========================================= PC Lafter User Documentation Version 1.0b Created: July 25, 1997 by Nilesh Agarwalla Last Updated: August 12th, 1997 by Nilesh Agarwalla (c) Massachusetts Institute of Technology ========================================= Index ----- I - System Requirements II - Using PC Lafter III - Known Bugs IV - History V - Appendix A. SONY EVI-D30 to PC cable wiring diagram B. Contact Information ----------------------------------- I - System Requirements ----------------------------------- CPU: Dual (or higher) Pentium Pro processors RAM: 64 MB (128 MB Recommended) SERIAL: COM Port (RS-232) free VIDEO: At least 4 MB high end PCI video card DEPTH: 32bit True Color mode RESOL: 1024x768 (1280x1024 Recommended) CAMERA: Sony EVI-D30 Remote Controllable Camera CABLES: DB9F to DIN8M cable (See Appendix A for wiring diagram) S-Video cable CAPTURE: Coreco TCI video capture board OS: Windows NT 4.0 Note: Software was developed on a Dual Pentium Pro 200 system with 128 MB RAM and a Matrox Millenium 8MB video card. Works with a Dual Pentium setup, but not recommended. ------------------------------- II - Using PC Lafter ------------------------------- Once you have all the system requirements met and all components installed and working properly, you are ready to use PC Lafter. PC Lafter's main interface is very simple with only a few buttons. Buttons: Quit: Exits PC Lafter. Live: Opens/closes window displaying the live video image in half resolution (320x200). Face Histo: Opens/closes the histogram viewer used to train models. Face Connect: Opens/closes a window showing what part of the live image might be part of a face. Tracker: Opens/closes a window displaying controls to tweak the tracking algorithm. It also displays the current Camera status. Estimation: Opens/closes a window displaying the live video image in 1/6 resolution (106x80) with a bounding box surrounding the face. The two main axis of inertia of the face blob are overlayed on top of the face. Edit Boxes: Radius: Allows one to set the radius of the connected component algorithm. Info Boxes: Hz: Displays the real time frame rate of the Lafter face tracking system. Live Window: (No Additional Info) Face Histo Window: This window has many features in it. A live video frame is in the upper left corner of the window. It displays the probability map of the live video. Color Model Source Box: This allows you to choose the source of the training data between either a grabbed bitmap image or a precalculated Gaussian model. Clicking on Bitmap will pop up a new still image window and unhide a 'GRAB' button. You can click on 'GRAB' to grab a frame from the live video source and display it in the image window. You can then frame a part of the image that you would like to be used to build a new mixture of Gaussian pdf distributions. You box in a part of the image by left-clicking on the image and dragging the mouse to resize the box. You can then press either 'COMPUTE' or 'SAVE'. 'COMPUTE' will calculate a new probablity map based on the data samples captured in the selected box. 'SAVE' will write out all the RGB values of the boxed in pixels to an ASCII file that you specify. 'THRESHOLD' is a slider control that you can use to set the sensitivity of the compute function. You change the slider and then click 'COMPUTE' to recalculate the probability map. Build Type? Resolution? Max Type? Face Connect Window: (No Additional Info) Tracker Window: You can control various parameters relating to the camera movement. You can change the sensitivity and the movement range of the camera. In addition the Camera status is displayed. Theo. Height Ratio - the theoretical ratio of aspect (width/height) of a face Height Ratio - the desired ratio: height of box/height of the live window PError - the proportional coefficient of the error on speed DError - the proportional coefficient of the time derivative error on speed Theo. Hgt Rat. Thres. - the error in ratio over which the box the box is not considered as a face Hgt Rat. Thres. - the threshold under which there will be no zooming Pan Threshold - the threshold under which there will be no pan rotation Tilt Threshold - the threshold under which there will be no tilt rotation Estimation Window: (No Additional Info) -------------------------- III - Known Bugs -------------------------- * Windows do not refresh properly when they are overlapping Temporary fix: click on the title bar to refresh affected window. * When you try to save to a file that already exists in the Histogram SAVE Dialog, the program seems to lock. What is happening is the MessageBox asking for verification for overwriting the file is created behind the SAVE dialog. Temporary fix: press the ALT key to pop the confirmation on top * The Camera doesn't initialize properly, thus causing the program to lock up. Temporary fix: turn camera on and off ----------------------- IV - History ----------------------- 08/15/97 - PC Lafter v1.0b released ------------------------ V - Appendix ------------------------ ------------------------------------------ A. SONY EVI-D30 to PC cable wiring diagram ------------------------------------------ A readily available cable doesn't seem to exist for our application, so you will probably be required to create your own cable which interfaces the Sony EVI-D30 camera to the Serial DB9 port of a PC. You will need the following: (1) DB9F connector (PC Serial) (1) DIN8M connector (MAC Serial) 7 wire cabling Note: If you are unable to find the connectors, you can buy a MAC PASS-THRU Serial Cable w/ Male connectors and a PC PASS-THRU DB9 Serial Extension. You can cut the wires in half and splice the proper ends together. You must connect the pins as follows: PIN #'s /-------------\ | DB9F | MD8M | |------+------| | 9 | 1 | | 5 | 2 | | 2 | 3 | | 7 | 4 | | 3 | 5 | | 4 | 6 | | 8 | 7 | \-------------/ Pins 1 and 6 on the DB9 are unused. Pin 8 on the MD8 is unused. ---------------------- B. Contact Information ---------------------- Nuria Oliver MIT Media Lab nuria@media.mit.edu Vasanth Philomin University of Maryland vasi@cs.umd.edu Nilesh Agarwalla MIT Media Lab nilesh@mit.edu Coreco Inc. 6969 Trans-Canada Highway, Suite #142 St. Laurent, Quebec H4T-1V8 Canada www.coreco.com Sony ??? Matrox Graphics Inc. 1055 St. Regis blvd. Dorval, Quebec Canada H9P 2T4 www.matrox.com /*************************************************************************** * * Copyright 1997 by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. All * rights reserved. * * Developed by the Perceptual Computing Section * at the Media Laboratory, MIT, Cambridge, Massachusetts. * * Permission to use, copy, or modify this software and its documentation * for educational and research purposes only and without fee is hereby * granted, provided that this copyright notice and the original authors's * names appear on all copies and supporting documentation. If individual * files are separated from this distribution directory structure, this * copyright notice must be included. For any other uses of this software, * in original or modified form, including but not limited to distribution * in whole or in part, specific prior permission must be obtained from * MIT. These programs shall not be used, rewritten, or adapted as the * basis of a commercial software or hardware product without first * obtaining appropriate licenses from MIT. MIT. makes no representations * about the suitability of this software for any purpose. It is provided * "as is" without express or implied warranty. * **************************************************************************/