is this a PIC programming project? [noob]

18f2550 webcam

hello all,
I have a small PC project that I think might be achievable with PIC programming. I haven't done any PIC programming before but if I could get any advice on where to research; that, in itself would be helpful. Having a project in mind is always a good reason to start learning something new.
I need to take a picture using something like a webcam every time a switch is set. I've looked at VB for taking the picture within windows and that seems feasible. I just need to figure out how the external event is passed to the program. The event could occur twice a second, for 1000s of occurences per session.
The switch I have in mind is using light. The event would be triggered x milliseconds after a light source is blocked.
Is PIC even necessary? I assume it is to interface a light circuit with a running program.
Any suggestions would be appreciated.

In fact you do not need to use a PIC microcontroller (or any uC else). All you need is a PC with some input port as parallel or serial port and build an interface to connect them to your switch/sensor.
As now PCs are coming without serial or parallel ports and USB ports are the dominant I/O port, in this case a PIC with USB capabilities (e.g. 18F2550 or 18F4550) will be a good choice as they make it easier to implement.

PIC with USB (e.g. 18F2550 or 18F4550) all implements slave side of USB protocol.To get picture from webcam you need to implement master side.So PIC wont be enough to implement master.You should look at other controllers that can implement master.CYPRESS has USB master controllers and Maxim has master USB interface ics.

PIC with USB (e.g. 18F2550 or 18F4550) all implements slave side of USB protocol.To get picture from webcam you need to implement master side.So PIC wont be enough to implement master.You should look at other controllers that can implement master.CYPRESS has USB master controllers and Maxim has master USB interface ics.

Click to expand...

He does not need a circuit to connect the webcam and transfer the image to the PC. He just needs a switch/trigger device and its interface to PC and his software will pick/take the image directly from the camera. So in case he has not a serial or parallel port available in his PC, an alternative is the use of PIC 18Fx550, that is not USB host controller, but it can do the job (as HID and functioning as interface to the PC for the sensor/switch). See the Microchip site to see examples.

Yeah, as rkodaira says you don't need any microcontroller.
I suggest you to use an old computer with parallel port, you could easily do a light enabled switch with it.

dahem0n

thanks for the suggestions.
I thought the task might be too trivial for PIC. I have searched around and found phidgets.com which make a USB interface and various analog sensors. There are routines that can be used in VB so I'm inclined to try that.
Using a pre-existing port on a PC sounds useful but finding general info on wiring up a sensor is proving difficult.
I'm still considering PIC anyway as I find the whole prototyping, dev & building thing very interesting.
Thanks!

It isn't trivial at all. You just need to design a simple interface circuit for connecting your sensor to a USB PIC and use that PIC as USB slave.