Mask image being ignored

Question

I have an Axis network camera monitoring a small street. However, there is a small piece of a busy street visible, which I want to mask out.

I made a mask file in The Gimp. First, I saved it directly as a .pgm binary file, placed it into motion's directory, edited the configuration file, and restarted motion. This didn't work. So I saved the .pgm file as a .jpg, and converted it using djpeg (djpeg -grayscale -pnm [inputfile] > mask.pgm). I placed it into motion's directory and restarted motion; this still didn't work. The mask file is simply being ignored.

So I thought, maybe it's a permissions problem. Motions runs as user motion, and the mask file is located in /home/motion. The mask file has permissions motion:motion -rwxrwxrwx (777). So that can't be the problem.

The mask file is the same resolution as the camera input:

Image:

Mask PGM: http://rik.rikva.nl/fotos/Linux/mask.pgm

Mask JPG:

Any clues?

Motion config:

# PGM file to use as a sensitivity mask.
# Full path name to. (Default: not defined)
mask_file /home/motion/mask.pgm

# Dynamically create a mask file during operation (default: 0)
# Adjust speed of mask changes from 0 (off) to 10 (fast)
smart_mask_speed 0

Environment

Motion version:	3.2.6
ffmpeg version:	none
Libraries:	none
Server OS:	Debian Sarge, kernel 2.4.27

-- TWikiGuest - 10 Apr 2006

Answer

I have tested your mask file with a netcam running 640 x 480.

It is perfectly accepted by Motion.

Can you post in this topic the error messages you get. Both in your syslog and in the console when you start Motion with motion -s please?

-- KennethLavrsen - 11 Apr 2006

Thank you for your reply.

Motion log, running with daemon mode off:

[0] Processing thread 0 - config file /etc/motion/motion.conf
[0] Unknown config option "ffmpeg_filename"
[0] Thread is from /etc/motion/motion.conf
[1] Thread started
[0] motion-httpd/3.2.6 running, accepting connections
[0] motion-httpd: waiting for data on port TCP 8080
[1] Started stream webcam server in port 8081
[1] File of type 1 saved to: /home/motion//pics/motion_captures/Jaar_2006/Maand_04/Dag_11/14-45-53_01-01-1038-20.jpg
[1] File of type 1 saved to: /home/motion//pics/motion_captures/Jaar_2006/Maand_04/Dag_11/14-45-53_01-02-1623-20.jpg
[1] File of type 1 saved to: /home/motion//pics/motion_captures/Jaar_2006/Maand_04/Dag_11/14-45-53_01-03-1591-20.jpg
(etc)

Syslog grepped:

Apr 11 14:45:35 domovoi motion: [0] Processing thread 0 - config file /etc/motion/motion.conf
Apr 11 14:45:35 domovoi motion: [0] Unknown config option "ffmpeg_filename"
Apr 11 14:45:35 domovoi motion: [0] Thread is from /etc/motion/motion.conf
Apr 11 14:45:35 domovoi motion: [1] Thread started
Apr 11 14:45:35 domovoi motion: [0] motion-httpd/3.2.6 running, accepting connections
Apr 11 14:45:35 domovoi motion: [0] motion-httpd: waiting for data on port TCP 8080
Apr 11 14:45:35 domovoi motion: [1] Started stream webcam server in port 8081
Apr 11 15:29:47 domovoi motion: [0] httpd Closing
Apr 11 15:29:47 domovoi motion: [1] netcam camera handler: finish set, exiting
Apr 11 15:29:47 domovoi motion: [0] Motion terminating

Running motion -s:

[0] Processing thread 0 - config file /etc/motion/motion.conf
[0] Unknown config option "ffmpeg_filename"
[0] Motion running in setup mode.
[0] Thread device: http://10.0.0.100/axis-cgi/mjpg/video.cgi?showlength=1 input -1
[0] Thread is from /etc/motion/motion.conf
[1] Thread started
[1] Camera thread starting...
[0] motion-httpd/3.2.6 running, accepting connections
[0] motion-httpd: waiting for data on port TCP 8080
[0] Waiting for threads to finish, pid: 28991
[1] Received first header
[1] Received first header
[1] Received first header
[1] Streaming camera
[1] Boundary string [--myboundary]
[1] Maskfile "/home/motion/mask.pgm" loaded.
[1] Camera handler thread [2]  started
[1] Started stream webcam server in port 8081
[1] Raw changes:     0 - changes after 'EedDl':     0 - labels:   0 - noise level: 22 - threshold: 500
[1] Lightswitch detected
[1] Raw changes:     0 - changes after 'EedDl':     0 - labels:   0 - noise level: 22 - threshold: 500
[1] Raw changes:  3126 - changes after 'EedDl':     0 - labels:   0 - noise level: 22 - threshold: 500

(snip)

[1] Raw changes:  4028 - changes after 'EedDl':     0 - labels:   0 - noise level: 21 - threshold: 500
[1] Raw changes:  3888 - changes after 'EedDl':     0 - labels:   0 - noise level: 21 - threshold: 500
[0] httpd - Finishing: Interrupted system call
[0] httpd Closing
[1] End of event 2
[1] Raw changes:  3800 - changes after 'EedDl':     0 - labels:   1 - noise level: 22 - threshold: 500
[1] netcam camera handler: finish set, exiting
[1] Thread exiting
[1] Closing webcam listen socket
[1] Closing active webcam sockets: Operation now in progress
[0] Threads finished
[0] Motion terminating

-- TWikiGuest - 11 Apr 2006

As far as I can tell your mask file is loaded and accepted.

What makes you say it fails?

-- KennethLavrsen - 11 Apr 2006

Hmm, it indeed seems to work. This is since I made a new mask file (my camera accidentilly fell and I had to replace it another way) and reset the permissions. I'll wait a few hours for some more traffic on the road

Edit: It works. Thanks for your help and sorry for the trouble!

-- TWikiGuest - 12 Apr 2006