Multiple Zivid Cameras

Important

Multi-Zivid is experimental and requires:

Zivid One+

Zivid SDK version 1.8.1 or higher.

Zivid Two

Zivid SDK version 2.4.0 or higher.

Multi-Zivid allows you to simultaneously operate multiple Zivid One+, Zivid Two, and Zivid One+ and Zivid Two cameras combined from the same PC. This makes it possible to:

  • Capture point clouds in parallel by running multiple threads each connected to its own camera.

  • Capture point clouds sequentially when connecting to multiple cameras from a single thread.

Be aware that you must connect the cameras to the computer sequentially, and that you cannot connect and operate the same camera from multiple threads at the same time. We recommend connecting to all cameras in one thread and then spawn new threads (one for each camera) that controls each camera individually.

Warning

Cameras can capture images simultaneously but must be connected to the computer in sequence.

To connect and use several Zivid Two cameras at the same time, each camera must have an individual IP address. How to configure IP is explained in Zivid Two Network Configuration.

Testing

We have tested using up to 4 Zivid One+, Zivid Two cameras and a combination of both of them. All connected cameras have captured simultaneously from one computer, using different OSs and combinations of CPUs and GPUs from Intel, Nvidia, and AMD. The different operating systems we have tested are:

  • Windows 10

  • Ubuntu 20.04

  • Ubuntu 18.04

For Zivid One+, we used three different capturing modes:

  • Burst mode: 2 s capture and 1 s pause using fastest capture settings.

  • Fast mode: Continuously capturing using fastest capture settings.

  • Randomized settings: Capturing using random settings with no pause between captures.

For Zivid Two, we captured using randomized setting with synchronized multi-threading.

All tests ran between 12 and 72 hours.

Testing results show that Multi-Zivid in general works well for Zivid Two and Zivid One+. However, there are some limitations for Zivid One+. We have seen that on some hardware combinations different driver versions affect the performance and a very high load can lead to an unstable system. With very high load, we mean 4 Zivid cameras continuously capturing with highest possible acquisition rate for an extended period of time (fast mode). More “application realistic” capturing sequences worked perfectly without any errors. For more details checkout Observed limitations and potential issues.

Note

Specific hardware combinations combined with very high load may lead to an unstable system when using Zivid One+.

Below is a list of hardware that showed no exceptions or errors during our testing.

Motherboard

CPU

GPU

ASUS ROG STRIX Z370-F Gaming

Intel 9900K

Nvidia GTX 1660

ASUS ROG MAXIMUS VIII HERO

i7-6700K

Nvidia RTX 2070