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Java Webcam Capture

This library allows you to use your build-in or external webcam directly from Java.

Complete documentation, API, examples, tutorials and many more can be found here:

http://webcam-capture.sarxos.pl/

Build Status

Features

  • Simple and thread-safe API,
  • No additional software required,
  • Supports multiple platforms (Windows, Linux, Mac OS, etc) and various architectures (32-bit, 64-bit, ARM),
  • Stream images from build-in or USB-connected PC webcams,
  • Stream images from IP / network cameras,
  • Detect motion,
  • All required JARs Available in Maven Central,
  • Can re-stream images as MJPEG,
  • Also available as standalone ZIP binaries with all dependencies included,
  • Supports additional video grabbing drivers (such as OpenIMAJ, LTI-CIVIL, JMF, FMJ, OpenCV, VLC, IP Camera),
  • Ready to use Swing component designed to display image from webcam / IP / network camera,

Maven

<dependency>
	<groupId>com.github.sarxos</groupId>
	<artifactId>webcam-capture</artifactId>
	<version>0.3.9</version>
</dependency>

If you are not using Maven, then here you can download ZIP containing all required 3rd-party JARs.

Contribution

If you have spare time, knownledge or some small amount of money you can help developing awesome Webcam Capture API and make it even better! Several kinds of contributions are very welcome:

  • Report bug or feature - If you've found a bug or you've came-up with some fantastic feature which can make Webcam Capture a better API to use, don't hesitate to create new issue where you can describe in details what the problem is, or what would you like to improve.
  • Perform tests - Since Webcam Capture use some part of native code, it's very hard to cover all supported operating systems. I'm always testing it on 64-bit Ubuntu Linux, Windows XP and Vista (both 32-bit), but I have no possibility to test on Raspberry Pi, Mac OS and 32-bit Linux. Please help and test on those systems if you have such possibility.
  • Write code - If you know Java or C++ you can help developing Webcam Capture by forking repository and sending pull requests.
  • Donate - People have expressed a wish to donate a little money. Donating won't get you anything special, other than a warm feeling inside, and possibly urge me to produce more freely available material for Webcam Capture project. You can donate via PayPal, find donate button available here on the project page.

Hello World

Code below will capture image from your default webcam and save it in test.png file:

Webcam webcam = Webcam.getDefault();
webcam.open();
ImageIO.write(webcam.getImage(), "PNG", new File("test.png"));

More Examples

Below is the list of pretty basic examples. All can be found in the source code.

And here are some more advanced examples, few with quite fancy GUI.

Capture Drivers

By default Webcam Capture use default driver which consists of small, refined part of awesome OpenIMAJ framework wrapped in thread-safe container which allows it to be used in multithreaded applications. However there are more ready-to-use drivers which can be used as a replacement or addition to the default one. By utylizing those drivers Webcam Capture can be extended with various new features (e.g. IP camera support).

List of additional drivers includes:

  • IP Camera Driver - available in Maven Central, adds IP / network cameras support
  • JMF Driver - available in Maven Central, JMF replacement for default driver
  • LTI-CIVIL Driver - not available in Maven Central, LTI-CIVIL replacement for default driver
  • OpenIMAJ Driver - not available in Maven Central, OpenIMAJ replacement for default driver
  • OpenCV Driver - unstable, OpenCV replacement for default driver
  • VLC Driver - unstable, Linux only, VLC replacement for default driver

History

I initially started working on Webcam Capture as a simple proof-of-concept after I read Andrew Davison's fantastic book entitled Killer Game Programming (also available online). Thank you Andrew! Later I found that there is a complete mess in Java APIs allowing you to capture images from webcams. Once you choose specific API you cannot change it without modifying large parts of the code. I decided to change this situation and write general purpose wrapper for various different APIs (like JMF, OpenCV, OPenIMAJ, LTI-CIVIL, VLC). In such a way, Webcam Capture as we know it today, was brought to life. Today you can echange underlying frameworks just by choosing specific driver (one line code change only) and if there is no driver for particular framework, then anyone can write it to support any specific capturing method.

License

Copyright (C) 2012 Bartosz Firyn

Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining a copy of this software and associated documentation files (the "Software"), to deal in the Software without restriction, including without limitation the rights to use, copy, modify, merge, publish, distribute, sublicense, and/or sell copies of the Software, and to permit persons to whom the Software is furnished to do so, subject to the following conditions:

The above copyright notice and this permission notice shall be included in all copies or substantial portions of the Software.

THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NONINFRINGEMENT. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE AUTHORS OR COPYRIGHT HOLDERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, DAMAGES OR OTHER LIABILITY, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, TORT OR OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM, OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS IN THE SOFTWARE.

SarXos