Stereo Capture Tool

DepthAI capture script for stereo (and optionally RGB/depth) streams from OAK devices. Saves each frame as a .dai file (native ImgFrame serialization) with timestamps and optional calibration/metadata.

Requirements

• DepthAI-compatible device (OAK camera) connected via USB or network
• Python 3.9+

Setup

Create Virtual Environment

Option 1: Using Conda

conda create -n capture python=3.11
conda activate capture

Option 2: Using Python venv

python -m venv venv
source venv/bin/activate  # On Windows: venv\Scripts\activate

Install Requirements

pip install -r requirements.txt

Usage

python capture_data_stereo.py [OPTIONS]

Options

Option	Description
--output	Custom output root folder (default: output next to the script)
--capture-name	Name for the capture (included in folder name and metadata)
--ip	Device IP for network connection (omit for USB)
--autostart	Start capturing after N seconds (-1 = disabled, default)
--autostart_time	Start at a fixed datetime (e.g. from cron)
--autostart_end	Stop at a fixed datetime
--no-streams	Do not show stream windows; use control window for S/Q (faster capture)

Captures are saved under the output folder in subfolders named by device, optional capture name, and timestamp (e.g. output/OAK-D_abc123_myrun_20250211120000/). Each stream gets its own subfolder with one {stream}_{timestamp_ms}.dai file per frame. Calibration and metadata are written in the capture folder, along with preview_left.png — the first left frame of the capture, saved as a quick visual check.

Settings

Capture settings are embedded directly in capture_data_stereo.py as module-level globals (IR, IR_VALUE, FLOOD_LIGHT, FLOOD_LIGHT_INTENSITY, STEREO_RESOLUTION, RGB_RESOLUTION, FPS, NUM_CAPTURES); edit the script directly to change them. They're recorded in each capture's metadata.json.

• NUM_CAPTURES: Max frames per stream (20, or float('inf') for unlimited).
• STEREO_RESOLUTION / RGB_RESOLUTION: {"x": width, "y": height}.
• IR / IR_VALUE: IR laser dot projector (0–1).
• FLOOD_LIGHT / FLOOD_LIGHT_INTENSITY: IR flood light.
• FPS: Target FPS.

Which streams are captured (OUTPUT_SETTINGS in pipeline.py), mono camera tuning (MONO_SETTINGS/EXPOSURE_SETTINGS in utils.py), and stereo depth tuning (EXTENDED_DISPARITY in stereo.py) are hardcoded pipeline configuration rather than user-facing settings — edit those files directly if you need different streams or stereo tuning. The old capture_settings.json file has been removed.

Higher FPS (disable stream display)

To reduce overhead and achieve higher capture FPS, disable the live stream windows and use only the small control window:

python capture_data_stereo.py --no-streams

Controls

• s: Start or stop capture
• q: Quit