Problem with Video Input from webcam

[D.T. Nethery]

Is anyone running TVPaint PRO 64bit version on Windows using the Agent V6 HD webcam for frame-capture (stop-motion or pencil testing) in TVPaint ?

I have an online student who is having a problem with getting the aMCap driver to control the digital zoom on her Agent V6 webcam when she uses it with TVPaint PRO 64bit for Windows. I am using a Mac here on my end so I can not help her trouble-shoot the issue , because I do not have access to a Windows PC machine.


The Camera Control panel 'Zoom' function is unresponsive when she uses it in TVPaint . Also the Manual Zoom control in the Face Tracking panel is unresponsive in TVPaint , but the Manual Zoom control will work when she opens the aMCap app outside of TVPaint.




The student wrote to me:

"My TVPaint Animation 10 Pro app will recognize my Agent V6 webcam to allow me to make frame captures , but the aMCap control panel accessed from TVPaint Video-In settings will not let me control the zoom. (see the attached screen caps) .

I downloaded the Agent V6 webcam driver (aMCap) and am able to move around and zoom inside aMCap , but it won't let me zoom the camera in TVPaint."

As I understand it from the Liquid Digital/Agent V6 Support site , the default drivers that install with the Windows version of the Agent V6 include the capture program aMCap .

"aMCap is the driver installed with the V6 on Windows.. You may use it to record video and use a whole range of special effects."

Referring to the Agent V6 User Manual for the set up on a Windows PC , it says on page 11 -

"The PC driver allows the user utilize a great number of features, such as face-tracking, zoom, video
recording, image capture, image manipulation and more."

So , from what I can read about aMCap in the Agent V6 user manual it seems that it should allow the user to digitally zoom-in/zoom-out the Agent V6 webcam.
However, the student's Agent V6 webcam is unresponsive to the digital Zoom control when used in TVPaint.



Screen captures from the student:

aMCap interface seen via TVPaint Video Input "Settings" -



aMCap "zoom" in Camera Control Panel -



aMCap manual zoom in FaceTracking Panel - (this works in aMCap, but not when accessed via TVPaint's Video Input window)




.

[D.T. Nethery]

By the way, this issue goes back to a previous post of mine from last year describing a similar issue here :

http://forum.tvpaint.com/viewtopic.php?f=10&t=5594

at the time Herve responded saying :

I have a student who is using an Agent V5 HD webcam with TVPaint 10 on Windows 7 64 bit .

It runs fine here on my Windows Seven 64 bits ( I don't remember if I've installed a specific driver but it should works with default drivers ).
The Control pannel is the same on 32bits and 64bits

to which I responded :

Thank you for checking that and for the screen capture. I'll pass that information along to the student.

Does the zoom control also work ? (under Controle de la camera or "Face Tracking" ? )

-DN

But at that time I did not get any response to my question "Does the zoom control also work ?" .





.

[Thierry]

Hello David.

We don't have an Agent V6 HD webcam, so I tried with our Agent v5 HD on Windows 8 (with the drivers installed).
And.. it doesn't work, I don't even have access to the "Zoom" option in aMCap. The Face Tracking works with aMCap (I can modify it in TVPaint, but I don't see the result).

My guess would be that the Agent V6 HD webcam is not fully compatible with Windows 8 yet.
I have noticed on the Liquid Digital/Agent V6 Support site that there is no mention of Windows 8.

Did your student try to use the Agent V6 in Windows 7 ?

[D.T. Nethery]

Hello David.

We don't have an Agent V6 HD webcam, so I tried with our Agent v5 HD on Windows 8 (with the drivers installed).
And.. it doesn't work, I don't even have access to the "Zoom" option in aMCap. The Face Tracking works with aMCap (I can modify it in TVPaint, but I don't see the result).

My guess would be that the Agent V6 HD webcam is not fully compatible with Windows 8 yet.
I have noticed on the Liquid Digital/Agent V6 Support site that there is no mention of Windows 8.


Did your student try to use the Agent V6 in Windows 7 ?

I don't think so. She has Windows 8 .

Does the Agent V5 that you have at TVPaint work on Windows 7 ? (that is , the aMCap controls are fully functional, including the zoom control when running TVPaint Pro 64bit on Windows 7 ?)

I don't believe there is much difference internally between the Agent V5 and Agent V6. As I understand it the changes made on the Agent V6 were to make the tripod socket from metal instead of from plastic (on the Agent V5 there were complaints that the tripod socket threads were too easily damaged or stripped due to cheap plastic construction; now the Agent V6 is supposed to have improved durability of the tripod socket) .


The student is using a Puget Systems Serenity PC running Windows 8 Pro .

Please note the student says that the problem with the Agent V6 not responding to the Zoom control is in TVPaint , not in aMCap.
"I downloaded the Agent V6 webcam driver (aMCap) and am able to move around and zoom inside aMCap , but it won't let me zoom the camera in TVPaint." . She says she can zoom in aMCap , but when the camera is accessed through TVPaint the zoom is disabled. ( I believe she means the Manual Zooming in the FaceTracking panel) .




-DN


----

[Fabrice]

hmmm ... we will test on windows7

[Thierry]

So, I have tried the Agent v5 Webcam on Windows 7 64 bits, and it is not possible to zoom with TVPaint.

We believe it is due to the drivers themselves, and not to TVPaint : TVPaint only calls the webcam drivers (like one program calls another one), and recieve what the webcam drivers send.
So, if you cannot zoom while being in TVPaint then that means that it is the drivers fault.

[D.T. Nethery]

[dailymotion][/dailymotion]

So, I have tried the Agent v5 Webcam on Windows 7 64 bits, and it is not possible to zoom with TVPaint.

We believe it is due to the drivers themselves, and not to TVPaint : TVPaint only calls the webcam drivers (like one program calls another one), and recieve what the webcam drivers send.

So, if you cannot zoom while being in TVPaint then that means that it is the drivers fault.

The driver is aMCap . The student says when using the webcam directly from aMCap the zoom works. So it would seem that the driver works as expected , but just not in TVPaint.


Liquid Digital Support's answer:

"The zoom function works with the aMcap program. We have completed testing on this, as seen below."

Liquid Digital_aMCap_Test.jpeg (36.21 KiB) Viewed 26991 times

Again, I don't have a Windows PC , so I can't test this for myself. All I can report is what I'm told by the student and by Liquid Digital support. They say that the zoom function (and other camera controls) work when accessing the camera directly with the aMCap program , but when aMCap is accessed via TVPaint the functions such as zoom do not work.


.

[Fabrice]

Will double check tomorrow David. stay tuned.
everybody is busy on Cartoon Movie this week.

[Thierry]

Hello again !

I have tried on one of our Windows 7 (with the aMCap driver installed), and while it is possible to zoom with the aMCap program, it is not possible to to it in TVPaint.

However, I noticed that, when running TVPaint, some features are disabled :

aMCap in tvpaint disabled.png (80.54 KiB) Viewed 26970 times

aMCap in tvpaint disabled 3.png (89.6 KiB) Viewed 26970 times

aMCap in tvpaint disabled 2.png (79.45 KiB) Viewed 26970 times

while when running aMCap I have :

aMCap not in tvpaint.png (31.38 KiB) Viewed 26970 times

aMCap not in tvpaint 2.png (33.8 KiB) Viewed 26970 times

aMCap not in tvpaint 3.png (31.62 KiB) Viewed 26970 times

As I sai yesterday, what TVPaint does is calls the driver (aMCap then) who do all the work.
My guess is that some features are disabled when the aMCap driver is called by another program, which is why you can't zoom in TVPaint.

[Fabrice]

Thanks Thierry,

It could happen.
Quicktime do the same when one want to export : it's not the same panel if you do it from quicktime or from TVPaint.
It need to be tested in other software to be sure.
David, did you try to open the panel from an other animation software ?

[D.T. Nethery]

Thanks Thierry,

It could happen.
Quicktime do the same when one want to export : it's not the same panel if you do it from quicktime or from TVPaint.
It need to be tested in other software to be sure.

David, did you try to open the panel from an other animation software ?

I can't test it on my end because I do not have a Windows PC . I am only relying on the reports I get from the student. I can ask the student to try with other software , but her concern is to get it to work from within TVPaint to be able to use the camera control functions of aMCap from the TVPaint video input window.


Here is something of interest I received today in an email from Liquid Digital/Agent V6 Support :

"We find the problem is often resolved (regardless of operating system) when aMCap is uninstalled. Then restart and re-install the driver downloaded from our web site . Reason being is Windows have a version of aMCap pre-installed that has less features."

.

[Fabrice]

good to know.
pre-installed drivers ... oh well