StartCapture

Description

Starts time-lapse video capture to the specified AVI file or series of image files (bmp, tif or jpg). Use StopCapture to end video capture.


Syntax

[VB]
objActiveGige.StartCapture File [, Timelapse = 0, Playrate = 0 ]

[C/C++]
HRESULT StartCapture( bstr File, float Timelapse, float Playrate );


Data Types [VB]

File : String
Timelapse : Single (optional)
Playrate : Single (optional)

Parameters [C/C++]

File [in]

The string containing the path to the avi file or image file (bmp, tif or jpg).

Timelapse [in]

The interval between consecutive frames in seconds

Playrate [in]

The frame rate at which AVT file will be played in frames per second

Return Values

S_OK

Success

E_FAIL

Failure.

E_INVALIDARG

Invalid file name.

Example

This VB example demonstrates how to capture the video to an AVI file at the current frame rate:.

Private Sub StartButton_Click()
ActiveGige1.StartCapture "c:\\mycapture.avi"
End Sub

Private Sub StopButton_Click()
ActiveGige1.StopCapture
End Sub

This C# example demonstrates how to capture a series of TIFF images at 0.5 sec interval:

private void startbutton_Click(object sender, System.EventArgs e)
{
   axActiveGige1.StartCapture("c:\\images\\myframe.tif", 0.5, 0.);   
}

private void stopbutton_Click(object sender, System.EventArgs e)
{
   axActiveGige1.StopCapture();   
}


Remarks

The Acquire property must be set to TRUE prior to calling this method.

To record compressed AVI files, use ShowCompressionDlg, SetCodec and ShowCodecDlg. If no codec has been selected, ActiveGige will record AVI files in the uncompressed format, 8- or 24-bits per pixel.

If bmp, tif or jpg extension is specified for the file path, the file name is used as a template to which the ordinal number of the frame captured is appended. In the C# example above consecutive frames will be stored to files "myframe00001.tif", myframe00002.tif" and so on. Note that TIF format can store 16- and 48-bit per pixel images.

If Timelapse is not specified, the video will be recorded at the maximum frame rate defined by the camera settings and system throughput.

If Playrate is not specified, the video will be played back at the same rate it was captured.

If the external device (typically, a hard drive or memory card) doesn't have enough space, the capture will stop automatically when the device is full and the CaptureCompleted event will be fired.