Automatic Capture Mode (ACM) Plug-in

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How to set the capture method to Automatic?

• To set capture to Automatic:

1. Access the Camera Settings for a selected camera.
2. Click on the Capture tab.
3. Uncheck the Manual box.
4. Check the Automatic box.
5. Click Ok.

Camera Settings – Capture Dialog

Figure: Automatic Capture

tip: To change the number of pixels before and after the detected object, increase or decrease the value of the Leader or Trailer (0-180). This can be a useful adjustment if parts of the object is cut-off after adjusting the Object Detection parameters.

note: It is possible to configure a camera to accept both Manual (capture button) and Automatic capture. Simply leave the Manual box checked if desired.

How to capture image using ACM?

Once the capture method is set, the operator can easily capture image without the need for a capture button.

• To capture image with ACM:

1. Create a new Event.
2. Click the CAPTURE ICON , to activate the capture function.

• When the Active Capture icon appears , FinishLynx is now ready to capture using ACM.

note: Alternatively, use the keyboard shortcut Alt-T or click Menu | Toggle Capture activate and deactivate capture.

How to set the object threshold?

1. Create a new Event.
2. Capture image which contains an example of an object that should be detected by ACM.
3. Draw a selection box around an object that has a reasonable amount of background after it (about 50 frames).
4. Click Image | Set | Object threshold from the Menu Bar.

• The box resizes to the region of the image which FinishLynx considers is the object.

note: The Object Threshold can be manually adjusted from the Camera Settings dialog Capture tab by using the slider or typing the preferred number in the box. The higher the value, the more activity at the finish line will be required to trip the software into capture status. The lower values are more conservative and will tend to save MORE image.

note: This setting is also used to adjust the sensitivity of the Autocrop function.

How to set the object active area?

1. Create a new Event.
2. Capture image.
3. Right-click and drag the mouse on the image to draw a box to select the vertical section of image to be used for object detection.
4. Click Image | Set | Object active area from the Menu Bar.

• The Object active area top and bottom percentage values are set based on the selected region. Objects detected outside of the selected region will be ignored.

How to set up Pre-cropped capture?

When this option is selected, the software applies the Autocrop function before displaying the image on the screen. Using this option, the button or timed capture is still used to capture.

The principal advantage of this feature is that it can dramatically speed up the evaluation time - especially with very large images - by eliminating the need to crop the image before evaluation can begin.

• To set Pre-Cropped capture:

1. Access the Camera Settings for a selected camera.
2. Click on the Capture tab.
3. Check the Manual or Timed box.
4. Check the Pre-Cropped box.
5. Click Ok.

• Pre-Cropped capture is now ready to use.

Figure: Automatic Capture

How to set a minimum capture time?

The Object Detection function has a 'Min Time' parameter which forces the capture duration of a detected object to be at least the specified time. It also applies to the Autocrop and Find Object settings.

• To set the Min Time:

1. Access the Camera Settings dialog.
2. Select the Capture tab.
3. Enter the Min Time. Range = 0.000 (default) to 1:00.000
4. Click Ok.

note: The leader and trailer frames are added in addition to this time.

How to use ACM to override other capture methods?

You can now choose to have ACM override manual and timed capture modes.

• To allow ACM override of manual or timed capture:

1. Access the Camera Settings dialog.
2. Click on the Capture tab.
3. Check both the Manual and Automatic, or Timed and Automatic boxes.
4. Click Ok.

note: Automatic override of timed capture will only function if you have first used button override to change from timed to manual capture.

How to set up an Internal photo eye?

The ACM plug-in can use the built-in computing power of the EtherLynx camera to simulate the operation of a photo eye. This "virtual" photo eye, referred to as "Internal", can be used in exactly the same way as a normal hardware photo eye to control running time clocks, record splits, etc.

• To enable the internal photo eye:

1. Access the Camera Settings for a selected camera.
2. Click on the Inputs Tab.
3. Check the Internal box.
4. Click Ok.

• The internal photo eye is now active for the selected camera.

Camera Settings Dialog: Inputs Tab

Figure: Automatic Capture

How to automatically set the internal photo eye threshold?

1. Create a new Event.
2. Capture image which contains an example of an object you wish to trigger the beam break function.
3. Right-click and drag the mouse on the image to draw a selection box around an existing object. Note: The selection box should have a reasonable amount of background after it (about 50 frames).
4. Click Image | Set | Photo eye threshold from the Menu Bar.

• FinishLynx will recompute the current photo eye settings and place a line on the image to indicate where the photo eye would have recorded a beam break. If the new position is still not satisfactory. You can try adjusting the “Size” value to a larger value than the default value (1), and then repeating the process detailed above.

note: The higher the value, the more activity at the finish line will be required to trigger a beam break. The lower values are more conservative and will tend to cause too many breaks.

How to automatically set the internal photo eye active area?

1. Create a new Event.
2. Capture image.
3. Right-click and drag the mouse on the image to draw a box to select the vertical section of image to be used for object detection.
4. Click Image | Set | Photo eye active area from the Menu Bar.

• The Photo eye active area top and bottom percentage values are set based on the selected region. Objects detected outside of the selected region will be ignored.

How to adjust the internal photo eye offset?

This value is to compensate for time differentials between the beam-break time and the time recorded by FinishLynx. Both positive and negative values are allowable. Values are entered as whole numbers of milliseconds (0.001 sec). This is typically used to avoid displaying a time on a scoreboard that is faster than the official photo-finish time.

• To adjust the offset:

1. Access the Camera Settings for a selected camera.
2. Click on the Inputs Tab.
3. Type in a value in the Offset box.
4. Click Ok.

• The offset is now adjusted with the new value.