How do I use my smart phone camera as a webcam in MATLAB?

I have an smartphone device with a camera. I would like to obtain and process this image data in MATLAB.

(Specifically, I have an Android device).

[Sarah Mahmood]

is there any other solution that make matlab still running in the foreground, I tried this method yet it require the ip cam to run in the foreground i need matlab to be still running for later image processing. Also is it possible to access the smart phone camera using matlab mobile Specifically to iphone camera ?

[keerthana potharaj]

how do we interface mobile camera for deep learning?

P.S we don't have web cam. pls help us.

[kundan surse]

I want to take the screenshot of my mobile screen form matlab to use it for further prossesing how can i do that ?

Answer 1

[Ashish Uthama]

The general solution would need two parts, one to broadcast the data from the device and another part to read this data into MATLAB.

A specific solution for Android:

• Install the free IP Webcam app. (Make sure you read the corresponding permissions and understand any security issues therein)
• Open the app, set the desired resolution (will impact the speed!)
• Scroll to the bottom and tap on 'Start Server'
• In the camera preview window, note the url at the bottom of the screen.
• Open MATLAB and use this code snippet to obtain a live preview window. Note that this uses JPG files for discrete frames, which is probably not the fastest way. The app can stream the video and/or audio in multiple ways.

url = 'http://<ip address>/shot.jpg';
ss  = imread(url);

fh = image(ss);
while(1)
    ss  = imread(url);
    set(fh,'CData',ss);
    drawnow;
end

Example:

(If you find faster ways/solutions for other devices, post it here!)

[Sean de Wolski]

Nice recursive ML screen. +1 for that!

I use a 'dumb' phone so can't provide real feedback ;)

[Ashish Uthama]

Its really fun to see it build it up! (i.e its not super fast :()

[Chirag Gupta]

Is there a similar app for iOS?

[Ashish Uthama]

http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/ip-cam/id333208495?mt=8 appears close enough. Care to try and post another answer?

[ibrahim]

hi, i want to know that can we change this rgb image into grayscale or binary image. i have tried but failed. so any suggestion plz

[Walter Roberson]

set(fh, 'CData', rgb2gray(ss));

And be sure that you have done

 colormap(gray(256))

after the original image() call.

[Joshua]

I'm using a GoPro HD camera which has a URL via an Ambarella video player as http://10.5.5.9:8080/live/amba.m3u8. This is the network address to play in a VLC player. I want to use Matlab for further processing options.

What's the purpose of the .jpg string of the url input? I use the same code as above for the iPhone and Android with the '.jpg' extension on my URL and get the error message...

Error using imread (line 331) Can't read URL "http://10.5.5.9:8080/live/amba.m3u8.jpg".

Current input in command window is url = 'http://10.5.5.9:8080/live/amba.m3u8.jpg'; ss = imread(url); fh = image(ss);

while(1) ss = imread(url); set(fh,'CData',ss); drawnow; end

[Antonio Garcia-Martinez]

Very nice Thank You!!

[Prateek Verma]

>> Ipcamtest Error using imread (line 330) Cannot read URL "http://<htp://10.170.26.12>/shot.jpg".

Error in Ipcamtest (line 2) ss = imread(url);

Hi, Actually I got this Error.. Can you help me out?

[Pablo sanchez]

Hola a todos. La propuesta de Ashish Uthama me ha resultado muy bien, el unico detalle es que en la IP se debe agregar el puerto que muestra la imagen en la parte inferior en el dispositivo android.

Saludos.

[ban_pro]

Hi Prateek..! Just remove all the connection to your PC except the connection of android and your PC. This error is coming because Your PC is trying to connect to other network and your cam is in other network.

[Anupam Bhardwaj]

how can i save a particular frame as an image from this live feed of video from the phone?

[surya ningsih]

thank you very much

[Aman Swaraj]

Is there anyway to use the smart phone camera as web cam through usb cable?

[Walter Roberson]

@Aman Swaraj

I found these instructions: https://www.instructables.com/Android-Smartphone-As-USB-Webcam/

[Jonathan Gadiel Ramírez Martínez]

Hello, is it possible to edit the exposure of the android camera?

[Walter Roberson]

@Jonathan Gadiel Ramírez Martínez

If you happen to use the same product as was discussed in the link on instructables then the vendor site says that exposure is adjustable. https://www.e2esoft.com/ivcam-camera-settings/

[Dominik]

Hi, tip from me - a bit quicker than taking jpg files is to use video. Using the mentioned app the link is simpy:

url_cam = 'http://<ip_address>/video';
cam = ipcam(url_cam)

Answer 2

[Soham Bhattacharyya]

You can use DroidCam if you are using an android phone. You'll need to install OS Generic Video Interface driver.

Hope it helps. :)

[elfodd]

for anyone that can't find the correct address for droidcam simply connect to droidcam using your browser and click on the i button. It should look like this

http://192.168.1.61:4747/mjpegfeed?640x480 
and then 
camera = ipcam('http://ipaddress:port/mjpegfeed?640x480')

[Nikhil Sai]

thank you worked for me

Answer 3

[Chirag Gupta]

With the iPhone, using the App suggested by Ashish above (IP Cam), you can achieve the same pretty easily! The code is exactly the same:

url = 'http://<ipaddress>:8020/image.jpg';
ss  = imread(url);
fh = image(ss);
while(1)
    ss  = imread(url);
    set(fh,'CData',ss);
    drawnow;
end

[Sean de Wolski]

Nice Fractal, +1

[Francisco Canto]

Hi, Excuse me for my bad English. I'm using IP webcam for Android.I used

url = 'http://158.124.30.101:8080/shot.jpg';

ss = imread(url);

fh = image(ss);

The video is excellent but my problem is that I want to use a bounding box to sellect a red object in the video. I don't know if it's possible. Can anyone help me?thanks

[Ashish Uthama]

Francisco, you'll get a better answer if you ask this as a new question: http://www.mathworks.com/matlabcentral/answers/questions/new

(also look at http://www.mathworks.com/matlabcentral/fileexchange/28512-simple-color-detection-by-hue for example)

[Joshua]

is the IP address for the android webcam streaming live video or simply a single image or series of saved images?

[Tiwa Romuald]

hi, please how can i save the video from this function? thank you best regard

Answer 4

[amro]

    url=('http://192.168.43.1:8080/shot.jpg?rnd=350264');

    hVideoIn = vision.VideoPlayer('Name', 'Final Video');
    while(1)

        ss=imread(url);
        step(hVideoIn,ss)
    end

[Haider Ali]

This works well but i have question that why you did not use IP Camera Image Acquisition? i there any why to use it with ip webcam app

[Walter Roberson]

ipcam() was not introduced until R2015a, a year after amro posted their Answer.

[Tiwa Romuald]

Hi Hauder Ali, please can you explain how it work on IP camera Image Acquisition. I new in Matlab. thx

Answer 5

[PIYUSH KUMAR]

Here's the working code for color detection using android camera:

url = 'http://192.168.0.100:8080/shot.jpg'; 

framesAcquired = 0;

while (framesAcquired <= 50)                   % the vedio will work till the 50 video frames, after that the vedio will stop. You can use while(1) for infinite loop

      data = imread(url); 
      framesAcquired = framesAcquired + 1;    
      diff_im = imsubtract(data(:,:,1), rgb2gray(data));  % subtracting red component from the gray image

      diff_im = medfilt2(diff_im, [3 3]);             % used in image processing to reduce noise and for filtering

      diff_im = im2bw(diff_im,0.18);                   % convert image to binary image
      stats = regionprops(diff_im, 'BoundingBox', 'Centroid');  % measures a set of properties for each connected component in the binary image

      drawnow;
      imshow(data);

      hold on  
      for object = 1:length(stats)
          bb = stats(object).BoundingBox;
          bc = stats(object).Centroid;
          rectangle('Position',bb,'EdgeColor','b','LineWidth',2)
          plot(bc(1),bc(2), '-m+')       
      end
      hold off  

end
%stop(vid);    % to stop the video

%flushdata(vid);  % erase the data video

clear all

[Tiwa Romuald]

hi PIYUSH KUMAR please this function it's just for a snaphot or video? i would like to have video and save it from my smarphone into matlab. how can I save directly as a AVI video? please help me. thank you

Answer 6

[Amrinder Brar]

Is there any simple solution to this problem in iphone(i.e. without having to install any third party apps) ?

[Walter Roberson]

Not unless you can use http://www.mathworks.com/help/supportpkg/ipcamera/ug/ipcam.html

Answer 7

[saras]

I am not sure if this is exactly what you are looking for. However, you can use 'Simulink Support Package for Samsung GALAXY Android Devices' or 'Simulink Support Package for Apple iOS Devices' to access the appropriate smartphone camera. Both these support packages come with a Camera block that allow you to get the Camera data inside MATLAB. You can subsequently connect the Camera block to a Video Viewer block if you would like to visualize the data in Simulink.

[Deepak B]

actuallty im looking for this can we send live camera video from the android device i installed the simulink support package for android

but i dont know hoe to use that to send live video to matkab simulink help me out

Answer 8

[Cristian David Jimenez Bedoya]

buenas, este programa funciona bien pero no he logrado capturar una imagen a partir de este mismo, como puedo obtener una captura de imagen y almacenarla ?

url = "http: // <dirección IP> /shot.jpg ';
ss = imread (url);
fh = imagen (ss);
mientras que (1)
    ss = imread (url);
    conjunto (FH, 'programable CData', ss);
    drawNow;
fin

[Walter Roberson]

Approximate translation:

Good, this program works fine but I have not managed to capture an image from this same, how can I get an image capture and store it?

[Walter Roberson]

imwrite() the content of ss

Answer 9

[MARIA JAVED]

can anybody tell me that how we can do face detection through Android phone pls help??? i need that code?

[Walter Roberson]

You would either have to write the code in MATLAB and use MATLAB Coder, or else you would have to create a Simulink model and deploy that to Android.

Answer 10

[Jonathan berry]

Hello guys,

I keep having this error:

Error using imread (line 350) Can't read URL "http://MY_IP /shot.jpg".

any help will be appreciated

[Beril Sirmacek]

I have the same issue. Looking for an answer.

[Walter Roberson]

You need to replace he "MY_IP " part by your actual IP address, such as http://192.168.0.10/shot.jpg

Answer 11

[Dilip Dubey]

How can I read other sensors from IP webcam app in Matlab?

[vass pass]

You can geet a json file for sensors

s='4'
urlImage=['http://192.168.1.' s ':8080/shot.jpg']
urlSensors=['http://192.168.1.' s ':8080/sensors.json']

frame = imread(urlImage);
q=jsondecode(urlread(urlSensors)); %#ok<URLRD>

q.accel.data{1}{2}

Answer 12

[Beril Sirmacek]

Hi All,

I found out that;

imread('http://MY_IP /shot.jpg');

works only on secured network for me. If I am on a public network, then it gives error.

[Omkar Bhanap]

How can I extend this to Simulink model? any suggestions?

[Walter Roberson]

I wonder if you could use https://www.mathworks.com/help/vision/ref/frommultimediafile.html

"On Windows platforms, this parameter supports URLs that point to MMS (Microsoft Media Server) streams."

Answer 13

[Akram]

Hi, there is a new feature on Apple devices (Continuity Camera) where we can directly use our phone's camera as our mac's webcam. With this feature activated, when using the command imaqhwinfo, i only see my mac's webcam and not my iPhone camera. Is there a way to acquire video (live) with my iPhone's camera ?