uEye camera with python on Windows

Question

I need to get a uEye camera working with python on Windows in order to take pictures and operate on the live stream.
Since uEye camer

Answer 1

I had a similar project recently and found a couple of solutions that worked for me. I was also using python 2.7 (32-bit) and windows 7. I'm sure there are multiple other ways to control the camera but the two methods I found were (1) either using ctypes with the c++ API, or (2) using pythonnet (i.e. clr) with the dotNet libraries. Each method requires importing and calling functions from a separate dll file. I ultimately preferred the ctypes approach because it was easier to compile into an executable, but both methods worked equally well for controlling the camera.

1. uEye API using python ctypes:

The functions in the uEye API dll can be called in python using ctypes. Using ctypes is slightly cumbersome because passing variables between python and c requires constantly converting data types, but it works.

import ctypes
import numpy as np

uEyeDll = ctypes.cdll.LoadLibrary("ueye_api.dll") #include full path or copy dll into same folder as .py script


#connect camera
cam = ctypes.c_uint32(0)
hWnd = ctypes.c_voidp()
msg=uEyeDll.is_InitCamera(ctypes.byref(cam),hWnd)
ErrChk=uEyeDll.is_EnableAutoExit (cam, ctypes.c_uint(1))
if ~ErrChk:
    print (' Camera Connected')
IS_CM_SENSOR_RAW8  =ctypes.c_int(11)
nRet = uEyeDll.is_SetColorMode(cam,IS_CM_SENSOR_RAW8)
IS_SET_TRIGGER_SOFTWARE = ctypes.c_uint(0x1000)
nRet = uEyeDll.is_SetExternalTrigger(cam, IS_SET_TRIGGER_SOFTWARE)


#allocate memory
width_py = 1600
height_py = 1200
pixels_py =8

width = ctypes.c_int(width_py) #convert python values into c++ integers
height = ctypes.c_int(height_py) 
bitspixel=ctypes.c_int(pixels_py)
pcImgMem = ctypes.c_char_p() #create placeholder for image memory
pid=ctypes.c_int()

ErrChk=uEyeDll.is_AllocImageMem(cam, width, height,  bitspixel, ctypes.byref(pcImgMem), ctypes.byref(pid))
if ~ErrChk:
    print (' Success')
else:
    print (' Memory allocation failed, no camera with value' +str(cam.value))


# Get image data    
uEyeDll.is_SetImageMem(cam, pcImgMem, pid)
ImageData = np.ones((height_py,width_py),dtype=np.uint8)

#put these lines inside a while loop to return continous images to the array "ImageData"  
uEyeDll.is_FreezeVideo (cam, ctypes.c_int(0x0000))  #IS_DONT_WAIT  = 0x0000, or IS_GET_LIVE = 0x8000
uEyeDll.is_CopyImageMem (cam, pcImgMem, pid, ImageData.ctypes.data) 

2. using pythonnet & uEye .NET interface

The syntax to call functions from the .NET dll is more straightforward than with ctypes, but installing the pythonnet (clr) package was difficult for me for some reason. Here's an example of acquiring a camera image with the .NET functions:

import numpy as np
import clr
import sys
import System
from System import Array, Double, IntPtr, Random
print System.Environment.Version
from CLR.System.Reflection import Assembly
from System.Collections.Generic import Dictionary
from System.Runtime.InteropServices import Marshal

true =bool(1)
false=bool(0)

#import .NET dll using clr (pythonnet)
sys.path.append(r"C:\Program Files\IDS\uEye\Develop\DotNet")  # path of dll
clr.AddReference ('uEyeDotNet') # the dll
import uEye 

# initialize camera 

cam = uEye.Camera()
CAM_ID=1;

msg=cam.Init(CAM_ID)

print 'InitMessage ='+ str(msg)

# Change Camera settings
gain =1  #% gain
exposure = 0.2 #ms
ColorMode=cam.PixelFormat.Set(uEye.Defines.ColorMode.SensorRaw8)
errChk=cam.Trigger.Set(uEye.Defines.TriggerMode.Software)
errChk=cam.Gain.Hardware.GetSupported(1,1,1,1)
errChk,gainFactor=cam.Gain.Hardware.ConvertScaledToFactor.Master(gain, 1)
errChk=cam.Gain.Hardware.Factor.SetMaster(gainFactor)
errChk2,gain=cam.Gain.Hardware.Factor.GetMaster(gain)
errChk2,gainout=cam.Gain.Hardware.Scaled.GetMaster(1)
cam.Timing.Exposure.Set(1)
errChk,exposure_out=cam.Timing.Exposure.Get(exposure)

#allocate image memory
ErrChk, memout=cam.Memory.Allocate(1600,1200,8,true,1)
[ErrChk, Width, Height, Bits, Pitch] = cam.Memory.Inquire(memout,1,1,1,1);

# image aquisition
for n in range(1000):

    ErrChk=cam.Acquisition.Freeze(true)
    outarray = System.Array[System.Byte](())
    [ErrChk, tmp] = cam.Memory.CopyToArray(memout, outarray)

    #'Copy .Net Array using Marshal.Copy
    imageData = np.empty(len(tmp),dtype=np.uint8)
    Marshal.Copy(tmp, 0,IntPtr.__overloads__[int](imageData.__array_interface__['data'][0]), len(tmp))