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Camera Component

A camera component is a source of 2D and/or 3D images. You can use the component to configure a webcam, lidar, time-of-flight sensor, or another type of camera.

The API for camera components allows you to:

Request single images or a stream in 2D color, or display z-depth.
Request a point cloud. Each 3D point cloud image consists of a set of coordinates (x,y,z) representing depth in mm.

The configuration of your camera component depends on your camera model. You can use different models to:

Configure physical cameras that generate images or point clouds.
Combine streams from multiple cameras into one.
Transform and process images.

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Data Management

Computer Vision

Frame System

SLAM

Machine Learning

Supported models

To use your camera component, check whether one of the following models supports it.

For configuration information, click on the model name:

RDK
micro-RDK

Model

Description

Add support for other models

If none of the existing models fit your use case, you can create a modular resource to add support for it.

Support Notice

There is currently no support for this component in the micro-RDK.

Control your camera with Viam’s client SDK libraries

To get started using Viam’s SDKs to connect to and control your machine, go to your machine’s page on the Viam app, navigate to the CONNECT tab’s Code sample page, select your preferred programming language, and copy the sample code generated.

API key and API key ID

By default, the sample code does not include your machine API key and API key ID. We strongly recommend that you add your API key and API key ID as an environment variable and import this variable into your development environment as needed.

To show your machine’s API key and API key ID in the sample code, toggle Include secret on the CONNECT tab’s Code sample page.

Caution

Do not share your API key or machine address publicly. Sharing this information could compromise your system security by allowing unauthorized access to your machine, or to the computer running your machine.

When executed, this sample code will create a connection to your machine as a client. Then control your machine programmatically by adding API method calls as shown in the following examples.

These examples assume you have a camera called "my_camera" configured as a component of your machine. If your camera has a different name, change the name in the code.

Be sure to import the camera package for the SDK you are using:

Python
Go

from viam.components.camera import Camera

import (
  "go.viam.com/rdk/components/camera"
)

API

The camera component supports the following methods:

Method Name	Description
`GetImage`	Return an image from the camera.
`GetImages`	Get simultaneous images from different imagers, along with associated metadata.
`GetPointCloud`	Get a point cloud from the camera as bytes with a MIME type describing the structure of the data.
`GetProperties`	Get the camera intrinsic parameters and camera distortion, as well as whether the camera supports returning point clouds.
`DoCommand`	Execute model-specific commands that are not otherwise defined by the component API.
`GetGeometries`	Get all the geometries associated with the camera in its current configuration, in the frame of the camera.
`FromRobot`	Get the resource from the provided robot with the given name.
`GetResourceName`	Get the `ResourceName` for this camera with the given name.
`Close`	Safely shut down the resource and prevent further use.

GetImage

Return an image from the camera. You can request a specific MIME type but the returned MIME type is not guaranteed. If the server does not know how to return the specified MIME type, the server returns the image in another format instead.

Parameters:

mime_type (str) (required): The desired mime type of the image. This does not guarantee output type.
extra (Mapping[str, Any]) (optional): Extra options to pass to the underlying RPC call.
timeout (float) (optional): An option to set how long to wait (in seconds) before calling a time-out and closing the underlying RPC call.

Returns:

(viam.media.video.ViamImage): The frame.

Example:

my_camera = Camera.from_robot(robot=robot, name="my_camera")

# Assume "frame" has a mime_type of "image/vnd.viam.dep"
frame = await my_camera.get_image(mime_type = CameraMimeType.VIAM_RAW_DEPTH)

# Convert "frame" to a standard 2D image representation.
# Remove the 1st 3x8 bytes and reshape the raw bytes to List[List[Int]].
standard_frame = frame.bytes_to_depth_array()

If the mime_type of your image is image/vnd.viam.dep, pass the returned image data to the Viam Python SDK’s ViamImage.bytes_to_depth_array() method to decode the raw image data to a standard 2D image representation.

In addition, the Python SDK provides the helper functions viam_to_pil_image and pil_to_viam_image to decode the ViamImage into a PIL Image and vice versa.

For example:

# from viam.media.utils.pil import pil_to_viam_image, viam_to_pil_image
# < ADD ABOVE IMPORT TO BEGINNING OF PROGRAM >

# Get the ViamImage from your camera.
frame = await my_camera.get_image()

# Convert "frame" to a PIL Image representation.
pil_frame = viam_to_pil_image(frame)

# Use methods from the PIL Image class to get size.
x, y = pil_frame.size[0], pil_frame.size[1]
# Crop image to get only the left two fifths of the original image.
cropped_pil_frame = pil_frame.crop((0, 0, x / 2.5, y))

# Convert back to ViamImage.
cropped_frame = pil_to_viam_image(cropped_pil_frame)

Tip

Be sure to close the image when finished.

For more information, see the Python SDK Docs.

Info

Unlike most Viam component APIs, the methods of the Go camera client do not map exactly to the names of the other SDK’s camera methods. To get an image in the Go SDK, you first need to construct a Stream and then you can get the next image from that stream.

Parameters:

ctx (Context): A Context carries a deadline, a cancellation signal, and other values across API boundaries.
errHandlers (…gostream.ErrorHandler): A handler for errors allowing for logic based on consecutively retrieved errors.

Returns:

(gostream.VideoStream): A VideoStream that streams video until closed.
(error): An error, if one occurred.

Example:

myCamera, err := camera.FromRobot(machine, "my_camera")

// gets the stream from a camera
stream, err := myCamera.Stream(context.Background())

// gets an image from the camera stream
img, release, err := stream.Next(context.Background())
defer release()

For more information, see the Go SDK Docs.

Parameters:

mimeType MimeType? (optional)
extra Map<String, dynamic>? (required)

Returns:

Future<ViamImage>

Example:

var nextImage = await myCamera.image();

For more information, see the Flutter SDK Docs.

GetImages

Usage

Intended specifically for use with cameras that support simultaneous depth and color image streams, like the Intel RealSense or the Luxonis OAK-D. If your camera does not have multiple imagers, this method will work without capturing multiple images simultaneously.

You can use the rgb-d-overlay module to view and compare the camera streams returned by this method. See the module readme for further instructions.

Get simultaneous images from different imagers, along with associated metadata. The multiple images returned from GetImages() do not represent a time series of images.

Python
Go

Parameters:

timeout (float) (optional): An option to set how long to wait (in seconds) before calling a time-out and closing the underlying RPC call.

Returns:

(Tuple[List[video.NamedImage], common.ResponseMetadata]): A tuple containing two values; the first [0] a list of images returned from the camera system, and the second [1] the metadata associated with this response.

Example:

my_camera = Camera.from_robot(robot=robot, name="my_camera")

images, metadata = await my_camera.get_images()
img0 = images[0].image
timestamp = metadata.captured_at

For more information, see the Python SDK Docs.

Parameters:

ctx (Context): A Context carries a deadline, a cancellation signal, and other values across API boundaries.

Returns:

([]NamedImage): The list of images returned from the camera system, with the name of the imager associated with the image.
(resource.ResponseMetadata): The metadata, which holds the timestamp of when the data was captured.
(error): An error, if one occurred.

Example:

myCamera, err := camera.FromRobot(machine, "my_camera")

images, metadata, err := myCamera.Images(context.Background())

For more information, see the Go SDK Docs.

GetPointCloud

Get a point cloud from the camera as bytes with a MIME type describing the structure of the data. The consumer of this call should decode the bytes into the format suggested by the MIME type.

Parameters:

extra (Mapping[str, Any]) (optional): Extra options to pass to the underlying RPC call.
timeout (float) (optional): An option to set how long to wait (in seconds) before calling a time-out and closing the underlying RPC call.

Returns:

(Tuple[bytes, str]): A tuple containing two values; the first [0] the pointcloud data, and the second [1] the mimetype of the pointcloud (for example, PCD).

Example:

import numpy as np
import open3d as o3d

data, _ = await camera.get_point_cloud()

# write the point cloud into a temporary file
with open("/tmp/pointcloud_data.pcd", "wb") as f:
    f.write(data)
pcd = o3d.io.read_point_cloud("/tmp/pointcloud_data.pcd")
points = np.asarray(pcd.points)

For more information, see the Python SDK Docs.

Parameters:

ctx (Context): A Context carries a deadline, a cancellation signal, and other values across API boundaries.

Returns:

(pointcloud.PointCloud): A general purpose container of points. It does not dictate whether or not the cloud is sparse or dense.
(error): An error, if one occurred.

Example:

myCamera, err := camera.FromRobot(machine, "my_camera")

// gets the properties from a camera
properties, err := myCamera.Properties(context.Background())

For more information, see the Go SDK Docs.

Parameters:

extra Map<String, dynamic>? (optional)

Returns:

Future<ViamImage>

Example:

var nextPointCloud = await myCamera.pointCloud();

For more information, see the Flutter SDK Docs.

GetProperties

Get the camera intrinsic parameters and camera distortion, as well as whether the camera supports returning point clouds.

Parameters:

timeout (float) (optional): An option to set how long to wait (in seconds) before calling a time-out and closing the underlying RPC call.

Returns:

(viam.components.camera.Camera.Properties): The properties of the camera.

Example:

my_camera = Camera.from_robot(robot=robot, name="my_camera")

properties = await my_camera.get_properties()

For more information, see the Python SDK Docs.

Parameters:

ctx (Context): A Context carries a deadline, a cancellation signal, and other values across API boundaries.

Returns:

(Properties): Properties of the particular implementation of a camera.
(error): An error, if one occurred.

For more information, see the Go SDK Docs.

Parameters:

None.

Returns:

Future<CameraProperties>

Example:

var cameraProperties = await myCamera.properties();

For more information, see the Flutter SDK Docs.

DoCommand

Execute model-specific commands that are not otherwise defined by the component API. For native models, model-specific commands are covered with each model’s documentation. If you are implementing your own camera and adding features that have no native API method, you can access them with DoCommand.

Python
Flutter

Parameters:

command (Mapping[str, ValueTypes]) (required): The command to execute.
timeout (float) (optional): An option to set how long to wait (in seconds) before calling a time-out and closing the underlying RPC call.

Returns:

(Mapping[str, viam.utils.ValueTypes]): Result of the executed command.

Raises:

(NotImplementedError): Raised if the Resource does not support arbitrary commands.

Example:

command = {"cmd": "test", "data1": 500}
result = component.do(command)

For more information, see the Python SDK Docs.

Parameters:

command Map<String, dynamic> (required)

Returns:

Future<Map<String, dynamic>>

Example:

// Example using doCommand with an arm component
const command = {'cmd': 'test', 'data1': 500};
var result = myArm.doCommand(command);

For more information, see the Flutter SDK Docs.

GetGeometries

Get all the geometries associated with the camera in its current configuration, in the frame of the camera. The motion and navigation services use the relative position of inherent geometries to configured geometries representing obstacles for collision detection and obstacle avoidance while motion planning.

Python

Parameters:

extra (Mapping[str, Any]) (optional): Extra options to pass to the underlying RPC call.
timeout (float) (optional): An option to set how long to wait (in seconds) before calling a time-out and closing the underlying RPC call.

Returns:

(List[viam.proto.common.Geometry]): The geometries associated with the Component.

Example:

geometries = await component.get_geometries()

if geometries:
    # Get the center of the first geometry
    print(f"Pose of the first geometry's centerpoint: {geometries[0].center}")

For more information, see the Python SDK Docs.

FromRobot

Get the resource from the provided robot with the given name.

Flutter

Parameters:

robot RobotClient (required)
name String (required)

Returns:

Camera

For more information, see the Flutter SDK Docs.

GetResourceName

Get the ResourceName for this camera with the given name.

Python
Flutter

Parameters:

name (str) (required): The name of the Resource.

Returns:

(viam.proto.common.ResourceName): The ResourceName of this Resource.

Example:

# Can be used with any resource, using an arm as an example
my_arm_name = my_arm.get_resource_name("my_arm")

For more information, see the Python SDK Docs.

Parameters:

name String (required)

Returns:

ResourceName

For more information, see the Flutter SDK Docs.

Close

Safely shut down the resource and prevent further use.

Python
Go

Parameters:

None.

Returns:

None.

Example:

await component.close()

For more information, see the Python SDK Docs.

Parameters:

ctx (Context): A Context carries a deadline, a cancellation signal, and other values across API boundaries.

Returns:

(error): An error, if one occurred.

Example:

myCamera, err := camera.FromRobot(machine, "my_camera")

err = myCamera.Close(ctx)

For more information, see the Go SDK Docs.

Next steps

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Camera Component

Related services

Supported models

Add support for other models

Support Notice

Control your camera with Viam’s client SDK libraries

API key and API key ID

Caution

API

GetImage

Tip

Info

GetImages

Usage

GetPointCloud

GetProperties

DoCommand

GetGeometries

FromRobot

GetResourceName

Close

Next steps