iSpy with my little... OSS security camera/audio software suite

Some of the things I think of as fun are projects that do stuff I don't normally see in the wild. If you've been following the C4F Blog for a while, you'll know I like to cover projects that do cool stuff with images. From detection to simple AI, I find computer image identification, manipulation, detection and recognition fascinating.

Today's project takes all these and wraps them into a complete security product. You've probably seen motion detection in your web cam package of choice? Ever wondered how that worked (and how you could do something like that)? Wondered how you could grab video from an IP camera? Do region detection, to see if something happens in a specific area of a video image? Maybe audio threshold detection? Maybe transcoding and/or up loading of videos?

Would you like too see all that and more, and in a OSS project too?

iSpy Connect (Home) - iSpy Camera Security Software (SourceForge)

iSpy uses your webcams and microphones to detect and record movement or sound and provides security, surveillance, monitoring and alerting services. Any media that is captured is compressed and made available securely over the web or mobile.

Features

• Motion detection
• Alerting (SMS, MMS and Email)
• Video Recording
• Sound Recording
• Remote Access
• Sound Detection
• Timelapse Recording
• Motion Tracking
• Object Counting
• Flash Video Conversion
• Online Access
• Save and Delete Captured Media Remotely
• Remote Control (over the web)
• Secured Connections
• Works with Dynamic DNS
• Movement Highlighting
• Multiple Area Monitoring
• Execute any File on Detection
• Password Protection
• Detect lack of movement (monitor machinery/ workplace etc)
• Support for many applications including security, UFO spotting and ghost hunting.
• Detect Loitering
• Zone Detection
• iphone and Android integration
• Streaming HTML5 video
• Automated FTP
• Weeklong scheduling options
• Free online access/ remote control
• Customisable backgrounds
• Built in LAN server
• Control cameras with PTZ
• Monitor, listen and record live audio over the network
• Auto upload or one-click upload to youtube
• Add active floor plans
• Pair microphones and Cameras for movies with sound
• Command Line Access
• Desktop Recording
• Desktop Broadcasting
• Mask Images
• Graphing
• Realtime alerts through the browser

See what I mean about wrapping it all up? And again, yes, this project is OSS...

Here's a snap of the latest source in Visual Studio;

Note: If you grab the project source and want to see it running the the debugger, I found it easiest to first download and install the actual app. That sets up all the runtime dependencies, files, etc and makes running it in Visual Studio a slam dunk.

So what's some of the magic behind iSpy?

From the Download the Source Code

iSpy is written in c#. The project is a Visual Studio 10 solution (you will need Visual Studio 2010 to compile it).

Download the latest version here: http://ispysoftware.svn.sourceforge.net/viewvc/ispysoftware/
(click 'Download GNU tarball')

If you make any improvements or bug fixes to the code, please let us know
iSpy uses adapted open source code from the following projects:
AForge.net
Accord.net
NAudio
FFMPEG
Flowplayer
nVLC
(These projects are not required to build iSpy).

Here's a couple screenshots of the app (from the SourceForge Project Page);

And a couple of it running on my notebook (just to show that it indeed compiles and runs...

Here's just one example of the options available, this one showing off the region/detection zone. Where if set, only movement in this area triggers an action...

And that's just a few of the features. This product and project can be used in any number of ways, any number of means and you can see the magic behind it all...

Here’s a few more links you might find interesting:

• Accord.Net makes it easy to add Image Stitching/Panoramas to your application
• "Contour Analysis for Image Recognition in C#"
• Forging Player Card Detection and Recognition program with AForge.Net