CamGrab-2+ -
Getting Started User Guide
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This guide is a preliminary overview of the new functions
in CamGrab-2+.
Notes:
1) Most buttons/interactive areas have mouse over information. Hold the mouse
pointer over a button/text etc for a few seconds to see extra information when
available.
2) Many buttons have Alt-key accelerators enabled. Simply hold ALT while
pressing the underlined character to activate.
3) CamGrab-2+ is designed for a high screen
resolution. It will work as low as 800x600 but anything above this is to
it's advantage.
Jump Direct:
Startup Screen
From this main screen are two minor
changes over the SE version. The auto refresh ensures the list of active webcams
is maintained (Auto refresh occurs approx every 5 seconds). Because CamGrab-2+
uses a more efficient scan method there should be no noticeable drop in
performance.
The new FTP/MyCam toggle button, open and
closes the combined FTP output window and MyCam capture and upload options. When
pressed the new control panel will appear attached as a sliding child window. To
open and reveal the controls shown below simply drag the sliding window handle
to any position, alternatively a right mouse click will toggle between fully
closed/open. The resize handle on the child window can be used to expand the FTP
output status window. However resized, the window can still be hidden under the
main control window at any time.
The MyCam frame remains grayed out until
you open and begin to broadcast your own webcam via Yahoo. 'Capture MyCam' Opens
control panel to capture the webcam images you broadcast. 'UP-Load FTP' begins
upload of captured image to FTP site.
Shown below is the output after FTP Upload
button is pressed. The text 'Status' Will change between bold and normal style
to indicate upload status. Starting FTP Upload will attempt to connect and
create CamGrab directory. Image files are not uploaded until you begin capture
of the webcam you wish to upload (To upload your own cam you have to be
capturing)
Below is the MY-Cam capture window open.
Currently FTP upload only occurs with capture. The FTP status window shows each
image as it is uploaded. (The capture window for MY-Cam is currently a cut down
version in functionality, allowing only fixed frame rate capture.)
Settings
CamGrab-2+ has more options/settings. To
help organise things they have been split into 3 main sections. 'Image Save
Settings' is the origional settings included with CamGrab-2SE (With a few
extras). Single click the settings icon to open the popup menu.
The image save settings contains the basic
options for saving the webcam images.
- Format : allows you to select the
default file save type.
- Frame Rate : How often the webcam image
is captures
- Skip Duplicate Frames : Useful feature
where only new frames are saved. If used with a high frame rate ensures all
new frames are captured without duplicates.
New Save Location options. You can now
select the location to where CamGrab image directories are created. (This will
be the same location used by the playback window to look for captured webcams)
- New sub directory each session : With
LE and SE versions, the webcam images are saved under the persons name.
Webcams captured on concurrent days are simply appended. Enabling this
option creates a new directory each time.
- Detect webcam window obstructions : If
the webcam image is obstructed (covered by another window/off screen),
CamGrab will try to remove the obstruction and in any case not capture the
image. (details below)
- Image Scale : With None selected, Small
and large image size webcams are saved in separate directories. When enabled
the image is scaled to either size.
Pressing the 'Select...' link in the Image
Save Location above, will display the following window for easy selection of a
new save to directory.
Image
Obstruction Detection
When enabled, CamGrab-2+ will attempt to
detect other windows obstructing the image being captured.
Above is CamGrab in normal operation. If
the webcam window is moved so that the image is off screen this would normally
cause corruption of the image. Shown below is CamGrab-2+ in this situation. The
frame counter box has been highlighted RED to show there is a problem and the
frame is not saved. As soon as the window is moved to display the entire image
capture is resumed.
Other occasions are where CamGrab would
capture frames covered by other windows. The example below shows opening the
windows Start button menu. CamGrab-2 SE/LE would simply capture the image
including the menu.
With CamGrab-2+ an attempt is first made
to bring the window to the front. Below is the same example where the webcam
window has be brought to the front enabling correct capture.
User
Interface Setup
Ok, my blue colour scheme is not always
received with open arms :) I think it looks ok on my screen (1600x1200).
At lower resolutions I admit it needs some work. Below is my compromise, You can
change all aspects of colour and title font.
Option - Auto-Dock : New windows are auto
attached to the main control window, This allows you to control all windows as
one (Drag one window will move all connected, Right click to minimize one window
will minimize all, etc...). You can manually dock/undock windows by dragging the
dock icon (Hold mouse over left hand side of title text) More details to
follow.
CamGrab-2+ comes with a number of
pre-defined colour schemes shown below (but if you choose the green or purple
you need help! ;)
FTP
Settings
The FTP settings window allows you to
specify all details required for image upload. This allows you to upload webcam
images for viewing from a webpage. This can be useful for allowing Yahoo users
to view as normal and also a higher quality still image from a webpage.
You will need to know the corresponding
website URL for the FTP details. CamGrab uploads a index.htm file along with the
images to allow easy viewing (The page refreshes the images every 20
seconds)
You will need to know the address of the
server as well as username and password. The Path should be the root location
for HTML files viewable from a website. (more details to follow)
New
Capture Window Controls
The new additions include the Grab single
frame button. This allows a single frame to be taken when in stop mode (This
will NOT override the no duplicates option)
Expanding the capture window (Select
Preview) displays the image controls toggle. When enabled a child sliding window
similar to the FTP window is displayed. Image controls allow small adjustments
to be made to the saved image. Useful where there is a slight colour cast caused
be artificial lighting (E.g. yellow cast) or to enhance a dark image.
Copy to clipboard button makes a copy of
the current frame available to paste into a image application.
Save single frame brings up a file save
dialog to allow save of a single frame to any location. (Currently only BMP
format).
UP-Load FTP begins upload of the current
webcam images.
Correcting
Colour Casts
Some webcam images can be less than
perfect; Cause can range from poor lighting (dark image), cheap cameras can
sometimes have a colour cast over the image (green/purple/red cast) or simply
the type of lighting used combined with poor white balance (yellow/blue cast).
CamGrab can help correct this to some extent for the images it saves, the
adjustments made with the sliders is shown on the preview image and it is this
image which is saved.
In
Operation
Below shows the typical setup on my
system. The FTP output window is resized to show more information and moved to
only display the output text. The current open webcam is attached to allow easy organization.
The Image/FTP control panel is displayed and hidden to display the FTP settings
only.
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