Webcam

Apr 27 2009

Put your Webcam to use

With the coming of iChat AV, webcams are finally finding their place atop Macs everywhere. Though video chat has been around for years, iChat AV only works with newer Macs. In this episode we’ll look at some valuable webcam freeware.

mu Put your Webcam to useiChatUSBCam

For those of you with unsupported USB webcams or G3 processors, this “application enhancer” enables you to use iChat AV with video. To use it you’ll need to download and install Unsanity’s Application Enhancer (or APE).

mu Put your Webcam to usemacam

This open-source project provides a generic QuickTime video component driver for your webcam in addition to a viewer application that can capture stills and video from your camera. It’s in early development, so it’s not perfect but for older webcams in OS X it may be all there is.

mu Put your Webcam to useYahoo Instant Messenger

Don’t tell Steve, but Apple wasn’t the first to bring video chat to OS X. Yahoo’s Instant Messenger is a good alternative if you can’t run iChat AV. The video quality isn’t that of iChat, but it works well in OS X and 9.

For those of you that are ready to take on the web, you can dig in to databases of other iChat AV users at MyiSight and dotmac.info.

I hope this week’s tools have been useful. Now get out there and show yourself to the world. You might want to do something about that hair…

Brian

mu Put your Webcam to useDownloads provided by MacUpdate

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Apr 27 2009

mini WebCam Secutiry System

The mini’s small footprint and low cost make it perfect for dedicated tasks. In this tutorial, we’ll set up a wireless surveillance system.

miniwebcam mini WebCam Secutiry System

What you’ll need:

Hardware

Software

  • Evological’s EvoCam (shareware $25)

Now we’ll put it all together. I selected the Hawking camera because it is a low-cost, full-featured camera, accessible and configurable via web browser. The camera itself supports 640×480 resolution and 20 fps. Unlike many other network cameras, this one uses a Java applet rather than ActiveX to load images, another perk to Mac users (Check out Hawkings line of wired and wireless network cameras here).

But, we will only rely on the web interface for configuration. You’ll need to attach the camera via network cable and get on the same subnet to configure the camera. Settings will differ between cameras, but you will have to set up the camera to access your wireless network and give it an IP.

Once you’ve used the web interface to verify that your camera is working, it’s time to install EvoCam. From within EvoCam, you can add the network camera using its IP address and compatible settings.

EvoCam1 mini WebCam Secutiry System

The Hawking works using the D-Link M-JPEG settings (this camera is not officially supported by Evological, but works due to the common M-JPEG format). EvoCam works using default camera settings, but I’d advise setting the frame rate manually via the web interface, as this can prevent disconnects.

EvoCam2 mini WebCam Secutiry System

Once up and running, you can use EvoCam to configure image and movie archiving, uploading (using FTP/SFTP) and web sharing. Most network cameras have their own built-in webserver, but you can also use EvoCam to view your webcam from the ‘net (provided you properly configure port mapping on your router). If you went the wired route, you can do the same through EvoCam.

Now, depending on preference you can set up your webcam to broadcast your fishbowl or watch your stockpile of vintage Macintosh machines. Both the Hawking HNC320W and EvoCam support multiple cameras, so the setup is very scalable.

Brian

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Apr 17 2008

plasq releases Doozla 1.1.0 …what’s a Doozla?

doozla 20080416 210640 plasq releases Doozla 1.1.0 ...whats a Doozla?

plasq today released Doozla 1.1.0. What is a Doozla? Doozla is a fun graphics application for kids. It has four creativity modes as you can see in the tiny picture at right: Drawing, Coloring In, Draw on Background, and Webcam Drawing. These give kids the option to choose between free-hand drawing, adding color and lines to provided templates, drawing their own characters onto provided backgrounds or using an iSight to capture a picture and defacing it.

Like plasq’s Skitch, the drawings done in Doozla look like pixel-based graphics but are actually made using a pro-level ‘vector’ engine. The result is that every stroke of the mouse, or tablet pen produces smooth lines that print and scale smoothly without ‘jaggies’.

This update includes additional color-in art, commissioned from artists around the world. Included are historical and contemporary images, sophisticated backgrounds, color-in characters and scenes to entice students and young kids to color, complete or capture their own ideas.

Doozla requires Mac OS X 10.4.6 or above and costs USD$24.95. Volume Education Licensing options are available.

Note:

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