Virtual Linux webcam replacing or blurring the background using MediaPipe. Highly inspired by fangfufu/Linux-Fake-Background-Webcam.
This project is intended to be run as a systemd user service. It needs
v4l2loopback device (or similar) to output the image. The install.sh
script will provide hints for setting this up.
The virtual webcam is watched with inotify to keep track whether there are
consumers. By default, only once the virtual webcam is opened, the real camera
should turn on and image processing starts. Sending SIGUSR2 to the process
toggles a always-on mode.
For the real camera, multiple input devices can be given and the first available
device will be used. If the device becomes unavailable, it will automatically
switch to the next in list. This can be useful for docking station setups.
If the preferred camera is reconnected while a fallback camera is active, send
SIGHUP to the process to switch back.
The background can be either a predefined color, an image or a video. If none of
those are given, the background will be blurred instead. Image or video can be
reloaded during runtime by sending SIGUSR1 to the process.
Use ./install.sh to check for v4l2loopback setup, pip install all python
requirements, link all files to the correct location (all within $HOME) and
start the service. (Add -v to use a python virtual environment.)
usage: bgcam [-h] [-b BACKGROUND] [-c FALLBACK_COLOR] [-B BLUR_RADIUS] [-a]
[-F FPS] [-W WIDTH] [-H HEIGHT] [-C CODEC] [-v LOOPBACK_DEVICE]
[-t THRESHOLD] [-m {0,1}]
[-l {critical,error,warning,info,debug}]
[camera ...]
All options can be passed by using environment variables, i.e.
BGCAM_LOOPBACK_DEVICE).
positional arguments:
camera Real cameras in preferred order. (default:
/dev/video0)
optional arguments:
-h, --help show this help message and exit
-b BACKGROUND, --background BACKGROUND
Background image or video. If the file doesn't exists,
a fallback color or the blurred camera image will be
used instead. (default:
$HOME/.config/bgcam/background)
-c FALLBACK_COLOR, --fallback-color FALLBACK_COLOR
Color to use as background if background image does
not exist. (default: -1)
-B BLUR_RADIUS, --blur-radius BLUR_RADIUS
Blur radius for background if background image does
not exist and no fallback color is set. (default: 55)
-a, --always-on Do not wait for consumers before producing images.
(default: False)
-F FPS, --fps FPS Frame rate limit. Use the camera's default frame rate
if set to 0. If the camera is slower, this option as
no effect. (default: 0)
-W WIDTH, --width WIDTH
Output width. (default: 640)
-H HEIGHT, --height HEIGHT
Output height. (default: 480)
-C CODEC, --codec CODEC
Real cameras codec to use. See `v4l2-ctl -d
/dev/video0 --list-formats-ext' to get the supported
codecs. (default: )
-v LOOPBACK_DEVICE, --loopback-device LOOPBACK_DEVICE
V4L2 loopback device to use as output. (default:
/dev/video100)
-t THRESHOLD, --threshold THRESHOLD
Certainty threshold in percent for splitting the input
image into foreground and background. (default: 50)
-m {0,1}, --model {0,1}
Model to use for segmentation, use 0 to select the
general model, and 1 to select the landscape model
(default: 1)
-l {critical,error,warning,info,debug}, --log-level {critical,error,warning,info,debug}
Log level. (default: info)
SIGHUP re-opens the camera (in preferred order), SIGUSR1 reloads the
background image, SIGUSR2 toggles between on-demand and always-on state.
bgcam-set-background manages the background image as a symlink. Passing a
filename will set the symlink to it and send the reload signal to the systemd
service. If no filename is given the symlink will be removed which causes the
application to fall back to a background color or blurring. It can be used with
filemanager-actions for example.
GNU General Public License v3.0 (see https://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl-3.0.txt)