Video capturing with MergAV in OS X

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peachboy
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Video capturing with MergAV in OS X

Post by peachboy » Sun Nov 27, 2016 12:04 pm

Hello.

I'm a bit new to Livecode, but I seem to be managing pretty well so far.

I've hit a bit of a block in the road when it comes to video capturing however. It seems that the MergAV functions don't seem to work for OS X. I'm using the latest Mac OS X Sierra.

What I'm trying to do is record video straight from my webcam, but at the moment I can't even get it to preview. All that appears is just a white rectangle. I've tried multiple example codes, and many different ways around and none seem to work. I've also tried rewinding back to LiveCode 6 (as opposed to LiveCode 8) but I still get the same problem.

Has anyone had any luck getting MergAV to work for video capturing in OS X?

Thanks!

Martin Koob
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Re: Video capturing with MergAV in OS X

Post by Martin Koob » Sun Nov 27, 2016 5:38 pm

Hi

Yes mergAV capturing works great for me on Mac OS X up to Yosemite on my Macs and Sierra on a customers Mac. Are you using an external webcam or the internal one?

How are you initializing the capture? Can you give an example of some of the code you have used?

Martin

peachboy
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Re: Video capturing with MergAV in OS X

Post by peachboy » Mon Nov 28, 2016 2:17 pm

Hi Martin,

Thanks for the reply.

I've tried various bits of code, but the last one is actually one of your example MergAV demos (attached here). None of them work for me.

In all instances I can't get the webcam to activate or preview, and nor can I record. The preview rectangle remains blank, and no output.mov file is generated to the assigned folder.

I'm using the internal webcam on the MacBook.
Attachments
mergAVCam%20demo.livecode.zip
(1.74 KiB) Downloaded 377 times

Martin Koob
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Re: Video capturing with MergAV in OS X

Post by Martin Koob » Mon Nov 28, 2016 4:40 pm

Hi

I tried this on my Mac OS X 10.10.5 with LC 6.7.3 and I got both the preview working and was able to record a movie and the out put movie file was saved to the correct location.

I tried the same with LC 8.1.0 and I did not see the preview but I was able to record a movie. I will have to figure out what is going on here. I have not made the move to LC 8.1 yet.

What version of the mergAV Plugin are you using?

Martin

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Re: Video capturing with MergAV in OS X

Post by Martin Koob » Mon Nov 28, 2016 6:39 pm

Hi

I just tried with LC 8.1.1 and MergAV 4.0.21.

With the attached stack
- camera is initialized
- preview is not visible
However
- clicking 'Record" then 'Stop' will record a movie "output.mov" to the ~/Movies file as expected.

I wonder what is going on with preview in LC 8.1.1?

Martin

peachboy
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Re: Video capturing with MergAV in OS X

Post by peachboy » Mon Nov 28, 2016 6:44 pm

Hmmm, I'm not sure that I'm actually using a plugin.

I was under the impression that all the MergAV externals had been integrated into Livecode as standard. Therefore I've just been trying to call the Merg functions from code. It works well with audio functions such as mergMicrophone but no luck with camera functions (for me at least.) :?

I get the following error:-

Code: Select all

button "RecordStartStop": execution error at line 4 (Handler: can't find handler) near "mergAVCamStartRecording", char 1

Martin Koob
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Re: Video capturing with MergAV in OS X

Post by Martin Koob » Mon Nov 28, 2016 7:34 pm

Hi

The 'can't find handler near "mergAVCamStartRecording"' error indicates that the mergAV handlers in the external are not available.

Yes LiveCode has incorporated the MergExt exterals into the LiveCode product offering but It seems you still have to put the specific externals you are using for your app into your user extensions folder.
(I don't see any mergExt externals in the externals subfolder of the LiveCode Application bundle yet.)

Normally the user extensions folder where you can add a third party external that is in ~/My LiveCode/Externals.
(You may have set your user extensions to a different path. You can see where it is set in LiveCode Preferences>Files & Memory --> see the User Extensions field at the bottom of the window.)

So download the mergExt externals from LiveCode.com. You need to log in to your account at LiveCode.com and then go to https://livecode.com/account/products/livecode. You should see a link for mergExt as the last tab under your license.

Download the mergExt folder and then find the mergAV folder to get the relevant files.

Try putting the mergAV.bundle file into the Externals subfolder of your user extensions folder. i.e. ~/My LiveCode/Externals

That may get record working as I am seeing here but It is odd that I still can't get preview working in LC 8.1.1.

Let me know your results when you add the mergAV.bundle file.

If you are not seeing the preview on your Mac too it should be reported as a bug to http://quality.livecode.com

Martin

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Re: Video capturing with MergAV in OS X

Post by Martin Koob » Mon Nov 28, 2016 7:52 pm

OK It seems I may be wrong about adding the mergAV.bundle to the ~/My LiveCode/Externals folder.

I just tried removing mergAV.bundle from the user extensions folder I have set for LC 8.1.1 restarting it and opening the mergAV demo stack and I get the same behaviour.
- Camera appears to be initiated (green light shows up by camera)
- Camera Preview is not visible.
- clicking record and stop does record the output.mov file to the expected location.

Can someone clarify whether mergExt externals are included in the engine so you don't need to include the mergAV.bundle file in the user extensions?

Has anyone else had luck with LC 8.1.1 and mergAV getting the preview to show?

Thanks

Martin

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Re: Video capturing with MergAV in OS X

Post by Martin Koob » Mon Nov 28, 2016 8:00 pm

OK I answered my own question re requiring the adding of the mergAV.bundle file to 8.1.1...

I found the mergExt externals in the LiveCode 8.1.1 application package. They are all in Contents/Tools/Ext. I was looking in Contents/Tools/Externals before.

I did notice that the package as mergAV-4.0.19 whereas the one available in the download is mergAV-4.0.21.

Does anyone know if I put mergAV-4.0.21 in the user extensions folder will it override mergAV-4.0.19 in the application bundle?


peachboy if you are trying this with LC 6.7.x however I think you would have to add the external to the user extensions bundle to get it to work.

Martin

peachboy
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Re: Video capturing with MergAV in OS X

Post by peachboy » Mon Nov 28, 2016 9:37 pm

Okay I think I've worked out where I'm going wrong.

I'm currently using LiveCode Open Source, as my coding projects are all hobbyist/non-profit in nature. I've just realised that MergAV is only available for Indy and Business users (but MergMicrophone is still open-source.)

I guess that means that camera capturing is off limits to me? I went to the MergExt website with a view to see if I could purchase MergAV independently and simply import it into the Extensions folder, but it seems that it's not being sold anymore. :?

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Re: Video capturing with MergAV in OS X

Post by Martin Koob » Wed Nov 30, 2016 2:24 am

Hi

I found the article where LiveCode announced the acquisition of the mergExt externals and the addition of their creator, Monte, to their staff.
https://livecode.com/merging-with-mergext/

In the article it does say mergExt is only available to Indy and Business users. I had the mergExt Licence before it was acquired. Still for me it has been worth it to pay for the licence to get those features included with the licences If you are interested in video on Mac OS X and iOS then mergAV will serve you well.

(And even more important I think having Monte on the LiveCode team has benefited all of us. :-) )

Martin Koob

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