A little program to automatically capture video from a webcam for a set amount of time. Features configurable frame rate and ability to shutdown when finished. Actually made so I can see what I do in my sleep.

auto_webcam.py

import pygame.camera
import pygame.image
import moviepy.video.io.ImageSequenceClip
import os.path
import time
import shutil
import sys
import re
import platform

TITLE = '''
Auto Webcam Program
-------------------
'''

DEFAULT_DURATION = 300
DEFAULT_FRAME_RATE = 1 / 10
DEFAULT_LOGGING_INTERVAL = 30
OUTPUT_DIRECTORY = 'webcam-output/'
VIDEO_OUTPUT_FILE = os.path.join(OUTPUT_DIRECTORY, '_output.mp4')

def get_camera_from_user():
    camera_idxs = pygame.camera.list_cameras()
    if len(camera_idxs) == 0:
        print('Could not find any camera')
        sys.exit()
    
    print('Available cameras: ')
    cameras = []
    for camera_idx in camera_idxs:
        camera = pygame.camera.Camera(camera_idx)
        cameras.append(camera)
        print(f'{camera_idx}: {camera.dev.getdisplayname()}')
    
    camera_idx = input('Enter a camera number from above to use: ')
    try:
        return cameras[int(camera_idx)]
    except:
        print('Invalid camera number')
        sys.exit()

def get_value_from_user(prompt, converter, default_value):
    ''' Get a value from the user using input.
    Use converter to turn it into the correct format.
    If conversion fails, default_value is returned
    '''
    value = input(f'{prompt} (defaults to {default_value}): ')
    try:
        return converter(value)
    except:
        print('Invalid input, using default')
        return default_value

def ask_shutdown_when_finished():
    return input('Do you want the computer to shutdown when recording is finished? (y/n) ') == 'y'

def clear_directory(directory_name):
    for filename in os.listdir(directory_name):
        file_path = os.path.join(directory_name, filename)
        try:
            if os.path.isfile(file_path) or os.path.islink(file_path):
                os.unlink(file_path)
            elif os.path.isdir(file_path):
                shutil.rmtree(file_path)
        except Exception as e:
            print('Failed to delete %s. Reason: %s' % (file_path, e))

def create_video_file(frame_rate):
    # sorting function from https://stackoverflow.com/a/33159707/12650706
    
    image_files = [os.path.join(OUTPUT_DIRECTORY, img) for img in os.listdir(OUTPUT_DIRECTORY)]
    image_files.sort(key=lambda f: int(re.sub('\D', '', f)))
    clip = moviepy.video.io.ImageSequenceClip.ImageSequenceClip(image_files, fps=1 / frame_rate)
    clip.write_videofile(VIDEO_OUTPUT_FILE)

if __name__ == '__main__':
    print(TITLE)

    frame_count = 0
    
    pygame.camera.init()
    camera = get_camera_from_user()
    camera.start()
    
    duration = 60 * get_value_from_user('Enter duration of recording in minutes', float, DEFAULT_DURATION / 60)
    frame_rate = 1 / get_value_from_user('Enter frames per second of recording', int, int(1 / DEFAULT_FRAME_RATE))
    logging_interval = get_value_from_user('Enter logging interval in seconds', int, DEFAULT_LOGGING_INTERVAL)
    shutdown_when_finished = ask_shutdown_when_finished()
    
    if not os.path.exists(OUTPUT_DIRECTORY):
        os.makedirs(OUTPUT_DIRECTORY)
    clear_directory(OUTPUT_DIRECTORY)

    print('Recording...')

    start_time = time.time()
    time_elapsed = 0
    while time_elapsed < duration:
        frame_start = time.time()
        
        img = camera.get_image()
        pygame.image.save(img, os.path.join(OUTPUT_DIRECTORY, str(frame_count + 1) + '.jpg'))
        frame_count += 1

        if (frame_count * frame_rate) % logging_interval == 0:
            print(f'Recorded {int(time_elapsed)}s out of {duration}s')

        frame_end = time.time()
        # Use max here to stop duration being negative in first, laggy frames
        time.sleep(max(0, frame_rate - (frame_end - frame_start)))
        time_elapsed = time.time() - start_time

    pygame.camera.quit()

    print('Creating video file...')
    create_video_file(frame_rate)
    
    print('Done')

    if shutdown_when_finished:
        print('Shutting down...')
        platform_name = platform.system().lower()
        if platform_name == 'windows': 
            os.system('shutdown -s')
        elif platform_name == 'linux':
            os.system('shutdown')
        else:
            print(f'Shutdown not supported on {platform_name}')