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Henry
(@henry-3)
Eminent Member
Option for a camera.

I am up and running on a Raspberry pi zero w, not the 2. The hardest part was finding the 18 mm connector. I love the interface. My one question is, is there an option for a pi camera to allow monitoring the print in progress. 

Thanks

Posted : 23/03/2022 6:28 pm
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HermannSW
(@hermannsw)
Estimable Member
RE:

Yes, easiest solution is installing OctoPrint on the Pi, if you have an OS installed already.
For a blank SD card installing OctoPi is even easier, installs Buster without Desktop, OctoPrint and configures all.
You can select OctoPi with rpi-imager for installing on SD card.

In OctoPrint's "Control" tab you will see the camera video.

I 3Dprinted an OctoPi holder for my Pi3A+ and Pi camera with my Prusa MINI+.
The files can be found in the thread (freecad/STL/MINI+ gcode) and easily modified for different 3D printers:
https://forum.prusa3d.com/forum/user-mods-octoprint-enclosures-nozzles/octopi-holder-for-prusa-mini/#post-585175  

I installed a 2nd USB borescope camera (nozzle view) in addition to Raspberry v1 camera (scene view).
Instructions in this posting:
https://forum.prusa3d.com/forum/user-mods-octoprint-enclosures-nozzles/simple-nozzle-camera-borescope-holder-for-prusa-mini/#post-585166

Here you can see Control tab camera view, and how to switch between both cameras with clicking on buttons bottom right:

Posted : 23/03/2022 6:48 pm
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Tojik
(@tojik)
Member Moderator
RE:

Ouch. Looks like you hate Connect/Link, straight up post a guide for Octopi. Sorry about the support not being there yet. Now. Can I do anything to make you feel less resentment towards it?

Posted : 23/03/2022 7:43 pm
HermannSW
(@hermannsw)
Estimable Member
RE:

 

Posted by: @tojik

Ouch. Looks like you hate Connect/Link, straight up post a guide for Octopi. 

Sorry, in fact I don't know Connect/Link yet, so I definitely cannot hate it. I started 3Dprinting with Freecad/Cura slicer/OctoPrint on Ender-5 3Dprinter of younger son only 4 months ago. I switched to using PrusaSlicer only after I got my Prusa MINI+ 5 weeks ago.  I only used OctoPrint because I knew it, and because camera support is so easy there and it just works with MINI+. Having learned from Frederico Hatoum's blog how to integrate 2nd camera was just a bonus.

Sorry about the support not being there yet. Now. Can I do anything to make you feel less resentment towards it?

As said, I have no resentment on Connect/Link.

I really need camera support (especially nozzle camera for seeing what happens with 0.4mm thick single circle wall printing), and when camera support will be available for Connect/Link I will definitely try that.

P.S:
I answered Henry's posting on "camera option" for Prusa printer under "unread posts", and only now realized that it was stated in Connect/Link forum.

Posted : 23/03/2022 8:10 pm
Tojik
(@tojik)
Member Moderator
RE: Option for a camera.

Ah uff, that's a relief. Well, we're going to have support for it at some point. But Connect will just have pictures each layer or two to save bandwidth.

I cannot recommend OctoPrint with a camera for the pi zero W. Think the situation improved a bit, but the original zero is just too underpowered to run a print and encode a video stream with that one 1GHz core.

Posted : 23/03/2022 8:19 pm
HermannSW
(@hermannsw)
Estimable Member
RE:

 

Posted by: @tojik

Ah uff, that's a relief. Well, we're going to have support for it at some point. But Connect will just have pictures each layer or two to save bandwidth.

That will be good enough for most, likely not good enough for my special needs. The last 27 videos I uploaded to youtube are all about printing with Prusa MINI+, majority with nozzle camera view:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCXhm6uSgILX3lrUuaWirZGg/videos

I cannot recommend OctoPrint with a camera for the pi zero W. Think the situation improved a bit, but the original zero is just too underpowered to run a print and encode a video stream with that one 1GHz core.

I totally agree with that (I have mutiple Zero/ZeroW/Pi3A+/Pi3B/Pi4B and single Pi2B/Pi400/Zero2W). The new quadcore Zero2W should be good enough for OctoPrint. I do use Pi3A+ with OctoPi because it is quadcore, faster than Pi0 and was available (the other is blocked by my raspcatbot, and Pi02W is blocked for multi months timelapse). It turned out to be no problem that it has only 512MB of RAM.

Posted : 23/03/2022 8:28 pm
Henry
(@henry-3)
Eminent Member
Topic starter answered:
RE: Option for a camera.

Octoprint is not an option. I have used octoprint in the past and where it is a useful program it does not meet my needs. Octoprint does not work on a pi zero and i was not impressed with it. I am impressed with Prusa link. It is very user friendly and very professional. My main need for a camera is to let me know that the print started and is working. One shot every 2, 3, or 4 layers is more than i need. Thank you for the response. 

Posted : 24/03/2022 12:42 am
HermannSW
(@hermannsw)
Estimable Member
RE: Option for a camera.

@Henry Then mjpeg_streamer is the solution for you.

I did grab a Pi0W, connected Raspberry v1 camera and booted it up.
Raspberry Buster with legacy camera stack and IP address 192.168.178.75:

pi@raspberrypi0W:~ $ head -1 /etc/os-release 
PRETTY_NAME="Raspbian GNU/Linux 10 (buster)"
pi@raspberrypi0W:~ $ vcgencmd get_camera
supported=1 detected=1
pi@raspberrypi0W:~ $ hostname -I
192.168.178.75 2a02:... 
pi@raspberrypi0W:~ $ 

mjpeg_streamer was installed on my Pi0W, if not on your Pi0W then intstall it.

I started this command on Pi0W:

pi@raspberrypi0W:~ $ mjpg_streamer -i "input_uvc.so -d /dev/video0" -o "output_http.so -w /usr/local/share/mjpg-streamer/www/"
MJPG Streamer Version: git rev: 310b29f4a94c46652b20c4b7b6e5cf24e532af39
 i: Using V4L2 device.: /dev/video0
 i: Desired Resolution: 640 x 480
 i: Frames Per Second.: -1
 i: Format............: JPEG
 i: TV-Norm...........: DEFAULT
...
UVCIOC_CTRL_MAP - Error at Raw bits per pixel: Inappropriate ioctl for device (25)
 o: www-folder-path......: /usr/local/share/mjpg-streamer/www/
 o: HTTP TCP port........: 8080
 o: HTTP Listen Address..: (null)
 o: username:password....: disabled
 o: commands.............: enabled


 

Then on my Pi400 I opened "http://192.168.178.75:8080/stream.html" in Chromium browser and clicked on "Stream" tab left — that is all. Now you have a mjpeg stream from the camera remotely, independent on what else is running on your Pi0W (Prusalink/connect).
[In case you only want the mjpeg stream, open "http://192.168.178.75:8080/?action=stream" in browser]

Posted : 24/03/2022 1:46 am
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Henry
(@henry-3)
Eminent Member
Topic starter answered:
RE: Option for a camera.

I think i will stick with Prusa link thank you. 

Posted : 24/03/2022 3:12 am
HermannSW
(@hermannsw)
Estimable Member
RE: Option for a camera.

 

Posted by: @henry-3

I think i will stick with Prusa link thank you. 

This?

https://github.com/prusa3d/Prusa-Link-Web

Posted : 24/03/2022 3:42 am
Tojik
(@tojik)
Member Moderator
RE:

@Henry I can get behind mjpeg streamer. If you want to add a webcam or an rpi camera for viewing on a local network, this should be able to run alongside PrusaLink just fine, it would just need to be configured to use a different port.

@HermanSW PrusaLink is the sw bridging MK3(S+) and Prusa Connect. This section of the forum is dedicated to beta testing Connect and Link. You can find instructions on how to get it on the top level of this forum section. The core repo is still private. Wou have however found the web portion for Link.

I understand that you need cameras for your use case. But I think OP just wanted to know if the option is already there and will not jump straight into configuring a backup solution. Thank you for the guide anyway, i did not know it was that easy :to spin up 🙂

 

Posted : 24/03/2022 7:05 am
HermannSW
(@hermannsw)
Estimable Member
RE: Option for a camera.

Thanks for the information.

According "getting started" thread I cannot try with my MINI+ currently:

Please note that Prusa Connect is currently compatible only with the Original Prusa i3 MK3/S/+ 3D printers and ...

Posted : 24/03/2022 9:33 am
Tojik
(@tojik)
Member Moderator
RE: Option for a camera.

Oooh right sorry, my bad

Posted : 24/03/2022 9:34 am
HermannSW
(@hermannsw)
Estimable Member
RE: Option for a camera.

 

Posted by: @tojik

@Henry I can get behind mjpeg streamer. If you want to add a webcam or an rpi camera for viewing on a local network, this should be able to run alongside PrusaLink just fine, it would just need to be configured to use a different port.

Good, this modified command streams on port 7654:

mjpg_streamer -i "input_uvc.so -d /dev/video0" -o "output_http.so -w /usr/local/share/mjpg-streamer/www/ -p 7654"

 

Posted : 24/03/2022 10:15 am
Tojik and liked
Steve
 Steve
(@Steve)
Guest
RE: Option for a camera.

Hi,

I came across this as I had exactly the same question as Henry originally. I have just got Prusa Connect working on my MK3S+ with a Raspberry Pi Zero W2 and it’s just what I wanted on a local link. (I’ve tried Octoprint in the past and found it too unreliable on big prints on a network)

Well done the Prusa team. As Henry says it’s very professional and clear to use. It would be great however if a camera option could be made available for local monitoring at some point in the future. A great job though.


 

Posted : 30/03/2022 7:31 pm
Tojik liked
Shushuda
(@shushuda)
Estimable Member
RE: Option for a camera.
Posted by: @tojik

Ah uff, that's a relief. Well, we're going to have support for it at some point. But Connect will just have pictures each layer or two to save bandwidth.

By support and pictures, do you mean there will be a regular video stream locally via PrusaLink only and PrusaConnect will have a picture-per-layer instead? That would be great, tbh. I'm personally very interested in being able to occasionally check if my print decided to become a spaghetti monster when I'm out shopping and stop it remotely. Do you have any rough estimate of when you'd like to work on this feature? Or is it a low priority "not even thinking about that yet"? Not to rush ya or be annoying ofc, I'm just curious how deep this is in the backlog.

As a side note, lovely work so far. I set PrusaLink up yesterday on my Pi Zero 2 W, via USB because my soldering iron is MIA, and it's such an easy and fast setup. I just need the online camera/slideshow to be fully happy hahah

Posted : 03/04/2022 1:40 am
Tojik liked
Tojik
(@tojik)
Member Moderator
RE:

Hi, I see you and I would want that too, since the open beta, there is more requests and bug fixes than time for adding features, my To-Dos are missing checkmarks 😀 We know it needs to happen.

Posted : 04/04/2022 8:36 am
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