Copyright: Copyright © 1996 Connectix Corporation


Contents
QuickMovie Help Contents

Switching Modes

Switching between Record and Playback Modes

Getting the Best Image With Your Connectix QuickCam

How to get the best image

Changing the Appearance of QuickMovie

The Status Bar

The Toolbar

Changing the Audio and Video Settings

Changing the Audio Settings

Changing the Video Settings

Recording a Movie

Getting the Best Frame Rate

Recording a Movie

Recording Stop-Action Movies

Recording Time-Lapse Movies

About Your Video Workspace

Saving a Movie

Saving a Movie

Compressing a Movie

Making Sure Others Can View Your Color Movie

Opening and Playing Movies

Opening a Movie

Playing a Movie

Copying a Frame to the Clipboard

Contacting Connectix

Contact information


Switching between Record Mode and Playback Mode

QuickMovie has two modes: Record mode is used to capture a new movie; Playback mode is used to play an existing movie.  Use the buttons in the Toolbar to switch between modes.

  	Click this button to switch to Record mode.

  	Click this button to switch to Playback  mode.


Focusing your Color QuickCam

You can adjust the focus on your QuickCam from one inch to infinity. To adjust the focus, turn the focusing ring on the outside of the lens until the image is sharp.  The Grayscale QuickCam has a fixed focus from eighteen inches to infinity.


How to get the best image

To get the best image from your QuickCam, first make sure that you have adequate lighting. All of the other image adjustments depend on the presence of an adequate amount of light. As a rule of thumb, if the lighting is such that you would use a flash with a normal 35mm camera, you need to add more light for your QuickCam. This is probably true in most home environments where illumination is provided by one or a few lights.

You can also adjust the settings of your camera, and the quality and size of the image.

•	If you have installed a Color QuickCam, click here for more information.

•	If you have installed a Grayscale QuickCam, click here for more information.


The Toolbar

QuickMovie has a Toolbar at the top with buttons that allow you quick access to important features. Use the Toolbar item in the View menu to toggle the Toolbar on and off.


The Status Bar

The Status bar is the region at the bottom of the window in which QuickMovie displays status information. To toggle the Status Bar on and off, choose Status Bar from the View menu.


Recording a Movie

Recording your own Video for Windows movies is easy! Just follow these simple steps:

1 . 	To record a Movie, make sure QuickMovie is in Record mode.

2 . 	Make sure your QuickCam is pointing at what you want to record.

3 . 	If you have a Color QuickCam, adjust the focus by turning the plastic ring on the front of the camera.

4 . 	Make any adjustments to the video settings that are needed.

•	Adjusting settings for the Color QuickCam

•	Adjusting settings for the Grayscale QuickCam

5 . 	If you have a microphone and your PC has audio recording capabilities, you will want to set the audio levels.

6 . 	Click the Record button to start recording (Smile!).

7 . 	Click the Stop button to stop recording.


Video Workspace

When you record a movie, QuickMovie stores the video on your hard disk in your video workspace (the file workspace.avi in your QuickCam directory). When you save your movie, QuickMovie saves your video workspace and gives it the name you specify. If you do not save your movie and you start recording another, QuickMovie will remind you that the movie in your workspace will be lost if you do not save it.


Saving a Movie

To save your movie, select Save as  from the File menu. You can also choose to compress your movie when you save it. You will probably need to use compression to minimize the amount of disk space used by your movie.


Compressing a Movie

Because each movie file can take a rather large amount of disk space, QuickMovie offers a number of compression options to reduce the size of the files. However as compression  increases, the quality of the data in the compressed file can decrease, which means that  compressed movie images and sound will not be as good as the originals.

To select a compression option, click Compression in the Save dialog.

For the best quality for your original movies, use the Full Frames (Uncompressed) option. Use compression only when you need to decrease the  amount of space a movie takes on the hard disk, or if you are sending the movie file to  someone else and need to compress the data.

If you are using a Color QuickCam, we recommend that you choose Thousands (VIDEC) when setting the color depth QuickMovie uses to record.

•	Compressing a movie if you used VIDEC

•	Compressing a movie if you did not use  VIDEC

There are several ways to make sure that others can view your movie.


Making sure others can view your movie

If you are using a Color QuickCam and you will be sending a movie compressed with VIDEC to someone who does not have a Color QuickCam, they will not be able to view it unless you do one of several things:

•	Send them the VIDEC decompressor along with the movie. This allows you to use VIDEC while recording, and for your friends without Color QuickCams to view your movie. The VIDEC decompressor is available on our Web site (http://www.connectix.com). If you do not have Internet access, contact us at one of the telephone numbers listed here.

•	Uncompress the movie when movie you save it. You can then open it later and use other compression options.

•	Do not use VIDEC while recording (choose Thousands (Uncompressed) or Millions when choosing the color depth). You will still be able to use other compressors when you save it.


Compression options if you recorded with VIDEC

For Color QuickCams only: If you used VIDEC, you can choose any of the compression options in the Save dialog.

•	If you choose another compressor, the movie will be decompressed, then recompressed with the compressor you choose.

•	If you choose No Recompression and you want other people to be able to view your movie, you must include the VIDEC decompressor, available from Connectix. You can download the VIDEC decompressor from our Web site at www.connectix.com.


Compression options if you did NOT record with VIDEC

Use these options if you did not record with VIDEC, or you are using a Grayscale QuickCam.

To set the compression, click Compression on the Save As dialog box. The Video Compression dialog box will appear.

1 . 	Choose a compressor from the drop-down menu. You will probably have to experiment with the various compressors and the amount of compression to find the best combination for your movies and computer. A good choice is Cinepak codec by Radius, which is a good all-around compressor that retains fairly good quality.

2 . 	Drag the slider to set the amount of compression quality. The higher the quality value, the better the quality of the image and sound, but the less the compression. The lower the number, the more the file is compressed, but the less the quality of the image and sound.

3 . 	You can also send key (reference) frames. A key frame is a template that the computer uses to compare with succeeding frames to see how much of the image has changed. If only a small portion of the image has changed, only that portion needs to be processed. For example, in a movie of an airplane moving across the sky, the airplane image changes from frame to frame, but the sky does not. In that case, the sky pixels do not need to be processed on each frame. The lower the number of this setting, the better the quality of the resulting image. If you notice that the edges of images are tearing or that the motion is pausing, decrease the number of key frames.

4. 	To see a preview of the compressed movie, click the Preview button. The preview will appear at the right of the dialog.

Note: The Configure button is for the Microsoft Video 1 compressor. Please see the documentation you received for that compressor for configuration details.


Playing a Movie

To play a movie you just recorded, switch to Playback mode by clicking the camera icon at  the top of the dialog. The playback window will appear.

Click the Play button to play your movie. The Play button will change to a Pause button, and the slider will show the progress of the movie.

To pause the movie, click the Pause button. While the movie is paused, you can drag the slider to fast-forward or rewind the movie.

To resume playing, click the Play button again. When the slider is all the way to the right, the movie is finished.


Opening a Movie

To open and a movie you have previously saved, select Open from the File menu. Use the dialog that appears to find the movie you wish to open. You can then play the movie, or  save it with a different name.


Copying a Frame to the Clipboard

You can copy a single frame from your movie to the Windows Clipboard. Once the picture  is on the clipboard, you can paste it into another application. Spice up your annual report  with stills from the company picnic!

1 . 	To copy a frame from a movie, make sure you are in Playback mode.

2 . 	Click the Play button to start the movie.

3 . 	When you get to the frame you want, click the Pause button.

4 . 	Choose Copy from the Edit menu.

5 . 	The frame is now on the clipboard. Switch to another application and choose Paste  from the Edit menu to paste the image.


Audio Settings

You can adjust the audio settings QuickMovie uses when it captures sound. Choose Audio in the Settings menu to bring up a menu with audio options. The following options appear:

•	Capture audio. This is a toggle that will turn audio capture on and off.

•	Audio Format. This allows you to choose the format of the audio you capture. When you choose Audio Format, you  can choose a format from the drop-down list, or adjust the settings yourself and save  them for future use.

For the best quality sound, choose CD Quality.  For medium quality sound, choose Radio Quality. For telephone quality sound, choose Telephone Quality. To create your own sound selection, choose a sound format and sound attributes, enter a name, and click Save As to store the selection.


Audio Compression Options
Other Audio Compression Options

When you click Compression in the Save dialog, the Format pull-down menu will have different choices available, depending on whether you are using Windows 3.1x or Windows 95.

The following modules are available both in Windows 3.1x and Windows 95:

•	PCM (Pulse Code Modulation) converts an analog signal to digital. This is raw audio (no compression is used).

•	ADPCM (Adaptive Pulse Code Modulation) uses 2:1 audio compression. There are two versions: Microsoft and IMA (Intel).

The following are available in Windows 95 only:

•	CCITT A-Law uses companding (higher sampling at lower frequencies) to better represent voice signals. Used in telephony.

•	CCITT u-Law is similar to A-Law, above.

•	GSM is a good quality compressor, and results in low bandwidth.

•	DSP Group TrueSpeech (TM) does not compress in real time, and is not recommended.

NOTE: If you are using Windows 95, and you are sending your movie to someone using Windows 3.1x, you must use either PCM or ADPCM, or they will not be able to hear the audio.


Changing the Video Settings

You can change the video settings only when QuickMovie is in Record mode. When you choose Video from the Settings menu, the following choices appear:

•	Normal for normal video capture.

•	One Frame at a Time. Choose this to take one frame at a time when you click Record. Use this to make stop-action movies.

•	Time Lapse. Use this to take time-lapse pictures. In the dialog that appears, enter a time interval in seconds, minutes, or hours. When you click Record, QuickMovie will capture frames separated by the time interval you chose. To stop recording, click Stop.

•	Other. Lets you enter a frame rate. In the dialog that appears, enter a frame rate and click OK. Keep in mind that your system may not always be able to achieve the rate you enter.


Recording Stop-Action Movies

To record a stop-action movie, choose Video from the Settings menu, then choose One Frame at a Time.  QuickMovie will grab a single frame each time you click Record.


Recording Time-Lapse Movies

To record  a time-lapse movie, choose Video from the Settings menu, then choose Time Lapse. In the dialog that appears, enter a  time interval in seconds, minutes, or hours. When you click Record, QuickMovie will  capture frames separated by the time interval you chose. To stop recording, click Stop.


Getting the Best Image

There are two steps to getting the best image for QuickPICT and QuickMovie.  First, make sure that you have enough light on the scene. All of the other image adjustments depend on the presence of  an adequate amount of light. As a rule of thumb, if the lighting is such that you would use a flash with a normal 35mm camera, you need to add more light for  your QuickCam. This is probably true in most home environments where illumination is provided by one or a few lights.

Once you have enough light, use the Camera Settings dialog to fine-tune your image.


Getting the Best Frame Rate

Maximizing the frame rate is important in many situations, especially if you are using your Color QuickCam for videoconferencing. Here are some tips for increasing the frame rate.

•	For Color QuickCam: use a color depth of Thousands (VIDEC), not Thousands (Uncompressed), or millions. In this mode QuickCam implements the VIDECTM (Video Enhanced Digital Compression) compression, which will increase frame rates.

•	 Another important factor in getting the highest possible frame rate is having enough illumination. The less light there is, the longer the shutter will have to stay open to capture each frame, and subsequently the lower the frame rate. Simply by increasing the light level, you can decrease the necessary shutter speed (the Brightnesssetting) and increase the frame rate.

•	 If you do not need the maximum amount of detail in each frame, choose a reduced Sharpness level. If you choose the middle or the lowest value for Sharpness, you will get higher frame rates than if you choose the highest Sharpness value.

•	Make sure that your monitor is set to display the same number of colors as the QuickCam is capturing. For example, if you choose thousands of colors from the menu, make sure your monitor is also set to display thousands of colors. If QuickCam has to dither the image to match your display, frame rates will decrease.

•	Choose a smaller image size. Capturing a smaller image size results in faster frame rates.

•	Make sure QuickMovie is the only application running. Close all other applications.


Zoom

To zoom the image in or out, click Zoom In or Zoom Out.


Contacting Connectix

In the unlikely event that you have a problem with the QuickCam hardware, or with the software supplied by Connectix, please read this section first.

Contacting Connectix Support

If you have questions or problems with QuickCam, contact us by telephone, by fax, or via electronic mail. Try the following first:

•	Check the ReadMe file. This has information on known problems and solutions.

•	Write down the events that lead to the problem. Have you changed anything in your computer recently?

•	Have the following available when you contact Technical Support:

•	Registration number on the Registration Card

•	Software version number on the installer

•	PC  model

•	Windows version

•	How much RAM is installed

Connectix Technical Support can be contacted at the following online services:

Online Service	Mail Address 	Forum Location

America On-Line	Connectix	Keyword = Connectix

CompuServe	75300, 1546 	Go CONNECTIX

You can also contact us on the World Wide Web, or by e-mail, fax, or phone:

WWW:	http://www.connectix.com for general Connectix information

E-mail:	cqcwsupp@connectix.com (Color QuickCam)

 	qcwsupp@connectix.com (Grayscale QuickCam)

Fax:	415-571-5195

Phone:	415-571-5100

800-650-8857 (US and Canada only)

Contacting Connectix Sales

Contact Connectix Sales for more information about QuickCam volume sales , QuickCam for Macintosh, or other Connectix products.

Internet: 	sales@connectix.com

FAX: 	415-571-5195

Phone:	800-950-5880 or 415-571-5100  (Sales only)

Contacting Connectix Support in Europe

Country	Telephone Number

Germany	0130-823887 (toll-free)

France	0800-917943 (toll-free)

Britain	0800-966199 (toll-free)

Holland	20-5814384

For all other European countries, dial +31-20-5814385. This number is in Holland, however information will be provided in English.

European Addresses

Mailing: 	SEI, Attn: Connectix, Orlyplein 85, 1043 DS Amsterdam, The Netherlands

FAX:	Fax questions to: +31-20 581 4380

Internet: 	For e-mail use the internet address: CONNECTX@SEI.NL.SYKES.COM