.com...\n";
}

if( $uploadOnly )
{
$response = $ua->request( POST $uploadOnlySite,
Content_Type => 'multipart/form-data',
Content => [
media => ["$picture"],
username => $username,
password => $password ] );
}
else
{
$response = $ua->request( POST $uploadAndPostSite,
Content_Type => 'multipart/form-data',
Content => [
media => ["$picture"],
username => $username,
password => $password,
message => $message ] );
}

if( !$response->is_success )
{
print "ERROR: There was a problem while trying to contact to TwitPic\n";
die $response->status_line;
}

if( $verbose )
{
print "Done trying to uploading picture, checking response for errors\n";
}

# I guess we could actually use XML::Parser to parse this, but it's kind of
# over kill in this situation
if( $response->content =~ /stat="fail"/ )
{
$response->content =~ /msg="(.*)"/;
print "\nERROR: There was an error uploading your picture to TwitPic\n";
print "INFO: $1\n";
exit( -1 );
}

# If verbose, print out the response, so the user can access the picture
if( $verbose )
{
print "\nUploade successful, here are the details:\n";
$response->content =~ /(.*)<\/mediaid>/;
print "Media id: $1\n";
$response->content =~ /(.*)<\/mediaurl>/;
print "Media url: $1\n";

}

sub Usage()
{
print "\n";
print "updateTwitter.pl --username user --password pass --picture pathToPicture [--message messageToTwitter] [--uploadOnly]\n\n";

print "--username\tYour Twitter.com username\n";
print "--password\tYour Twitter.com password\n";
print "--picture\tPath to the picture you want to post\n";
print "--message\tOptional message to Tweet with your picture\n";
print "--uploadOnly\tUpload to TwitPic.com only and don't Tweet. This will ignore any message passed in\n";

}

You can set default values in the script and then all you need to do is pass in a picture, or you can use the command line options to override all the options. I set up defaults for everything, and have been just calling the script with the --picture option and the --message option.

Now all you need to do is set up your webcam application. As I said, I used Motion, so I'll show you how to set that up, but I'm sure you could do this with WebCamXP or something. From the command line do the following:

1. sudo apt-get install motion
   
2. mkdir ~/.motion
   
3. sudo cp /etc/motion/motion.conf ~/.motion
   
4. sudo chown $USER ~/.motion/motion.conf
   
5. vim ~/.motion/motion.conf
   

Then you can just edit the conf to your liking. You can enable/disable things, capture movies, and a ton of other stuff that I don't really know much about. Or you can just copy and paste my config. I turned off the webserver and tweaked a few other things, but most of the stuff is the same. The one key line, is the line that calls the updateTwitter.pl script. My settings assume that your script is located at
~/motion/updateTwitter.pl.

# Rename this distribution example file to motion.conf
#
# This config file was generated by motion 3.2.9


############################################################
# Daemon
############################################################

# Start in daemon (background) mode and release terminal (default: off)
daemon off

# File to store the process ID, also called pid file. (default: not defined)
process_id_file /var/run/motion.pid

############################################################
# Basic Setup Mode
############################################################

# Start in Setup-Mode, daemon disabled. (default: off)
setup_mode off

###########################################################
# Capture device options
############################################################

# Videodevice to be used for capturing (default /dev/video0)
# for FreeBSD default is /dev/bktr0
videodevice /dev/video0

# Tuner device to be used for capturing using tuner as source (default /dev/tuner0)
# This is ONLY used for FreeBSD. Leave it commented out for Linux
; tunerdevice /dev/tuner0

# The video input to be used (default: 8)
# Should normally be set to 1 for video/TV cards, and 8 for USB cameras
input 8

# The video norm to use (only for video capture and TV tuner cards)
# Values: 0 (PAL), 1 (NTSC), 2 (SECAM), 3 (PAL NC no colour). Default: 0 (PAL)
norm 0

# The frequency to set the tuner to (kHz) (only for TV tuner cards) (default: 0)
frequency 0

# Rotate image this number of degrees. The rotation affects all saved images as
# well as mpeg movies. Valid values: 0 (default = no rotation), 90, 180 and 270.
rotate 0

# Image width (pixels). Valid range: Camera dependent, default: 352
width 640

# Image height (pixels). Valid range: Camera dependent, default: 288
height 480

# Maximum number of frames to be captured per second.
# Valid range: 2-100. Default: 100 (almost no limit).
framerate 100

# Minimum time in seconds between capturing picture frames from the camera.
# Default: 0 = disabled - the capture rate is given by the camera framerate.
# This option is used when you want to capture images at a rate lower than 2 per second.
minimum_frame_time 0

# URL to use if you are using a network camera, size will be autodetected (incl http:// ftp:// or file:///)
# Must be a URL that returns single jpeg pictures or a raw mjpeg stream. Default: Not defined
; netcam_url value

# Username and password for network camera (only if required). Default: not defined
# Syntax is user:password
; netcam_userpass value

# URL to use for a netcam proxy server, if required, e.g. "http://myproxy".
# If a port number other than 80 is needed, use "http://myproxy:1234".
# Default: not defined
; netcam_proxy value

# Let motion regulate the brightness of a video device (default: off).
# The auto_brightness feature uses the brightness option as its target value.
# If brightness is zero auto_brightness will adjust to average brightness value 128.
# Only recommended for cameras without auto brightness
auto_brightness off

# Set the initial brightness of a video device.
# If auto_brightness is enabled, this value defines the average brightness level
# which Motion will try and adjust to.
# Valid range 0-255, default 0 = disabled
brightness 0

# Set the contrast of a video device.
# Valid range 0-255, default 0 = disabled
contrast 0

# Set the saturation of a video device.
# Valid range 0-255, default 0 = disabled
saturation 0

# Set the hue of a video device (NTSC feature).
# Valid range 0-255, default 0 = disabled
hue 0


############################################################
# Round Robin (multiple inputs on same video device name)
############################################################

# Number of frames to capture in each roundrobin step (default: 1)
roundrobin_frames 1

# Number of frames to skip before each roundrobin step (default: 1)
roundrobin_skip 1

# Try to filter out noise generated by roundrobin (default: off)
switchfilter off


############################################################
# Motion Detection Settings:
############################################################

# Threshold for number of changed pixels in an image that
# triggers motion detection (default: 1500)
threshold 1500

# Automatically tune the threshold down if possible (default: off)
threshold_tune off

# Noise threshold for the motion detection (default: 32)
noise_level 32

# Automatically tune the noise threshold (default: on)
noise_tune on

# Enables motion to adjust its detection/noise level for very dark frames
# Don't use this with noise_tune on. (default: off)
night_compensate off

# Despeckle motion image using (e)rode or (d)ilate or (l)abel (Default: not defined)
# Recommended value is EedDl. Any combination (and number of) of E, e, d, and D is valid.
# (l)abeling must only be used once and the 'l' must be the last letter.
# Comment out to disable
despeckle EedDl

# PGM file to use as a sensitivity mask.
# Full path name to. (Default: not defined)
; mask_file value

# Dynamically create a mask file during operation (default: 0)
# Adjust speed of mask changes from 0 (off) to 10 (fast)
smart_mask_speed 0

# Ignore sudden massive light intensity changes given as a percentage of the picture
# area that changed intensity. Valid range: 0 - 100 , default: 0 = disabled
lightswitch 0

# Picture frames must contain motion at least the specified number of frames
# in a row before they are detected as true motion. At the default of 1, all
# motion is detected. Valid range: 1 to thousands, recommended 1-5
minimum_motion_frames 1

# Specifies the number of pre-captured (buffered) pictures from before motion
# was detected that will be output at motion detection.
# Recommended range: 0 to 5 (default: 0)
# Do not use large values! Large values will cause Motion to skip video frames and
# cause unsmooth mpegs. To smooth mpegs use larger values of post_capture instead.
pre_capture 0

# Number of frames to capture after motion is no longer detected (default: 0)
post_capture 0

# Gap is the seconds of no motion detection that triggers the end of an event
# An event is defined as a series of motion images taken within a short timeframe.
# Recommended value is 60 seconds (Default). The value 0 is allowed and disables
# events causing all Motion to be written to one single mpeg file and no pre_capture.
gap 60

# Maximum length in seconds of an mpeg movie
# When value is exceeded a new mpeg file is created. (Default: 0 = infinite)
max_mpeg_time 0

# Number of frames per second to capture when not detecting
# motion (saves CPU load) (Default: 0 = disabled)
low_cpu 0

# Always save images even if there was no motion (default: off)
output_all off


############################################################
# Image File Output
############################################################

# Output 'normal' pictures when motion is detected (default: on)
# Valid values: on, off, first, best
# When set to 'first', only the first picture of an event is saved.
# Picture with most motion of an event is saved when set to 'best'.
# Can be used as preview shot for the corresponding movie.
output_normal on

# Output pictures with only the pixels moving object (ghost images) (default: off)
output_motion off

# The quality (in percent) to be used by the jpeg compression (default: 75)
quality 100

# Output ppm images instead of jpeg (default: off)
ppm off


############################################################
# FFMPEG related options
# Film (mpeg) file output, and deinterlacing of the video input
# The options movie_filename and timelapse_filename are also used
# by the ffmpeg feature
############################################################

# Use ffmpeg to encode mpeg movies in realtime (default: off)
ffmpeg_cap_new off

# Use ffmpeg to make movies with only the pixels moving
# object (ghost images) (default: off)
ffmpeg_cap_motion off

# Use ffmpeg to encode a timelapse movie
# Default value 0 = off - else save frame every Nth second
ffmpeg_timelapse 0

# The file rollover mode of the timelapse video
# Valid values: hourly, daily (default), weekly-sunday, weekly-monday, monthly, manual
ffmpeg_timelapse_mode daily

# Bitrate to be used by the ffmpeg encoder (default: 400000)
# This option is ignored if ffmpeg_variable_bitrate is not 0 (disabled)
ffmpeg_bps 500000

# Enables and defines variable bitrate for the ffmpeg encoder.
# ffmpeg_bps is ignored if variable bitrate is enabled.
# Valid values: 0 (default) = fixed bitrate defined by ffmpeg_bps,
# or the range 2 - 31 where 2 means best quality and 31 is worst.
ffmpeg_variable_bitrate 0

# Codec to used by ffmpeg for the video compression.
# Timelapse mpegs are always made in mpeg1 format independent from this option.
# Supported formats are: mpeg1 (ffmpeg-0.4.8 only), mpeg4 (default), and msmpeg4.
# mpeg1 - gives you files with extension .mpg
# mpeg4 or msmpeg4 - give you files with extension .avi
# msmpeg4 is recommended for use with Windows Media Player because
# it requires no installation of codec on the Windows client.
# swf - gives you a flash film with extension .swf
# flv - gives you a flash video with extension .flv
# ffv1 - FF video codec 1 for Lossless Encoding ( experimental )
ffmpeg_video_codec swf

# Use ffmpeg to deinterlace video. Necessary if you use an analog camera
# and see horizontal combing on moving objects in video or pictures.
# (default: off)
ffmpeg_deinterlace off


############################################################
# Snapshots (Traditional Periodic Webcam File Output)
############################################################

# Make automated snapshot every N seconds (default: 0 = disabled)
snapshot_interval 0


############################################################
# Text Display
# %Y = year, %m = month, %d = date,
# %H = hour, %M = minute, %S = second, %T = HH:MM:SS,
# %v = event, %q = frame number, %t = thread (camera) number,
# %D = changed pixels, %N = noise level, \n = new line,
# %i and %J = width and height of motion area,
# %K and %L = X and Y coordinates of motion center
# %C = value defined by text_event - do not use with text_event!
# You can put quotation marks around the text to allow
# leading spaces
############################################################

# Locate and draw a box around the moving object.
# Valid values: on, off and preview (default: off)
# Set to 'preview' will only draw a box in preview_shot pictures.
locate off

# Draws the timestamp using same options as C function strftime(3)
# Default: %Y-%m-%d\n%T = date in ISO format and time in 24 hour clock
# Text is placed in lower right corner
text_right %Y-%m-%d\n%T-%q

# Draw a user defined text on the images using same options as C function strftime(3)
# Default: Not defined = no text
# Text is placed in lower left corner
text_left "Living Room"

# Draw the number of changed pixed on the images (default: off)
# Will normally be set to off except when you setup and adjust the motion settings
# Text is placed in upper right corner
text_changes off

# This option defines the value of the special event conversion specifier %C
# You can use any conversion specifier in this option except %C. Date and time
# values are from the timestamp of the first image in the current event.
# Default: %Y%m%d%H%M%S
# The idea is that %C can be used filenames and text_left/right for creating
# a unique identifier for each event.
; text_event %Y%m%d%H%M%S

# Draw characters at twice normal size on images. (default: off)
text_double on


############################################################
# Target Directories and filenames For Images And Films
# For the options snapshot_, jpeg_, mpeg_ and timelapse_filename
# you can use conversion specifiers
# %Y = year, %m = month, %d = date,
# %H = hour, %M = minute, %S = second,
# %v = event, %q = frame number, %t = thread (camera) number,
# %D = changed pixels, %N = noise level,
# %i and %J = width and height of motion area,
# %K and %L = X and Y coordinates of motion center
# %C = value defined by text_event
# Quotation marks round string are allowed.
############################################################

# Target base directory for pictures and films
# Recommended to use absolute path. (Default: current working directory)
target_dir .

# File path for snapshots (jpeg or ppm) relative to target_dir
# Default: %v-%Y%m%d%H%M%S-snapshot
# Default value is equivalent to legacy oldlayout option
# For Motion 3.0 compatible mode choose: %Y/%m/%d/%H/%M/%S-snapshot
# File extension .jpg or .ppm is automatically added so do not include this.
# Note: A symbolic link called lastsnap.jpg created in the target_dir will always
# point to the latest snapshot, unless snapshot_filename is exactly 'lastsnap'
snapshot_filename %v-%Y%m%d%H%M%S-snapshot

# File path for motion triggered images (jpeg or ppm) relative to target_dir
# Default: %v-%Y%m%d%H%M%S-%q
# Default value is equivalent to legacy oldlayout option
# For Motion 3.0 compatible mode choose: %Y/%m/%d/%H/%M/%S-%q
# File extension .jpg or .ppm is automatically added so do not include this
# Set to 'preview' together with best-preview feature enables special naming
# convention for preview shots. See motion guide for details
jpeg_filename %v-%Y%m%d%H%M%S-%q

# File path for motion triggered ffmpeg films (mpeg) relative to target_dir
# Default: %v-%Y%m%d%H%M%S
# Default value is equivalent to legacy oldlayout option
# For Motion 3.0 compatible mode choose: %Y/%m/%d/%H%M%S
# File extension .mpg or .avi is automatically added so do not include this
# This option was previously called ffmpeg_filename
movie_filename %v-%Y%m%d%H%M%S

# File path for timelapse mpegs relative to target_dir
# Default: %Y%m%d-timelapse
# Default value is near equivalent to legacy oldlayout option
# For Motion 3.0 compatible mode choose: %Y/%m/%d-timelapse
# File extension .mpg is automatically added so do not include this
timelapse_filename %Y%m%d-timelapse


############################################################
# Live Webcam Server
############################################################

# The mini-http server listens to this port for requests (default: 0 = disabled)
webcam_port 0

# Quality of the jpeg images produced (default: 50)
webcam_quality 50

# Output frames at 1 fps when no motion is detected and increase to the
# rate given by webcam_maxrate when motion is detected (default: off)
webcam_motion off

# Maximum framerate for webcam streams (default: 1)
webcam_maxrate 1

# Restrict webcam connections to localhost only (default: on)
webcam_localhost on

# Limits the number of images per connection (default: 0 = unlimited)
# Number can be defined by multiplying actual webcam rate by desired number of seconds
# Actual webcam rate is the smallest of the numbers framerate and webcam_maxrate
webcam_limit 0


############################################################
# HTTP Based Control
############################################################

# TCP/IP port for the http server to listen on (default: 0 = disabled)
control_port 0

# Restrict control connections to localhost only (default: on)
control_localhost on

# Output for http server, select off to choose raw text plain (default: on)
control_html_output on

# Authentication for the http based control. Syntax username:password
# Default: not defined (Disabled)
; control_authentication username:password


############################################################
# Tracking (Pan/Tilt)
############################################################

# Type of tracker (0=none (default), 1=stepper, 2=iomojo, 3=pwc, 4=generic, 5=uvcvideo)
# The generic type enables the definition of motion center and motion size to
# be used with the conversion specifiers for options like on_motion_detected
track_type 0

# Enable auto tracking (default: off)
track_auto off

# Serial port of motor (default: none)
; track_port value

# Motor number for x-axis (default: -1)
track_motorx -1

# Motor number for y-axis (default: -1)
track_motory -1

# Maximum value on x-axis (default: 0)
track_maxx 0

# Maximum value on y-axis (default: 0)
track_maxy 0

# ID of an iomojo camera if used (default: 0)
track_iomojo_id 0

# Angle in degrees the camera moves per step on the X-axis
# with auto-track (default: 10)
# Currently only used with pwc type cameras
track_step_angle_x 10

# Angle in degrees the camera moves per step on the Y-axis
# with auto-track (default: 10)
# Currently only used with pwc type cameras
track_step_angle_y 10

# Delay to wait for after tracking movement as number
# of picture frames (default: 10)
track_move_wait 10

# Speed to set the motor to (stepper motor option) (default: 255)
track_speed 255

# Number of steps to make (stepper motor option) (default: 40)
track_stepsize 40


############################################################
# External Commands, Warnings and Logging:
# You can use conversion specifiers for the on_xxxx commands
# %Y = year, %m = month, %d = date,
# %H = hour, %M = minute, %S = second,
# %v = event, %q = frame number, %t = thread (camera) number,
# %D = changed pixels, %N = noise level,
# %i and %J = width and height of motion area,
# %K and %L = X and Y coordinates of motion center
# %C = value defined by text_event
# %f = filename with full path
# %n = number indicating filetype
# Both %f and %n are only defined for on_picture_save,
# on_movie_start and on_movie_end
# Quotation marks round string are allowed.
############################################################

# Do not sound beeps when detecting motion (default: on)
# Note: Motion never beeps when running in daemon mode.
quiet on

# Command to be executed when an event starts. (default: none)
# An event starts at first motion detected after a period of no motion defined by gap
; on_event_start value

# Command to be executed when an event ends after a period of no motion
# (default: none). The period of no motion is defined by option gap.
; on_event_end value

# Command to be executed when a picture (.ppm|.jpg) is saved (default: none)
# To give the filename as an argument to a command append it with %f
on_picture_save perl /home/rtu/motion/updateTwitter.pl --picture %f

# Command to be executed when a motion frame is detected (default: none)
; on_motion_detected value

# Command to be executed when a movie file (.mpg|.avi) is created. (default: none)
# To give the filename as an argument to a command append it with %f
; on_movie_start value

# Command to be executed when a movie file (.mpg|.avi) is closed. (default: none)
# To give the filename as an argument to a command append it with %f
; on_movie_end value


############################################################
# Common Options For MySQL and PostgreSQL database features.
# Options require the MySQL/PostgreSQL options to be active also.
############################################################

# Log to the database when creating motion triggered image file (default: on)
sql_log_image off

# Log to the database when creating a snapshot image file (default: on)
sql_log_snapshot off

# Log to the database when creating motion triggered mpeg file (default: off)
sql_log_mpeg off

# Log to the database when creating timelapse mpeg file (default: off)
sql_log_timelapse off

# SQL query string that is sent to the database
# Use same conversion specifiers has for text features
# Additional special conversion specifiers are
# %n = the number representing the file_type
# %f = filename with full path
# Default value:
# insert into security(camera, filename, frame, file_type, time_stamp, text_event) values('%t', '%f', '%q', '%n', '%Y-%m-%d %T', '%C')
sql_query insert into security(camera, filename, frame, file_type, time_stamp, event_time_stamp) values('%t', '%f', '%q', '%n', '%Y-%m-%d %T', '%C')


############################################################
# Database Options For MySQL
############################################################

# Mysql database to log to (default: not defined)
; mysql_db value

# The host on which the database is located (default: localhost)
; mysql_host value

# User account name for MySQL database (default: not defined)
; mysql_user value

# User password for MySQL database (default: not defined)
; mysql_password value


############################################################
# Database Options For PostgreSQL
############################################################

# PostgreSQL database to log to (default: not defined)
; pgsql_db value

# The host on which the database is located (default: localhost)
; pgsql_host value

# User account name for PostgreSQL database (default: not defined)
; pgsql_user value

# User password for PostgreSQL database (default: not defined)
; pgsql_password value

# Port on which the PostgreSQL database is located (default: 5432)
; pgsql_port 5432


############################################################
# Video Loopback Device (vloopback project)
############################################################

# Output images to a video4linux loopback device
# The value '-' means next available (default: not defined)
; video_pipe value

# Output motion images to a video4linux loopback device
# The value '-' means next available (default: not defined)
; motion_video_pipe value


##############################################################
# Thread config files - One for each camera.
# Except if only one camera - You only need this config file.
# If you have more than one camera you MUST define one thread
# config file for each camera in addition to this config file.
##############################################################

# Remember: If you have more than one camera you must have one
# thread file for each camera. E.g. 2 cameras requires 3 files:
# This motion.conf file AND thread1.conf and thread2.conf.
# Only put the options that are unique to each camera in the
# thread config files.
; thread /usr/local/etc/thread1.conf
; thread /usr/local/etc/thread2.conf
; thread /usr/local/etc/thread3.conf
; thread /usr/local/etc/thread4.conf

This script will upload pictures very quickly to your twitter account, and spam the hell out of people when motion is found, so you'll need to adjust the frame rate/sensitivity.

iPhone time lapse

Because I have this ongoing obsession with time lapse, I'm always looking for more obscure ways to create time lapse video. This weeks challenge includes a little stitching (which I outlined in an earlier post), a home made iPhone stand, and an incense candle that my girlfriend likes to burn.

First I'd like to start with a quick review of the application that I used on the iPhone to capture the images appropriately named "TimeLapse". It has a standard, and fair price of .99 cents and works as advertised. It's made up of two pages that allow you to set the speed at which pictures are taken, frame your shot, and shoot your pictures. Below is a picture of the first screen you see after launching the app:



On this screen you can set the rate at which your pictures are taken, how many pictures you want to take, and what quality you want to shoot at.



I really liked everything about this app, and can really only say the one thing I didn't like was that, although you have the choice to try and take pictures every second, you can actually take pictures at about 10 second intervals. This is something the developer states upfront however, so it's hard to knock the app on that. I'm sure this is a hardware limitation anyway, so what can you do?

Now, before we get into the quick rundown on how to make the video, here is what I came up with. It's short and sweet and was really just a proof of concept.





Ok, here's what you need to do to make time lapse videos with your iPhone:

1. Install the TimeLapse application on your iPhone
   
2. Buy/create a tripod for your phone. I had an arm laying around from an old satellite radio, and here is what I came up with:
   
   
   
3. After securing your iPhone to the tripod (I did this in portrait mode, but I'd do it in landscape next time), put your phone in airplane mode so you don't get a call that messes up your shot.
   
4. Get plenty of lighting in place, set your timing to something reasonable (you may have to try a few times to get it just right), and then start the app
   
5. After letting the app run for the desired amount of time, stop and take the phone off the tripod and head to the computer
   
6. All you need to do now is plug the phone into the computer, and then access the pictures like any digital camera. On Windows, you can go to my computer, and you'll see the iPhone listed under cameras. On the Mac, you should be prompted to download them, and on Ubuntu, you'll be prompted as well.
   
7. Now all you need to do is stitch the pictures together using some software like ffmpeg. You can learn how to do that here
   

Anyway, if you're ever out and about and want to make a quick time lapse, fire up your iPhone and let it run...

20,000 pixel pano

In the last few months, I've been interested in learning how to put my SLR to better use. Let's face it, 99% of the pictures I take with it are on auto. What's the point of having a an SLR if you're just using it as a point and shoot? So I read the manual and started to poke around on the net. I first wanted to do some exposure shots or maybe something with a cool blur effect. What I settled on was a night shot with some blurred lights. My Canon makes this pretty easy for beginners by including a mode called shutter priority which allows the photographer to adjust the shutter and the camera will adjust the rest (aperture, white balance, etc..) itself. This is pretty cool, because all I have to worry about is framing the shot and keeping the camera still. As you can see, I got some pretty good results:



I digress however, as this post is to talk about a shot that took quite a bit longer to get together: a 20k pixel panorama of Denver's front range. Because the picture is so large, you can decide if you want to load it or not:

Panorama of the Front Range

To set this shot up, I found a high point (of which there are many around these parts), set up my tripod, and then started taking picture from left to right overlapping about 10% of each shot. At first I did this on full auto mode, but then I decided to go all manual, because the contrast varied too much between each picture which adds a lot of post processing time. After I was satisfied I had enough pictures, I headed home.

When I got home, I decided to fire up The Gimp and see what I could do. As it turns out, unlike Photoshop, The Gimp doesn't have a quick way to create panos. out of the box. Also, unlike Photoshop, The Gimp has a ton of free plug-ins that do everything you can imagine. So after about one second of Googling, I found a plug-in called Pandora. The site has the download and a easy to follow tutorial on stitching your picture together. Using the tutorial, and about a hour of my time, I figured out how to stitch these bad boys together. I even started getting "advanced" and adjusting the contrast and brightness as well as rotating and cropping.

So I was able to put together a really nice picture with about 4 hours of my time and I got some exercise to boot. Now that I have the technique down, I hope to hone my skills and I expect the next shot to look even better.

- - Rob

Application launchers

An application launcher is a little piece of utility software that runs in the back ground of the OS and waits for a key combination to be pressed. Once you hit that combination (say alt + space), a little window pops up that allows you to start typing. You can then type the first few letters of the app you want to launch, and then hit enter and the app will pop up. This allows you to launch apps without taking your hand off the keyboard. For people like me (who live and die by shortcuts), this is the promised land. Many of these app launchers can be configured to open folders, search the hard drive, and many more tasks with endless plug-ins.

There are a number of apps that do this, as listed on Wikipedia, but I'll talk about the three that I've used/use on a daily basis. First there's Launchy. Launchy is a free (as is freedom), utility that runs on both Windows and Linux and has plug-in support as well as configurable key combos. I use this everyday at work and have very few problems with it. The app will "learn" your favorites as you pic them out of a list, so you won't need to pick them the second time around. Some plug-ins you may be interested in are: putty integration, weby, and one I've recently started using, Google calc. From my experience, this app works as well on Linux (Ubuntu) as it does on Windows.

Next up is Quicksilver for Mac OS X. This is the best application launcher around in my opinion. It is very polished and not only searches, and launches well, but has all the visual crack you need and love on OS X. Quicksilver also supports plug-ins, and has many configurable preferences; not to mention you can tweak the look and feel.

Lastly, we have a Linux (KDE) only option known as Katapult. This is my least favorite option out of the bunch. And being a Linux hippy, I hate to admit that there is a Mac option that I like better. It works well enough, but it doesn't learn my preferences, which kind of gets annoying. It is skinable and about the same configuration options as Launchy.

Anyway, once you start using one of these fabulous applications, you'll find it painful to go back. I have one of these installed on every box that I use regularly, and I find that I can work much more efficiently.

- - Rob

Today's obscure Linux problem

With this post, I'll be taking a cue from my friend Stu over at Corrosive Content, and posting something helpful. At work I often run into obscure problems that take a lot of time to solve. Because I work on Windows, Mac, and various other Unix flavors, I get a chance to see the worst each operating system has to offer. This little "bug" is one of those neat bugs that just doesn't seem like it can actually be true.

You run a df and notice that your /tmp directory is full. No problem, just cd /tmp and then see what's in there. After listing the files, you notice that there are a lot of .shitty files in the directory and you know you can delete those. No problem, a quick rm *.shitty should do the trick...Only one problem, you run the command and you get this cute little message:

Argument list too long

What? Let's just list the files and see what this is all about: ls *.shitty

Argument list too long

You've got to be kidding right? As it turns out, there is a limited size buffer created for shell commands and rm *.shitty actually expands to rm 1.shitty 2.shitty 3.shitty, which quickly becomes too big for the command line. Here are a few options I came up with:

The simplest answer is to do something like this:

find . -name "*.shitty" | xargs rm

This doesn't work if you have spaces in the names of the .shitty files or if the .shitty files have special characters. So you should do this:

find . -name "*.shitty" -print0 | xargs -0 rm

And finally, an extra little tid bit...Say you are in a parent directory and you want to get rid of all the files in a set up children directories:

find . -wholename "*/FunctionTests/InputData/*.shitty" -print0 | xargs -0 rm

This will go through all the directories in the current directory and look for *.shitty files in the FunctionTests/InputData folders under them. The option that is special here is the -wholename option. If you try to do this with -name, you will get an error or on some versions of find, you will get unexpected results.

- - Rob

Cheap time lapse with a webcam, VLC, and ffmpeg

I've always been fascinated with time lapse videos of all sorts. Recently I've had the urge to do a little time lapse myself. My ultimate goal is to do something with my DSLR, but I guess you have to crawl before you walk right?



1. Get a webcam

2. Get VLC from Videolan.org (Windows, Mac, and Linux)

      * if using Ubuntu type the following: sudo apt-get install vlc

3. Get ffmpeg from ffmpeg.mplayerhq.hu

      * if using Ubuntu type the following: sudo apt-get install ffmpeg

      * You can find Windows binaries for ffmpeg from Google

4. Capture your stills using VLC

      * cvlc v4l2:// :v4l2-dev="/dev/video0" -V "image" --image-out-prefix img --image-out-format jpg --image-out-ratio 10 --v4l-fps 30

This means you'll save every 10th image from /dev/video0. You'll want to replace that with where ever your webcam is. It'll most likely be under /dev/video, but you can use dmesg to find your cam.

5. Let your video run as long as you'd like (or until your hard drive fills up)


6. Stitch your images back together using ffmpeg

      * ffmpeg -b 1800 -i img%06d.jpg video.mpg

After that you'll have a video named video.mpg that looks similar to the one above. You'll want to play with the number of images you grab with the image-out-ratio and you may want to explore varying the play back speed by taking a look at the options ffmpeg has to offer.


Although I had to figure out the VLC command by reading and just trying stuff, I found the ffmpeg command from: Catswhocode.com

It's also worth mentioning that I found a good article about extracting time lapse from a video. This sounds good for shooting video with my camcorder and then getting different types of time lapse from the video. You can find that article at: wp.pr0gr4gr4mm3r.com

PSA for the day

Here is my public service announcement for the day via XKCD.com:



Don't know what DRM is? If you want a full explanation then check here, otherwise just know that it's used so companies can lock you to proprietary hardware/services under the cloak of "protecting intellectual property". It sucks because most of us don't know what DRM is until we have a useless music collection...

How to build an arcade using Kubuntu, MAME, Wahcade, and X-Arcade

A friend and I have been wanting to build a MAME cabinet for the last few years. Recently we decided to go ahead and jump into the deep end. We took a lot of help from the internet, but found that we had to go it alone for a large part of the build. So I decided that it would be good for the both the internet at large as well as me to document my findings.


As far as building the arcade goes we used the directions at Arcadecab.com as a guide. These are great instructions, and the only issues I have are that his parts estimate is a little off (we spent about $475 w/o the coin door) and you have to make a few assumptions on finishing stages that could be a little more clear. You may want to check out his new plans. I will say that he probably made the parts list a few years ago, and prices have more than likely gone up. Lastly, you'll want to print out the directions or have a computer handy, because you'll need to read and re-read them a few times to get the point. As far as the build goes here are a few side notes:

1. We didn't add the coin door so that we could save money
   
2. Don't paint anything until you get the entire thing together. It's worth taking it back apart to paint it, so you can make sure it all fits together
   
3. Think about a better way to mount the glass. We did, and it worked out great (Pics - None of these have the marquee in yet and some were with my iPhone so quality isn't the best). I'd tell you how to do it, but I'm going to focus on the software install. Email me if you have any questions, and I can help you with it.
   

Ok, with that out of the way I can tell you how to get your software up and running:

The first thing you're going to want to do is install your OS. I used Kubuntu and I'm going to base my directions off that, however once you get MAME installed the Wahcade directions should work for Windows.

To install Kubuntu go to Kubuntu.org. Once there, click on the download button to the left. Once you download and burn the ISO, pop it in your CD tray and restart your computer. The install is self explanatory, and there is plenty of help at the Ubuntu forums if you have any problems.

After you get Kubuntu installed, you need to install MAME. We used SDLMAME, but you could probably just as easily use XMAME.

To install MAME open a termial and type the following:

sudo apt-get install sdlmame

After you get MAME installed, you'll want to configure it. First, edit the mame.ini by doing the following:

sudo gedit /etc/sdlmame/mame.ini

You can also substitute gedit for vim or whatever you like. I'm using gedit for simplicity. The only thing we changed in here was the rom location. I took all the other directories out and put in:

~/roms/mame

I did this for a few reasons. First I want the location of my roms to be apparent because this is a community machine for work. Second, I want there to be only one location for my roms, so I know where all the roms are and lastly, I created a mame dir under roms because I may want to incorporate other emulators in the future (which Wahcade can do).

So after you save the mame.ini, you'll want to create the roms dir under you home directory by doing the following:

mkdir -p ~/roms/mame

Also, make a directory for your artwork (this is for Wahcade).

mkdir -p ~/roms/artwork/mame

We just decided to have screen shots and forgo the extra artwork. You can make the call on that and make other directories the extra artwork. Either way, you can find some artwork here.

To learn more about how to use mame either do the following:

man mame

at the console, or visit the website located here.

Now that you have MAME running, you need to get some roms. Getting roms is a grey area, so I'll leave out the specifics of where to get them, but I bet you can find some good ones here. Once you get your roms (and artwork if you want to be complete), save them in:

~/roms/mame

and

~/roms/artwork/mame

respectively. You need to make sure that the name of the screen shot matches the rom that it belongs to. This is how Wahcade will find your artwork. Next you need to configure your X-Arcade buttons in MAME. To do so, make sure your X-Arcade joystick is attached (I found that both USB and PS/2 connections worked) and type:

mame

at the command line. When you open MAME, your joystick will most likely not do much.

Use the keyboard to arrow up and down and go into the controller settings (you don't need to worry about having the arcade stick let you select games in MAME because you'll be using Wahcade). You'll want to map the player 1 buttons using the left side of the joystick and the player two buttons with the right side. All I did was map any of the up, down, right, and left key mappings to the up, down, right, and left joystick buttons. In the menu settings I also mapped the combination of first and second player buttons to exit a game. You'll want to map some kind of button combo to exit a game so you can get back to Wahcade. For some games, you'll need to map the "ball" to the joystick as well (unless you got the X-Arcade with the ball built in). After you do this, you'll want to go to each game and make sure all your controls work. You may find some don't work and you can figure out what button on the keyboard does what and then remember that and go back into the settings and map a button on the arcade pad. I also noticed that the buttons for player to seem to be opposite of player one. So I just recently switched the buttons around for player two. This is just a personal preference. You don't need to spend the time on this if you don't care. You can also map keys on a game by game basis by opening the game and pressing tab. This allows you to you a specific key combination for a certain game without having to change the global map. You can also edit the dip switch settings. You can change things like the difficulty of the game, the number of lifes, continues, etc... The settings will be different for each ROM.

Now you need to install Wahcade by doing the following:

cd ~/home
wget http://www.anti-particle.com/projects/wahcade/wahcade_0.99pre3_all.deb
dpkg -i wahcade*

Alternativly, you can point your browser to Anti-particle.com and find the latest version and download and install it.

Once you install Wahcade start up the Wahcade Setup Editor. You'll want to go to the "Keys" tab first and map all the up and down buttons to the up and down keys on the joystick and do the same for the left and right. All you have to do is select the function you want to re-map and then hit "enter". Then you just push the button you want to map. You can map more than one button to do the same thing. You can also map a combination of buttons to do one thing. The Setup Editor crashed on me a few times, but I just opened it back up and continued where I left off. The editor definitely needs a little more polishing, but it does the job. You can get more info on setup by going to the Wahcade site (these are for XMAME and an older version of Wahcade).

Next I went to the Emulators tab and selected MAME in the drop down. Next expand the List Generation section.

Set the ROM dir to

~/roms/mame

And set the List Generation Method to XML. Expand the Screen Saver section. I set mine to slide show and pointed it to the artwork directory. If you'd like to do a movie screen saver, then you need to find a movie you want and point Wahcade to the directory. You'll also need to install GStreamer by doing the following:

sudo apt-get install gstreamer

Next expand the Artwork section and point screen shot area to the artwork directory you created earlier (~/roms/artwork/mame). The last thing I did was go to the MAME only tab and edit the layout. I just edited the layout so it only showed the artwork that I have (screen shot in this case).

Now all you need to do is fire up Wahcade and give it a whirl. You can start it by opening up a command window and typing:

wahcade

I also created a few shortcuts on the desktop and by moving the joystick up and down, you can select it and fire it up with the player one button.

Here is a video of our arcade in action (minus the marquee):




I hope you find these directions useful and sorry they aren't more in depth. I should have created them while I was doing the work, but I didn't think about it, so I had to create them by memory. In the future, I'd like to add a history file so that we can keep high scores, add more games, and add more emulators. The arcade has been in action for about a month now, and it's a hit. It runs all the time and hasn't crashed often and is played everyday. If you have any questions or would like me to elaborate more, leave a commit or shoot me an email.

Scour

I found this new website called Scour that aggregates searches from Google, Yahoo, and MSN and lets you vote on how relevant they are. You get points for voting, commenting, and referrals that you can cash in for money. I'm an engineer and I use Google all day long so I figure why not just get paid for it? Even if it's pennies, that's more than I was making before. Sign up by clicking here (Note: this is a link that will give me referral points. Just wanted to disclose).

iBrick

I have a 1st gen iPhone and have been waiting for 3rd party apps for ever now (I had it hacked for while, but I just hate that I can't get firmware updates without jumping through hoops). Today (July 11) everything was suppose to launch. And thus started my iBricking experience:

~ 5 p.m July 10th - Manually downloaded iTunes 7.7
~ 6 p.m July 10th - Started browsing apps
~ 7 p.m July 10th - After looking through all apps...found only 4 or 5 I want
~ 7:15 p.m Got all apps downloaded
8 a.m July 11th - Opened iTunes, plugged phone in and tried to update
8:01 - Tried to upgrade again
8:02 - Tried again
.
.
.
.
.
9 a.m - iTunes says there is an update...Yipeeee!!!
9:01 a.m - Started upgrade process
.
.
.
9:30 a.m - Everything got backed up, new firmware in place, all it has to do now is authenticate
9:35 a.m - Uh oh





I've been trying to get my phone back for about an hour and a half now and it seems I'm not the only one having problems: Digg

If I find a solution for this, I'll post it.

Update: It's now 11:12 a.m and I'm still without a phone.
Update # 2: 12:52 p.m - Still can't use my phone. I'm calling support listed at Apple.com

Update # 3: Still on hold, but I did find some info about it on the CNET Crave Blog

Below is what a user posted from his experience with Apple tech support:

Dear ,

Due to network congestion on the iTunes server, you may not be able to update or restore the software on your iPhone. Once the congestion has decreased the software should be available for you to update. It would be advisable to attempt the update later on today.

If you have attempted to restore your iPhone and it is currently in recovery mode, you will not be able to use your iPhone until the software has been restored or updated. A temporary solution may be to use your SIM in another AT&T phone or have your calls forwarded to a phone you have access to.

We apologize for the inconvenience this may have caused.

If you would like to voice your concerns to Apple about this, feel free to visit apple.com/feedback

Thank-you for your patience on this matter.

Regards,
Your Apple Care Team

Final Update: - I was just able to activate my phone and sync my new apps. I'll let you guys know how the 2.0 firmware is and give you my 2cents on the apps soon.

Why people steal music

You want to know why people steal music? It's because the RIAA and bands DRM their music to all hell and make it harder to buy music than to steal it. Why buy music that I can barley play when I can just download it and play it on whatever device I want and on as many devices as I want?

I bought an album from Snocap directly from MySpace from a band that I like called Kill Switch Engage. I knew the album had DRM on it, but I wanted to support the band so I bought it anyway. I use Itunes as my player, but this album has Windows DRM. This means that I can only play the album with Windows Media Player. Fine. I like the band and I didn't want to "rip them off". I played it a few times, and then forgot about it because it wasn't in my Itunes library which is what I use. Then I got a new laptop and moved all my music over. All my music played fine in Itunes (because I strip the DRM with a third party app), but I was unable to play my KSE album. Here is what I get when I try to play it:



Simple right? Just download the nice executable and be on your way. Wrong. I'm still having problems. I'm sure I can get them worked out being that I'm an engineer, but that's not the point. I shouldn't have to work anything out just to listen to the music that I bought. I can't even put the shit on my Ipod. So I emailed the band telling them I won't be buying any more of their music, and because Apple just sent a C & D to my favorite fair play stripper, I won't be buying music from Itunes anymore. So where does that leave me? Well there is Amazonmp3.com which doesn't have all the major labels, and there's Emusic which is in the same boat and also has a subscription model that I'm not so hot on. So what is an honest person to do? Looks like the people that are trying to keep me from stealing music are pushing me to start exploring my options.

~ Rob

Land Rover DII washer fluid bottle relocation

After buying a new front bumper for my DII, I faced a new challenge: relocate the washer fluid bottle so that it doesn't hang below my new bumper. I first searched Discoweb.org and found a promising tutorial. I went to work, but then I realized I had extra hardware that wasn't shown in the tutorial. I went back to Discoweb, and found that others had the same problem. I saw that you could potentially use a D90 water bottle in substitution of the stock bottle. There was only one problem: I didn't want to spend the money to buy a D90 bottle that I may hack up anyway. After going back to the drawing board, I came up with a solution that was easy to install, holds lots of fluid, and most important only cost about $35 dollars in parts (You can probably get away with it for less than $15 if you have some parts around or you shop around).

It should be noted that this works with a ROVERTRACKS front bumper, and I would assume it would work with other low profile bumpers like the RoverTyme bumper, but I don't know for sure.

You will need:

Materials:

About 3 feet of poly tube to extend the stock hoses
About 3 feet of wire to extend the wire for the pumps
2 large hose clamps hose clamps
A 3" or 4" length of PVC
2 2" lengths of PVC
2 3" or 4" end caps (same as whatever size you got above)
2 2" 90 degree PVC bends
A 2" cap with screw top
A 3" or 4" coupler with 2" outlet
PVC glue

Tools:

2" hole saw
Saw to cut PVC
Screw driver
Drill and dremel (I used the dremel because I didn't have a bit big enough)
Small bit for vent hole, big bit if you have it for mounting pumps


Directions:

First of all this is what you are trying to make:



This is just pieced together and the up tube isn't cut to length yet.

1. Start by lining up the 3" piece of pipe under the bumper and measuring out how much you need cut off to create a tight fit. Make sure to leave enough space for the end camps and mounting of the pumps on the end of the container.

2. Cut the 3" tube in half a third of the way down the tube on the right side.

3. Put the coupler in between the new cut. (DON'T GLUE ANYTHING YET)

4. Put the new assembly back up to the bumper to make sure you still have room for everything. You'll probably have to cut the long tube again.

5. Now put the end caps on and cut the holes in the right end of the tube. I put the pumps up to the end of the cap and marked where I needed to cut. Try not to cut the holes too big. The tighter the fit the better. Try to put the pumps to as close to the bottom of the tube as possible (this will allow you to pick up more fluid).



Note: this picture has one of the small motors and the big motor (used for old bumper sprayers. You'll use both small motors when you're ready to glue). I was just test fitting.



6. Now assemble the whole thing and test fit it. This will allow you to figure out the length of your up tube and how far over you need to go over with the 2" pipe before you need to start your up tube. I went over far enough so the up tube wasn't in front of my fan. Mark out your hole that you will cut in the fender.

7. Cut your over tube and up tube to the right size. Cut the hole in the fender.



8. Put the whole assembly back in place and make sure everything lines up.

9. Now extend your tubes and wires. You should just need to cut a length of tube (about a foot) and it will fit right in to the stock connectors and then connect to the pump. Cut off the plug that plugs into the pumps and splice in about a foot of wire.

Here is a picture:

On the left is the stock length and the right is the new length.



The tubes will run from the stock connection point through a hole and into the new location:



Here is how they connect:

I actually heated the lines a little to slide them all the way on when I ready to put the lines in place for production use.



10. Once you are sure you have the right fit, glue everything together. Make sure to be liberal with the glue and when connecting two pieces of PVC twist the two peices together (You'll have leaks otherwise). You'll also need to use some silicone when gluing the pumps in place. Make sure you use the stock rubber grommets and let the silicone dry over night.

11. Drill a small hole in the cap on the up tube so that bottle can breath.



12. Now use the bar that runs in front of the radiator to attach the new container:




Here's a few pictures of it finished:

The finished bottle:




On the truck from below:



From the front squatting:



The spout:





After I was all done, I zip tied all the lines and had to add a few to the up tube to get it just in place. I also had a small leak, and had to add more silicone. I've been using the new system for a few weeks, and it works great. I used a 3" tube for the main container, and I can hold just under a gallon. If I used 4" tube I'm sure I would have been able to hold over a gallon. You can't even see the bottle unless you squat pretty low and look. Leave a comment if you have any questions, and I can help you with anything you need.