Okay, so I wanted to set up a system to count people at an event venue. The goal was to get a handle on crowd management, you know, see how many folks are coming in and out, and make sure things don’t get too crazy.
The Brainstorming Phase
First, I spent some time just thinking about how to do this. I mean, there are tons of ways, right? I could have someone stand there with a clicker, but that’s, like, stone-age technology. I wanted something a bit more… modern.
The Tech Choice
I looked into a bunch of different options. I thought about using those infrared beam things, you know, like the ones they have at store entrances? But then I figured those might not be super accurate if people walk in side-by-side. So, I decided to give computer vision a shot. Seemed like the cool, cutting-edge way to go.
Setting Up the Hardware
I grabbed a couple of decent cameras – nothing super fancy, just regular webcams that could capture a clear image. I mounted them above the entrances, making sure they had a good view of everyone coming and going. This part involved a bit of trial and error, adjusting angles and lighting until I was happy with the setup.
The Software Struggle
This is where things got a little tricky. I’m no coding whiz, so I started looking for pre-built software that could do the people-counting thing. Found a few options, played around with them, but honestly, most of them were either way too complicated or just didn’t work that well.
Getting My Hands Dirty
So, I decided to roll up my sleeves and try a bit of DIY. I found some open-source computer vision libraries and started tinkering. There was a LOT of Googling, let me tell you. I spent hours reading tutorials and forums, trying to understand how this stuff even works.
The “Aha!” Moment
Finally, after a bunch of failed attempts, I managed to piece together some code that actually worked! It wasn’t pretty, but it could detect people in the camera feed and keep a running count. I was pretty stoked, I’m not gonna lie. I felt like a real tech wizard, even though it was probably super basic stuff for actual programmers.
Testing, Testing, 1, 2, 3
I did a bunch of testing, walking back and forth through the entrance myself, getting friends to help me out. It wasn’t perfect, of course. Sometimes it would double-count someone, or miss someone entirely if they were moving too fast. But it was definitely good enough for my needs.
Putting It All Together
Once I was happy with the accuracy, I set up a simple dashboard to display the live count. Nothing fancy, just a basic number that went up and down as people entered and exited. I also added a little graph to show the flow of people over time, which was kinda cool to see.
The Results
Overall, I was really happy with how it turned out. It wasn’t a perfect system, but it gave me a much better idea of how many people were at the venue at any given time. And the best part? I learned a ton in the process. It was a fun project, and it definitely made me appreciate how much work goes into these kinds of things.