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Camera Overlay label not showing

Camera Overlay Label Not Showing

Working on a ROBOTIS Darwin Mini (OpenCM9.04) connected over USB to a Windows laptop running ARC. The OpenCM9.04 is flashed with the ARC-compatible firmware from the hardware page (/Hardware/17530), and the robot side is fine (servos respond, actions run). I mounted a Logitech C270 USB camera on the Mini and added a Camera Device skill in ARC, set to 1280x720, Object tracking mode. I trained an object named RED_CUP and I can see the green tracking box and confidence; variables update as expected. For example, a quick script prints the name correctly:

print($CameraObjectName);

I then added the Camera Overlay skill and pressed Attach. The status says it’s attached to the Camera Device, but the text label never appears over the video. I tried: lowering camera resolution to 640x480, restarting ARC, retraining the object, ensuring tracking type is Object (not Color/Face), attaching before and after starting the camera, and removing a second Camera Device I briefly had in the project. Still no overlay text, just the tracking box.

Is there a specific step to make Camera Overlay actually render the $CameraObjectName on the Camera Device view (and if multiple Camera Device skills are present, how do I explicitly bind Overlay to a particular one)?



Related Hardware (view all EZB hardware)
Darwin Mini by Robotis
ROBOTIS MINI for Synthiam ARC: 16 XL-320 servos, OpenCM9.04 controller, 3D-printable frame and Bluetooth/firmware setup tips.
USB / Bluetooth
Servos 16
Camera
Audio
UART
I2C
ADC
Digital

Related Robot Skill (view all robot skills)
Camera Overlay by Synthiam
Displays trained object names as overlays on the Camera Device video stream using Camera Device's object-tracking (shows $CameraObjectName).

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Yes - there is a specific workflow for the Camera Overlay skill, and a couple of things in your description stand out.

What Camera Overlay expects

The Camera Overlay skill only works with the Camera Device skill’s Object tracking mode, which you already have working. It overlays the object name onto the same Camera Device video stream.

Most likely issue: overlay is attached, but not being rendered on the active camera view

A few things to verify:

1) Make sure the overlay and camera are in the same project workspace

If you briefly had a second Camera Device skill, it’s possible the overlay attached to the wrong one even if the status says "attached".

2) Re-attach after you know which camera is active

The overlay attaches to the first matching camera control it finds unless the skill provides a different binding option. Try this:

  1. Remove the Camera Overlay skill
  2. Add it back
  3. Start only one Camera Device skill
  4. Click Attach on Camera Overlay

If you still have multiple camera skills in the workspace, the safest test is to temporarily keep only one.

3) Confirm the object name is actually being updated during tracking

Since print($CameraObjectName); shows the correct value, that part is good. The overlay skill is likely not bound to the camera instance you think it is.

About explicit binding to a specific Camera Device

From the current Camera Overlay workflow, it generally attaches to the Camera Device control rather than offering a manual drop-down to pick a specific one. So if multiple Camera Device skills exist, the practical solution is:

  • keep only one Camera Device while testing, or
  • detach and reattach after leaving only the intended camera in the project

The skill docs show the intended usage as:

  1. Add Camera Device
  2. Add Camera Overlay
  3. Train object tracking
  4. Click Attach

Reference:
https://synthiam.com/Support/Skills/Camera/Camera-Overlay?id=16136

Things to try next

A) Reset the overlay attachment

  • Open the Camera Overlay skill
  • Use its menu and remove/re-add it if needed
  • Press Attach again after the correct Camera Device is already running

B) Ensure the Camera Device itself is the visible video source

The overlay draws on the camera stream that the Camera Device control is showing. If you’re looking at a different video control or view, you won’t see the overlay.

C) Verify the label isn’t just blending in

If the overlay text is rendering but hard to see, try:

  • different object name
  • different background
  • lower resolution temporarily
  • check whether the overlay appears on another object label after retraining

One detail that may matter

The camera overlay example in the docs indicates it uses the object name variable from tracking. That means if tracking is working and the label still doesn’t display, the issue is much more likely to be attachment/rendering on the wrong camera control than with the tracked data itself.

Best next step

Try this exact test:

  • New ARC project
  • Add one Camera Device
  • Add Camera Overlay
  • Start camera
  • Train a simple object
  • Click Attach on overlay

If that works, then the problem is almost certainly the previous multi-camera attachment confusion.

If you want, I can also help you verify whether the overlay is attached to the correct control by walking through the kebab menu options on both skills. The ARC AI Assistant can also help inspect or rewrite any script you’re using for camera-related automation:
https://synthiam.com/Products/AI-Assistant

Would you like me to help you build a quick test project layout to isolate the camera binding issue?

I am a customer support AI and still learning. Please verify important answers in our support documentation. For advanced AI features, use the AI Script Agent built into ARC.