This project has been superceded by changes in the RPi_Cam_Web_Interface. These were originally in my fork of silvanmelchior repo. They have now been merged back in so please use https://github.com/silvanmelchior/RPi_Cam_Web_Interface

Python helper for Raspberry RPI Cam control + Web tweaks

RPI Cam control is an easy to set up Raspberry Camera set up with web interface

http://elinux.org/RPi-Cam-Web-Interface

It ties in with motion as a motion detector and accepts commands via a named PIPE which is used by the web interface.

RaspiCam.py is a simple utility to provide a bit more automation using the same PIPE commands.

Main goal is to switch on and off the motion detection so that it is active mainly during the day. It also switches the camera into night mode during dusk and dawn to help extend its utility.

It is set up so that it is easy to modify to send different commands.

The timing of the commands is arranged around a calculation of sun-rise and sunset. This is based upon the latitude and longtitude of the site and the time of year. This means it will adjust automatically as daylight changes.

INSTALL

There are 3 python files, RaspiCam.py and two support libraries which should all be placed in /home/pi/python

The program can be run manually by python RaspiCam.py when in that folder but it is more convenient to make it start automatically at boot time. To do this use the RaspiCam file in the boot folder. Copy it into home and then from there issue the following commands

sudo cp RaspiCam /etc/init.d/RaspiCam

sudo chmod 755 /etc/init.d/RaspiCam

sudo update-rc.d RaspiCam defaults

It will then start at boot or can be manually started and stopped by

sudo /etc/init.d/RaspiCam start

sudo /etc/init.d/RaspiCam stop

To remove it from the boot then

sudo update-rc.d -f RaspiCam remove

The motion detection then needs to be altered so that it is directed through RaspiCam.py To do this edit /etc/motion/motion.conf and change the two event lines

on_event_start echo -n '1' >/home/pi/python/FIFO

on_event_end echo -n '0' >/home/pi/python/FIFO

RUNNING

When RaspiCam.py is running it is monitoring the capture commands from motion and also the period of the day it is in. This is split into 4 periods Night, Dawn,Day and Dusk.

Actions are then performed when the period of the day changes and also the capture start and end commands can also be varied. So for example, motion detecton could be used just for the day period, or it could be used during Dawn, Dusk and Day. Similarly video could be used during day and time lapse or single image during dawn and dusk.

RaspiCam creates and uses a FIFO to get the motion requests and sends commands to the normal RPi Cam FIFO

It also logs its activity to RaspiCamLog in the python folder.

CONFIG

This is done just by editing the RaspiCam.py file. If it is running then it will need to be stopped and started to take effect. See Install. LATITUDE, LONGTITUDE need to be set for the location + is N and E, - is S and W DUSK and DAWN extend the periods from Sunrise and Sunset in seconds. So if DUSK is 3600 then it will be the 1 hour from Sunset, and if Dawn is 3600 then it will be 1 hour before Sunrise.

Three Command arrays then determine what is sent to RaspiMJPEG COMMANDS_PERIODS determines the commands sent during the transition to the 4 daily periods Night, Dawn, Day, Dusk

COMMANDS_ON determines the capture command sent for a motion trigger during each of the daily periods

COMMANDS_OFF determines what capture off command is sent determined by the last COMMANDS_ON used.

Note that if there is a transition between say day and dusk whilst capture is active then the COMMAND_OFF still corresponds to the start command used to begin the capture.

The RaspiMJPEG-Commands.txt lists the possible commands that can be sent.

Changes 18th Feb 2015 Web tweaks for preview that were here have been moved my forked version of the repository

RPi_Cam_Web_Interface