Ben Heck’s Auto Tracking Camera Part 1

[donniedamato]

Ben builds replacement for Allison.  We knew it was coming.

[marklee]

Bye Alyson! The show is never going to be the same. I hope to see you do something else in the future. You crack me up.

[GrandPappySmooth]

Hello Ben, a few months back I myself had been the one who came up with this idea and after talking to you on Facebook you liked the idea now i see you are making videos about it and not even slightly acknowledging my idea. Thanks for the video though really helpful.

[johnroberts]

Could you have it track a IR led that way you just have to shut the led off and not have to remove it from frame? Also you could clip the led to your lapel and have a momentary button on your person where the IR would light up and the camera would track when pressed?

[SdudyoyO]

Welcome Max! hope you enjoy your time on The Ben Heck Show, also don't let any Hate comments get to you, that is if there are any.

[tilleytristan]

Great job Alyson! You've been really professional and helpful. Your bike blog is really inspiring too. All the best.

[supershrek]

Bye Allison, thanks for all your work on the show.

[Sonicdude]

Here's an idea for the project Ben. The Pixy can detect distance too, right? Does the camera this will be used on have an optical zoom function? If so you can set the distance detection system up to adjust the recording camera zoom to get the camera dialed in perfectly with the target and one button push.

Just an idea. Not sure how hard or easy the code for that would be. Hardware wise it wouldn't be too hard to do.

[stophnerf]

Could you use a series of different coloured LED's that operate via push button? That way you could define different colour profiles, set specific functions to those colours, and have combinations of functions, ie, focus here + zoom in 20%, pull back 50%, pan from this colour to that colour, zoom to these two extents but stay focussed on the focus here colour, etc. LED's would make it so they could operate in lower-light situations with better clarity, but maybe you could do a mechanical setup that would work the same way. Just a thought, though you're probably already past the next phase.

[Darthos]

I wonder if this sort of thing could also be used with Kinect sensors and those little colored balls attached to a person's clothes (if necessary) as a way of tracking a person's movements and gestures for use with an augmented reality/gesture-based interface setup?

[rustyshackleford]

I almost wish Ben would tell us when the projects are going to be in split videos. I would have waited til it was done to watch all the parts. Instead, I am on the edge of my seat wanting to see the final product. The suspense is (Lol)

Welcome, Max. I like how they both had to tilt their heads back to look up. Its fun to be tall. (Unless low chandeliers are around)

[DogRox]

That was really funny especially the intro :-) and that is a killer idea with the camera panning automatically. Totally blew me away when I saw it working and I realize what the concept was going to be. Killer dude!!! Man, I love these videos! it is sad that we are not going to be seeing Alyson anymore :-(, but we definitely welcome the new guy Max! :-)

[lillydoye]

Alyson: Goodbye, good luck and thank you
Max: Welcome aboard

[NikolajLepka]

Does anyone know why she's leaving?

[stage]

Ben's miming removing the green object (at 3:28) from the 3D printer was Oscar-worthy.

[_Forever]

is it possible to do this same project but using an infrared target so that its not a visible target?

[AmbieWolfie]

How close to the camera do you think I could have my subject? I was hoping to be able to track my eye and then relay the live position of my eye to an animation that would then show this (like motion capture).

[MarkusBlechschmidt]

Is it possible to make the movement more smooth with a PID?
And the stepper should move faster with a higher pulse frequency.

[ClearNinjaFox]

how come i dont see the servo protocols in any of this libraries ? i see
the xy w and h but i dont see those values being ported over to the
serial for arduino to tell servo to move

[homeuser]

Ben is your shop here in Wisconsin, I am just north of you near Fond Du Lac.