[ros-users] custom stereo cams

I am trying to create a really simple stereo test with two cheap usb
cameras. I understand the basics of using the stereo_proc and calibration
packages, but what I want to know is what is the best way to go about
creating the actual stereo node that publishes the images. Is it possible
to use two gscam or usb_cam(or something similar) and remap the topics to
look like a stereo camera? I am not really sure how the calibration data
would get stored used if I did this.

Or would it make more sense to write an intermediate node that grabs images
from two running usb_cam nodes and publishes them as left/right stereo image
topics (and receives/processes/publishes the calibration data correctly)?
Is there already a package to do this somewhere?

At this point, my test will be static, so I am not concerned about syncing
images or timestamps being absolutely correct.

Thanks,

Jeff Hyams
RE2, Inc.