Motion Direction Installation and Configuration

Owned by Anand Rajaraman
Last updated: Jan 08, 2020
4 min read

Getting Started

About 3VR’s Motion Direction Analysis Plug-in

3VR’s Motion Direction Analysis plug-in adds unique motion tracking capabilities to any VIP appliance. With Motion Direction Analysis installed and enabled on the appliance you will be able to:

  • Track the direction and location of motion in a camera’s field of view

  • Search through stored video based on the direction and location of motion

  • Generate alerts for motion in a direction

Environmental Specification

Prior to installing and configuring the Motion Direction Analysis plug-in you should ensure that the location where you plan to perform Motion Direction Analysis meets the following specifications:

Cameras

Motion Direction Analysis is possible with both analog and IP cameras at any resolution. Motion Direction Analysis cannot be performed with PTZ cameras. Dynamic gain compensation should be set to the lowest level. Use wide dynamic range cameras for outdoor lighting situations.

Lighting

Uniform lighting is ideal. Back lighting (bright conditions) will negatively affect performance. Changes in lighting conditions throughout the day should be considered.

Field of View

The camera’s field of view (FOV) should be as wide as possible, at least twice as wide as the objects being observed. An example of the acceptable FOV for Motion Direction Analysis of people and vehicles is shown.

Mounting

Cameras can be mounted above or to the side of the objects being tracked. Cameras should be rigidly mounted to minimize shaking or swaying.

Installing Motion Direction Analysis Plug-In

  1. Launch 3VR System Manager.

  2. In the Configure panel, click the plus sign beside the appliance name.

  3. Right-click the Plug-ins folder and select Add Plug-in.

  4. In the resulting Confirm dialog box, click Install to proceed.

  5. Navigate to the folder containing the plug-in file (Plugins.MotionDirection-Release-7.0.xxxxx.3pg) and click to highlight the file.

  6. Click OK. The plug-in will now begin installing.

  7. When the plug-in is installed, it will appear below Plug-ins in System Manager.

Binding Cameras to Plug-In

  1. Click the plug-in name to view its settings.

  2. On the right side of System Manager, select the Bound Cameras field and click the ... button.

  3. In the Bind Plug-in to Cameras dialog box, click the check box [√] beside each camera that should have Motion Direction.

  4. Click OK to return to the Configure panel.

Configure Per-Camera Plug-In Settings

After binding the plug-in to cameras, links will appear under Bound Cameras for each camera.

  1. Click a link (for example Edit “2. East Floor”) to edit the settings for that camera.

  2. The following settings must be configured for each camera bound to the Motion Direction Analysis plug-in:

Drawing Motion Direction Analysis Inclusion Zone(s)

For each camera that is bound to the Motion Direction Analysis plug-in, you may define one or more zones that will be analyzed for Motion Direction events.

If no Motion Direction Analysis zones are specified, the plug-in will default to analyzing the full frame.

To create a new zone:

  1. Click the Polygon icon.

  2. Click the video player to begin drawing a zone. Each click of the mouse will create a new line segment.

  3. To complete the polygon, click the mouse over your start position.

    Edit the polygon by clicking and dragging its end points. Sections of the polygon may not overlap.

  4. Repeat for any remaining zones you wish to draw in the field of view. The area outside of an inclusion zone will not be analyzed.

Configuring Minimum Event Length

The Minimum Event Length setting controls the minimum duration of continuous motion required for a Motion Direction event to be generated by the plug-in.

By default, the plug-in will create an event after detecting 1 second of continuous motion. If too many short, non-meaningful Motion Direction events are appearing in OpCenter, increase the Minimum Event Length value.

Saving Settings

When you are finished editing the Queue Line settings for the current camera, click the OK button at the bottom of the Edit Settings dialog.

Repeat the steps in this section for any remaining cameras bound to the Motion Direction Analysis plug-in.

Final Configuration

Restarting the System Configuration

  1. In the Configure panel, right-click the appliance name and select Restart 3VR Software.

  2. In the pop-up box that appears, click Restart to proceed. Wait 1-2 minutes for the software to restart.

Verifying Successful Configuration

To verify that the Motion Direction Analysis plug-in has been correctly configured, check for recent Motion Direction events in 3VR OpCenter:

  1. In 3VR OpCenter, click the Monitor tab to go to the Monitor panel.

  2. Click camera numbers to select the cameras bound to the Queue Line plug-in.

  3. Click the arrow below the camera selector to open the event type drop-down menu.

  4. Select[√]Motion Direction and click OK.

  5. If the plug-in has been correctly configured, Motion Direction events will appear in the Monitor panel at the interval specified during plug-in configuration.

  6. Verify that Motion Direction events are being generated correctly on all cameras bound to the plug-in.