This simple Bash script captures images from a webcam with motion detection support. I wanted to change some settings from the original, laurent22/pmcam, and also add some new features such as video capture and the ability send notifications with NTFY. Also borrowed some things from jaclu/pmcam
Frames are captured at regular intervals using ffmpeg. Then ImageMagick's compare tool is used to check if this frame is similar to the previous one.
There are now two modes, Image mode: If the frames are different enough, they are kept, otherwise they are deleted. This provide very simple motion detection and avoids filling up the hard drive with duplicate frames.
Video mode: If the frames are different enough, video capture will be started. It will then stop a defined amount of seconds later if no further motion is detected. v4l2loopback is used to make a dummy video device, so that motion can still be detected while recording from the camera.
Curl is then used to send a notification to ntfy.sh
sudo apt-get install ffmpeg imagemagick curl v4l2loopback-dkms
curl -O https://raw.github.com/brazier/pmcam/master/pmcam.sh
Not tested, unsupported as of now since v4l2loopback is needed to capture motion and record from the same device. (Change code to use gstreamer instead of ffmpeg and v4l2loopback would most likely work)
Not tested, unsupported. See OS X
The primary config options are:
DIFF_LIMIT Cut-off for what changes should be saved
OUTPUT_DIR Where to save matching imgs
CAPTURE_MODE Images only [1] or video capture [2]
VIDEO_FRAMERATE Framerate of recording
VIDEO_SIZE Resolution of recording
REC_WAIT How many seconds to wait before stopping recording. Prevents many short recordings. (approximately)
CAPTURE_INTERVALS How often to capture/check for motion. (approximately)
NTFY Activate NTFY [true/false]
NTFY_TOPIC Topic to use with ntfy
NTFY_TIMEOUT Minimum seconds between each notification
DISPLAY_SKIPPED Output messages when there is no motion [true/false]
DISPLAY_CAPTURE Output messages when a picture is taken [true/false]
DISPLAY_MOTION Output messages when there is motion [true/false]
Set them as you see fit.
sudo modprobe v4l2loopback
./pmcam.sh
The script will use the default webcam to capture frames. To capture using a different camera, the variable VIDEO_IN can be changed A frame will then be saved approximately every 1 second to the "images" folder next to the Bash script.
Both delay and target folder can be changed in the script.
Running the script with all settings as default, and then check the output DIFF with and without motion. Then set your DIFF_LIMIT appropriately, and any other variables you might want to change. After you have made sure the script runs to your liking, set DISPLAY_SKIPPED and DISPLAY_CAPTURE to false, to keep the output clean. To stop the script, press Ctrl + C.
- Add sound to video recording
- Auto set DIFF_LIMIT
- Clean up code (Variable names & arrays consistency)
MIT License
Copyright (c) 2023 brazier
Copyright (c) 2020-2021 jaclu
Copyright (c) 2014-2019 laurent22
See LICENSE for full licence.