java:web cam application

Question

I am looking to do develop the following application. How to proceed?

1. Scan the system for installed webcams and their supported video modes.
2. Let the user select a cam and a video mode.
3. Displays a video of the camera.
4. Starts a frame grabber/processor, it doesn't have to do nothing for now. I want to have the possibility to elaborate frames or at least one frame every x.
5. Not sure if it's possible but i'd need also a routine to overlay processed frames on the playing video.

Answer 1

Check this post on SO for inspiration.

The JMF framework supports capturing real-time data, audio or video, as detailed in this article

Answer 2

You can also try LTI-Civil

Answer 3

I would recommend you using Webcam Capture project since neither JMF nor LTI-CIVIL are maintained any more. Webcam capture is a cross-platform, open source project hosted on Github. There are plenty of examples, e.g. of how to do things you've asked:

• How to enumerate webcams and listen for new devices connected
• Display video from camera
• Enable grabbing and take snapshot on demand

Unfortunately there is no possibility to overlay image obtained thru Webcam Capture API on the playing video. At least not within the Webcam Capture itself, but you could use Xuggler to do that - it contains example of how this can be done.

Please note that Webcam Capture API can be used on top of the JMF, FMJ, LTI-CIVIL, GStreamer, OpenIMAJ and other.