Here are some common inquiries about using the Keck Lab. If you have a question not listed, please e-mail qian@cs.umd.edu.
1. Why is the Keck Controller not working?
If you are unable to connect to a rig, it could be:
- The rig is down.
- Check the Lab Status page to see if this is the case. Also, make sure the Keck PC is turned on and operational.
- The rig is still stuck on a previous operation.
- Depress the Trigger button to send out sync signals. Wait a couple of minutes to see if a connection is achieved. If not, then
- There is a problem with Keck Server.
- Restart the KeckServer service on the Keck PC, or reboot the machine.
If you are getting a black screen from the live view, it could be:
- Cameras are not ON or connected properly.
- Check that cameras are ON and connected properly.
- You should be able to log on to the cameras from HyperTerminal. If not, that could mean a bad connection or a broken camera.
- Camera settings are incorrect.
- Using HyperTerminal, check that settings (EXE, DGN, BKF, etc) are set correctly.
When all else fails, reboot all the Keck PCs in the lab.
If lc3 hangs, there could be any number of reasons:
- Keck Server is running.
- Stop the KeckServer service on each Keck machine. (Rebooting will work as well.)
- A previous failed instance of lc3 is still running remotely.
- End lc3 using Task Manager on the Keck machines. (Or reboot.)
- There is a problem with one (or more) of the cameras.
- Check the Lab Status page to see if this is the case. Also, check that cameras are ON and connected properly.
- Pinpoint the faulty camera by capturing one camera at a time.
3. Why does my "color" image show up as grayscale?
The cameras in the Keck Lab use a Bayer color filter mask (e.g.,
). That means each pixel in your image reflects the intensity of one color component (red, green, or blue) of the actual color as shown above.
There are two ways to get a color image:
- Reduce image resolution
- Take the red and blue components, and average the green components of each 2x2 neighborhood.
- Perform interpolation
4. Why do the colors look dark and greenish?
The cameras are more sensitive to green (maybe because it has twice as many green filters), making most images look greenish. This problem is mostly cosmetic. It should not have much of an effect on algorithmic results.
To get your images to look more "realistic," you need to do some white-balancing and scale the colors until the colors look "right." Toucan also have some nice features for adjusting colors, but our current version has expired.
5. Why aren't my sequences synchronized between rigs?
In general, the sync signals should keep all the cameras synchronized. However, on occasion, sequences will not be synchronized. There are three known scenarios for this:
- Your exposure time (EXE) is too high for the frame rate.
- Lower your exposure time or frame rate, and try again.
- With lc3, using too many rigs will cause capture to start late for the last few rigs.
- There's no real work-around. Capturing with over 13 rigs has rarely worked successfully, but a synchronized capture of 13 rigs should work. Just reboot.
- Machines have been on too long, and there may be some yet to be discovered configuration errors.
- Reboot all the machines and try again.
Last Updated 10/11/2000 04:13 AM .