Oculus Reference

File

• New

Creates a new Oculus document.
You may have as many documents open as you wish. If you have more than one Video Input device, then you will be able to see video in more than one of the documents. Otherwise, the first document will use the video input device, and other documents will fail to open.

Note that Oculus supports any number of video input devices, allowing you to create multiple Web Cams from one computer!

• Open...

Opens an existing Oculus document.

• Close

Closes the active window. If the window to be closed needs to be saved, you will be alerted and allowed to save your document.

• Save

Saves the active document. If the document hasn't been saved, you will be asked for a name and location to save the document. Otherwise, the existing document will be modified.

• Save as...

Saves the active document with a new name. You will be asked for a name and location to save the document.

• Preferences...

Brings up the Oculus Preferences dialog. This allows you to set the language that will be used for Oculus menus and dialogs. Oculus will automatically come up in the language that your System Software uses, but you may change this at any time with this dialog.



A Word about the Translations: The translations used in Oculus were done with a combination of automated translation tools and the input from users. It is possible that incorrect or awkward phrases may appear. If you have suggestions or corrections, or would like to translate Oculus into another language, please contact the authors.

• Quit

Closes all windows and quits Oculus. If you have changed a document, you will be asked whether you wish to save it.

Edit

The Edit menu behaves as you would expect in a Macintosh application, and can be used for editing text caption contents. Oculus also supports drag and drop into the text caption dialog, as well as the main window, for creating large numbers of text captions from an existing text file (such as quotations).

Settings

• Setup Assistant...



This item brings up the Setup Assistant, which can get your basic WebCam setup going with a minumum of information on your part. The assistant will even create the HTML and upload it to your desired web page. First time users should consider using this for their initial WebCam setup. For more information, see the Getting Started documentation.



• Document...



This dialog allows you to specify some basic display options for your document. By default, Oculus creates a WebCam at 320x240 pixels (or as close as it can get to it). Sometimes, however, you may want to use a larger or smaller image on your web site. Use the Document Size pop up menu to select double, full, half, or quarter sized documents, or a custom size. You can also change the size of the document simply by dragging the grow box in the main Oculus window. If you hold down the shift key while dragging the grow box, the document will snap to double, full, half or quarter size. If you hold down the option key while dragging the grow box, you will be able to size your document in non-standard sizes. This will cause your image to look stretched.

The main Oculus window can show you various previews of the image being sent to your WebCam. The "Show preview in window" option can be turned off if you do not wish to see this image. This can be useful if you run Oculus in the background and do not need to see the picture being uploaded.

"Show preview before upload" will make sure that Oculus displays the exact picture being uploaded, including any captions you have created. "Show Live Preview" will display the current video picture, even when Oculus is not uploading. Note that the Live Preview option can slow down operation of your computer, so you should only select this option if it is really useful to you. "Show frame difference" will present you with a graphical representation of the area of the image that has changed.






This can be useful for adjusting the Trigger... settings when you are using Motion Detection. Note the red rectangle. This is the "Similarity Zone" that is the most different in the image. You can change the number of Similarity Zones in the Trigger... dialog.

The Active Times option allows you to specify a range of times and days when your WebCam will be active (such as during the work week) and the times that it will not. You may also optionally select a picture to be displayed at those times when the WebCam is not active.

• Video Input...

Brings up the standard QuickTime Video Settings dialog.






If you are using Oculus to control more than one WebCam and video source for a single computer, you'll want to use the Video Input... dialog to specify which video source goes with which Oculus document.

Selecting the pop-up menu at the top of the dialog will allow you to select the other Video Settings options panels which are Image and Source. The Image panel will allow you to modify the brightness, contrast and hue. The Source panel will allow you to choose the video input source - either S-Video or Composite, NTSC, PAL or SECAM, and the video digitizer to use (if you have more than one.)

• FTP...

Brings up the FTP Settings Dialog.









Host is where you specify the name of your FTP host, such as "myhost.com". Username is where you specify the username for your FTP server. Password is the password for this account. Note: some FTP sites assume that if you are connected (ie. via dialup) then you have already input your username and password. They will not accept the username or password. If your FTP site works like this, turn off the Username and Password by unchecking the check boxes next to those two fields. (German Bundespost (t-online))

Oculus defaults to passive FTP transfers, which work best for the majority of Internet users. You will not usually need to adjust this option, but for some sites that use FireWalls, you may have to switch this setting. If your file does not reach it's destination, and you've set the host, user, and password correctly, try changing this setting.

If you can only connect to your FTP site through an FTP proxy, you can try putting into the Host field, and @ into the Username field. This allows Oculus to work with many FTP proxies.

The User, Group and World Read/Write buttons allow you to change the permissions of the file on the FTP site. The default settings are good for most WebCam applications. It allows only you to change the file. It allows everyone to read the file.

• Trigger...

Brings up the Trigger dialog.






The Trigger dialog allows you to specify how often a picture should be taken. It also allows you to set the camera to a manual mode. Oculus has several options to control when a picture is taken - time, motion, or sound level. You may specify any of these criteria for capture of pictures.

The most common usage of Oculus is to take pictures every so many seconds or minutes. Simply select the frequency of pictures from the "Take picture every" menu. You may also set this frequency to "Manual" if you would like to take pictures only under user control. You then use the Take Picture menu item to take a picture.




Oculus also allows you to choose your own time span. You can do this by choosing the Other... option in the time pop-up. This will bring up another dialog that allows you to type in the time that you wish. You can just type in the number of seconds (including a decimal value) or you can type in the number of days, hours, minutes and seconds.

If you would like pictures to be taken when there is motion in the room, turn on the "Motion Detection" option and specify a "Sensitivity" value. Small sensitivity values cause the picture to be taken when there is the slightest movement in the room. You may find that for very small numbers, video noise from the camera will be enough to take the picture. If this is the case, increase the sensitivity value. The "Similarity Zones" controls how many areas of the image Oculus examines to determine if the image has changed. If this is a small value, a large change in the image will be necessary to trigger the image capture. If this is a large value, a movement in one portion of the image will be enough to trigger an image capture.



You may select a time to check for motion that is different (typically more frequent) than the frequency of picture taking. Because motion detection can be slow, and can interfere with foreground use of your Macintosh, you will want to experiment with this setting.

Oculus can compare the current picture with the last one saved, or it can compare the picture with the last one taken. When Oculus compares the picture with the last one saved, it can be triggered by gradual changes in picture brightness (ie. sunrise or sunset). If Oculus compares with the last picture taken, it is unlikely that gradual changes in the picture will cause the motion detection to be triggered.

If you have a microphone attached to your computer, Oculus can also take pictures when the sound level in the room is above a certain level. Oculus will display in the main window the sound level, so you can see how loud of a sound is required in order to take a picture.

Users who are setting up Oculus to perform Time Lapse capture for security or room monitoring purposes will probably wish to set the Sound level value, turn on Motion Detection with a small sensitivity value, and also specify that Oculus examine the picture fairly often -- such as one second.

• Photo...

Brings up the Photo dialog.






This dialog allows you to control options that effect how Photos are created from your video image.

"Orientation" allows you to save the Photos flipped or rotated from the default orientation. The "Filter" button allows you to specify any of the installed QuickTime filters (such as Film Noise) to be applied to your image before saving. If you check the "Cycle last N pictures" option, you can have Oculus save pictures with a number after them, such as "MyCam2.jpg" through "MyCam3.jpg". Or, you may select the DateStamp or TimeStamp options to have the files named based upon when the pictures are taken. DateStamp and TimeStamp only work with files that are saved to disk.

"Settings..." allows you to set the compression options for the Photos with the Compression Settings dialog.





This dialog allows you to set the video compressor, video depth, and quality of the final output. If you move the cursor over the sample image, it will turn into a hand, and allow you move the preview image to view the result of the selected compression settings on different areas of your webcam image. For typical WebCam applications, you will probably want to use the JPEG compressor at Medium quality or better. Note: make sure that the name that you give to your file matches the compressor type you choose, or your website visitors will not be able to view your images. For example: a JPEG image should have a .jpg extension. A BMP file should have a .bmp extension.

If your WebCam is being hosted on a remote server, the FTP setting should be selected. You then type in the location of the files within your FTP server. If you select the File setting and enable this check box, you will specify the target location of the file on your local disk. If you have a web server set up, or have personal web-sharing turned on, choose a location where your HTML page will reference the image.



Finally, the Filter button may be selected to apply any QuickTime filter which is installed. These can be used to give your WebCam additional interest. If you camera is only black and white, the Color Tinting option may be especially interesting to you.

• Movie...

Brings up the Movie dialog.






Like the Picture settings dialog, the Movie dialog allows you to control Movies created by Oculus. You can specify the length of the Movie in either Frames, or Minutes, and can control the maximum length of the Movie.

If you choose both a Frame and Minute specification, Oculus will create a new movie with whichever comes earliest. Oculus will also try to create the longest movie based on your Frame and Minute specification.

You can choose to have a new movie frame created at the same time your WebCam photo is being created. Or, you can choose to have your movie frames created at an entirely different rate. Use the New Frame section to choose which you would like.

The "Settings..." button allows you to control the compression settings for the Movie.




Your Movie compression settings will probably be different than Photo, especially if you are uploading the resulting movies for display on the Web. Cinepak is a good choice, as is the Sorrenson compressor, provided that you have a fast enough CPU.

You can choose how many frames per second you want the final movie to be, and how often you want a key frame inserted into the movie. If your chosen compressor supports it, you can also specify a data rate limit for that compressor.

Just as with Photos, Oculus can capture to multiple movies and rotate through them if you specify that option in this dialog. You can also control whether the movies are recorded with the captions in them (which is useful with the date or time-stamp if you are creating time-lapse movies in order to monitor activity in a room).

• Scripts...



This item brings up the Scripts dialog, which allows you to specify AppleScripts that will execute as various events happen within Oculus.



This is a very powerful feature and can be used for:

• playing a sound when motion is detected
• notifying via email or pager when pictures are uploaded
• modifying a captured picture via another application

In order to use your own scripts, you must put your AppleScripts into the Oculus Scripts folder that resides next to the Oculus application.



• Crop



This item enables cropping of the video source. This can be useful if your camera digitizes areas around the camera that you don't want to show on your WebCam. Once you have selected Crop, you can adjust the crop areas using the blue handles that appear in the main window. Only the cropped portion of the image will be compressed and saved or uploaded. The blue portion will be cropped out.



• New Text Caption...

Brings up the Text Caption dialog.






The Text Caption dialog allows you to specify how you want a text caption to appear. You can change the size, font, style and color of the caption. There are five special captions: Time, Date, Short date and Abbreviated date. Time (%T) will be replaced with the current time. Date (%D) will be replaced with the current long form date. Short date (%d) will be replaced with the current date in mm/dd/yy or dd/mm/yy format. Abbreviated date (%A) will be replaced with the current date with abbreviated wording (ie. Sun, Mar 22, 1998). QuickCaption (%Q) is used to have a portion of your caption which you can quickly change via the QuickCaption window.

You can also specify the opacity of the foreground and background colors in order to have captions where part of the video "shows through" the caption. The "Solid Frame" option is good if you wish to have a rectangle of a specific color behind your caption. If you do not specify "Solid Frame" Oculus will draw the caption floating above the video. The "Solid Frame" will use the opacity specified by the background opacity slider.

The Auto align location allows you to specify an aligned location for the caption. You can align text in any of the corners of the video, the middle of the edges, or the center of the video. If you move a caption from one of these locations, Oculus will not auto-position it any longer, but you may use the Alignment pop-up to cause Oculus to keep this caption at the right hand side of the video if you wish.

Note that a new Text Caption will initially have the same attributes as the first selected Text Caption. This can be handy if you wish to have several captions with the same appearance.

• New Picture Caption...

Brings up the Picture Caption Dialog.






The Picture Caption dialog allows you to specify a picture file to draw as a caption. Any QuickTime 3.0 compatible picture file (gif, jpeg, tiff, png, PhotoShop, etc.) file can be used as a caption.

The Auto align location allows you to specify an aligned location for the caption. You can align pictures in any of the corners of the video, the middle of the edges, or the center of the video. If you move a caption from one of these locations, Oculus will not auto-position it any longer.

For images that have an Alpha value in them (such as those created with PhotoShop), you can choose to have Oculus display them using the alpha value. This can allow you to produce some nice blending effects between the image and your video.

If you do not have access to such images, you can also specify a transparent color within your image by selecting the "Key Color" value from this dialog. You may also have the picture appear blended with the video image by specifying an Opacity value.


• New List Caption...

Brings up the List Caption Dialog.






The List Caption dialog allows you to specify a name and type for a new list caption. A list caption allows you to group other captions to be drawn either Randomly (one of the group), Sequentially (one of the group in order), or all drawn together.

The contents of a list caption are only checked for drawing if the list itself will be drawn. For example, if a sequential list contains three random lists, only one item from the first random list will be drawn, then only one item from the second random list will be drawn, etc.

Caption Lists allow you to set up WebCams that have some interesting activity in them. For example, you can display a series of Random Quote that you find funny simply by having a Caption List set to display Randomly. Each time Oculus takes a picture, a new quote will be selected.

• Captions...

Brings up a Window with a listing of the current captions.







The Captions window shows you the current list of captions. You can select captions by clicking on them, or edit captions by double-clicking on them. Pressing the delete key will delete all selected captions. Pressing the return key will edit all selected captions.

WebCam

• Take Picture

Takes a picture immediately. If the camera is Offline, it will simply update the display to what would have been sent to the FTP site, and will reset the timeout value. If the camera is Online, it will compress and send the picture to the FTP location.

Use this menu command to send a picture if the Trigger... value is set to manual.

• Create Movie Now

Creates a movie based upon the current settings. If you are just setting up a movie document and want to verify that your settings are correct, you can use this option to force Oculus to create the movie without waiting for the current frame or minute timeouts. Create Movie Now only saves or uploads how many frames have already been saved.

• Offline

Allows you to put the WebCam online or offline. When you create a new document, it will initially be Offline. This allows you to set up your document without incurring a lot of FTP errors. When your document is set up the way you want, and your FTP information has been entered correctly, then you can put your document Online by selecting this menu item.

• FTP Log...

Brings up the FTP Log window.









The FTP Log is a record of the communication between Oculus and your FTP site. From there, you may see what your problems are. In the example above, there is a message in red "530 Login incorrect." which may be due to a bad username or mis-typed password. At the bottom of the window, there is a message "550 xxx: No such file or directory." which indicates that your FTP File path is incorrect.
Oculus notes the errors in red text. You may copy text from the FTP Log window to send to the creators if you have questions or bugs to report.


• Show Toolbar...

This brings up the tool bar, which may be used to access the settings within Oculus.



The icons, from right to left are: Document, Video Input, FTP, Trigger, Photo, Movie, Scripts, Crop, New Text Caption, New Picture Caption, Take Picture Now, and Take Movie Now.

• Show QuickCaption...

This brings up QuickCaption window, which you use to replace text within captions that use the QuickCaption feature.



You can save up to nine QuickCaptions to select easily from the pop-up menu. To change an existing caption, just select it from the pop-up menu, and type in your change in the text field and press return.

Apple

About Oculus...
Gives information about the current version of Oculus, and who is the current registered user.

• Register...

Brings up the Registration Dialog.




The Registration Dialog allows you to input your registered name and registration number to enable saving of the destination location of your images. The program is fully functional and will save captions and attributes of your document. If you open a document with an unregistered version of Oculus, you will have to re-set your destination location each time you load the document.

You can register on-line through Kagi or you can use the Register program that came with this distribution. Your registration key will arrive shortly after your order has been received.

You must use the exact name that you used to register Oculus, as your name is used to generate your registration number.

All content is copyright 1998-99. Software copyright 1998-99 Poubelle Software and International Web. Contact

support@intlweb.com or
sales@intlweb.com

Last modified (4/16/99)