CreatBotMainsail/docs/quicktips/multi-cam.md

layout	title	parent	has_children	permalink	description
default	Multicam	Quicktips	false	/quicktips/multicam	How to setup multi Webcams with mainsailOS.

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Disclaimer
Thank you Charlie_Powell for letting us adapt your guide for mainsailOS!
The original guide can be found here. {: .info}

Prerequisites

You need:

• mainsailOS v0.5.0 or higher
• ssh access
• at least two cameras

WARNING
If you are working on a existing installation, make a backup! {: .warning}

Creating the configuration files

mainsailOS supports an infinite number of webcam*.txt-style configuration files. They can be placed in /home/pi/klipper_config.

In the UI, got to 'Settings > Interface' click on (1) and save as webcam2.txt.

:image:

Now you should have two identical files:

1. /home/pi/klipper_config/webcam.txt
2. /home/pi/klipper_config/webcam2.txt

Editing the original configuration file for a specific camera

Find out the path to the camera by ID. This makes it much easier to stop /dev/video0 and /dev/video1 from switching on you.

Run ls /dev/v4l/by-id, copy your camera id and paste it into the editor in mainsail. For example:

$ ls  /dev/v4l/by-id/
usb-046d_0825_88C56B60-video-index0  usb-046d_0825_88C56B60-video-index1

I'll use the first one usb-046d_0825_88C56B60-video-index0

Note
Not sure which device is which? You can run lsusb to match a name to an ID. {: .info}

Then edit /home/pi/klipper_config/webcam.txt in by clicking on it in mainsail.

Set camera="usb" at the top, and the camera_usb_options line to indicate the device:

camera_usb_options="-r 640x480 -f 10 -d /dev/v4l/by-id/<device long id>"

Note
Using a Raspberry Pi camera? Set camera="raspi" at the top of the file, and you can ignore referencing the cameras by device ID. {: .info}

3. Editing the second configuration file

There's two things that need adjusting here: the port mjpg_streamer will be running under, and the device again.

Note
Using 1 RPi camera and 1 USB camera? You don't need to reference them by ID, since camera="raspi" vs. camera="usb" is enough. {: .info}

Find the long ID of the second camera, as you did for the first one.

Editing /home/pi/klipper_config/webcam2.txt like described above.

As above again, set camera="usb" and set camera_usb_options but this time using the ID for the second camera:

camera_usb_options="-r 640x480 -f 10 -d /dev/v4l/by-id/<device long id>"

Adjust the port, by editing camera_http_options:

camera_http_options="-n -p 8081"

The port should reflect the number in webcam*.txt:

webcam.txt => -p 8080
webcam1.txt => -p 8081
webcam2.txt => -p 8082
webcam3.txt => -p 8083

INFO
mainsailOS comes already setup with four nginx reverse proxies for port 8080 to 8083, so you can configure 4 webcams easy with this guide, for more webcams you need to configure the nginx config, which we dont recommend!
It includes editing nginx configuration, which is easy to mess up and having mainsail stop working as well.
If you need more than four webcams, hop onto our Discord{:target="_blank"} and we will help you. {: .warning}

4. Test it works

Restart webcamd click the button, and try and find your second camera under http://<your-ip>/webcam2/. If it doesn't work, check in the webcam log under the filemanager log section for details.

If it works, you can use the URLs in mainsail:

Stream: http://<your-ip>/webcam2/

DONE
Congratulations, you set up multi webcam with mainsailOS!
If you want to add more, just follow the guide again and increment the webcam*.txt number i.e. webcam3.txt and so on.
The webcams are easy accessible through your http://<your-ip>/webcam, http://<your-ip>/webcam2 and so on. {: .success}