Decoding an animated cimbar on Linux.

[owenkojola]

From looking at what documentation and code exists for libcimbar, cimbar, and cfc I was hoping to figure out an easy way to decode an animated cimbar displayed on a tv being captured by a webcam on a laptop. Does the decoder only take in png images or is it capable of taking a short video as input of an animated cimbar created with a fountain flag?

I really like the way the cfc app works but I didn't see anything about a PC version of that app I assume it doesn't exist yet based on reading other issue threads.

[sz3]

I don't know about "easy", but cimbar_recv is the (test) program for this purpose. It's very (very) rough around the edges, and basically only exists for local dev-testing -- but if you can figure out the /dev/ interface for the camera device it could be useful? (you might be able to extend it do what you want, maybe)

Another weirder option is to run the cimbar executable in its stdin mode (the default if you don't supply any input files) + have a separate video capture app dump images to /tmp (and probably clean them up every few seconds) + feed the /tmp filenames to cimbar line-by-line over stdin.

I'm hoping to improve the decoder situation in the next few months; I've made some time to work on it...

[owenkojola]

I guess "easy" wasn't the correct term I should have used. "Easy" for a group of 4 people taking a senior design class for CS and IT bachelors. I was already thinking about doing the second option of just dumping pictures to a folder and letting it have at it. If you improve the decoder situation in the next few months, that would make things a lot easier, but I am sure I can figure it out without. Really nice work here I spent forever trying to find an alternative colored QR code/HCCB option that worked and wasn't just a "I have concepts of a plan" type of alternative.