How to function your Webcam on your VB.Net Project using Emgu CV

How to function your Webcam on your VB.Net Project using Emgu CV

In this tutorial, you will learn How to function your Webcam on your VB.Net Project using Emgu CV.

First of all, the following dynamic library links (.dll) needed on this tutorial can be download through the provided link below.

OSDN – Emgu CV.

After downloading the needed .dll for our project. Follow these steps to complete the functionality of your webcam on your VB.Net project.

1. Open your Visual Studio Application and click “New Project” and name your project as you like. In this tutorial, we named our project to Sample Webcam App.
2. On the Solution Explorer, right-click the name of your project, go to Add then click Reference. (click or see the image below).
   

   

3. Then, click Browse from the Reference window and we will add the .dll to the VB.Net project from the Emgu folder. Usually, the default location of the folder when installed is C:\Emgu\emgucv-windows-x86 2.4.0.1717. Then after locating the folder, go to bin and select ONLY the following: (click or see the image below).

Note: Emgu.CV.dll, Emgu.CV.UI.dll, and Emgu.Util.dll are the major .dlls needed for the project to function the webcam from your VB.Net project.

After hitting the button Add, you can see your references that the three .dll are being added to your reference. (click or see the image below).

Then drag the x86 folder from the Emgu bin folder to your project, it will look like this. (click or see image below).

Notice that I have highlighted the three .dll from the x86 folder. Delete these files because it is not necessary to have them in our project.

After deleting the three .dll, select all from the x86 folder and go to properties, change the Copy to Output Directory to Copy if newer.

4. Now, we will add objects to our Form1 design, all we need to add is a PictureBox, Button and Timer. (click or see image below).

As you notice that I have emphasized the picturebox tasks, (can be seen by click the little play button at the upper right corner of the picturebox) size mode to StretchImage.

This will make your picturebox capture the image from your webcam to emphasize the image that the webcam is capturing.

Now, let’s do the coding! Right click your Form1 design and click view code. After doing so, insert this code:

Imports Emgu.CV
Imports Emgu.CV.Util
Imports Emgu.CV.Structure

Public Class Form1

Dim captureimg As Capture = New Capture

End Class

Then, double click the Timer1 icon at the bottom of our design and insert this code:

Private Sub Timer1_Tick(sender As Object, e As EventArgs) Handles Timer1.Tick

PictureBox1.Image = captureimg.QueryFrame.ToBitmap()

End Sub

Then, doublic click the button and insert this code:

Private Sub Button1_Click(sender As Object, e As EventArgs) Handles Button1.Click

Timer1.Start()

End Sub

After doing so, run your project and click the button object. Notice that your webcam is functioning and capturing what it sees! Here’s mine. (click or see the image below).

RAR Extraction Password:

luffypirates

For inquires, questions or any other concerns, you can contact me through the following:

E-Mail: [email protected]

Facebook: facebook.com/kirk.lavapiez

Contact No.: +639263339008

To download the sample project, click here.

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• Simple Barangay Information System
• Voting System source code using VB.Net and MySQL

If you have any questions or suggestions, please feel free to leave a comment below.

Technology stack and requirements

To run this VB.NET project, you need the following on your development machine:

• Visual Studio 2019 or later. The free Community Edition is enough for building, debugging, and running the project.
• .NET Framework 4.7.2 or higher. Most Windows 10 and 11 systems have it preinstalled through Windows Update.
• MySQL Server 8.0 or MSSQL Express 2019. Choose whichever your capstone panel prefers; both work with VB.NET data adapters.
• MySQL Connector/NET or SqlClient library. Add via NuGet Package Manager inside Visual Studio.
• Crystal Reports (optional). Required only if the project generates printable reports; install the runtime redistributable.

Installing the source code

The download link contains a ZIP archive with the full solution. Extract and set up in five steps:

1. Extract the archive to a folder outside Program Files (avoids permission issues).
2. Open the .sln file in Visual Studio. It loads the full solution with all forms and modules.
3. Restore NuGet packages. Right-click the solution then Restore NuGet Packages if prompted.
4. Import the database. Locate the .sql file in the archive and import via phpMyAdmin (MySQL) or SQL Server Management Studio.
5. Update the connection string in App.config or module code to match your local database name, user, and password.

How to use this project for your BSIT capstone

This VB.NET project maps cleanly to standard BSIT capstone documentation. Suggested chapter alignment:

• Chapter 1 (Introduction). Discuss the problem the system solves in real-world context. Cite Philippine business or academic use cases where a manual process could be replaced.
• Chapter 2 (Review of Related Literature). Compare this system’s features against 5-10 similar published projects. Cite journals like IJERT or IEEE Access for academic-standard sources.
• Chapter 3 (Methodology). Include Use Case Diagram, Data Flow Diagram, Entity Relationship Diagram, and Activity Diagram covering all major workflows in the system.
• Chapter 4 (Results and Discussion). Screenshot each module of the running system with a caption explaining what data it processes and which user role interacts with it.
• Chapter 5 (Conclusion and Recommendations). Identify features that could be added in a Version 2, such as web dashboard, mobile app, or REST API export.

Modules typical of How to function your Webcam on your VB.Net Project using Emgu CV

• Master data. CRUD forms for the primary entities the system manages, with search and filter.
• Transaction processing. Data entry forms for the day-to-day operations the system automates.
• Reports. Formatted printable output summarizing activity per day, per user, or per category.
• User management. Login with role-based permissions (Admin, Encoder, Viewer).
• Backup and restore. Export database to a .sql or .bak file and restore when needed.

Common enhancements for capstone review

• Modernize the UI. Add Bunifu or Guna UI controls for a more polished, modern appearance.
• Add printable receipts. Integrate a printer preview form with page-setup options.
• Multi-user concurrency. Ensure the database handles simultaneous writes without lost-update errors.
• Web version. Rewrite the front-end in ASP.NET Core or React for a modern deployment path.