New IPVM Calculator V3 Released

Ethan Ace and John Honovich

•Published Sep 20, 2017 17:26 PM

PUBLIC - This article does not require an IPVM subscription. Feel free to share.

The New IPVM Calculator V3 is released. An entirely new architecture delivers the following benefits:

Turbo

The calculator is now ~50% faster in loading.

Exports are now ~50% faster in downloading.

Plus, the calculator is much more responsive and smoother in operation. Try it out now.

Improved Design

The map is now 25% larger to make it easier to see more and more easily move cameras.

The controls and previews have now been centrally organized on the right hand side.

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Now, the Calculator will automatically save every time you make a change and will automatically remember where you were the last time you were using it, regardless of whether you are switching from your work to home computer or to your tablet, etc.

This eliminates the need to manually save and the warning prompt when you close the tab about remembering to save.

Improved Night Mode Previews - IR and 'Super'

Now, we have added an 'IR' preview and 'super low light' preview to our original 'night / dark' preview, as shown below:

In the past few years, integrated IR has become commonplace plus more and more cameras support 'super' low light.

Intelligent Night Previews

The new 'IR' previews will automatically be selected for camera models that have integrated IR and will be shown when within specified IR range. Outside of range, it will switch to the traditional 'dark' / 'night' image as shown below.

Copying Cameras

Now, you can copy cameras, so if you are using the same model at different spots, just right click and duplicate, as shown below:

Improved PTZ Displays

Now, PTZ models simultaneously display the AoV and distance cone plus a surrounding circle that shows the panning potential of the camera, that automatically updates as the cameras is adjusted, as shown in the demo below:

Embedded Video Tutorial

For those new or needing him on the calculator, we have embedded a YouTube video tutorial right on the right side of the calculator displayed as soon as the Calculator is opened and no cameras are selected, as shown below:

Watch the video tutorial here:

Improved Mobile Support

The web based IPVM camera calculator is now significantly easier to control and use on mobile devices, in particular tablets.

Missing Temporarily - Elevation

We have removed the beta elevation feature as there were some problems with it and we want to re-implement it. All existing elevation data from previous projects is saved and will re-appear when re-implemented in the next few months.

Upcoming IPVM Calculator Features

We spent the last year re-building the entire IPVM calculator with a new foundation for more ambitious expansion. Some upcoming features include:

Mobile apps to allow for taking pictures on site and doing site surveys.
Off-line / 'secure' desktop app for those who are designing systems for secure facilities that cannot have any data sent back to the 'cloud'
Walls feature to better show / represent coverage area when walls or other obstructions limit a camera's coverage.
And more...

What do you want us to add? Provide us your suggestions.

Try the New IPVM Camera Calculator V3 Now

Comments (34)

Joseph Hirasawa

•Sep 20, 2017

IPVMU Certified

Cool! Off to play with the calculator now!

Thanks for putting resources into this extremely useful tool!

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(1)

Joseph Marotta

•Sep 20, 2017

IPVMU Certified

I really like this!!!!

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(3)

(1)

Undisclosed Integrator #1

•Sep 20, 2017

The responsiveness is greatly improved. I have a project with a few hundred cameras and sizable PDFs that was cumbersome to zoom out with the old calculator as it refreshed. While the floorplan locked notation pops up when panning around a PDF background it no longer obscures critical items and disappears rapidly. Autosave is nice too. These changes alone will save countless hours next time.

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(3)

John Honovich

•Sep 21, 2017

IPVM

In reply to Undisclosed Integrator #1

#1, really happy to hear that.

When we first developed the Calculator, we had no idea what it would become as it primarily a little training tool for our courses. Related, 3 years ago, this is how simplistic it was:

In V3, we definitely focused on making it faster and more responsive, so again happy to hear it's helping you. Any suggestions of other features and improvements, let us know.

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(4)

Franky Lam

•Sep 21, 2017

RICOH (HONG KONG) LTD

Keep up the good work, and some suggestion about IPVM. Have you guys ever thought about to gather people for local source to form up a chapter division on each country?

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John Honovich

•Sep 21, 2017

IPVM

In reply to Franky Lam

Franky, thanks!

We've heard the suggestion before but we have never seriously considered it. The main concern for us would be to be ensure that 'chapters' would be independent of manufacturers. The fear would be that a manufacturer would use the 'chapter' to promote or favor their products. Since I am not confident of a way to have chapters without such a risk, it is something that we have not seriously pursued.

That noted, it would be nice to have more local / in-person interaction but that has always been a secondary priority to our research, reporting and testing.

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Franky Lam

•Sep 22, 2017

RICOH (HONG KONG) LTD

In reply to John Honovich

I agree with your concern, but what if the people to join the chapter before background check. I am in in this field for near 20 years, and I have confident to be first location for this pilot program and setup the first Asia Region at Hong Kong Base. For more details, you might contact me at business email frankylam@jsgroup.asia

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Undisclosed Integrator #2

•Sep 21, 2017

It would be nice to have the ability to view a camera that simulates cameras like the Arecont Omniview, 4 lenses in on camera.

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John Honovich

•Sep 21, 2017

IPVM

In reply to Undisclosed Integrator #2

#2, agreed on multi-imagers. That is definitely one of the top requests and one we are committed to doing.

We need to build a new 'model' for that since those are unlike traditional cameras in not only have multiple imagers but with a limited defined adjustable positioning. We will work on that this fall.

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Undisclosed Integrator #2

•Sep 21, 2017

Is there an option to just do internal floor plans versus and overlay? In addition, could this get to the point that you can add access control?

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(1)

John Honovich

•Sep 21, 2017

IPVM

In reply to Undisclosed Integrator #2

For internal floorplans with an overlay/map, switch to 'blank' mode, as shown in the gif below:

In 2018, we are considering adding access control, intrusion, etc. to the software. It certainly is a sensible compliment to video surveillance designs.

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chad huggins

•Sep 21, 2017

IPVMU Certified

With the update, Did IPVM update the new cameras released by manufacturers.

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John Honovich

•Sep 21, 2017

IPVM

In reply to chad huggins

Chad, We continuously add new cameras every week. That is not related or restricted by versions of the calculator. Here is our ongoing directory of new cameras added.

Related, if there are cameras missing, just let us know and we will add.

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(2)

Sean Fitzgerald

•Sep 21, 2017

IPVMU Certified

This looks really nice; some very useful features.

The only thing I'm still missing is some means to indicate panamorph (180º / 360º) cameras and multi-image cameras.

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Joseph Hirasawa

•Sep 21, 2017

IPVMU Certified

Couple of issues I'm running into with V3:

After building a site & I attempt to export: "Export started -> Export failed" *
The model name of the cameras are no longer listed in the export. (I need this!)
The export file shows height of camera & height of target. I don't know where I can modify these values.
The export files show the camera as being locked (Padlock image.). I don't feel this should be on the export file, especially client-facing export files.
Overlaying a label is not working out so well. (Works at times.....very intermittent.)
Can no longer change the model of the camera on existing design.*

*I think the calculator is under maintenance? It sort of blows as I need this for a design I want to submit asap.

Regardless. Huge thumbs up to the IPVM team for refreshing this tool. It's starting to make my other design tools redundant. (This alone pays for my membership! Thank you!)

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(1)

John Honovich

•Sep 21, 2017

IPVM

In reply to Joseph Hirasawa

Joseph, we just fixed the camera lock display on exports. We also removed the height display on exports as the mounting height feature is not available currently but will be reimplemented later.

That an export fails is a big problem and we want to take care of this immediately. I'll email you directly to check on details.

Can no longer change the model of the camera on existing design.*

You definitely can change the model of the camera, just click on the model name and the model selector will appear, screencap demonstrating it here:

Can you change it doing that?

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(2)

Joseph Hirasawa

•Sep 22, 2017

IPVMU Certified

In reply to John Honovich

Just wanted to state on this thread here that I greatly appreciate you dealing with me directly in regards to my issues!

Customer service is truly top notch here at IPVM. Really happy to be a member!

Thank you John!

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(2)

Martin Breceda

•Sep 25, 2017

IPVMU Certified

Really Cool! I love it

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(1)

Undisclosed Integrator #3

•Oct 02, 2017

Had done a test with HIKVision and DAHUA bullet cameras with IR range of 120mtrs, 4.7mm-94mm and 5.3mm-64mm motorized lens respectively. The actual test results were better than what was displayed in the calculator. General finding is that IR throw did go beyond 100mtrs and it was possible to detect a target (person) 80mtrs away in darkness in an open area with the lens at the shortest focal length, while recognition was also possible at 60mtrs with the lens fully zoomed in (Optical Zoom).

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John Honovich

•Oct 02, 2017

IPVM

In reply to Undisclosed Integrator #3

#3, thanks for feedback. The calculator is providing a general projection, sometimes the actual results are going to be darker or brighter.

Btw, for the IR ranges you mention, what was the max specified IR range for those cameras? And what was the light reading with a lux meter at those distances? Those would be the 2 factors that most typically impact such results.

Note: the calculator low light images were taken in near darkness, in the range of 0.1 lux with a lux meter.

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Steve Bush

•Oct 24, 2017

Great tool, but I'm running into a couple of issues with the new camera calculator. When adding labels, the larger the area covered by cameras, the larger the labels become when exported to Powerpoint.

The other issue is that when adding a camera, the calculator selects generic as the default instead of the last camera type selected.

Large Labels

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John Scanlan

•Oct 24, 2017

IPVM • IPVMU Certified

Hello Steve - rather than add a generic camera you can copy an existing camera (model included). This may help:

I see your point with exporting labels, they are relative to coverage area. I will add this as an issue for our development team to look at.

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Matt Ion

•Nov 24, 2017

Hmmm really needs a "rotate" function to align floor plans with background maps. The site I'm marking up lays SW-NE on its long side, but of course, the RCP shows just straight E-W

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Undisclosed #4

•Jun 19, 2018

V3 feedback: Export started -> Export failed

I had multiple cameras and instead of deleting them, I dropped their distance to 0 so I could easily reapply them if needed. I think the 0 distance parameter caused the export to fail. (I deleted the 0 distance cameras and export to PDF was successful)

thought you'd like to know

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(1)