ServerGrabberDualDragonBayer640_480.ini gives black and white output only

[paliasgh]

Hello,

We are trying to get 640X480 video output from iCub cameras and are running yarpdev module with "--from camera/ServerGrabberDualDragonBayer640_480.ini --split true". The resulting output has 640X480 resolution but it is black and white. How can we get RGB output?

Best,
Pourya

[martinaxgloria]

Hi @paliasgh,

did you try to run the cameras without the bayer? I mean running the yarpdev module with --from camera/ServerGrabberDualDragon.ini --split true, instead of camera/ServerGrabberDualDragonBayer640_480.ini

Let me know if the problem is still present or not.
Bests,
Martina

[patrickshas]

Hi @martinaxgloria , yes it runs fine without the Bayer but it only gives a 320 by 240 output. We do need a higher resolution output (640 by 480) and hence trying to trouble shoot Bayer. Hope this explains further.

[martinaxgloria]

Hi @patrickshas
A possibility is to change in ServerGrabberDualDragonBayer640_480.ini the parameter capabilities from RAW to COLOR and then in camera/dragonfly2_config_left_bayer_640_480.ini and camera/dragonfly2_config_right_bayer_640_480.ini the device from dragonfly2raw to dragonfly2.

[paliasgh]

Hi @martinaxgloria, thanks! Where exactly are those files located? We have a copy of them inside robots-configuration/iCubWaterloo01/camera/ on our local computer. It seemed like modifying those files won't affect anything. Does yarpdev find the .ini files somewhere else? Maybe in icub-head?

[martinaxgloria]

Hi @paliasgh,
This is quite strange since you are in the right directory. Another attempt that it could be done is to make connection using the Bayer carrier. After running the yarpdev module, you can try to run yarp connect /a /b mcast+recv.bayer+method.nearest, where /a and /b are respectively your grabber port and the yarpview one.

[pattacini]

Just a couple of notes.

@martinaxgloria verified with @S-Dafarra and @lrapetti that updating the value of capabilities in the conf file plus changing the name of the device made the difference in their setup, as they were experiencing the same black-and-white output beforehand.

The conf files are those located in icub-head as per https://github.com/robotology/icub-main/blob/master/app/default/scripts/cameras_calib_bayer_640_480.xml.template#L6-L14 (where icub-head replaces pc104).

To known which config file gets actually loaded by the driver, you can use the following command:

yarp resource --from camera/dragonfly2_config_right_bayer_640_480.ini

which employs the YARP_ROBOT_NAME env variable to browse within all the available contexts complying with priorities. Then, inspect the content of the file just found.

Find out more on apps and robots contexts as well as yarp resource in #42.

[patrickshas]

Many thanks @martinaxgloria , @pattacini , @S-Dafarra , @lrapetti . We'll implement this solution and will report back.