Self-install procedure for Orbbec Femto Mega cameras

Complete DIY installation guide for configuring Orbbec Femto Mega cameras with Velogic Studio Pro, including network setup and FrameBlaster installation.

This procedure is an alternative to booking an installation session, if you prefer to do-it-yourself. We would prefer to complete the installation session ourselves (remotely), so that we can verify you have a working installation - but if you insist, here's what you need to do.

⚠️ Warning

Note that there's a risk that if you perform this procedure incorrectly, you might get your camera into a state where it needs to be shipped to Velogic for resetting. Be aware that you will need to pay for return shipping of your camera to our HQ in New Zealand in that case!

Verify your hardware setup

Check that you have your hardware connected and configured as per the Installation Session documentation.

Configure the network connection in Windows

Physically locate the network cable which goes from your computer to the PoE network switch, and unplug it. (We'll plug it in again soon, but starting unplugged helps us positively identify which one it is).

Click the Start button (or hit the Windows key) and type "View network connections". You should see an entry in the start menu like this:

Windows Start menu showing 'View network connections' search result for accessing network settings

... click it to see all the network connections on your computer.

Locate the network connection which is connected to your PoE network switch. You should be able to figure out which one it is, because it's a wired connection (has a picture of an RJ45 plug) and it's not connected to anything (has a red X symbol and says "Network cable disconnected":

Network connections panel showing disconnected wired connection with red X indicating 'Network cable disconnected'

Now plug in the ethernet cable from the PoE network switch to the computer, and after a short time the icon should change on that network connection:

Network connections panel showing successfully connected wired network connection without red X symbol

Because we plugged in the cable, and the red X disappeared, we can be sure we've got the correct port. Click on this network connection and click the Rename button in the menu bar above it, then rename the network connection to "Velogic", to help with future troubleshooting:

Network connection being renamed to 'Velogic' using the rename button in the network connections interface

Now right-click on that network connection, and click Properties:

Right-click context menu on network connection showing Properties option for accessing network settings

Then click IPV4 and click Properties:

Network connection properties dialog showing IPv4 settings option selected for configuration

Then click on "Use the following IP address:" and type in 192.168.1.1, and press the Tab key (the Subnet mask will be entered automatically when you press the Tab key):

IPv4 properties dialog with manual IP address 192.168.1.1 entered and subnet mask automatically configured

Now click OK and then click Close on the underlying dialog window.

Install the Velogic Frameblaster software onto each of the Orbbec Femto Mega cameras

Each of your Orbbec Femto Mega cameras will need to have a different IP address assigned to it during this procedure. We recommend that you use the following IP addresses:

• 172.16.1.11 for the first lateral camera

• 172.16.1.12 for the second lateral camera (if any)

• 172.16.1.13 for the frontal camera (if any)

To help with future troubleshooting, you should label each camera with the IP address you're going to assign to it. You could use a label maker, or just some tape and a marker pen.

Once you've completed the labels, we'll get Velogic Studio ready to install the Velogic Frameblaster software onto the cameras:

1. Run Velogic Studio and sign in.

2. Press the F12 key on your keyboard. This will open a small modal window; click on the tab "Orbbec Tools" and then maximise that modal window.

3. In the section labelled "Velogic Frameblaster Installer", click the INSTALL button:

   

   Velogic Studio Orbbec Tools window showing FrameBlaster installer section with INSTALL button ready to download software

   You will see the status change to a progress bar. Wait until it has finished downloading; it should look like this:

   

   FrameBlaster installer showing completed download progress with ready status for camera installation

   ... at this point, the Frameblaster installer has been downloaded to your Windows computer, ready for installation to your camera(s)

Repeat the following procedure for each camera:

1. Unplug any other cameras apart from the one you're setting up

2. Plug in the camera you are setting up and wait for the light on the front to be solid white

3. In the Velogic Studio Tools window, click the REFRESH button in the Network section:

   

   Network section in Velogic Studio Tools with REFRESH button highlighted for detecting available network connections
4. You should see a list of network connections. Find and click the one which has IPv4 Address of 192.168.1.1

5. Click the "SCAN" button on the section labelled "Orbbec Cameras (Factory)":

Orbbec Cameras Factory section with SCAN button to search for available cameras on the network

... you should see a single line returned:

Scan results showing single Orbbec camera detected and listed for FrameBlaster installation

1. Click on that line (it will turn blue) and then click "INSTALL FRAMEBLASTER":

   

   Selected camera row highlighted in blue with INSTALL FRAMEBLASTER button ready to begin installation process
2. You'll see a window asking for the IP address to set on the camera:

   

   IP address input dialog prompting for camera IP address configuration during FrameBlaster installation

   Complete the IP address to match the label you added to the camera, and click "DONE".

3. You'll see the status message change:

   

   FrameBlaster installation progress window showing active installation status and warning not to interrupt

   ⚠️ Warning

   DO NOT INTERRUPT the process at this stage. Don't interact with the computer and don't do anything with the camera.

4. After around a minute you should see the status message change to this:

Completed FrameBlaster installation status showing successful completion message

... it's now safe to interact with the computer again!

1. Wait for the camera to reboot and the white LED light up on the front.

2. If you have more cameras to install, you should unplug this camera and repeat the process (from step 1 above) for the next camera. Once you have completed this process for all cameras, move on to the section below.

Reset the IP address of the network connection

Follow the same procedure as the earlier section "Configure the network connection in Windows" to set the IP address of the Velogic network connection to 172.16.1.1 (you don't need to do the unplugging and replugging step).

In summary:

1. Search Windows for "View network connections" control panel app

2. Right-click on the Velogic network connection and choose Properties

3. Click on IPV4 and click Properties

4. Enter the IP address: 172.16.1.1 (NOTE that this is different to the IP address you gave to any of the cameras; here we are setting the IP address of the computer on the network, so that it can communicate with the cameras on their new IP addresses).

5. Click OK on that dialog and CLOSE on the dialog underneath.

Add the cameras to Velogic Studio

If the Tools window is still open, close it.

Plug in all of your cameras and wait for the LED lights on the front to all be turned on.

Repeat the following process for each camera:

1. In Step 1 of Velogic Studio, click "Add network camera":

Velogic Studio Step 1 interface with 'Add network camera' button for connecting installed Femto Mega cameras

1. Type in the IP Address of the camera (per the camera's label) and click CONNECT:

Camera connection dialog with IP address input field and CONNECT button for adding network camera

1. You'll initially see "Waiting for camera):

Camera connection status showing 'Waiting for camera' message during initial connection process

... but that should quickly change to show that the camera is connected and available:

Successfully connected Femto Mega camera showing live preview and configuration options in Velogic Studio

1. Repeat this process from step 1 above for any other camera

Configure the Sync system

The Sync system prevents the laser from one camera affecting the depth readings from another camera. Here's how it works:

• The camera configured as "Primary" will send a voltage pulse down the sync cable every time it fires it's laser (i.e. for every depth frame)

• The voltage pulse travels down the sync cable to the "Primary" input on the front of sync hub

• The sync hub boosts the voltage pulse and sends it out to any other cameras which have their sync cables connected to any of the output (secondary) ports on the back of the sync hub.

• The secondary cameras are configured as "Secondary 1", "Secondary 2", or "Secondary 3". The difference is that each will wait a different amount of time from receiving the sync pulse before firing its own laser to capture its own depth frame.

So, to setup the Sync system:

1. Choose which camera will be the Primary camera. How do you choose?

   • Pick a camera that's always going to be on. If you have a frontal camera, and you don't use it for some fits, then it's not a good choice for the primary camera

   • Pick a camera that's relatively close to the sync hub. If your sync hub cable is longer than 5m, that camera's not a good choice for the primary camera

2. Go into the Sync settings for that camera and set it to Primary

3. For each of the other cameras, go into their sync settings and set them to a different Secondary number (Secondary 1, Secondary 2, Secondary 3).

Note that whenever you change the sync mode of a camera, it will reboot and take around 20 seconds to come back online.

If you get a blinking orange light on the front of a camera, this means that it is configured as a secondary camera but it's not receiving a sync pulse. Check that the sync cables are plugged into the correct ports on the sync hub, and make sure that the primary camera is running.

Post-install checks

1. Go to Step 2 in Velogic Studio and adjust the slider at the bottom-right of the liveview so that you can see all your cameras onscreen at once

2. Check that they all have GOOD framerate. If not:

   • Check that the CPU is not overloaded (make sure your computer meets the minimum specs)

   • Check that the PoE Network switch is definitely gigabit ethernet

   • Check that you've used good quality network cables

   • Go through the Orbbec Femto Mega troubleshooting guide

   • Book a remote support session with our technical team.