The Little Black Box

Jesse,

Exactly. Modify camera settings on the run to match conditions. And since the LBB let’s you look at the output anytime during a run you can have a good idea what you need to modify. I have also just added the ability to run exiftools on the pictures residing on the Pi. Here is an example (parts are cut off but the text area is a scrollable box).

The weight as is seems fine for the stand and extension that I am currently using.

When I started doing the time-lapse work I was just controlling the camera with my iPhone and running pythton scripts on the phone to control the camera and store the images. This works but it ties up the phone and limits the distance between the camera and phone due to low wifi power and poor antennas. I then moved on to adding a Pi zero W to control the camera and then a second wifi circuit to talk to the Pi zero W via SSH so that I could modify scripts on fly and move pictures off the pi at will. Here is a pictures of that setup. Just add power, selfie stick and bungee cords.

Between the two systems I have lots a flexibility now. Of course all the upgrades that I have done system/software wise can be applied to both hardware configurations.

Minimum you need to set up the Pi to auto connect to the Theta S on one of the wireless networks and you also need to have a wireless access point set up on the second wireless network. The access point is where you can log in (with multiple devices) to do things on the Pi. At a minimum you need to have SSH turned on so that you can use the Pi in a headless mode. With the LBB I have taken everything to the next step by adding a web server, PHP, file manager (Samba), Google VRserver, WIFI Command, and now ExifTools. Here is an updated map of what the LBB can do.

As for power, I believe the internal battery of the Theta S and the LBB can power the system for about seven hours. For really long runs I just add an external 5V power source. A bigger battery or a power adapter. One thing nice about the LBB power system is that it can take a “dirty” input and clean it up to keep the Theta S and Pi happy. The Adafruit charging/boost circuit and the LiPo battery built into the LBB do a really nice job of ensuring a nice clean and constant 5.11V output with no spikes.

I think that I answered all your questions. If not, fire away.

Bob

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Getting all the metadata info on the Last Picture image should be really useful. I think people really care about initial orientation, and probably some other details. Do you have any problems with horizon correction? I’m guessing not, cause this is “all THETA.” But pointing out this post on horizon correction just in case.

:slight_smile: It’s cool seeing the “MVP” package as well. :slight_smile:

Also, thanks very much for the LBB components map. Very useful for understanding what you’re doing with your setup.

Also-also, I’m hoping to use your time lapse setup for doing some work in 360 astronomy.

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I took a quick glance at the 360 astronomy link. I will have to revisit it when I have a bit more free time. Thanks for the link.

I will eventually give the LBB menu system the ability to get full metadata on any image stored on the Pi’s memory card. It’s on the to-do list.

Let me know if you need any help with the time lapse setup while using my code. There were a lot of parameters that were hardcoded in that Python code.

The LBB will have all the camera option settings available from HTML pages soon. I am currently working on the retrieval of all API options from the Theta S for display via the LBB. The next step will be the providing the ability to change any of the parameters on the camera from the LBB via HTML pages. The last phase of my settings work will be providing the ability of building and storing Theta S setup templates for easy retrieval from pi memory and for application back to the Theta S.

I envision the templates as being a system to take a snapshot of how the camera is setup at a particular time so that you can apply the same settings as a baseline for another shoot.

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First Offsite Test of the Little Black Box

Thanks to @Bob_White for allowing me to test the Little Black Box (LBB), “across state lines,” as he says. As a tester, to get started it was easy; I pointed my browser at the webserver housed in the LBB. Bob had temporarily opened up the firewall to all web connections.

After 10-15 seconds negotiating the initial connection, up came the LBB interface, with multiple pulldown menus and buttons.

In general, the responsiveness was very good. I noticed latency just once with the first connection, and then if you took multiple pictures, there is 5 seconds between pictures (the time it takes to stitch two hemispheres together on the camera) plus several seconds before the last pictures shows up in the LBB interface.

The pulldown menu for actions:

At first I tried one picture at high res. I can then choose that picture (or others already in memory on the camera) to see the full metadata. You can view a thumbnail (actually it’s the full image just displayed small) of the equirectangular version. AND Bob has implemented GoogleVR so you can easily see the full navigate-able 360 degree photosphere in your browser, too. Very cool!

The Index page shows the full list of images, in reverse chronological order. Note the bottom 7 are taken today (June 13, 2017) and include 1 high res image (highlighted in red rectangle) and 6 low res tests. Equirectangular versions are on the left, 360 photospheres on the right.

Through the LBB interface, you can run multiple API commands. Here I am running /osc/infoand getting back the current state of the camera:

Finishing up just required turning off the wifi which kills the outside connection.

Comment on power: With smaller electronic gadgets and IoT devices, it’s maybe easy to overlook power. The LBB can take power (cord or battery) to the Raspberry Pi Zero W and power the THETA. Only one power source needed. “It’s super clean,” says Bob.

Conclusion

If you are interested in setting up remote time lapse solutions with a RICOH THETA, you should strongly consider contacting Bob’s consulting firm. He has LBB feature-rich example already built. And his consulting business is open to taking on new challenges and adding different functionality.

@jcasman Thanks for all the help today testing the use of the LIttle Black Box via the internet.

Here is a new map of LBB services adding the remote via internet option.

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Bob, thanks a ton. Just posting quickly info about the app you used to map out visually all the services of the LBB. It’s called “iThoughts” by a small UK company called Toketa.

Toketa is a term used in Judo to describe when a person has escaped from being pinned down i.e. they’ve broken free. Seemed apt somehow - software that sets you free. That’s the goal anyhow!

Cool stuff.

When you use the Ricoh Desktop application for horizon correction, doesn’t it just zero out the meta data for camera orientation?

Prior to correction (original image)

After correction with Ricoh Desktop application

I think it zeroes out the image orientation data. I don’t think it corrects the actual image.

In the screenshot below, the top image is the corrected image and the bottom is the original.

The zero out is useful is you edit the image in an image editing application.

The LBB has a second webpage under development.
Right now it will read the Theta S and set pickers to the current settings in the camera.
The next step will be to read changes made to the pickers on this webpage and to write these changes back to the Theta S.

General Information Only Options and Special Options can be viewed from the Tools Menu of the Control Panel. This data is currently displayed as raw data from the Camera. I will be cleaning up this output and also moving some of these options over to the settings menu. These options required slightly different code to extract them from the Theta S hence my orginally grouping them seperate from the main group of options.

Have you considered trying to sell or lease the system to a used car chain? This company uses the THETA.

You’ll need a way to create the virtual tour.

Another market is real estate.

In my opinion, the key is to start off with a vertical industry like auto sales, real estate sales, or surveillance and then make the process of taking images and then displaying them as easy as possible.

Another thing to consider is the upcoming THETA Developer Contest run by the RICOH HQ team. It’s a global contest. The winners of these contests often start their own business.

This was last year’s winners:

These are the winners from 2015

http://contest.theta360.com/2015/result/index-en.html

You can see that HoloBuilder converted this into a business.

https://landing.holobuilder.com/construction

The prestige and validation of winning the prize is probably more important than the financial award. Though, the financial award could be used to kick-start the business.

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Thanks for the suggestions Craig. I guess that I am far enought along with the product now that I need to start considering opertunties like those.

Again Craig thanks. I am very interested in the next THETA Developer Contest.

Bob

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Theta S perched high while being controlled by a Little Black Box system.

Wow, that looks high, easily 15 feet above the rooftop. No weather enclosure needed for the THETA?

Is that a power cable or an Ethernet cable connected to the LBB?

No enclosure, it was just a temporary setup for testing. I am still finding that the biggest problem with the Theta S outdoors is heat. The Theta S shuts down very quickly from heat after it passes it’s 40C/104F high operational temperature rating.

I am hoping that the new 4K version will be able to do better. I have had the LBB CPU running past 60C/140F with no problems.

There is no cable connected to the LBB or the Theta S in that picture. The line that you see is a cord attached for stability. The LBB is actually not even in the picture but at ground level. I was just stressing the ability of the system to take a series of High Resolution images at an 8 second interval with the ability to view each image within a few seconds of it’s capture and processing. It worked great on the bench but I wanted to try a realtime application of the system. It worked well. I was able to log into the LBB during image capturing and view images in near realtime in either equipectangular or 360 VR (even with Google Glasses) modes.

Most of the testing was done in the evening for heat reasons. I had a neighbor call and ask if I knew that there was a blue light flashing above my house. I think I will need to put in a request to Ricoh Theta about an API to turn off the LEDs. Could you or Jesse pass that on for me?

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Alert, alert! UFO alert!

I am still finding that the biggest problem with the Theta S outdoors is heat. The Theta S shuts down very quickly from heat after it passes it’s 40C/104F high operational temperature rating. I am hoping that the new 4K version will be able to do better.

Hi Bob. Quick question - have you managed to determine maximum operating temperature for the Theta V. I’m about to do some testing myself but if you’ve already done it… no point duplicating efforts…

If you haven’t already, I’ll let you know the results of my own tests.

Sadly it’s spring here in Australia, so no 40+ deg days yet for testing…

For what it’s worth, the Theta V specifications page shows an operating temperature range of 0deg to 40deg Celsius…

Thanks. :slight_smile:

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Yes, the 40C is the top end of the range for the Theta while the Pi is good to go up to about 60C. I am in Las Vegas so I was having problems during the day all the time while testing this summer. I was measuring the surface temperature of the Theta S. It locked up when it got to the 40C.

Bob

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