Python bindings

The viva-genicam Python package wraps the Rust workspace behind a NumPy-friendly API. It ships as a pre-built wheel on PyPI — no C toolchain, no aravis, libusb is statically bundled.

pip install viva-genicam

The install also provides the viva-camctl CLI — see Install & hello-camera.

import viva_genicam as vg

cams = vg.discover(timeout_ms=500)
cam = vg.connect_gige(cams[0])
print(cam.get("DeviceModelName"))

with cam.stream() as frames:
    for frame in frames:
        arr = frame.to_numpy()           # NumPy (H, W) or (H, W, 3) uint8
        break

Tutorials

1. Install & hello-camera — install the wheel, run the self-contained fake-camera demo.
2. Discovery — enumerate GigE and U3V cameras, restrict to one NIC, auto-detect interfaces.
3. Control & introspection — read and write features, walk the NodeMap, discover which features apply.
4. Streaming — context-manager streams, NumPy frames, pixel formats, timestamps.

Reference

• API reference — every public class, function, and exception in one place.
• Example scripts — runnable Python files mirroring the most common Rust examples.

Supported

• Python 3.9+, abi3 wheels (one wheel covers every minor version).
• GigE Vision: discovery, control, streaming.
• USB3 Vision: discovery, control, streaming.
• Platforms with pre-built wheels: Linux x86_64 (manylinux_2_28), macOS arm64, Windows x86_64.

Not exposed to Python yet

The Rust API is wider than the bindings. These exist in viva-genicam and have no Python equivalent today:

• Chunk data. frame.chunks is not surfaced; ChunkConfig and configure_chunks are Rust-only.
• Events. There is no binding for the message channel or EventStream.
• Time sync. time_calibrate is not exposed, which also means frame.ts_host has no device mapping to work from — see Streaming.
• Action commands and FORCEIP / persistent IP configuration.
• Skipped nodes. NodeMap::skipped() — the list of features we could not build from this camera’s XML — is reachable from viva-camctl but not from Python (backlog DX-05). A missing feature is therefore indistinguishable from one the camera does not have.

If you need one of these, viva-camctl covers most of them from the command line, and the Rust crates cover all of them.

Need another platform? The sdist on PyPI builds from source — you’ll need a Rust toolchain (rustup) and a C compiler. libusb is always statically vendored; no system package needed.