Getting the evidence

Any new's or update
Looking into a meteor tracking now like UFOcapture
But your sound mush more interesting

reply to post by Trillium


Yeah, thanks. I browsed the UFOCapture forum before getting started on this and picked up some points to keep in mind. The main inspiration was Project Twinkle, done with Askania cinetheodolites, which took one frame of 35-mm film per second with tracking data stamped on each frame, expensive things to buy and to operate. They claimed they never captured a UFO with two of them at the same time, and they gave up after six months, citing high cost. My project imitates that but at negligible cost, and it’s fully automated.

Anyway, I can’t call my thing UFOCapture, since that name is taken, so it’s DDCAP (Documented Dual-Capture Arial Photography). It uses two Sony EVI D30s, which were expensive new but are now plentiful for less than $50 each used, even though they are computer-controllable, have motorized pan, tilt, and zoom and use standard VISCA control code. So the system places two of those at least 20 meters apart in a residential back yard within three miles of the target (the primary spot is Los Alamos National Laboratory), connected to an ordinary Windows PC, and the software can detect any large hovering object, adjust the aim of the cameras if necessary to keep the target in frame when zoomed then zoom the two cameras and start recording--all within about a second.

The shutters are synchronized, and tracking data, frame number, and time are stamped on a data bar below each frame. Hoaxproofing data is also embedded in each frame that can only be checked with a program of my making once results are obtained (to verify that there is no cheating on the part of the user), although any capture event will certainly be accompanied by FOIA requests for FAA and weather radar data, which will add data but also help corroborate authenticity of the photos.

The goal is zoomed 3D footage guaranteed authentic, obtained at low cost thanks to some modern toys now commonly available. The software will be free, and I want usage to be supervised by the local MUFON branch. There’s no money involved, and I’ll put up a Web site at my own expense with live feeds once it’s in operation. There may also be notification by cell phone in the area when a capture event is in progress, which might enable some live witnesses, although detection can be set off by a helicopter or large balloon.

I made a demo, which anyone can download at the link below. It doesn’t have the control library linked in. The “live” version will only be available to people who live close to a UFO hotspot and plan to set it up according to project specs. With one keypress the demo generates a target, adjusts pan and tilt of the two cameras if necessary, and then zooms. It also has a stepwise mode to let the user break that down into steps and even more finely center the object, since rounding error puts auto zoom a few pixels off. Pan/tilt can only be discerned in the demo by looking at the data bar, since I didn’t add clouds to the demo. Besides, capture is so fast there’s hardly room for animation in the demo. The actual cameras physically pan or tilt 100 degrees per second and in real use rotate only slightly or not at all. So theoretically, a UFO can hover above a sensitive area for only two seconds, go unnoticed by people outdoors, and yet be caught “close up and personal” by this system, unless they’re smart enough to spot and disable it (and would bother to do so).

Anyway, the demo isn’t much of a video game. It just shows that the program works and is fast enough to spring the trap.

Download Link

Screenshot of Demo:

reply to post by xpoq47


I'm curious if you have done any field testing and if so, what kind of objects did you use for the test?

Originally posted by ZetaRediculian
reply to post by xpoq47

 

I'm curious if you have done any field testing and if so, what kind of objects did you use for the test?

Well, I'm pretty busy, but the hardest part of the programming is done, and I will thoroughly test it at my house with two of those Sony cameras and correct any and all bugs. But once it's ready the really hard part will be finding someone who lives next to a top government research facility that would be willing to do this (maybe a son or daughter of some scientist). And that's on the opposite side of the globe from where I live. I'll contact the local MUFON branch after I've finished validating the software. If they can't do anything, then I'll be looking for some other organization that might help. I'm certainly not planning to move to New Mexico. An ideal spot would be any of the houses in the subdivision north of the ice rink at Los Alamos. If a setup there can go a year without catching anything, then UFOs must be some mysterious natural phenomenon or whatever. But one way or another, this project must go forward in a proper way.

Well got the UFOCapture program and camera going a few day's ago
nothing so far

wife was looking at me kind of funny when she saw me running around the yard in the dard and turning a mini flaslight on and off then checking my computor

But now it pointing up so now UFO or Meteor I'm ready
But cloudy now

Ok now remember this was a test

not a UFO or Meteor ( a mini flasflight going on and off)

Well, UFOCapture does look like fun, and you can capture some meteors, as you know. I browse their forum once in a while and have picked up some points relevant to what I'm doing. And they do give important pointers for any new user, like avoidance of USB for your data transfer.

UFOCapture BBS in English

But even if you capture a real UFO in that way, doesn’t it come out as a streak of light? If you strongly feel you have captured a UFO, you should file an FOIA request for the FAA and radar data for 100 miles square and up to whatever altitude you think fits your event. If you catch it making a sharp turn and then obtain the radar data, I’m sure MUFON’s radar expert would be willing to examine the data for you. You could ask before filing the FOIA request. [hindsight]It certainly would have been great to see that in the Phoenix Lights case.[/hindsight]

What I'm doing, of course, is different, going only for daylight discs photographed simultaneously by two shutter-synced CCTV cameras zoomed after adjusting the aim, if necessary, by automated computer control, also to be backed up by radar in the same way.

The hard part, as I see it, is that my system should be used only right next to something UFOs, if they are under intelligent control, can be expected to visit. The place I have in mind specifically is a subdivision called Western Area in Los Alamos County, New Mexico, where two cameras 20 meters apart can be aimed at the sky above Los Alamos National Laboratory from the back yard of any of those houses. At the moment, I don’t have any good way of finding someone who lives there that would want to set up this sort of automated skywatch. Maybe the local MUFON or even ATS can help with that, but I’m not holding my breath. I expect it to be difficult. I’ve looked at other reputed UFO magnets on Google Earth but didn’t see any such neighborhood next to any of them. And the Los Alamos location has unusually clear skies.

But anything captured there in this manner (zoomed 3D video with data stamps plus radar confirmation and hoaxproofing data embedded in every frame) should be worthy of attention and potentially make a real difference, at least on the question of whether or not there is anything at all to this UFO business.

Ok in my search around the wed bump into this a bit over my head with the math but.
but to you it may be just baby talk

www.ufodatanet.org...

reply to post by Trillium


Thanks for the effort. Actually, Pimander posted that link on page 2 of this thread, and I totally agree with the author, but you know the problems: cost and actually getting a target in sight. Also, there was a guy on a segment of UFO Hunters who had a motor home rigged with all sorts of tracking equipment ready to gather a variety of data when and if he ever spotted a UFO. At least he was hanging out near a government research lab in California. And on the MUFON forum there’s a thread titled MUFON tracker, which proposes converting trucks to UFO data collectors. In all such cases, lots of luck getting a bead on one, and enjoy the vigil. It’s hard enough with my plan, with negligible cost, fully automatic detection and fast camera operation, as well as setting up in the most likely place to spot a UFO if they are operated by entities interested in what goes on in an elite research facility. But if my thing gets what it’s designed to capture, then those with such grandiose plans might suddenly be showered with money. But manned UFO stakeouts produce nothing, whereas an automated one in the best location might, even if it takes a year or longer. And I don’t think motion detectors would be useful with UFOs. That’s why I’m instead using real-time CCTV image analysis. So those trucks, if they ever got funded, could incorporate my system and let it aim or at least activate the other equipment when something is detected, although, still, it only detects large hovering objects, while ignoring bugs, birds, airplanes, meteors, baseballs, etc.

Not very exciting, but . . .
MUFON tracker

Also, on page 1 of this thread C.H.U.D. mentioned and posted links regarding a skywatch network with high-end equipment that detects and photographs meteors, making UFOCapture look like kindergarten, although they apparently can’t be trusted to tell us if they do capture something, since they didn’t report the Phoenix Lights object or Stephanville object (which does have the kind of FOIA FAA radar confirmation I keep mentioning) to corroborate the word of witnesses, which include one pilot who observed it from the ground and a police officer.

This is at work
I'm on the second floor and web cam is looking out the window at a 45 degree angle upward
I set it up on dec 4 first night that I was here
Got my my new camera but it at home now going out on the dec 18
I't not much but it my first catch ( first base as us guy would say )
youtube does not work from our room
Will try to down load to youtube tomorrow but clip is not much better then the picture
just message me your e-mail and I will send it to you

ho the orb is at the right


or here

About the name UFO Capture, it dawned on me that UFO Catcher is the Japanese name for the Claw Crane, that coin-operated arcade game with a robotic claw to try to pick up toys, and UFO Capture, the meteor-tracking software, is a Japanese product.

What time did you take that picture and facing in which direction? Jupiter is at 45 degrees in roughly the east around 9-10 P.M. It wouldn’t be Venus if taken December 4.

I made a new demo for my software, adding clouds, since pan, tilt, and zoom are more obvious with clouds a visual reference. The apparent fast and sudden movement seen in the viewport, with feed from a real camera or with this demo, makes it look like you’re flying around in an impossibly agile aerial vehicle. The demo also lets you play around with manual pan, tilt, and zoom through a cloudy sky, but it’s main purpose is to show how fast the program springs the trap (less than 1.5 sec.) if a large hovering object appears downrange, adjusting the aim of both cameras, if necessary, then zooming in on the target and capturing it in high-parallax 3D video plus tracking data. But more than that, the clouds can help me make the detection algorithm sufficiently robust.

This Web page shows two updated screenshots of that demo:

screenshots

And here’s the download link for the demo (for Windows):

DDCAP demo

Originally posted by xpoq47
About the name UFO Capture, it dawned on me that UFO Catcher is the Japanese name for the Claw Crane, that coin-operated arcade game with a robotic claw to try to pick up toys, and UFO Capture, the meteor-tracking software, is a Japanese product.

What time did you take that picture and facing in which direction? Jupiter is at 45 degrees in roughly the east around 9-10 P.M. It wouldn’t be Venus if taken December 4.

I made a new demo for my software, adding clouds, since pan, tilt, and zoom are more obvious with clouds a visual reference. The apparent fast and sudden movement seen in the viewport, with feed from a real camera or with this demo, makes it look like you’re flying around in an impossibly agile aerial vehicle. The demo also lets you play around with manual pan, tilt, and zoom through a cloudy sky, but it’s main purpose is to show how fast the program springs the trap (less than 1.5 sec.) if a large hovering object appears downrange, adjusting the aim of both cameras, if necessary, then zooming in on the target and capturing it in high-parallax 3D video plus tracking data. But more than that, the clouds can help me make the detection algorithm sufficiently robust.

This Web page shows two updated screenshots of that demo:

screenshots

And here’s the download link for the demo (for Windows):

DDCAP demo

Camera was facing north west at 45 degree upward on Dec 11 at 6:55 AM morning
(see date and time stamp on picture)
Don't think it a planet because it only show up on a few frame of the clip them just disappeared
After I finsh setting this one up
I would be interested in starting to test your program with two camera.

Hello xpoq47, CHUD here (my old account was hacked so I took a new username).

Good to see you are still making progress with your project

Originally posted by Trillium
Camera was facing north west at 45 degree upward on Dec 11 at 6:55 AM morning
(see date and time stamp on picture)
Don't think it a planet because it only show up on a few frame of the clip them just disappeared

My guess would be junk/satellite glinting in the Sun.

It would be hard to prove it though since there is no background star detail - you'd need a faster lens for that.

Hi FireballStorm,

That reminds me that I have to add a check for the possibility that a target is an Earth-grazing fireball moving away, which can be done easily by the software, since the two cameras are set at least cameras 20 meters apart and aligned using stars.

Another thing I just thought of regarding this project is the claim that there are lots of UFOs that can only be seen with night-vision equipment, even in daytime, that 99% are dynamically camouflaged (cloaked). I know very little about infrared photography. I've been planning to use Sony EVI-D30s (which are not night-vision cameras) for this because of the very low cost now of what used to be an expensive camera ($1,299 original list price vs. $50 now in secondhand shops or eBay).

If the chances of spotting a UFO are 100 or more times better with night-vision cameras, that would seem worthwhile. But the project still requires, IR or not, for the camera to have motorized pan, tilt, and sufficient optical zoom, plus be controllable by the software I make.

I looked through the specifications of outdoor IR PTZ cameras advertised on the Web. Most are made in China and don't even show brand names. Some are wireless, which for their intended use is probably good, but for this project I don't trust. Even USB is too slow. Those Sony cameras use RS-232C cable connection, which passes the image data to the computer fast enough to be analyzed in real time. The night-vision cameras advertised are also made for outdoor use, whereas the D30s need some protection arranged by the user, although just mounting them upside-down provides some protection from rain (home elevation is 45 degrees, automatically turning the board on which a camera is mounted into a sloped roof).

I imagine regular pictures would be more impressive, being of daylight discs photographed in natural light. Maybe some IR cameras allow switching, to capture frames of both types of photography. I don't know.

But if there is some model of camera that meets all the requirements, is not too expensive, and has night-vision capability, the system would supposedly not have to be set up close to a traditional UFO hotspot to have a decent chance of catching something, which could mean a lot more users and many times better chance of catching the phenomenon red-handed (debunkers would call that multiplying a larger number by zero!). But I haven't found anything like that among the cameras advertised on the Web.

Maybe the solution is simply removing the IR filter from the D30's sensor and replacing it with a piece of film cut to the same size and shape, as demonstrated in this video (adjusted according to advice from Sony on exactly how to do this with my D30s), although each user of my program would have to do it:

How to convert a cheap digicam into a night-vision camera

One thing I don't know is whether or not, since this is for spotting possibly camouflaged objects in daylight, it'd better to only remove the IR filter and not replace it with a piece of film.

Miles to go before I sleep.

xpoq47 --- Have you or your friends thought about getting a ham shortwave radio licence? Maybe you can lure the ufonauts in...with some kind of radio signal.

reply to post by Erno86


That's something to think about, but what also comes to mind is that it may alert a smart mouse that a trap is set or at least arouse the curiosity of security folks at the nearby secure government facility that serves as the bait.

But if setting up somewhere not close to a UFO hotspot, maybe so. Or make a 40' mock-up saucer out of plastic tarps and duct tape for them to check out on candid 3D camera.

Originally posted by xpoq47
reply to post by Erno86

 

That's something to think about, but what also comes to mind is that it may alert a smart mouse that a trap is set or at least arouse the curiosity of security folks at the nearby secure government facility that serves as the bait.

But if setting up somewhere not close to a UFO hotspot, maybe so. Or make a 40' mock-up saucer out of plastic tarps and duct tape for them to check out on candid 3D camera.

Make it so that you [mock-up saucer sounds good] or let your current avatar be the bait. Can you transmit certain coded pixels of your avatar on shortwave? Are the other-worlder's listening to you, or on other post's on ATS somehow? If so...give them a latitude and longitude coordinates of your photo site on you're thread; and they might put on a show for ya!!! What's there to lose? Unless you don't want future contact wannabee's banging on your door at 3 o'clock in the morning.lol




I've had personal...but not face to face contact with the other-worlder's and there starship's, several times in my life...and I yearn for more close encounter experiences of the "ET" kind.

Wish ya luck,

Erno86

I think this is a really interesting idea. Can we have an update please?
I would like to offer my help if there is anything I can do.

reply to post by qmantoo

Thanks for the interest. I don't know how you can help unless you're a programmer (or live in Los Alamos). I'm using GCC, MinGW, SDL, and some free libraries written and tested for Linux, which I have to get working in Windows. The graphics and font module I wrote from scratch. Right now I'm studying the chain of GNU tools required to build the available video-capture and camera-control libraries for Windows.

The two capture cables are five pieces each, strung together in a chain ($50 total) plus require a regular video cable. The VISCA control cables are available online, one camera to computer and the other camera to camera for daisy-chaining (about $50 total). Only the cameras are cheap, because they're considered obsolete, even though they actually have slightly better specs than the latest model in the series, which is pretty weird (both listed at $1,299, but the model I'm using is available for $50 each used as opposed to $950 each new with best discount for the latest model).

But the hardest part, even after I get the software perfected, will be finding users who live close to so-called UFO hotspots and getting them to take it seriously and follow instructions to the letter (setting the cameras up correctly, aligning them using the alignment program I'm supplying with the system, etc.). I don't know who can help with that, but at least I'm hoping MUFON will be good about providing local supervision.

Miles to go before I sleep.

Two screenshots of the demo and the demo program itself are available at the links below. The demo just lets you generate a target and see the quick detection, aim adjustment, zoom, and start of recording once a target appears (1.25 sec., because it takes a full second to fully zoom the two cameras).

Screenshots

Demo for Windows