Setting up the ANY-maze USB camera

Section 1

Assembling the camera mount

If you purchased a camera mount with your camera, start by unboxing it and laying out all the pieces. You’ll find:

• (A) a tri-footed attachment
• (B) a drop-ceiling attachment
• (C) a ball joint piece with a silver adjustment knob

1. If you have a drop-ceiling, then you’ll want to use the drop-ceiling attachment (B) to mount the camera; it simply clips onto the metal grid. Otherwise, you’ll need to use the tri-footed mount (A) to screw into your ceiling.
2. Once you’ve chosen your mounting attachment, remove the rubber tip from the attachment piece to reveal a screw underneath. This screws into the ball joint piece (C).
3. Lastly, screw the camera onto the silver part of the ball joint piece. But don’t mount the camera just yet – you’ll need to see what the camera sees first to ensure it is properly positioned. Proceed to the next section for further instruction.

Section 2

Adjusting the lens

1. Connect the camera to the computer using the USB cable provided.
2. Open ANY-maze and navigate to the Video page. You’ll see your camera appear on the left-hand side – select it. You should then see the live video feed on the right. This video feed will be necessary to reference while you make your lens adjustments in the next few steps.
3. Referring to the live video feed, make sure the camera is positioned directly over the center of the apparatus, then mount the camera in place.
4. Referring to the lens diagram below, start by turning the iris ring so it is letting in as much light as possible.
5. Next, adjust the zoom and focus on the lens so that your apparatus appropriately fills the video frame. Note: If the zoom and focus rings are hard to move, you may need to loosen the silver knobs on the side. Once you have the zoom and focus where you want them, re-tighten the silver knobs to ‘lock it in place’.
6. Once you’re happy with the lens settings, proceed to the next section to adjust the camera settings.

Section 3

Adjusting the camera properties

1. Right-click the live video feed and select “Properties…”.
2. Starting on the Image control tab, un-tick all of the “Set automatically” boxes. Generally speaking, you don’t want the camera making any automatic adjustments as tracking is under way. We like to say the only thing that should be ‘moving’ during the test is your animal.
3. The other settings (brightness, contrast, gain, etc.) should already be off by default (slider positioned all the way to the left). You can keep these off.

Here’s what your Image control tab should look like:

1. Click “OK” to close the camera properties window. Right-click the video image again and select “Show frame rate”. You’ll see the real-time frame rate appear in the bottom-left corner.
2. Re-open the camera settings (right-click and select “Properties”).
3. On the Camera control tab, un-tick the “Set automatically” boxes.
4. Then adjust the Exposure slider so your video image looks as close to real-life as possible. A quick way to set the exposure is to select the “Set automatically” box, then de-select it. Otherwise, you can manually adjust the slider. Note: As you adjust the exposure, it’s important that you not over-expose the image. Over-exposure will mean the lightest parts of your video image are stark white. Another risk to over-exposing the image is that the frame rate could decrease, so keep an eye on the frame rate as you do this. Your frame rate should be between 15 and 30 fps for optimal tracking.

If you have any questions along the way, please email us at [email protected] and we’ll be happy to help!