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Scripting a Capture from an external source

matthewwachter
I understand that this category is reserved for Apple users using AppleScript but I'm not really sure which category would be more relevant for this question; maybe someone can point me in the right direction.

My goal is to trigger a camera capture from an external source. Ideally this would be a TCP or OSC message but there are a variety of other protocols that would work for my application. Is there any way to do this? From what I understand, the only way to capture is directly from the physical camera buttons, the button in the interface, or a user-defined keyboard shortcut (ctrl-k by default).

My current solution is to use the Python keyboard module () to simulate a keypress. This works but it requires the program to be selected and it's a bit of a hack. Of course another solution would be to use the physical remote trigger on the camera and use some type of micro-controller like an Arduino to close the switch but I thought someone might have a better solution here.

Is there a way to do this that I'm just missing or would it be possible to write a plugin using the SDK that has this type of functionality?

Thanks!
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Comments

5 comments

Date Votes
  • matthewwachter
    Just wanted to share the Python keyboard module solution here.

    import keyboard

    keyboard.press_and_release('ctrl+k')

    Pretty simple but still not ideal. Anyone have any suggestions?
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  • Jim_DK
    Hello,

    This problem/solution assumes the camera is always on and tethered to a Mac?
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  • matthewwachter
    Yes, this would assume the camera is on and tethered but not specifically to a Mac. I understand that the Scripting category is for Apple users but it seems like this functionality should be os agnostic. The python code I posted would definitely work across platforms.
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  • Eric Valk
    You can simulate a keypress in Applescript like this

    tell application "TextEdit" to activate
    tell application "System Events"
    keystroke "abc 123"
    end tell
     More references on this



    However Applescript doesn't have a direct interface to the Mac's Network Interfaces.

    From another Mac you could trigger the Keypress Applescript to run, like this


    There seem to be few OSC applications for OSX, and I don't see one that can trigger ascript of anykind.
    You could log into the Mac using SSH, and the remotely run a keypress script. A bit too low level for this solution I think.

    Otherwise you need something with a network interface that can
    • Call an Applescript Script when it receives a TCP message (receiver side)
    • Send a TCP message in response to a mouse click or keypress (controller side)


    There is a page here with some comments on writing a UNIX script which reacts to a TCP message and could call an Applescript
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  • Rick Allen
    There are a lot of 'you could' answers but without knowing a little more about what you are hoping to achieve it not necessarily what you should do.

    for instance AS has a direct connection to capturing with CO.


    tell application "Capture One 12"
    capture
    delay 1 -- wait for capture to finish
    end tell

    But running AS remotely is a PITA in 10.14 because of the security changes of recent.

    Have you had a look at PiCameraControl there are a couple Pi camera control projects that might be worth looking at.
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