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DataPoint |
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Video Frame-Grabbing and Video Motion Analysis Software |
An inexpensive alternative to VideoPoint™
and World in Motion™
for performing 2-dimensional motion analysis in the classroom.
- Grab frames and timing data from any standard AVI video file.
- Use mouse to track objects with crosshair cursor. Step through video file frame by frame.
- Click mouse button to write t,x,y coordinate
data to a comma-delimited text file ready to be imported into
your favorite spreadsheet or graphical analysis application.
- Individual frames can be saved as bitmapped (.bmp) files.
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Screen Shot

Click on image for larger version. |
DataPoint v.0.62
Win32 executable file (0.48 MB) User Guide
(Really doesn't need one.)
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I'm pleased that so
many students, educators, and researchers at high schools, colleges,
and universities all over the world (Taiwan, Singapore, Vietnam, New
Zealand, Australia, New Guinea, South Africa, Spain, Belgium, Switzerland,
the United Kingdom, Canada, Mexico, and the U.S.A.) find DataPoint useful
in their work.
While I hope to continue improving the program, DataPoint is
currently at version 0.62 with only the bare minimum of features. I
wrote DataPoint to give my
students an inexpensive video analysis tool, but without the bells
and whistles of other programs, which they might be tempted to use
thoughtlessly at the expense of developing analytical and critical
thinking skills.
Future revisions to DataPoint will
include frame zooming, multiple-object tracking, and support for other
video formats (e.g., QuickTimeTM, MPEG, etc.) and other
operating systems (MacTM and LinuxTM).
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| DataPoint is copyrighted software, but
I am currently offering it to Physics students
and the Physics education community free of charge. All I ask is
that you notify me that
you are using the software and let me know how it serves your needs and
how it can be improved. Thanks. |
Sample AVI files
(These files are temporarily unavailable.) |
"Cannot open file _frame.bmp"
When DataPoint
extracts a video frame from the avi file, it stores the frame data
in a temporary file named _frame.bmp (the filename begins with
the underscore).
DataPoint expects to the find the frame data in a particular place
in the avi file.
If you get the "Cannot
open file _frame.bmp" error message, keep DataPoint
open and search for the file _frame.bmp. The file _frame.bmp should
be in the same directory as the video file. When DataPoint closes,
it deletes _frame.bmp. If
you can't find _frame.bmp, it means DataPoint can't find the frame
data in the avi file. In that case, it can't create
_frame.bmp, and it gives the error message.
DataPoint was
not intended to be a particularly intelligent program, but it should
work for any "standard" avi
file. I've noticed that some video-capture programs do not create
standard avi files. E.g., the avi files at the TAMU
website were recorded with a JVCTM digital video camera that seems
to have used a proprietary Sony DigitalTM codec (FOURCC
code DVSD). DataPoint does
not work with Quicktime (.mov) video files.
Use DataPoint to
open the following videos of the Pacific Ocean surf and see how
DataPoint handles
(or does not handle) standard and non-standard avi files.
I recorded the non-standard file with a FujiTM digital
camera. I used AVIedit to convert the non-standard file to a standard
avi file.
To use avi files
that are non-standard or use proprietary codecs, there are two
alternatives:
- Find
another video-capture program that creates standard avi files
(if your video-capture program uses compression, try creating an "uncompressed" avi
file) or
- Find
an avi file conversion program that can convert your non-standard
avi files
to standard avi files. I don't endorse any particular
video editing application, but one shareware program with
which I've had some success is AVIedit (http://www.am-soft.ru/).
Unfortunately,
as of 10/20/2008 AVIedit does not include the DVSD codec.
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Created 9/8/2001
Updated
6/14/2003, 4/2/2008
Last updated 10/20/2008
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