Camera

Introduction

The VEX AIR Drone includes two Vision Sensors that serve as its onboard cameras—one on the front and one on the bottom. These can capture both images and video during flight. In VEXcode AIR, the word “camera” always refers to one of these Vision Sensors. For example, in a command like drone.camera.start_recording(FORWARD_CAMERA), camera refers to the Vision Sensors, and FORWARD_CAMERA selects the front-facing one.

Below is a list of all available methods:

Actions

• drone.camera.start_recording – Records video from a Vision Sensor.

• drone.camera.stop_recording – Stops recording from a Vision Sensor.

• drone.camera.capture_image – Captures an image from a Vision Sensor.

Mutators

• controller.screen.show_camera – Shows the selected Vision Sensor on the VEX AIR Drone Controller.

• controller.screen.hide_camera – Hides the Vision Sensor feed on the controller.

• controller.screen.set_overlay_reticle – Shows or hides the overlay reticle.

• controller.screen.set_overlay_vision_objects – Shows or hides vision objects.

• controller.screen.set_overlay_telemetry – Shows or hides telemetry data.

Getters

• drone.camera.is_recording – Returns whether the Vision Sensor is recording.

• drone.camera.get_recording_time – Returns the time spent recording.

Actions

start_recording

start_recording records video from the selected Vision Sensor.

Usage:

drone.camera.start_recording(camera)

Parameters	Description
camera	The Vision Sensor to record with: DOWNWARD_CAMERA FORWARD_CAMERA

# Record with a camera after taking off
drone.take_off(500)

while not controller.button5.pressing():
    wait (0.1, SECONDS)

controller.screen.print("Recording...")
wait(2, SECONDS)
drone.camera.start_recording(FORWARD_CAMERA)
controller.screen.show_camera(FORWARD_CAMERA)

stop_recording

stop_recording stops recording from the selected Vision Sensor.

Usage:

drone.camera.stop_recording(camera)

Parameters	Description
camera	The Vision Sensor to stop recording with: DOWNWARD_CAMERA FORWARD_CAMERA

# Record with a camera after taking off
drone.take_off(500)

while True:
    controller.screen.clear_screen()
    controller.screen.set_cursor(1, 1)
    if controller.button5.pressing():
        controller.screen.print("Recording:")
        wait(1, SECONDS)
        drone.camera.start_recording(FORWARD_CAMERA)
        controller.screen.show_camera(FORWARD_CAMERA)
    elif controller.button6.pressing():
        controller.screen.hide_camera()
        drone.camera.stop_recording(FORWARD_CAMERA)
        controller.screen.print("Recording stopped.")
    else:
        wait(0.1, SECONDS)

capture_image

Documentation Coming Soon

Mutators

show_camera

show_camera sets the current screen mode to the specified Vision Sensor feed.

Usage:

controller.screen.show_camera(camera)

Parameters	Description
camera	The Vision Sensor feed to display: DOWNWARD_CAMERA FORWARD_CAMERA

# Record with a camera after taking off
drone.take_off(500)

while True:
    controller.screen.clear_screen()
    controller.screen.set_cursor(1, 1)
    if controller.button5.pressing():
        controller.screen.print("Recording:")
        wait(1, SECONDS)
        drone.camera.start_recording(FORWARD_CAMERA)
        controller.screen.show_camera(FORWARD_CAMERA)
    elif controller.button6.pressing():
        controller.screen.hide_camera()
        drone.camera.stop_recording(FORWARD_CAMERA)
        controller.screen.print("Recording stopped.")
    else:
        wait(0.1, SECONDS)

hide_camera

hide_camera sets the current screen mode to the print area.

Usage:

controller.screen.hide_camera()

Parameters	Description
	This method has no parameters.

# Record with a camera after taking off
drone.take_off(500)

while True:
    controller.screen.clear_screen()
    controller.screen.set_cursor(1, 1)
    if controller.button5.pressing():
        controller.screen.print("Recording:")
        wait(1, SECONDS)
        drone.camera.start_recording(FORWARD_CAMERA)
        controller.screen.show_camera(FORWARD_CAMERA)
    elif controller.button6.pressing():
        controller.screen.hide_camera()
        drone.camera.stop_recording(FORWARD_CAMERA)
        controller.screen.print("Recording stopped.")
    else:
        wait(0.1, SECONDS)

set_overlay_reticle

set_overlay_reticle enables or disables the overlay reticle.

Usage:
controller.screen.set_overlay_reticle(state)

Parameters	Description
state	The state of the overlay reticle: True – Enables the overlay reticle. False – Disables the overlay reticle.

# Record with a camera after taking off
drone.take_off(500)

while True:
    if controller.button5.pressing():
        controller.screen.set_overlay_reticle(True)
    elif controller.button6.pressing():
        controller.screen.set_overlay_reticle(False)
    else:
        wait(0.1, SECONDS)

set_overlay_vision_objects

Documentation Coming Soon

set_overlay_telemetry

set_overlay_telemetry enables or disables the visibility of the drone’s telemetry data on the controller’s screen.

Usage:
controller.screen.set_overlay_telemetry(state)

Parameters	Description
state	The state of the telemetry data: True – Enables viewing telemetry data on the screen. False – Disables viewing telemetry data on the screen.

# Record with a camera after taking off
drone.take_off(500)

while True:
    if controller.button5.pressing():
        controller.screen.set_overlay_telemetry(True)
    elif controller.button6.pressing():
        controller.screen.set_overlay_telemetry(False)
    else:
        wait(0.1, SECONDS)

Getters

is_recording

is_recording returns a Boolean indicating whether a specified Vision Sensor is currently recording.

• True – The specified Vision Sensor is recording.

• False – The specified Vision Sensor is not recording.

Usage:

drone.camera.is_recording(camera)

Parameters	Description
camera	The Vision Sensor to check recording status of: DOWNWARD_CAMERA FORWARD_CAMERA

# Record with a camera after taking off
drone.take_off(500)

while True:
    controller.screen.clear_screen()
    controller.screen.set_cursor(1, 1)
    if controller.button5.pressing():
        if drone.camera.is_recording():
            controller.screen.print("Already recording.")
        controller.screen.print("Recording:")
        wait(1, SECONDS)
        drone.camera.start_recording(FORWARD_CAMERA)
        controller.screen.show_camera(FORWARD_CAMERA)
    elif controller.button6.pressing():
        controller.screen.hide_camera()
        drone.camera.stop_recording(FORWARD_CAMERA)
        controller.screen.print("Recording stopped.")
        wait(1, SECONDS)
    else:
        wait(0.1, SECONDS)

get_recording_time

get_recording_time returns the amount of time a specific Vision Sensor has been recording for in seconds.

Usage:

drone.camera.get_recording_time(camera)

Parameters	Description
camera	The Vision Sensor to check recording time of: DOWNWARD_CAMERA FORWARD_CAMERA

drone.take_off(500)

drone.camera.start_recording(FORWARD_CAMERA)
while drone.camera.is_recording:
    controller.screen.clear_screen()
    controller.screen.set_cursor(1, 1)
    if controller.button5.pressing():
        drone.camera.stop_recording(FORWARD_CAMERA)
    else:
        controller.screen.print("Recording for: {} seconds.".format(drone.camera.get_recording_time(FORWARD_CAMERA)))
    wait(0.1, SECONDS)