Adjusting motion sensor settings

tlex
Posts: 20
Joined: Wed Jul 17, 2019 5:23 pm

Adjusting motion sensor settings

Post by tlex »

Good day,

I was wondering if someone could come up with a good tutorial on how to adjust motion sensor settings from the trigger tab ?
The reason I'm asking is because I've been struggling for a while trying to adjust it without success.. I ether get tons of false positive or nothing at all...
The big issue I guess is the sun-shadow reflection on the trees but I'm sure there must be a way to adjust these settings using some methodology or something ? There is so many settings, I don't know were to start.. And now with the new Edge vector Algorithm I tough everything would be magical... But I was wrong :).

I've attached a sample of the false positive I get..

Is the best strategy is to put "min. object size" and "min. contrast" to the minimum sensitivity and then move it up until it gets a good trigger ?

I also tried to increase the "Min. duration" to 1.5s and use a zone to restrict the scope...
Checking "cancel shadow" and "high definition" didn't change anything...
I also tried to increase "object travel" to 200 pixel (does a pixel is represented by a small square in the zoning screen ?)
I also tried to increase "object size exceeds" to 80% (is it 80% of the drawn zone or of the full image ?)

Any help appreciated :)

Sample highlight
https://youtu.be/0_VJG6rBHns
Attachments
zone.jpg
zone.jpg (212.81 KiB) Viewed 23371 times
Image-1.png
Image-1.png (59.62 KiB) Viewed 23371 times
User avatar
terk
Posts: 175
Joined: Tue Jun 18, 2019 2:36 pm

Re: Adjusting motion sensor settings

Post by terk »

HomeTech Video (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCA5V-B ... Ojg/videos) has setup a really good series of how to videos, although I haven't been very successful in keeping shadows from triggering alerts. If you have better luck I'd be interested in hearing how.
MikeBwca
Posts: 1115
Joined: Thu Jun 20, 2019 5:39 am

Re: Adjusting motion sensor settings

Post by MikeBwca »

Motion settings is a Quagmire (Gigitty)...

What is the resolution on the camera?

'Object travels pixel'.. this is pixel not the squares. If your resolution is high, then 200 pixels would be a very small distance compared to a lower resolution.

You can calc 'Object travels pixels' by deciding what distance you want until it triggers, then calculating the % of the width or height of the camera. Then multiply the % by the width or height to get the #.

Increasing 'Min. Duration' will help, unless it a very windy day and the tree keeps moving constantly.

As the image you want to cover is close-up, the 'Object Travels' and 'min. duration' would need to be smaller. I think you will have a difficult time with this with the addition of the tree shadow moving about.

Also, setting up zone crossings in this case will most likely not work, as the tree movement will also cross the zones... unlesss.....

.. You set zone crossing with 2 zones with a gap in between.
For example...
1. Set zone A with the side of the house and top stoop.
2. Set zone B to the brick area, and out a bit in the yard and side of the driveway.
3. The gap would be the 2 steps - not in zone A or B.
4. Connect zones A and B together or they cannot cross - so, add an addition zone (I always use G) that covers zone A, the gap, and Zone B. Basically just cover the dimmer yellow areas.
5. Set your 'Zone Crosses' to A-B.
6. Set the 'Min. Duration' to a lower number, like .2 or .4. You can estimate this by how long it takes a person to move about 1/4 to 1/3 the way thru from the edge of either side of the zones.
7. Set the 'Object travel' to a number, like 50 - 100.

If the tree shadow movement crosses the zones, increase the gap, and/or 'Object Travels'.


When testing different settings like this, I will 'Clone' the camera a few times with names like 'Test1', 'Test2'... Then set each clone with different motion & zone settings. The benefit of this is that you can test 2, 3, or more settings at the same time to see which works best under different circumstances. Then, after you find settings that work, you can incorporate them into the main camera to see if those settings work well together. This can save hours/days of testing. I've tested a cameras once with 10 clones of the same camera with different settings. That was extreme, but I learned a lot, and it did save me a lot of time.
HeneryH
Posts: 678
Joined: Thu Jul 18, 2019 2:50 pm

Re: Adjusting motion sensor settings

Post by HeneryH »

I've also had much better luck using zone crossing method.
tlex
Posts: 20
Joined: Wed Jul 17, 2019 5:23 pm

Re: Adjusting motion sensor settings

Post by tlex »

MikeBwca wrote: Wed Sep 18, 2019 5:47 pm Motion settings is a Quagmire (Gigitty)...

What is the resolution on the camera?

'Object travels pixel'.. this is pixel not the squares. If your resolution is high, then 200 pixels would be a very small distance compared to a lower resolution.

You can calc 'Object travels pixels' by deciding what distance you want until it triggers, then calculating the % of the width or height of the camera. Then multiply the % by the width or height to get the #.

Increasing 'Min. Duration' will help, unless it a very windy day and the tree keeps moving constantly.

As the image you want to cover is close-up, the 'Object Travels' and 'min. duration' would need to be smaller. I think you will have a difficult time with this with the addition of the tree shadow moving about.

Also, setting up zone crossings in this case will most likely not work, as the tree movement will also cross the zones... unlesss.....

.. You set zone crossing with 2 zones with a gap in between.
For example...
1. Set zone A with the side of the house and top stoop.
2. Set zone B to the brick area, and out a bit in the yard and side of the driveway.
3. The gap would be the 2 steps - not in zone A or B.
4. Connect zones A and B together or they cannot cross - so, add an addition zone (I always use G) that covers zone A, the gap, and Zone B. Basically just cover the dimmer yellow areas.
5. Set your 'Zone Crosses' to A-B.
6. Set the 'Min. Duration' to a lower number, like .2 or .4. You can estimate this by how long it takes a person to move about 1/4 to 1/3 the way thru from the edge of either side of the zones.
7. Set the 'Object travel' to a number, like 50 - 100.

If the tree shadow movement crosses the zones, increase the gap, and/or 'Object Travels'.


When testing different settings like this, I will 'Clone' the camera a few times with names like 'Test1', 'Test2'... Then set each clone with different motion & zone settings. The benefit of this is that you can test 2, 3, or more settings at the same time to see which works best under different circumstances. Then, after you find settings that work, you can incorporate them into the main camera to see if those settings work well together. This can save hours/days of testing. I've tested a cameras once with 10 clones of the same camera with different settings. That was extreme, but I learned a lot, and it did save me a lot of time.
Thanks for your help,
So my cam is producing 1920x1080..
Based on what you say, do you think putting 320 pixel in object travel should make sense ?
Thanks for the hint with the clones.. will do that :)
measure_01-min.png
measure_01-min.png (238.84 KiB) Viewed 23300 times
MikeBwca
Posts: 1115
Joined: Thu Jun 20, 2019 5:39 am

Re: Adjusting motion sensor settings

Post by MikeBwca »

Yes, exactly. You get it.
Also, note that the 'Object travel' is also detected in the G zone that connects zones A & B together - which also includes the gap that is not effected by the zone crossing. You can also extend the G zone out further so that the 'Object Travels' and 'min. duration' will be matched sooner.
Motion will then be triggered when the person crosses from A thru the gap to B (or vice versa).
tlex
Posts: 20
Joined: Wed Jul 17, 2019 5:23 pm

Re: Adjusting motion sensor settings

Post by tlex »

MikeBwca wrote: Thu Sep 19, 2019 8:16 pm Yes, exactly. You get it.
Also, note that the 'Object travel' is also detected in the G zone that connects zones A & B together - which also includes the gap that is not effected by the zone crossing. You can also extend the G zone out further so that the 'Object Travels' and 'min. duration' will be matched sooner.
Motion will then be triggered when the person crosses from A thru the gap to B (or vice versa).
Thanks !
Maybe my english is not good enough or maybe I'm just doing something wrong (please let me know :) ) but now I do get way less false positive but at the same time I motion is 50% not triggered...
I also tried to reduce Min. Object size (to 125) and Min. Contrast (to 15) without any change :(
Attachments
sensorconfig.jpg
sensorconfig.jpg (63.8 KiB) Viewed 23182 times
objdetection.jpg
objdetection.jpg (43.35 KiB) Viewed 23182 times
tlex
Posts: 20
Joined: Wed Jul 17, 2019 5:23 pm

Re: Adjusting motion sensor settings

Post by tlex »

Here is the zone I did :
Attachments
zoneG.jpg
zoneG.jpg (205.78 KiB) Viewed 23181 times
zoneB.jpg
zoneB.jpg (217.44 KiB) Viewed 23181 times
zoneA.jpg
zoneA.jpg (216.52 KiB) Viewed 23181 times
MikeBwca
Posts: 1115
Joined: Thu Jun 20, 2019 5:39 am

Re: Adjusting motion sensor settings

Post by MikeBwca »

I would extend zone B out into the yard even more... across the front of the bricks about 3/4, and, further out towards the street about 3/4. It will give better detection, and won't trigger unless the motion also moves into A.

Zone A. Might not get detected since a person would probably stand partially in the zone. Maybe extend A out to include the first step. You may or may not have to increase the gap.

These motion settings are really a try-to-see-what-works-best type of thing. Lot's of trial and error. That's why I like to clone the camera a few time, and try 2 or 3 different simultaneous camera configs. Saves a lot of time. I just finished testing the new 'Edge vector' algorithm this way on a few cameras.

The other thing about using the 'gap' zone crossing... if the object enters both zones at the same time, then, they do not 'cross'! So, you'll need to define the zones in such a way that the object actually will enter the zones and cross over.
tlex
Posts: 20
Joined: Wed Jul 17, 2019 5:23 pm

Re: Adjusting motion sensor settings

Post by tlex »

I tried multiple things over the last months but I still have issues were I ether get tons of false positive or no alerts at all...
Is there anybody else who could assist me with that ?
I feel frustrated because on my garden door, I have a cheap camera with motion detection and that one took 4 minutes to tweak were in blueiris this seams to be so complicated...
Also, MikeBwca, I don't understand you point 4 (Connect zones A and B together or they cannot cross - so, add an addition zone (I always use G) that covers zone A, the gap, and Zone B.) because, let say I create that zone G, where is it refered to ? where do you configure BI to use the zone G ?

Any help appreciated :)
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