I released a small python interface for the lightcrafter 6500

HI Paolo,

I came across your python package while looking for a programmable interface for the LightCrafter 6500 GUI. The chip I'm trying to program is a DLPC900ZPC, that I usually load images on with the LightCrafter 6500 GUI, and I've installed python, numpy, libusb, pyusb, and Pillow in order to run the test script you include. When I do so, I get the error

Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "test_code.py", line 10, in <module>
    dlp=pycrafter6500.dmd()
  File "C:\Users\Jeremy\Desktop\Pycrafter6500-master\pycrafter6500.py", line 221, in __init__
    self.dev.set_configuration()
AttributeError: 'NoneType' object has no attribute 'set_configuration'

Any idea on what could be causing this error?

Hi Paolo,

It did end up being a libusb issue. The DLPC900 and DLPC900ZPC differences don't actually come into play in your code, and it works just fine for both. The difficulties for me were, like I said, getting the libusb stuff installed correctly. If I were to offer any suggestion for the documentation, it would be some simple installation instructions for things needed on the backend to run the code. Just for people like me who aren't familiar with libusb, or even much about python. Other than that issue, the code works great.

On additional question, though. Is there any way to speed up loading images? I have a set of 5 or so images and that's pretty much all I'm going to ever need to load, and I've been loading them like you did the kitten test image, from image files. Not that it takes forever, but it does take 5 or so seconds between running the script and the images appearing. Is there any way to speed that up? Something I can pre-compute for each of the 5 images perhaps? Thanks again for your code. It really does the trick.

Hi Jeremy,

I'm testing DLPC900 and I think that I'm also having the libusb issue, the error says "NoBackendError: No backend available". May I ask how did you install the "libusb"? I tried Zadig but it couldn't find any device on my laptop so I couldn't modify things like "Driver""USB ID" etc. they are all blank. All I could do is to install WCID Driver, and it didn't solve the problem. Could you give me some suggestions ? Thank you.

Hi Paolo,

Thank you so much for your code. May I ask that how does your code communicate with DLPC900? Is it  through TCP connection? Do you know what's the IP address of the DLPC900? Thank you.

Hi Paolo,

Got it. Thank you, that's very helpful. I have another question, when I run your python program, I got this error, may I know what can I do to solve it? I'm using Python 2.7. Thank you.

File "pycrafter6500.py", line 221, in __init__

self.dev.set_configuration()

AttributeError: 'NoneType' object has no attribute 'set_configuration'

Sincerely,

Bow

Hi Paolo,

Thank you for your reply, I finally solved the driver problem but ran into another error when running your code, it says "Invalid endpoint address 0x1" (screenshot attached below), where I believe the "0x1" comes from line 258 in "pycrafter6500": "self.dev.write(1, buffer)". May I ask what could have caused this problem? Is it my "usb.core" version is not correct ? I would really appreciate it if you could give me some advice. Thank you.

Thanks,

Bow

Hi bow,

that is a strange problem indeed. May i ask if the device works with the official TI software?
As the error is, it seems that the configuration automatically set by the device is not correct,which is a weird issue.

Hi Paolo,

Yes, it works with the official TI software. May I ask what exactly is the error? Can I get some help from TI ? Should I try to set the configuration back to the default setting ?

Also, I tried several other values on the write line, only 2 shows a different error, I don't know if that means anything (And I'm not sure if this errors happens before or after the "endpoint address" line now). Thank you very much for your help.

Thanks,

Bow

Hi Paolo,

Thank you, I tried using python shell but the problem persists. Only address 2 gives a different error (attached below). But telling from the timeout error of address 2, I suspect that 2 is a wrong address. May I ask what other solutions could there be? What does this endpoint address mean? Can I manually configure it? Thank you.

Thanks,

Bow

Hi Bow,

sorry for the late reply, i don't know why, but i didn't receive email notifications for your latest responses. In theory you should not manually specify the endpoint, in the line "self.dev.set_configuration" the pyusb library should automatically select the correct writing endpoint . What error is return from the python console using endpoint 1? Still "invalid endpoint adress"?

In alternative, you can obtain the first working endpoint address from the configuration, you can find an alternative version of the source code for the library, which i successfully tested on my system. Let me know if it works, and i will upgrade the version on the github repository.

As a final test, can you please run the whole thing from a folder that does not have chinese characters in the path? That is the only difference i can think between your system and mine, i doubt it causes the problem, but you never know.

New code for pycrafter6500.py :

import usb.core
import usb.util
import time
import numpy
import sys




##function that converts a number into a bit string of given length

def convlen(a,l):
    b=bin(a)[2:]
    padding=l-len(b)
    b='0'*padding+b

    return b

##function that converts a bit string into a given number of bytes

def bitstobytes(a):
    bytelist=[]
    if len(a)%8!=0:
        padding=8-len(a)%8
        a='0'*padding+a
    for i in range(len(a)/8):
        bytelist.append(int(a[8*i:8*(i+1)],2))

    bytelist.reverse()

    return bytelist

##function that encodes a 8 bit numpy array matrix as a enhanced run lenght encoded string of bits

def mergeimages(images):
    mergedimage=numpy.zeros((1080,1920,3),dtype='uint8')

    for i in range(len(images)):
        if i<8:
            mergedimage[:,:,2]=mergedimage[:,:,2]+images[i]*(2**i)
        if i>7 and i<16:
            mergedimage[:,:,1]=mergedimage[:,:,1]+images[i]*(2**(i-8))
        if i>15 and i<24:
            mergedimage[:,:,0]=mergedimage[:,:,0]+images[i]*(2**(i-16))

    return mergedimage

def encode(image): 


## header creation
    bytecount=48    
    bitstring=[]

    bitstring.append(0x53)
    bitstring.append(0x70)
    bitstring.append(0x6c)
    bitstring.append(0x64)
    
    width=convlen(1920,16)
    width=bitstobytes(width)
    for i in range(len(width)):
        bitstring.append(width[i])

    height=convlen(1080,16)
    height=bitstobytes(height)
    for i in range(len(height)):
        bitstring.append(height[i])


    total=convlen(0,32)
    total=bitstobytes(total)
    for i in range(len(total)):
        bitstring.append(total[i])        

    for i in range(8):
        bitstring.append(0xff)

    for i in range(4):    ## black curtain
        bitstring.append(0x00)

    bitstring.append(0x00)

    bitstring.append(0x02) ## enhanced rle

    bitstring.append(0x01)

    for i in range(21):
        bitstring.append(0x00)



    n=0
    i=0
    j=0

    while i <1080:
        while j <1920:
            if i>0 and numpy.all(image[i,j,:]==image[i-1,j,:]):
                while j<1920 and numpy.all(image[i,j,:]==image[i-1,j,:]):
                    n=n+1
                    j=j+1

                bitstring.append(0x00)
                bitstring.append(0x01)
                bytecount+=2
                
                if n>=128:
                    byte1=(n & 0x7f)|0x80
                    byte2=(n >> 7)
                    bitstring.append(byte1)
                    bitstring.append(byte2)
                    bytecount+=2
                    
                else:
                    bitstring.append(n)
                    bytecount+=1
                n=0

            
            else:
                if j<1919 and numpy.all(image[i,j,:]==image[i,j+1,:]):
                    n=n+1
                    while j<1919 and numpy.all(image[i,j,:]==image[i,j+1,:]):
                        n=n+1
                        j=j+1
                    if n>=128:
                        byte1=(n & 0x7f)|0x80
                        byte2=(n >> 7)
                        bitstring.append(byte1)
                        bitstring.append(byte2)
                        bytecount+=2
                        
                    else:
                        bitstring.append(n)
                        bytecount+=1

                    bitstring.append(image[i,j-1,0])
                    bitstring.append(image[i,j-1,1])
                    bitstring.append(image[i,j-1,2])
                    bytecount+=3
                    
                    j=j+1
                    n=0

                else:
                    if j>1917 or numpy.all(image[i,j+1,:]==image[i,j+2,:]) or numpy.all(image[i,j+1,:]==image[i-1,j+1,:]):
                        bitstring.append(0x01)
                        bytecount+=1
                        bitstring.append(image[i,j,0])
                        bitstring.append(image[i,j,1])
                        bitstring.append(image[i,j,2])
                        bytecount+=3
                        
                        j=j+1
                        n=0

                    else:
                        bitstring.append(0x00)
                        bytecount+=1

                        toappend=[]

                        
                        while numpy.any(image[i,j,:]!=image[i,j+1,:]) and numpy.any(image[i,j,:]!=image[i-1,j,:]) and j<1919:
                            n=n+1
                            toappend.append(image[i,j,0])
                            toappend.append(image[i,j,1])
                            toappend.append(image[i,j,2])
                            j=j+1

                        if n>=128:
                            byte1=(n & 0x7f)|0x80
                            byte2=(n >> 7)
                            bitstring.append(byte1)
                            bitstring.append(byte2)
                            bytecount+=2
                                
                        else:
                            bitstring.append(n)
                            bytecount+=1

                        for k in toappend:
                            bitstring.append(k)
                            bytecount+=1
                        n=0
        j=0
        i=i+1
        bitstring.append(0x00)
        bitstring.append(0x00)
        bytecount+=2
    bitstring.append(0x00)
    bitstring.append(0x01)
    bitstring.append(0x00)
    bytecount+=3


    while (bytecount)%4!=0:
        bitstring.append(0x00)
        bytecount+=1        

    size=bytecount

    print size

    total=convlen(size,32)
    total=bitstobytes(total)
    for i in range(len(total)):
        bitstring[i+8]=total[i]    

    return bitstring, bytecount



##a dmd controller class

class dmd():
    def __init__(self):
        self.dev=usb.core.find(idVendor=0x0451 ,idProduct=0xc900 )

        self.dev.set_configuration()

        cfg = self.dev.get_active_configuration()
        intf = cfg[(0,0)]

        self.ep = usb.util.find_descriptor(
            intf,
            # match the first OUT endpoint
            custom_match = \
            lambda e: \
                usb.util.endpoint_direction(e.bEndpointAddress) == \
                usb.util.ENDPOINT_OUT)

        assert self.ep is not None


        self.ans=[]

## standard usb command function

    def command(self,mode,sequencebyte,com1,com2,data=None):
        buffer = []

        flagstring=''
        if mode=='r':
            flagstring+='1'
        else:
            flagstring+='0'        
        flagstring+='1000000'
        buffer.append(bitstobytes(flagstring)[0])
        buffer.append(sequencebyte)
        temp=bitstobytes(convlen(len(data)+2,16))
        buffer.append(temp[0])
        buffer.append(temp[1])
        buffer.append(com2)
        buffer.append(com1)

        if len(buffer)+len(data)<65:
        
            for i in range(len(data)):
                buffer.append(data[i])

            for i in range(64-len(buffer)):
                buffer.append(0x00)


            self.ep.write(buffer)

        else:
            for i in range(64-len(buffer)):
                buffer.append(data[i])

            self.ep.write(buffer)

            buffer = []

            j=0
            while j<len(data)-58:
                buffer.append(data[j+58])
                j=j+1
                if j%64==0:
                    self.ep.write(buffer)

                    buffer = []

            if j%64!=0:

                while j%64!=0:
                    buffer.append(0x00)
                    j=j+1


                self.ep.write(buffer)               
                





        self.ans=self.dev.read(0x81,64)

## functions for checking error reports in the dlp answer

    def checkforerrors(self):
        self.command('r',0x22,0x01,0x00,[])
        if self.ans[6]!=0:
            print self.ans[6]    

## function printing all of the dlp answer

    def readreply(self):
        for i in self.ans:
            print hex(i)

## functions for idle mode activation

    def idle_on(self):
        self.command('w',0x00,0x02,0x01,[int('00000001',2)])
        self.checkforerrors()

    def idle_off(self):
        self.command('w',0x00,0x02,0x01,[int('00000000',2)])
        self.checkforerrors()

## functions for power management

    def standby(self):
        self.command('w',0x00,0x02,0x00,[int('00000001',2)])
        self.checkforerrors()

    def wakeup(self):
        self.command('w',0x00,0x02,0x00,[int('00000000',2)])
        self.checkforerrors()

    def reset(self):
        self.command('w',0x00,0x02,0x00,[int('00000010',2)])
        self.checkforerrors()

## test write and read operations, as reported in the dlpc900 programmer's guide

    def testread(self):
        self.command('r',0xff,0x11,0x00,[])
        self.readreply()

    def testwrite(self):
        self.command('w',0x22,0x11,0x00,[0xff,0x01,0xff,0x01,0xff,0x01])
        self.checkforerrors()

## some self explaining functions

    def changemode(self,mode):
        self.command('w',0x00,0x1a,0x1b,[mode])
        self.checkforerrors()

    def startsequence(self):
        self.command('w',0x00,0x1a,0x24,[2])
        self.checkforerrors()

    def pausesequence(self):
        self.command('w',0x00,0x1a,0x24,[1])
        self.checkforerrors()

    def stopsequence(self):
        self.command('w',0x00,0x1a,0x24,[0])
        self.checkforerrors()


    def configurelut(self,imgnum,repeatnum):
        img=convlen(imgnum,11)
        repeat=convlen(repeatnum,32)

        string=repeat+'00000'+img

        bytes=bitstobytes(string)

        self.command('w',0x00,0x1a,0x31,bytes)
        self.checkforerrors()
        

    def definepattern(self,index,exposure,bitdepth,color,triggerin,darktime,triggerout,patind,bitpos):
        payload=[]
        index=convlen(index,16)
        index=bitstobytes(index)
        for i in range(len(index)):
            payload.append(index[i])

        exposure=convlen(exposure,24)
        exposure=bitstobytes(exposure)
        for i in range(len(exposure)):
            payload.append(exposure[i])
        optionsbyte=''
        optionsbyte+='1'
        bitdepth=convlen(bitdepth-1,3)
        optionsbyte=bitdepth+optionsbyte
        optionsbyte=color+optionsbyte
        if triggerin:
            optionsbyte='1'+optionsbyte
        else:
            optionsbyte='0'+optionsbyte

        payload.append(bitstobytes(optionsbyte)[0])

        darktime=convlen(darktime,24)
        darktime=bitstobytes(darktime)
        for i in range(len(darktime)):
            payload.append(darktime[i])

        triggerout=convlen(triggerout,8)
        triggerout=bitstobytes(triggerout)
        payload.append(triggerout[0])

        patind=convlen(patind,11)
        bitpos=convlen(bitpos,5)
        lastbits=bitpos+patind
        lastbits=bitstobytes(lastbits)
        for i in range(len(lastbits)):
            payload.append(lastbits[i])



        self.command('w',0x00,0x1a,0x34,payload)
        self.checkforerrors()
        


    def setbmp(self,index,size):
        payload=[]

        index=convlen(index,5)
        index='0'*11+index
        index=bitstobytes(index)
        for i in range(len(index)):
            payload.append(index[i]) 


        total=convlen(size,32)
        total=bitstobytes(total)
        for i in range(len(total)):
            payload.append(total[i])         
        
        self.command('w',0x00,0x1a,0x2a,payload)
        self.checkforerrors()

## bmp loading function, divided in 56 bytes packages
## max  hid package size=64, flag bytes=4, usb command bytes=2
## size of package description bytes=2. 64-4-2-2=56

    def bmpload(self,image,size):

        t=time.clock()

        packnum=size/504+1

        counter=0

        for i in range(packnum):
            if i %100==0:
                print i,packnum
            payload=[]
            if i<packnum-1:
                leng=convlen(504,16)
                bits=504
            else:
                leng=convlen(size%504,16)
                bits=size%504
            leng=bitstobytes(leng)
            for j in range(2):
                payload.append(leng[j])
            for j in range(bits):
                payload.append(image[counter])
                counter+=1
            self.command('w',0x11,0x1a,0x2b,payload)


            self.checkforerrors()
        print time.clock()-t


    def defsequence(self,images,exp,ti,dt,to,rep):

        self.stopsequence()

        arr=[]

        for i in images:
            arr.append(i)

##        arr.append(numpy.ones((1080,1920),dtype='uint8'))

        num=len(arr)

        encodedimages=[]
        sizes=[]

        for i in range((num-1)/24+1):
            print 'merging...'
            if i<((num-1)/24):
                imagedata=mergeimages(arr[i*24:(i+1)*24])
            else:
                imagedata=mergeimages(arr[i*24:])
            print 'encoding...'
            imagedata,size=encode(imagedata)

            encodedimages.append(imagedata)
            sizes.append(size)

            if i<((num-1)/24):
                for j in range(i*24,(i+1)*24):
                    self.definepattern(j,exp[j],1,'111',ti[j],dt[j],to[j],i,j-i*24)
            else:
                for j in range(i*24,num):
                    self.definepattern(j,exp[j],1,'111',ti[j],dt[j],to[j],i,j-i*24)

        self.configurelut(num,rep)

        for i in range((num-1)/24+1):
        

            self.setbmp((num-1)/24-i,sizes[(num-1)/24-i])



            print 'uploading...'
            self.bmpload(encodedimages[(num-1)/24-i],sizes[(num-1)/24-i])

Hi Paolo,

Thank you so much for your help, I really appreciate it. Yes, when I run code in Python console using "1" as endpoint address, it gives "Invalid endpoint address 0x1" error.  I just want to double-check if our hardware match, I'm using Lightcraft 6500 with dlpc900, windows10.

I tried your new code in a different folder, but the error persists. I extended the timeout time,but still didn't get anything.

From my understanding, the error happens in the "write" step, it could because of:

1. the device couldn't read the command string sent from the laptop,so there's no response back. But I tried to modify the buffer to be some sample commands on "dlpc900 programmer guide", it still doesn't work.

2. the command string is not able to reach th device, or the response doesn't reach the laptop. But I think there shouldn't be problem for the device to receive the commands because it works with TI software.

I'm wondering what do you think the problem could be ? Thank you.

Thanks,

Bow

Hi Bow,

we indeed have the same hardware, the only difference is that i am using Windows 7. I will later try with my Windows 10 laptop, but i doubt it will be a problem. The persistence of the problem is very strange, as if it was unable to find a working endpoint it would now return a different error. It appears the software finds an endpoint, sends a message, but the device does not react.
Just to be perfectly sure, the TI software is not open when you are running the Python script, right?

As i said, i will alter try to operate the device from my Windows 10 laptop, and document all the steps i take for the driver installation, in case something went wrong for you there.

Hi Paolo,

Thank you for your time. I'll keep testing as well. Looking forward to hearing from you.

Hi Bow,

i tried on my Windows 10 pc. It worked without problems. The procedure is:

-plugged in the usb cable
-opened Zadig
-Selected "show all devices"
-Selected the "libusb-win32" driver
-Pressed the "install driver" button
-run the Python script

One thingh i just noticed is that, in your errors, the Pyusb library seems to be using the libusb0 backend, while, in case i get an error, it seems i am using the libusb1 backend. In theory the device should work with both, but please check that you are using the latest version of Zadig, and you are selecting the correct driver.

Good luck!

Paolo

Hi Bow, 

great to hear that it works! And thank you for your patience in testing the code without giving up.

I will try, based on your feedback, to create better driver installation instructions for the library.
Again, i can not help you for the IDE specific problems, you should probably contact the IDE developers. My guess is that the text editor for a Chinese language operating system creates some problems with the use of hexadecimal notation in the code, but i could be very wrong.

I hope you enjoy using your DLP with Python!

Cheers

Paolo

Hi Bow,

that is strange, i can use both the TI software and my python software with the same driver. Maybe try to reinstall the TI software?

Hi Bow,

I've run into the same issue. After install the driver from Zadig, the TI software no longer connects. Were you able to get it working again? Any help is appreciated.

Thanks,

Alex

Hi Alex,

No, I've been only using the Python code since then. I tried to remove all the drivers but the TI software never worked since the Zadig driver was installed.

Sincerely,

Bow

Hey Paolo,

I encountered a problem with your Python interface. I display different moving lattices on the DMD, which is why I wanted to use your interface so I could generate them and load them onto the DMD fully automated. Otherwise I would have to load them by hand with the TI interface. For good compressible images your interface works fine but my lattices are very fine, in the worst case a checkerboard pattern. I came to this conclusion because for the big lattices the TI interface transfers the images very fast, but for the fine ones and espacially for the checkerboard it takes very long. When I try to transfer those images with your interface I get an error for a lattice depandent amount of images. If I use big lattices I can transfer many images and in the case of the case of the checkerboard I can't even transfer only this one.

The exact error message I get in the command window reads:

C:\Users\username\Documents\DMD\Python\Pycrafter>test_code.py
merging...
encoding...
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "C:\Users\username\Documents\DMD\Python\Pycrafter\test_code.py", line 23, in
<module>
    dlp.defsequence(images,exposure,trigger_in,dark_time,trigger_out,0)
  File "C:\Users\username\Documents\DMD\Python\Pycrafter\pycrafter6500.py", line 488
, in defsequence
    imagedata,size=encode(imagedata)
  File "C:\Users\username\Documents\DMD\Python\Pycrafter\pycrafter6500.py", line 165
, in encode
    while numpy.any(image[i,j,:]!=image[i,j+1,:]) and numpy.any(image[i,j,:]!=im
age[i-1,j,:]) and j<1919:
IndexError: index 1920 is out of bounds for axis 1 with size 1920

Here are two of the images I use: