An exploration of which IVS rules trigger well with critters

[NightLife]

I tried something yesterday, once I installed Parallels and WIndows 10 on my Macbook. I decided that since I could finally define some decent IVS rules that I would begin the task of spending weeks defining various IVS rules, and then checking in the morning to see which rules were triggered the most when our furred friends came by. So far I made some intrusion rules, a loitering one and an abandoned object.

Guess what? The intrusion rules accounted for 2 triggerings while the abandoned object had 5 pages worth! And nothing else seemed to work. *I'm pretty fresh at all this IVS stuff so I'm sure there would be a way to optimize certain rules for the area I'm looking at, but for now simply defining a few quick and dirty rules, the Abandoned rule is killing it.

Animals are different than humans in some regards where IPC AI might be concerned. Not wholly but in some regards a user such as myself, only interested in animals at the moment, might have to apply different IVS rules to optimize captures. When I saw all the events from that one abandoned rule I looked to see where the area was that I'd defined. Nothing special I think - it's just some area in the heart of the rocks where they come every night. You might laugh at the idea of having an 'Abandoned Object' IVS rule in the middle of the woods here, but it looks like small mammals because of their nature, like to dwell for a while in situ and those pauses in movement may be what is triggering the rule.

Here are a few screen captures of all the IVS rules in play last night, and then a clean shot of the abandoned object area:



And the Abandoned Object on it's own:


It seems to work so well I may uncheck everything else, and create a new Abandoned Object IVS rule that encompasses more of the field of view. See how that works, and modify accordingly.

*Once I get as strong an IVS rule as I can, I'd like to examine how to maintain record duration. It's not like I'm recording birds - the mammals I capture sit and walk around in the FOV for 20 minutes at a time, and in the summer lounge on those rocks for up to 8-12 hrs a day.

Below is one of the many 'Abandoned Object' (Fox) videos ..

View attachment Abandoned IVS rule capturing Foxes.mp4

 

[NightLife]

Tonight's configuration consists of making the entire lawn and rocks up to the woods an Abandoned Object IVS rule, with 7 or 8 trip lines where the foxes can enter the main area. Some trip lines are bidirectional, while others are one way. I'm trying to take small steps, so I'm leaving it at that tonight to see how well it performs. As below:

 

[NightLife]

Well, the results from lasts nights test are unexpected - ZERO detections based on my numerous Tripwire IVS rules, BUT 112 captures from the one inclusive IVS rule for Abandoned Objects!

So, perhaps my simple Tripwires above aren't quite applied correctly. I'll see if I can find that in the manual. I assumed I could simply draw a single line such as those above, add a desired direction of travel and be good to go. But something in that logic is broken. There must be more to it than that.

Anyone a Tripwire specialist?

EDIT: Thought I may have not had the Tripwire enabled in Synology, but I did and tonight the results have been the same. 100+ recordings prompted by the Abandoned Object AI, but zero Tripwire events.
EDIT2: Turns out in Synology there is a 'Schedule' setup which I hadn't included the Tripwire in yet. I just updated it Dec 1 2230, so we'll see what happens now.

 

[EMPIRETECANDY]

But right now all 5 series support SMD, that means can filter the animals, can't do 100% accurate ,but can ease a lot of alarms from animals.

 

[NightLife]

But right now all 5 series support SMD, that means can filter the animals, can't do 100% accurate ,but can ease a lot of alarms from animals.

Well, if anyone asks you about how to capture different sized mammals tell them they can easily using the Abandoned Object IVS rule, while definitely not implementing the SMD. I always have that stuff shut off. It's just a different purpose use, and I'm pretty happy that particular IVS rule is so powerful for my needs out here in the woods. Who would have thought an IVS rule in the homeland security realm would work for alerting to animals haha. That cracks me up. Bravo Dahua!

*Note: I just realized the updated FW for this camera has eliminated the Abandoned Object! I am looking into this update further to establish whether the new FW with it's Smart Object Detection differences will still detect animals or not. This is important for any other wildlife buffs out there reading this. Stay tuned...I will update when I hear back from a few folks in the know. See below for changes in FW -

 

[EMPIRETECANDY]

wooo, that is great, thanks for your sharing @NightLife
For the IVS i will make some researching on it too.

 

[Mike A.]

wooo, that is great, thanks for your sharing @NightLife
For the IVS i will make some researching on it too.

Would be nice if they could add an animal selection to IVS.

That's kind of a challenge with these new AI cams - Works great for filtering only people/cars but then you lose most all of your wildlife/pet captures which, as here, many really want too. You can turn off the filters but still doesn't work as well. Going back to motion to get them sucks.

 

[NightLife]

Would be nice if they could add an animal selection to IVS.

That's kind of a challenge with these new AI cams - Works great for filtering only people/cars but then you lose most all of your wildlife/pet captures which, as here, many really want too. You can turn off the filters but still doesn't work as well. Going back to motion to get them sucks.

Have you tried applying the Abandoned Object IVS Mike, if you still have it in your FW? Works like a charm. Just trace out your entire area of interest, and it does the rest. An animal comes along, and once it dwells for a short time the camera begins recording. Last night was a great success on that front. Not only did it capture all the usual suspects, but later in the night the camera captured the matriarch who had run off somewhere for the past few days. We generally don't get concerned until day 4, but it was reassuring to wake up to see she was just here late. Unfortunately we're still waiting for the younger vixen. She disappeared about the time her kits had dispersed and she has never been seen since. Now if we ever caught her on camera we would be ecstatic, but we fear the worst. Likely succumbed to heart failure, if her summer/fall sneezing was any indicator.

 

[Mike A.]

I haven't. Where most of my cams with AI are they don't really dwell. They're just passing through. That might work at a pond that I have that's the main attraction and where most are headed but no AI on that cam. I'll remember and give it a try when I get around to swapping in a more recent one at some point. I have the one there now tuned pretty well but still some of the usual battles balancing motion.

I picked up some Wzye V3 cams cheap a while back and stuck one out there. It has pet detection as part of its AI which does pick up medium-ish sized critters pretty well. But that's really kind of a toy. WiFi, AI is cloud-based, and image quality in a large, very dark area suffers a lot from noise/compression/inability to change much of anything to set them up any better. Does have RTSP now at least. OK for what it is I suppose but not really ideal.

 

[NightLife]

I see what you're say, with animals passing by only might not be recorded. One thing I can think of off the top of my head is something in the area which you place which becomes a bit of a focus for the animal(s). I'm not sure what that would be, or what animals you have passing through. Some animals are very curious, while others are neophobic and will run off at anything unexpected. I've put the odd thing out for the foxes, and sometimes it takes 48-72 hrs for them to finally warm up to it. Until then they avoid it like the plaque and even if I plunk it down next to their usual sleep spot they'll begin lying 10 feet away, until one day I look out and it's gone.

I guess it's like everything else with these cameras - trial and error, a bit of misery and defeat until presto, sweet victory one day. I guess we, with critters, can be happy in the knowledge that we're not (just?) setting up for the crackheads, vandals and thieves. But still, as you point out, it takes a certain camera with the right AI, and quality imaging to really pull it all together successfully.

 

[NightLife]

The Abandoned Object IVS is still working really well. It caught this scene play out while it was scanning the area for IED's. I haven't trimmed this either, it's just as it was captured...and it ends at the perfect moment somehow.

View attachment F2 kits fight.mov