Can't get the DF_FaceTracking demo to work out of the box

[Matthew_H_2]

I just got the F200 camera and SDK installed on Windows 8.1 x64. I can run all the FS and DS demos in the samples directory from the Sample Browser, except the FaceTracking demo. I clicked the Sources button to open that demo in Visual Studio 2010 SP1, successfully compiled a Debug build, and tried to run it. I hit the assert statement on Line 103 of FaceTrackingProcessor.cpp, and I can see the faceModule pointer is NULL.

This is a fresh install of Windows 8.1 and the RealSense SDK. I just installed both the SDK and Depth Camera Manager for the F200 from https://software.intel.com/en-us/intel-realsense-sdk/download. Windows reports the Intel RealSense SDK 2014 version is 4.0.0.112526, and the Intel RealSense Depth Camera Manager version is 1.2.14.24922.

I'm not familiar with the API yet, so I'm not entirely sure where to start debugging. I would expect the sample apps to work "out of the box" though. Any help would be appreciated, as I'm interested in testing the quality of the face tracking implementation of the SDK.

[Colleen_C_Intel]

did you try the same sample already built from the \bin folder?

[Matthew_H_2]

Yes. The fact that it didn't work led me to try compiling it myself.

I also noted that the seg3d example fails in a similar way.

Both have a problem when enabling the respective module from the sense manager. In the Seg3d example, in 3dseg.cpp, line 67, 

pxcStatus result = pSenseManager->Enable3DSeg();

result == -3.

In the facetrack demo, in FaceTrackingProcessor.cpp, line 95

    senseManager->EnableFace();

returns -1.

[MartyG]

Hi Matthew,

I initially had failure to run face-tracking and seg when I first received the camera.  I tried for ages to fix it but with no luck.  The solution for me was to upgrade my PC to a 4th Generation Intel Core i3 processor and matching motherboard.  I was able to run other sample applications before the upgrade but not those two. 

So I wonder if you PC is an older one that is pre 4th Generation processor or it is a recent budget PC with a non-Core i processor (e.g a Pentium chip).  You can find what type you have by going to your computer's System Information page.  This is most commonly found by going to the Accessories section of your Windows start menu's program list and looking in the System sub-folder of that section.

If the processor name does not have the word 'Core' in it then that may be the source of your problems. 

[Matthew_H_2]

Processor: Intel(R) Core(TM) i7 CPU 960 @3.20GHz

Installed memory (RAM): 8.00 GB

System type: 64-bit Operating System, x64-based processor

I haven't seen any SDK requirements on the motherboard, but it's made by GIGABYTE.

[MartyG]

I have a Gigabyte motherboard and 8 mb of RAM too.  So I guess that eliminates the processor / motherboard as the cause of your problem.

[Matthew_H_2]

Marty I think you might be right about the processor. The SDK requirements state that the processor must be a 4th generation Core processor. I see ark.intel.com lists the Core i7 960 as a "previous generation" processor.

[MartyG]

You wouldn't be the first person on this forum to be caught out.  I had thought at first that the Core brand came in with the 4th Gen but later I read up on it and found that it dates back some years.  

Adding to the confusion for older developers was that the Pentium was Intel's premium processor brand for many years and then suddenly became the budget brand without most of us noticing.  :)