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@npyoung
Last active August 25, 2022 11:06
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Fast acquisition from a Vimba camera in Python
"""
This demonstration assumes you have already installed Pymba and followed the installation instructions there:
https://github.com/morefigs/pymba
MoviePy is used to save the frames to a video file for later viewing, while the frame's mean intensity is
printed in real time. MoviePy can be installed from pip nicely.
"""
import pymba
from moviepy.video.io.ffmpeg_writer import FFMPEG_VideoWriter as VidWriter
from skimage.color import gray2rgb
import time
# Start by getting the Vimba API set up
# Using the context (i.e. 'with' syntax) is a good idea
# If something crashes, vimba.shutdown() will get called automatically
# and your camera will not get left in an unusable state!
with pymba.Vimba() as vimba:
print vimba.getVersion()
# Find any cameras that are attached
system = pymba.getSystem()
system.runFeatureCommand("GeVDiscoveryAllOnce")
time.sleep(0.2) # feature commands run in another thread, but need a moment to execute
camera_ids = vimba.getCameraIds()
# Just use the first camera we found
vmb_cam = vimba.getCamera(camera_ids[0])
vmb_cam.openCamera()
# Set up the camera with the right parameters
# Includes examples of setting up the output TTLs
vmb_cam.PixelFormat = 'Mono8'
vmb_cam.AcquisitionMode = 'Continuous'
vmb_cam.BinningHorizontal = 4
vmb_cam.BinningVertical = 4
vmb_cam.Height = vmb_cam.HeightMax
vmb_cam.Width = vmb_cam.WidthMax
vmb_cam.AcquisitionFrameRateAbs = 60
vmb_cam.SyncOutSelector = 'SyncOut1'
vmb_cam.SyncOutSource = 'Exposing'
vmb_cam.TriggerSource = 'FixedRate'
# Set up the video file where our frames will be logged
video_logger = VidWriter(filename="vimba_test.mp4",
size=(vmb_cam.Width, vmb_cam.Height),
fps=vmb_cam.AcquisitionFrameRateAbs,
code='mpeg4',
preset='ultrafast')
# Now we set up a callback that will process frames as they arrive
def frame_callback(frame):
frame_data = frame.getBufferByteData()
img = np.ndarray(buffer=frame_data,
dtype=np.uint8,
shape=(frame.height, frame.width))
print img.mean()
video_logger.write_frame(gray2rgb(img))
frame.queueFrameCapture(frame_callback)
# Finally, create a buffer of frames. Vimba's way of doing this
# is odd: you just make a bunch of frame objects and Vimba decides
# what order to fill them in.
n_vimba_frames = 10
frame_pool = [vmb_cam.getFrame() for _ in xrange(n_vimba_frames)]
for frame in frame_pool:
frame.announceFrame() # now Vimba knows about the frame... also odd design choice
frame.queueFrameCapture(frame_callback)
# Start capturing frames!
vmb_cam.startCapture()
vmb_cam.runFeatureCommand('AcquisitionStart')
time.sleep(30) # 30 seconds of acquisition, proves that frames are written on another thread
vmb_cam.runFeatureCommand('AcquisitionStop')
time.sleep(0.2)
vmb_cam.flushCaptureQueue() # unqueues all frames, must be called before endCapture()
vmb_cam.endCapture()
vmb_cam.revokeAllFrames() # makes Vimba forget about the frames it's just unqueued
@kchang2
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kchang2 commented Feb 27, 2019

Hi,
Minor edits:
Line 12: add import numpy as np
Line 21: system = pymba.getSystem() should be system = vimba.getSystem()

@Clamdog
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Clamdog commented May 22, 2019

I am getting an error

File "C:/Users/######/Desktop/Python Video Recorder/untitled0.py", line 20, in
system = vimba.getSystem()

AttributeError: 'Vimba' object has no attribute 'getSystem'

I have Pymba and the Vimba ADK installed using conda, any idea?

@goksinan
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I believe the method names have changed since this code was published.
vimba.getSystem() -> vimba.system()
system.runFeatureCommand() -> system.run_feature_command()
vimba.getCameraIds() -> vimba.camera_ids()
...and so on.
Just type, for example vimba. in your console, and go over the suggested methods and use them instead.

@glitt13
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glitt13 commented Aug 4, 2020

I was scratching my head on how to modify some methods for the vmb_cam object. A convenient approach to figuring out which methods can be called for a particular object is to employ dir():

obj_mth = [mth_nam for mth_nam in dir(vmb_cam) if callable(getattr(vmb_cam, mth_nam))]

For vmb_cam, this yields:
['__class__', '__delattr__', '__dir__', '__eq__', '__format__', '__ge__', '__getattr__', '__getattribute__', '__gt__', '__hash__', '__init__', '__init_subclass__', '__le__', '__lt__', '__ne__', '__new__', '__reduce__', '__reduce_ex__', '__repr__', '__setattr__', '__sizeof__', '__str__', '__subclasshook__', '_feature_info', '_feature_infos', '_streaming_callback', 'acquire_frame', 'arm', 'close', 'disarm', 'end_capture', 'feature', 'feature_command_is_done', 'feature_names', 'flush_capture_queue', 'new_frame', 'open', 'read_register', 'register_feature_invalidation_callback', 'revoke_all_frames', 'run_feature_command', 'start_capture', 'start_frame_acquisition', 'stop_frame_acquisition', 'unregister_all_feature_invalidation_callbacks', 'unregister_feature_invalidation_callback', 'write_register']

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