CoolCam is a cool new webcam application for Power Macintosh, PowerBook, iMac and iBook computers running Mac OS 8.5 (or higher). CoolCam provides true WYSIWYG editing of text captions, picture badges, clocks and blur items, all floating on top of live video from your camera. With CoolCam's intuitive user interface, you'll be running your own webcam in minutes!
CoolCam requires Mac OS 8.5 (or higher) to operate.
CoolCam is shareware. Please support shareware by registering your copy if you decide to use it after 15 days. You can use the included Register application to register by email, fax or postal mail. You can also register online with a major credit card via the YUV422 Software website at http://users.aol.com/yuv422. Your support is appreciated!
About CoolCam
CoolCam was designed to be an elegant, easy-to-configure, easy-to-customize webcam application. After looking at a few of the other webcam applications available, we thought there needed to be a "webcam for the rest of us", and designed CoolCam to fulfill that need.
So why do we think CoolCam is so cool? Unlike other webcam applications which use large, complex dialog boxes to create and edit items, CoolCam uses true WYSIWYG (what-you-see-is-what-you-get) editing of text captions, picture badges, clocks and blur items. CoolCam allows you to edit these items in place over live video from your camera, continually updating the video display in realtime, even if you are moving or resizing items, editing text within a caption, or changing an item's color. CoolCam also features blur items, which blur a portion of the video with a TV-style block blur effect. This is useful if you want to 'censor' something in your webcam image.
CoolCam is very new, and we envision that it will evolve as we receive suggestions from users like you. We already have some even cooler new features in the works for the next release. If you have any suggestions for changes or new features, please send them to yuv422@aol.com for consideration. Of course, we can't guarantee that your suggestions will make it into a future version of CoolCam, but we'll do our best. Also, if you decide to keep using CoolCam after 15 days, there's no better way to show your appreciation than registering your copy. Thanks!
Preparing Your Web Page for CoolCam
CoolCam works by capturing video from any QuickTime-compatible video digitizer, and periodically compressing the image into JPEG format and placing it on your web server. CoolCam can upload images to remote FTP servers, and it can also save images locally for use with Web Sharing or similar web server software.
To use CoolCam with a remote FTP server, you will need to know the location (URL) of the destination image, along with the username and password for your account. For example, if your FTP site's URL is "ftp://ftp.yoursite.com/yourdirectory" and you want the image to be called "webcam.jpg", then you should specify the following URL for the destination image:
ftp://ftp.yoursite.com/yourdirectory/webcam.jpg
Note: CoolCam uses 'absolute' URLs, which specify the full path to the destination image on your web server. If your website address contains the ~ character and you have problems using CoolCam, you may need to find out what your absolute URL is from your network administrator or Internet Service Provider (ISP). You can sometimes determine your URL by using an FTP application (such as Fetch or Transmit) to log in to your account and view the path to your default directory.
To use CoolCam on a computer running Web Sharing or similar web server software, all you need to know is the location of the folder in which the image is to be saved, along with the filename of the image. For example, if you are using Web Sharing, you might want to save the image as "webcam.jpg" into the "Web Pages" folder on your hard disk.
Once the image is on your server, you can include it in your web page by simply referencing it in an HTML image tag. For example, if you set up CoolCam to upload/save the image as "webcam.jpg" as in the above examples, your web page's HTML file can display the image using the following tag:
<IMG SRC="webcam.jpg">
To have your web page reload periodically, you can use the following tag in your HTML file. Change the "60" to the desired number of seconds between refreshes:
<META HTTP-EQUIV="REFRESH" CONTENT="60">
An example HTML file with this refresh tag is included with CoolCam to get you started. You should upload this file to your remote FTP server, or place it in your shared folder if using Web Sharing or similar web server software.
Step-by-Step Setup Guide
Launch the CoolCam application and follow this step-by-step guide to set up CoolCam to capture and save images on your web server. After you're done, you may want to read the "Customizing CoolCam" section, which includes information on customizing your webcam with text captions, picture badges, clocks and blur objects.
Step 1: Specify your server location (for uploading to remote servers only)
Click on the 'Server' tab. Enter the universal resource locator (URL) for the destination image on your web server, your username, and your password. The URL should point to the same file referenced by your web page's HTML file. If you are using Web Sharing or similar web server software, leave these fields blank and skip to Step 2.
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Step 2: Specify your image uploading/saving preferences
Click on the 'Options' tab. To adjust the time interval at which the image refreshes, click on the small arrows. You can select times ranging between 10 seconds and 60 minutes. To enable uploading to the remote server specified in the 'Server' tab, check the 'Upload image to server' checkbox. To enable saving to a local folder, check the 'Save image locally' checkbox. To change the location for saved images, click the folder icon. To select the file format to use, click on the 'Format' popup menu. CoolCam currently supports only the JPEG file format. To select what quality to use, click on the 'Quality' popup menu. Higher quality images are larger and take longer to upload, so you may want to experiment to find the best compromise between image quality and upload time depending on the speed of your Internet connection. To adjust your video digitizer's settings, such as brightness and contrast, click the "Video Input╔" button.
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Step 3: Verify that CoolCam is able to upload/save images
Click on the 'Status' tab. This tab displays useful information about the last upload and/or save operation. On the left is a thumbnail of the last image captured, and on the right is a summary of the last operation, including image size, format and quality, date and time captured, and whether the image was successfully uploaded, saved, or both. To verify that CoolCam is able to upload/save images, either wait for the next scheduled refresh or click the 'Now' button. If the image is successfully uploaded, the time taken to upload the image is displayed. If the upload/save operation is not successful, the reason for the failure is displayed. For example:
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Step 4: There's no Step 4!
That's all there is to it - your webcam should already be up and running! If it isn't, check the 'Status' tab for errors, and check that the URL, username and password you entered in the 'Server' tab are correct. If all else fails, send an email to yuv422@aol.com and we'll be happy to help you get started.
Customizing CoolCam
This section describes how to customize your webcam with text captions, picture badges, clocks and blur items. Any items you create are automatically saved, and restored the next time you run CoolCam. To create and manipulate items, click on the 'Items' tab.
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Creating Caption Items
These items display a text caption of your choice. To create a caption, click 'New Caption' or choose 'New Caption' from the 'Items' menu, and enter the text you want to use as a caption. Captions can contain text with multiple fonts, styles, sizes and colors.
Ñ To change the font, style, size or color of text within a caption, select the text you want to change within the caption and use the controls in the 'Items' tab. If no text is selected, the entire caption is changed.
Ñ To change the caption's width, move the cursor over the caption's lower-right corner and drag the grow box which appears. The caption will automatically resize vertically to ensure every line of text is visible.
Ñ To change the caption's alignment, click the left, center or right alignment buttons.
Ñ To specify whether the caption is antialiased (smoothed), use the 'Antialias text' checkbox.
Creating Clock Items
These items display the current time and date in a variety of formats. To create a clock, click 'New Clock' or choose 'New Clock' from the 'Items' menu.
Ñ To change the clock's format, click it to cycle through five different formats.
Ñ To change the font, style, size or color of the clock, select it and use the controls in the 'Items' tab.
Ñ To change the clock's alignment, click the left, center or right alignment buttons. This is useful because clocks resize depending on the amount of text to be displayed, which varies as the time and date changes. Use the alignment to specify which edge of the clock is anchored. For example, a clock on the right side of your image should be anchored on its right edge and grow towards the left, so you should click the right alignment button.
Ñ To specify whether the caption is antialiased (smoothed), use the 'Antialias text' checkbox.
Creating Badge Items
These items display a picture badge of your choice. To create a badge, click 'New Badge' or choose 'New Badge' from the 'Items' menu. Choose the image file you want to use as the badge, and then choose the image file you want to use as the badge's mask, or click 'Cancel' if you don't want to use a mask. Where the mask is white, the badge will be transparent. Where it is black, it will be opaque. Shades of gray define translucency, for example where the mask is 50% gray, the badge will be 50% translucent.
Ñ To resize the badge, move the cursor over the badge's lower-right corner and drag the grow box which appears. If you need to resize the badge without maintaining its original proportions, hold down the Shift key while resizing the badge.
Ñ To rotate the badge, move the cursor over the badge's lower-right corner, hold down the Command key, and drag the rotate box which appears. To rotate the badge in 15í steps, hold down the Shift key while rotating the badge.
Creating Blur Items
These items blur the video underneath them using a TV-style block blur effect. To create a blur, click 'New Blur' or choose 'New Blur' from the Items menu. Use blur items to obscure anything in your webcam image that you don't want people to see.
Ñ To resize the blur, move the cursor over the blur's lower-right corner and drag the grow box which appears.
Item Layers
Items are organized in layers, with each of the four item types having its own layer. Captions float above clocks, clocks float above badges, and badges float above blurs. All items float above the video from your camera.
Selecting Items
To select an item, click it once. The item will be brought to the front of its layer, and a focus ring will appear around the item. When selecting a badge that has a transparency mask, you must click the part of the image that is opaque.
Moving Items
To move an item, click and drag the item. The item will be brought to the front of its layer, and a focus ring will appear around the item. When moving a badge that has a transparency mask, you must click in the part of the image that is opaque. To move an item without bringing the item to the front of its layer and selecting the item, hold down the Option key, then click and drag the item.
Using AppleScript with CoolCam
CoolCam 1.2 adds support for running AppleScripts, allowing you to further customize how CoolCam operates. The 'Scripts' folder contains scripts that are automatically executed by CoolCam whenever certain events occur. These are:
Before Capture - this script is executed immediately before the image is captured
After Capture - this script is executed immediately after the image has been captured
On Open - this script is executed when you open the CoolCam application
On Quit - this script is executed when you quit the CoolCam application
You can modify these scripts using the Script Editor application to customize CoolCam's behavior. For example, you can have CoolCam dial into your ISP before capturing an image, and disconnect after the image has been uploaded. You can also have CoolCam warn you by beeping before an image is captured.
Other Features
CoolCam also has the following miscellaneous features:
Show/Hide Settings
The small triangle below the image allows you to show or hide the settings tabs.
Time Until Refresh
The progress bar below the image shows how long is remaining until the next scheduled refresh. If neither uploading or saving is enabled in the 'Options' tab, no progress bar is displayed. If the refresh interval is changed, the progress bar immediately updates to show the new time remaining until the next refresh.
Refresh Now
The 'Now' button below the image immediately uploads and/or saves the currently displayed image, and resets the timer for the next refresh.
Automatic Save and Restore of Custom Items
Custom items are automatically saved when you quit, and are restored the next time you run CoolCam. When saving picture badges, CoolCam uses a reference to the original image file. When restoring saved badges, CoolCam will search for the image file needed for the badge, and if it cannot be found it will display a dialog informing you that a badge couldn't be restored.
About Box
The 'About' tab shows information about the current version of CoolCam. This tab is also displayed if you choose 'About CoolCam╔' from the Apple menu. You can visit the YUV422 Software website and check for newer versions of CoolCam by clicking anywhere in the About Box image. In case you were wondering, the About Box for CoolCam features Scooter,
the CoolCam CoolCat. He loves to walk on the keyboard, so if you find bugs in CoolCam, they're most likely his fault. ;-)
If You Have Problems Using CoolCam
We hope you enjoy CoolCam and find it useful. If you have any problems using CoolCam, please do not hesitate to contact us by email at yuv422@aol.com. We welcome all comments, suggestions and criticisms.
