Documentation

PiCamera Extension

The PiCamera extension adds support for taking photos and recording video using a Raspberry Pi camera module.

Overview

The picamera extension allows you to take photos of your plants using a Raspberry Pi camera. Connect a camera to your Raspberry Pi and make sure you have enabled camera support through raspi-config.

Note

As of MudPi v0.11.0, this extension uses picamera2 — the Raspberry Pi Foundation's official camera library. The legacy picamera library is no longer maintained. Raspberry Pi OS Bullseye or later is required for picamera2 support.

This extension does not require extension-level configuration and is focused on interfaces.

Camera Interface

Provides a camera to take photos or record videos from a Raspberry Pi.

Option	Type	Required	Description
`path`	String	Yes	Full path where MudPi should save the images. Ensure proper write permissions are set.
`filename`	String	No	Name to save files as with a timestamp or counter attached, e.g. `filename-00001.jpg`
`record_video`	Boolean	No	Set to `true` to put the camera in video mode. Default: `false` (photo mode)
`delay`	Object	No	Interval between photo captures. Default: `5 seconds`
`delay.hours`	Integer	No	Hours between captures. Default: `0`
`delay.minutes`	Integer	No	Minutes between captures. Default: `0`
`delay.seconds`	Integer	No	Seconds between captures. Default: `0`
`resolution`	Object	No	Photo resolution. Larger resolution means larger file size.
`resolution.x`	Integer	No	Width in pixels. Default: `1920`
`resolution.y`	Integer	No	Height in pixels. Default: `1080`
`record_duration`	Integer	No	Time in seconds to record video in record mode. Default: `5`
`framerate`	Integer	No	Camera framerate. Default: `15`
`topic`	String	No	Channel for broadcasting image events. Default: `camera/{key}`
`sequential_naming`	Boolean	No	Save photos with a counter instead of timestamp. Default: `false`
`count_start`	Integer	No	Starting number when using `sequential_naming`
`max_count`	Integer	No	Max photos before overwriting when using `sequential_naming`

mudpi.config.json

{
  "camera": [
    {
      "key": "pi_cam_1",
      "interface": "picamera",
      "path": "/home/pi/images",
      "filename": "pi_cam_capture",
      "topic": "camera/pi_cam_1",
      "delay": {
        "hours": 0,
        "minutes": 10,
        "seconds": 0
      },
      "resolution": {
        "x": 1920,
        "y": 1080
      },
      "sequential_naming": true,
      "count_start": 10,
      "max_count": 100,
      "record_video": false,
      "record_duration": 5
    }
  ]
}

Tip

Combine the PiCamera with triggers to capture photos automatically based on sensor readings, such as snapping a photo when motion is detected.

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