Bullet-time - 16 simultaneous stills??

[TopGeek 0]

Looking for input on best way to solve a problem...

 

Need the ability to do a "bullet-time" shot - ala movies like the matrix or swordfish where multiple photos are taken simultaneously by multiple cameras at different angles.

 

Just need to end up with 16 tifs/jpgs/whatever (digital stills) in a single directory on a hard disk after a single click of a button/mouse.

 

the resolution requirement isn't huge 9 i.e. 720x480 would suffice (could *maybe* live with 640x480 - but the better the image the better solution (the images would be strictly stills) with an absolute perfect solution being a couple of megapixels per camera.

 

I thought perhaps a cool way to do this would be a 16 port capture card with 16 cameras ... does anyone know of a way to trigger all 16 cameras at exactly the same moment for 16 simultaneous still photographs? (or in a very short time span - less than a second say).

 

Again, the photos have to be still, clear (non-interlaced?) and then all dumped simultaneously into a single directory on a hard disk... video isn't a concern.

 

Tips? Suggestions?

 

...and just out of curiosity - anyone know how the same thing could be done potentially with digital still cameras? - say 2 or 3 megapixels per image? I know there is a new generation of wi-fi still cameras coming out but I don't know how one would trigger them all simultaneously (not to mention a capture card with 16 1/3" ccd's would likely be less expensive).

 

thanks in advance.. solid advice appreciated but also appreciate any brain-storming / thinking out loud.

[kandcorp 0]

check this out: http://www.digitalwestimaging.com/sys-tmpl/pictures/view.nhtml?profile=pictures&UID=10036

[TopGeek 0]

3000 fps?? holy heck!

 

but that;'s kind of the opposite of what I need

 

I need ONE fps - from 16 different cameras (because they are all in different locatsions) - but that one fps has to be simultaneous from all cameras.

 

I'm not trying to get 16 frames from one position at the exact same moment. I'm trying to get 1 frame from 16 positions at the exact same instant.

[TopGeek 0]

I guess an easier question would be...

 

do any of the current popular dvr systems like geo or avermedia have a configuration option where you can group a bunch of cameras and set it so that you can click "still capture" and have it take a still from all selected cameras instead of just a single camera?

 

[Cooperman 0]

TopGeek,

 

The solution to your problem may be dictated more by the application itself.

 

If you need to capture a single image instantaneously from 16 sources it can be done, but it may not be particularly cheap.

 

On the other hand, if your individual image capture needs to be within so many hundredths of a second, then a 16 channel DVR may do the job.

 

Consider that if a high spec. DVR is capturing (lets say for example) 240 ips across 16 channels, then although hundreds of images can be captured in a second under perhaps alarm input trigger conditions, you only need to recall the 16 coherent images captured at a specific point in time.

 

That point could be referenced in a number of ways (timecode, lit LED on the image etc.) , and you could then recall those specific (sequence of) images captured in 16 / 240ths of a second (that's not really strictly accurate, but if you'll pardon the pun, I'm sure you get the picture )

 

Just a suggestion.

[TopGeek 0]

in fact the 16 images could be captured for up to say 1 full second of time.

 

but they'd definitely have to be all captured in under 1.5 seconds.

 

Is there a way with a Geo system to capture still images - and to trigger more than 8 cameras to capture a still simultaneous? (less than one full second)... i.e. one click makes all the cameras record a still instead of having to click camera 1 - capture. camera 2 - capture. camera 3 - capture. etc.

 

I guess if most DVRs would do this (should be fairly simple?) then a secondary question would be

 

WHICH DVR systems take the BEST quality still images?

(i know... i know.. Kinda like asking "synthetic or mineral based" oil question on a motorcycle forum - the age old question LOL.)

 

 

So let me start over:

 

What DVR cards allow you to click ONE button and have ALL CAMERAS capture a single still image (one from each - all 16 in under a second which is only 16fps total... so most should - but the software being able to trigger said event is the real question))

 

and...

 

of the cards that allow this .. which ones have the CLEAREST / BEST **still image** quality (i.e. less compression, higher resolutions)

 

cheers,

Edward

p.s. sorry for not communicating well.. I gues I should have better explained myself to begin with instead of "thinking out loud". lol

[Thomas 0]

Top geek you do know there is a reason those are million dollar effects, right?

 

It sounds like what you need is a very high resolution multiplexer. But I'm not sure it's going to do what you need as far as image quality. What exactly are you trying to do with this? I'm not sure that you wouldn't be better off with some video editing equipment.

[rory 0]

sounds like a custom application such as an SDK and some MegaPixel IP cameras..

 

but meanwhile, i wrote a small Network program for the Geo's that has a snapshot feature ... but its not going to be that kind of resolution ..

[TopGeek 0]

I didn't think this would be so hard??

 

Most DVRs will record a 720 x 480 still correct?

 

Most DVRs will allow you to click a button and capture a still correct?

(the three generic ones I've played with will...)

 

all I need to do is make that button capture that 720x480 still from all cameras at once instead of having to select the camera and then click still image over and over again for each camera...

 

Kind of like triggering an alarm event where all cameras start recording - only they are going to take a still instead of video?

 

720x480 is fine - just needs to be clear. Will your script do that rory?

[cctv_down_under 0]

Here is several ideas

 

In the Geo system there is a facility to FTP, this is still images sent to a location for storage, I am not sure how many cameras can be told to do this, however I assume all of them can, so therefore you should??? be able to either collect these still images that are defined by the settings you set in the FTP IE 1fps etc, furthermore I would check to see if the FTP can be used as the hotline alert, if this is the case then you could use the I/O card and set all cameras to Hotline alert via FTP, this means they will all be at roughly the same time by pressing a button.

 

Another option would be to make all cameras send email alert, I am not sure if you would get the resolution that you need from this (been a long time since playing with a Geo) but if the email is triggered by the I/O card and you set every camera in this manner then you should??? get 16 cameras sending a snapshot to an email, I am not sure if you could manipulate this to strip the images into a folder?

 

If you are not concerned about resolution then you could simply take a screen dump of the dvr and individually cut each image out, but this would make the images rather small.

 

The best solution I could suggest would be to use 16 video encoders, these can send images in large resolution on closed circuit, IE a button, they can send them to a folder on a network and can handle large resolutions and in fact can do this in several codecs allowing you to chose your resolution, it would also mean you could adjust your I and P frames accordingly to get the desired result, this solution however is going to be expensive to say the least, however you can buy encoders that take 8 inputs at a time so you may only need two of them but these usually come with HDD and are consideraby expensive because you pay for the redundancy features offered by this unit.

 

lastly I am sure you could pay someone like Rory to write a macro (probably wrong terminology) in Active X to activate the "Snapshot" function in the web viewer on geovision and this would create 16 snapshots from the web client.

 

 

I hope this helps in some way...and in no way have I tested all of this, however I have done the FTP thing.