[ARFORUM] Bulk Camera Order

Hi All,

On the ARToolKit mailing list (www.hit.washington.edu/artoolkit/) we have
been trying to put together a bulk order of small firewire cameras that
are suitable for AR applications. The cameras we are looking to buy are
the Firefly cameras from Point Grey (www.ptgrey.com).

The Firefly camera can capture VGA (640x480) resolution RGB video at 30
frames/second, is small and comes with an API that allows complete camera
control. It also uses a 1/3 inch CCD rather than the usual 1/4 inch CCD,
providing better image quality than other firewire web cams. So it
should be a good choice for video see-through AR applications.

The camera normally costs $595, but with a bulk order of 10 we can get the
cost down to $400 and with a larger order we're hoping to drop the cost to
$300 or less.

Please let me know if you're interested in joining the group order.

Thanks,
	Mark

PS I should mention that I'm not affiliated with Point Grey in anyway - I
just want to get the best deal I can on cameras :)

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Mark Billinghurst 		| Human Interface Technology Laboratory
grof@h ..................	| University of Washington, Box 352-142
fax: +1-206-543-5380		| Seattle, WA 98195

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From:	Mark Billinghurst <grof@h ..................>	Received:	Sep 4, 2001
To	arforum@t .........
Subject:	[ARFORUM] Bulk Camera Order
Hi All, On the ARToolKit mailing list (www.hit.washington.edu/artoolkit/) we have been trying to put together a bulk order of small firewire cameras that are suitable for AR applications. The cameras we are looking to buy are the Firefly cameras from Point Grey (www.ptgrey.com). The Firefly camera can capture VGA (640x480) resolution RGB video at 30 frames/second, is small and comes with an API that allows complete camera control. It also uses a 1/3 inch CCD rather than the usual 1/4 inch CCD, providing better image quality than other firewire web cams. So it should be a good choice for video see-through AR applications. The camera normally costs $595, but with a bulk order of 10 we can get the cost down to $400 and with a larger order we're hoping to drop the cost to $300 or less. Please let me know if you're interested in joining the group order. Thanks, Mark PS I should mention that I'm not affiliated with Point Grey in anyway - I just want to get the best deal I can on cameras :) +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Mark Billinghurst \| Human Interface Technology Laboratory grof@h .................. \| University of Washington, Box 352-142 fax: +1-206-543-5380 \| Seattle, WA 98195 ==^================================================================ EASY UNSUBSCRIBE click here: http://topica.com/u/?a84Ao5.a9zIQj Or send an email To: arforum-unsubscribe@t ......... This email was sent to: webmaster@e ............ T O P I C A -- Register now to manage your mail! http://www.topica.com/partner/tag02/register ==^================================================================

From:	Myron Flickner <flick@a ..............>	Received:	Sep 4, 2001
To	arforum@t .........
Subject:	Re: [ARFORUM] Bulk Camera Order
>The Firefly camera can capture VGA (640x480) resolution RGB video at 30 >frames/second, is small and comes with an API that allows complete camera >control. I would be curious what the best frame rate people actually get with the firefly. I tried the B&W firefly with a PCMCIA firewire card on a 800 Mhz T20 Thinkpad. On Windows 2000 I only managed to get ~20 frames/sec (capture and display) and this required 90%-100% of the CPU. With a PCI ( BT848 from viewcast.com ) video grabber in a T20 dock this takes about 6-10% of the CPU and I'll get 30 frames/sec. Pt. Grey indicated that they had some new drivers that would reduce the CPU overhead but I never found the time to test them. ___o imaging away / Myron Flickner, flick@a .............. _ \ <,_ IBM Almaden Research Center, 650 Harry Road (_)/ (_) San Jose, CA 95120-6099 phone (408) 927-1776 My project's web page http://www.almaden.ibm.com/cs/blueeyes ==^================================================================ EASY UNSUBSCRIBE click here: http://topica.com/u/?a84Ao5.a9zIQj Or send an email To: arforum-unsubscribe@t ......... This email was sent to: webmaster@e ............ T O P I C A -- Register now to manage your mail! http://www.topica.com/partner/tag02/register ==^================================================================

From:	Reinhold Behringer <rbehringer@r .......>	Received:	Sep 4, 2001
To	arforum@t .........
Subject:	Re: [ARFORUM] Bulk Camera Order
We are experimenting with an iBot camera (orangemicro.com) - and I get 15 fps under Windows 2000, with a processor load of 30-40 % for grabbing and display (Pentium4, 1.5 GHz). We also plan to use a MetaControls camera, but it has some problems with being recognized by the operating system. ------------------------------------------------------------------- Reinhold Behringer, Senior Scientist - Human Computer Interface Rockwell Scientific, 1049 Camino Dos Rios, Thousand Oaks, CA 91360 phone: (805) 373-4435 fax: (805) 373-4862 rbehringer@r ....... http://hci.rwsc.com -------------------------------------------------------------------- Myron Flickner To: <flick@a ..... cc: n.ibm.com> Subject: Re: [ARFORUM] Bulk Camera Order 09/04/2001 01:12 PM Please respond to arforum >The Firefly camera can capture VGA (640x480) resolution RGB video at 30 >frames/second, is small and comes with an API that allows complete camera >control. I would be curious what the best frame rate people actually get with the firefly. I tried the B&W firefly with a PCMCIA firewire card on a 800 Mhz T20 Thinkpad. On Windows 2000 I only managed to get ~20 frames/sec (capture and display) and this required 90%-100% of the CPU. With a PCI ( BT848 from viewcast.com ) video grabber in a T20 dock this takes about 6-10% of the CPU and I'll get 30 frames/sec. Pt. Grey indicated that they had some new drivers that would reduce the CPU overhead but I never found the time to test them. ___o imaging away / Myron Flickner, flick@a .............. _ \ <,_ IBM Almaden Research Center, 650 Harry Road (_)/ (_) San Jose, CA 95120-6099 phone (408) 927-1776 My project's web page http://www.almaden.ibm.com/cs/blueeyes ==^================================================================ EASY UNSUBSCRIBE click here: http://topica.com/u/?a84Ao5.a9zIQj Or send an email To: arforum-unsubscribe@t ......... This email was sent to: webmaster@e ............ T O P I C A -- Register now to manage your mail! http://www.topica.com/partner/tag02/register ==^================================================================

From:	Xavier Marichal <marichal@t .............>	Received:	Sep 5, 2001
To	arforum@t .........
Subject:	Re: [ARFORUM] Bulk Camera Order
If you are interested by Firewire, you may have a look at the following webpage of my colleague Damien for a comparison chart: http://www.tele.ucl.ac.be/PEOPLE/DOUXCHAMPS/ieee1394/cameras/ Framerate are the 'official' ones. Under Linux, we usually reach them. Xavier At 13:12 4/09/2001 -0700, you wrote: > >The Firefly camera can capture VGA (640x480) resolution RGB video at 30 > >frames/second, is small and comes with an API that allows complete camera > >control. > >I would be curious what the best frame rate people actually get with the >firefly. > >I tried the B&W firefly with a PCMCIA firewire card on a 800 Mhz T20 >Thinkpad. On Windows 2000 I only managed to get ~20 frames/sec (capture >and display) and this required 90%-100% of the CPU. With a PCI ( BT848 >from viewcast.com ) video grabber in a T20 dock this takes about 6-10% of >the CPU and I'll get 30 frames/sec. Pt. Grey indicated that they had some >new drivers that would reduce the CPU overhead but I never found the time >to test them. > > ___o imaging away / Myron Flickner, flick@a .............. > _ \ <,_ IBM Almaden Research Center, 650 Harry Road >(_)/ (_) San Jose, CA 95120-6099 phone (408) 927-1776 >My project's web page http://www.almaden.ibm.com/cs/blueeyes > ==^================================================================ EASY UNSUBSCRIBE click here: http://topica.com/u/?a84Ao5.a9zIQj Or send an email To: arforum-unsubscribe@t ......... This email was sent to: webmaster@e ............ T O P I C A -- Register now to manage your mail! http://www.topica.com/partner/tag02/register ==^================================================================