Motion Bug, it still records even though no motion

[tony2012]

Just wanted to report a bug in the "MOTION" feature.

I did a test....I select MOTION and move in front of webcam, I then walk off for 30 seconds, and during those 30 seconds, nobody or anything is moving in front of my webcam, however, yawcam still records the "blank" 30 seconds.

Any fix for this to get the MOTION truly working properly?

[z3r0c00l12]

If you followed the help guide I linked you too, you must have set the image array to 30 seconds, correct?

In this case, when Yawcam detects motion, it will record for the amount of time defined, whether there during that time or not.

Yawcam then resets it's motion detection and goes back to waiting for motion, if you set the flood control, it waits for that long before triggering motion again.

It's not a bug, it's how is it meant to work.

[tony2012]

If you followed the help guide I linked you too, you must have set the image array to 30 seconds, correct?

In this case, when Yawcam detects motion, it will record for the amount of time defined, whether there during that time or not.

Yawcam then resets it's motion detection and goes back to waiting for motion, if you set the flood control, it waits for that long before triggering motion again.

It's not a bug, it's how is it meant to work.

I am confused. So what do I do to make the MOTION work properly and only record when there is MOTION on webcam?

And where do you set the image array to 30 seconds? I can't even find that section.

[z3r0c00l12]

Yawcam will only do the motion action when there is motion, if you turn on your computer and aren't there, Yawcam would not do anything.

To get 30 seconds, you have to do a bit of math, in the link I sent you explaining how to save pictures on motion, there is an image array section, check the box to enable that feature, then the math part comes in.

There isn't a specific way of saying 30 seconds, but you got 2 boxes to fill out, one is the amount of pictures, and the other, the amount of time between the pictures, so for instance, if you wanted 10 seconds, you could make it easy on you, put the interval to 1000 which is equal to 1 second, then set the amount of pictures to 10. So the interval multiplied by the amount of pictures will give you how much time will be recorded.

if you want 30 seconds, and 10 pictures per seconds, you will set the interval to 100 ms and the amount of pictures to 300. So 100 * 300 = 30 000 divide that by 1000 and you get 30 seconds of pictures.

[tony2012]

Yawcam will only do the motion action when there is motion, if you turn on your computer and aren't there, Yawcam would not do anything.

To get 30 seconds, you have to do a bit of math, in the link I sent you explaining how to save pictures on motion, there is an image array section, check the box to enable that feature, then the math part comes in.

There isn't a specific way of saying 30 seconds, but you got 2 boxes to fill out, one is the amount of pictures, and the other, the amount of time between the pictures, so for instance, if you wanted 10 seconds, you could make it easy on you, put the interval to 1000 which is equal to 1 second, then set the amount of pictures to 10. So the interval multiplied by the amount of pictures will give you how much time will be recorded.

if you want 30 seconds, and 10 pictures per seconds, you will set the interval to 100 ms and the amount of pictures to 300. So 100 * 300 = 30 000 divide that by 1000 and you get 30 seconds of pictures.

Under "Image Array" I have selected "Activate" and it says, 9999....100ms.

And what do you mean by "to get 30 seconds"? What's all this talk about 30 seconds and time? All I want is for the program to record ONLY when there is MOTION on webcam.

And if I put in 10 instead of 9999, then the 10 jpg's keep getting replaced with new ones, defeating the purpose of recording an intruder in my house who may be walking around for 5-10 minutes.

I am still confused as to how to get this working properly... all I want is for Yawcam to record whenever someone moves in front of my webcam...why is this so hard to do?

For example... I want to have my webcam and laptop turned on with Yawcam running. And if an intruder breaks in, I want Yawcam to start recording the ENTIRE TIME the intruder walks past the webcam, whether that's 5 or 10 minutes or more and then be able to view the ENTIRE time the intruder was walking around. Is this possible?

[z3r0c00l12]

You have to define how much time you want recorded when motion is detected.

If after the set amount of time, there is still some motion, then Yawcam will continue recording, unless you set the flood control to wait a predetermined amount of time before recording motion again.

As for the problem where your images get overwritten, this is most likely because you are using a filename that comes back, you can set variables in the filename, like hours, minutes and seconds, which will prevent pictures from having the same filename and being overwritten.

The variables can be found on this help page.

I use personally use C:\Yawcam\{date}_{tstamp}_{tstampMS}.jpg

The last variable {tstampMS} is new and refers to the milliseconds.

[tony2012]

You have to define how much time you want recorded when motion is detected.

If after the set amount of time, there is still some motion, then Yawcam will continue recording, unless you set the flood control to wait a predetermined amount of time before recording motion again.

As for the problem where your images get overwritten, this is most likely because you are using a filename that comes back, you can set variables in the filename, like hours, minutes and seconds, which will prevent pictures from having the same filename and being overwritten.

The variables can be found on this help page.

I use personally use C:\Yawcam\{date}_{tstamp}_{tstampMS}.jpg

The last variable {tstampMS} is new and refers to the milliseconds.

Firstly want to say thank you for your freeware progam, it seems really good. But unfortunately, it's too advanced for my little brain to understand how to get the MOTION to work properly.

BTW, this is my filenames, c:\temp\motion_{date}_{tstamp}_{tstampMS}.jpg

It was like that by default.

And I still have NO IDEA what you meant by, "if you want 30 seconds, and 10 pictures per seconds, you will set the interval to 100 ms and the amount of pictures to 300. So 100 * 300 = 30 000 divide that by 1000 and you get 30 seconds of pictures."

Please consider making this program easier to understand, not everyone is as clever as you are.

BTW, when I used 300 as images and 100ms, it recorded a file 1mins and 30 seconds long, NOT 30 seconds as you indicated it would.

And if I use 10 images x 1000ms, it only records 5 seconds of video.

Anyway, all I wanted was a motion detection surveillance software that will record direct to video and be easy to use. It looks like I need to keep looking for another program that will do that for me.

Thanks anyway, best wishes.

[malun]

tony2012, What you are looking for has already been added to the suggestion list and the specific thread is here.
This feature will hopefully be included in a future version but for now I can't say when. There are other things with higher priority on the todo-list.

One of the advantages with free software is that you haven't paid anything
So if it doesn't fit your needs, then just look for something else.

/malun

[tony2012]

tony2012, What you are looking for has already been added to the suggestion list and the specific thread is here.
This feature will hopefully be included in a future version but for now I can't say when. There are other things with higher priority on the todo-list.

One of the advantages with free software is that you haven't paid anything
So if it doesn't fit your needs, then just look for something else.

/malun

I am glad it's been added to suggestion list, because if Yawcam was a bit easier to understand, better INPROGRAM documentation, e.g explanation text appearing when mouse is over features, and if Yawmcam recorded direct to video as soon as there is motion on screen, then Yawcam would be the perfect program.

I will keep an eye on future releases.

Thank you.

[kbezold]

The ability to only capture images as long as there is motion would be a great enhancement.