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A package to view video streams based on the OpenCV VideoCapture module, easy way to publish on a ROS Image topic (including camera info) usb cams, ethernet cameras, video streams or video files. It also supports flipping of images and fps throttling.

Screenshot of the plugin working with a webcam, video stream and video file

Example usages in launch folder (only the argument video_stream_provider is mandatory):

<launch>
   <!-- launch video stream -->
   <include file="$(find video_stream_opencv)/launch/camera.launch" >
        <!-- node name and ros graph name -->
        <arg name="camera_name" value="webcam" />
        <!-- means video device 0, /dev/video0 -->
        <arg name="video_stream_provider" value="0" />
        <!-- set camera fps to (if the device allows) -->
        <arg name="set_camera_fps" value="30"/>
        <!-- set buffer queue size of frame capturing to -->
        <arg name="buffer_queue_size" value="100" />
        <!-- throttling the publishing of frames to -->
        <arg name="fps" value="30" />
        <!-- setting frame_id -->
        <arg name="frame_id" value="webcam" />
        <!-- camera info loading, take care as it needs the "file:///" at the start , e.g.:
        "file:///$(find your_camera_package)/config/your_camera.yaml" -->
        <arg name="camera_info_url" value="" />
        <!-- flip the image horizontally (mirror it) -->
        <arg name="flip_horizontal" value="false" />
        <!-- flip the image vertically -->
        <arg name="flip_vertical" value="false" />
        <!-- force a width and height, 0 means no forcing -->
        <arg name="width" value="640"/>
        <arg name="height" value="480"/>
        <!-- visualize on an image_view window the stream generated -->
        <arg name="visualize" value="true" />
   </include>
</launch>

Based on the ROS tutorial to convert opencv images to ROS messages.

Usability

You can use any input that OpenCV on your system accepts, e.g.:

Parameters

Note these important ones on the behaviour of the node:

So if you want the very latest image published from a camera, set buffer_queue_size to 1, set_camera_fps to the max the camera allows and fps to that same max.

If you want to publish all images (don't drop any and you don't mind some possible delay from real time), set buffer_queue_size big enough for your case (1000?), set_camera_fps and fps to whatever FPS it has.

The rest of the parameters explained, even though they are pretty self explanatory:

Extras

In the scripts folder you'll find test_video_resource.py which you can use to test if your system installation can use this node to open your video stream (not using any ROS, just copy the file to your computer and try). Just do any of those:

./test_video_resource.py 0
./test_video_resource.py rtsp://wowzaec2demo.streamlock.net/vod/mp4:BigBuckBunny_115k.mov
./test_video_resource.py /home/youruser/myvideo.mkv

And you'll see an output like:

Trying to open resource: /dev/video0
Correctly opened resource, starting to show feed.

With an OpenCV image show window showing the stream (which should close when pressing ESC, or Control+C the shell).