So I’ve managed to get this working with a Logitech C170 USB webcam, and I’m pretty stoked!
I have a few questions:
-
Facial recognition is generally pretty slow… I need to stand in front of the camera for about 10 seconds before I am recognized. Is this normal or a bi-product of the fact that this is a fairly low quality camera… e.g.: if I were to upgrade say to the C920 instead, should I expect better performance? I’ve left the polling setting in config.js at the default 2 seconds – if the recognition were to happen this fast I’d be pretty happy!
-
There is a reference earlier in the thread that the capture resolution can be increased by modifying the module code. Where do I modify this? The c170 can capture natively at 640x480, so I’d like to experiment with capturing both the training images and the real-time facial recognition at this resolution, in an effort to see if I can get better confidence numbers. I’m currently seeing high 40s to mid 50s confidence. At the default threshold of 50, I am often not recognized, but it works more frequently if I increase the threshold to 60. (Training is based on about 50 images all captured from the c170 in representative lighting.) EDIT: one day later and I’m now often seeing confidence in the high 60’s so I needed to increase the threshold to 70.
-
I’d like to experiment with the other recognition algorithms, but I can only get LBPH to work. If I try to use Fisher or Eigen I get an error that the training data has not yet been computed. Training.xml was generated using the appropriate algorithm, and config.js was set to the matching algorithm.
-
With MMM-Facial-Recognition-Tools module, I’m having the same issue as the previous post where I get an error when trying to run tests using facerecognition.py (same error as above). So I need to do my tests with the actual MMM-Facial-Recognition module running on MagicMirror, which as you can imagine is fairly time consuming. Anyone have any insight on getting the test script working?
For context, I’m opting for a webcam instead of the picam because webcams generally look nicer. I’ve spent HOURS scouring the web for a picam enclosure that didn’t look like a high school engineering project, without finding a single one. The closest I could find is this one by Adafruit but it has two problems:
- I don’t like that the cover is clear – I don’t want to see the electronics
- I don’t like how it routes the ribbon cable
This first point is easily remedied with a can of spray paint, but the second is a little harder to deal with. If anyone has found a nice sleek enclosure for the picam, please share a link!
Secondly, I like that webcams generally also have a microphone built-in, so that I can also use it for voice control. I REALLY wish I could use this one but I contacted their support and they told me it wouldn’t work at all with the Raspberry Pi. Too bad… was hoping the 4-microphone array would really with not having to yell at my mirror to get it to hear me and I like how sleek it is. Would look quite unassuming sitting on top of my mirror.
Thanks for the help
-Jeff