OS/2 Spezial/SPEZIAL2_97.zip/SPEZIAL2_97.iso/ANWEND/MULTIMED/QV2-054A/qv2.hlp

OS/2 Help File | 1997-08-15 | 33KB | 807 lines

ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 1. General Help ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ

Help is available any time you press the F1 key from anywhere within the
program. Because this is context sensitive help, the help information that is
displayed depends on where in the program F1 was selected.

Press Esc at any time to view the previous help window or to return to the main
Help window if there are no other help windows.


ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 2. Using Help ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ

For information on how to use help press F1 now.


ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 3. The Help Menu ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ

The help menu contains choices for quick access to sections of this help
information. The following choices are available:

     Help index...
     General help...
     Keys help...
     Using help...
     About...


ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 4. Index to the Help Topics ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ

Displays the index to the help topics


ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 5. Help Contents ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ

Displays the contents list to the help topics.


ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 6. Help for Set Exposure ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ

This slider sets the camera exposure. The scale corresponds to approximately
1-1000ms exposure time.

Changes only take effect when a new Snapshot is taken or if Continuous capture
is in effect.


ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 7. Help for Set Contrast ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ

The image contrast can be adjusted using this slider. This is controlled by the
camera and is sensitive to adjustments. The default value is 104 on the slider
scale.

Changes only take effect when a new Snapshot is taken or if Continuous capture
is in effect.


ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 8. Help for Gamma Adjust ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ

The image brightness is adjusted using this slider. This is not a camera
control, it changes the current greyscale palette to create the appearance of
an increase in whiteness or blackness.

Changes only take effect when a new Snapshot is taken or if Continuous capture
is in effect.


ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 9. Help for Set Defaults ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ

Use this to set the default values for all camera settings as well as some
program settings. Now to be found on the Advanced page of the Settings
notebook.

Note that this does a complete initialisation of the camera and should be used
with caution. The procedure includes scanning the parallel ports for a camera
and initialising it with default settings. The whole process can take a few
seconds to complete.

The defaults are:

Γûá Image size: 324x243 (maximum) 16 greys B&W and 16M for colour

Γûá Brightness: 128 (scale 1-255)

Γûá Exposure: 128 (scale 1-255)

Γûá Contrast: 104 (scale 1-255)

Γûá Hue: 128 (scale 1-255)

Γûá Saturation: 100 (scale 1-255)

Γûá Black level: 128 (scale 1-255)


ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 10. Help for Set 16 greys ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ

This sets the camera to 16-greys mode. The image quality is slightly reduced
from 64-greys but the frame-rate will be faster.


ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 11. Help for Set 64 greys ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ

This sets the camera to 64-greys mode. The image quality is better than
16-greys but the frame-rate will be slower.


ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 12. Help for Set 64k colours ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ

Currently 64k colour mode is not enabled until we receive details on its
proprietary compression technique from Connectix.


ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 13. Help for Set 16M colours ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ

This sets the (colour) camera to 16-million colours mode (24-bit). It is best
displayed using a desktop which has at least 64k (16-bit) available colours.
The conversion to 256-colours is too slow to give decent performance and in
this case is converted to a greyscale.


ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 14. Help for Snapshot ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ

Use this to take a snapshot using the current Exposure, Contrast and Brightness
settings, as well as size and number of greys/colours.


ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 15. Help for Picture Quality ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ

There are 3 modes which the camera will operate in with regard to the size of
the image, in pixels, returned and therefore the quality.

Γûá Full quality - 320 x 240

Γûá Half quality - 160 x 120

Γûá Quarter quality - 80 x 60


ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 16. Help for Test Pattern ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ

This displays a test pattern 320x240 pixels in size and comprises a set of
moving bars of 64-greys or blocks of red, green and blue for colour. Its useful
to check the palette and correct camera operation as the pattern is generated
by the camera hardware. The Contrast and Exposure settings have no effect but
the Brightness control does.


ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 17. Help for Continuous ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ

This starts and stops continuous capture. Its identical to taking individual
Snapshots with current camera settings, continuously.


ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 18. Help for Stop Continuous ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ

This stops continuous capture.


ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 19. Help for Dump Frame to File ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ

The current picture can be written to a file in OS/2 bitmap (BMP) or JPEG
format. The usual file dialog is displayed to allow the file to be saved.


ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 20. Help for Dump Frame to Clipboard ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ

Copies the current picture to the clipboard as a bitmap.


ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 21. Help for Set Brightness ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ

This is a fairly sensitive camera control which adjusts image brightness.

The defaults for B&W seem to vary with older cameras having values in the
region of 180 and newer ones around 90.


ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 22. Help for Keys and Clicks ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ

 The following keys can be used as shortcuts.

 F1        Get help about this program

 F2        Show the About box

 F3        Exit this program

 1         Set 16-greys

 6         Set 64-greys or 16M colours

 s         Take a Snapshot

 spacebar  Take a Snapshot

 t         Display the Test Pattern

 o         Start/Stop continuous capture

 d         Set Default camera settings

 f         Save current image to a file

 c         Copy current image to the clipboard

 Ctrl-a    Toggle Exposure Auto-calibration

 Ctrl-b    Toggle Calibrate brightness

 Ctrl-f    Toggle low-light filter

 Ctrl-g    Toggle spatial filter

 Ctrl-o    Toggle float-on-top

 Ctrl-p    Toggle Keep Aspect Ratio

 Ctrl-q    Print the current picture

 Ctrl-s    Toggle Stretch to window

 Ctrl-n    Set minimum frame-rate

 Ctrl-r    Set reduced frame-rate

 Ctrl-l    Switch palette

 Ctrl-m    Set maximum frame-rate

 Ctrl-z    Shrink/Expand window

 Ctrl-1    Picture quality - Full

 Ctrl-2    Picture quality - Half

 Ctrl-3    Picture quality - Quarter

 Alt-f     Spatial Filter dialog

 Alt-g     Gamma Adjust dialog

 Alt-p     Printer Setup dialog

 Alt-s     Settings dialog

 Alt-t     Snapshot scheduler

 Mouse clicks on picture window.

 Left      Image sizing

 Right     Drag bitmap image

 Left double-click Reset image size to maximum

 Mouse clicks elsewhere.

 Right     Context menu


ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 23. Help with Printing ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ

The current picture can be printed in three ways, by dragging it to your
printer, from the menu or from the keyboard using Ctrl-q.

From the menu or keystroke the picture is sent to the default printer.

Setting up the default printer and various printer job properties is available
from the Printer Setup... option.


ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 24. Help with Desktop Lockup ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ

This simply allows the current image shown by the viewer to be kept on the
desktop when the lockup kicks in. Of course this is only available when QV2 is
running.

A couple of tips. First the image size and state is honoured by the lockup.
This means that the size of the image and whether its static or running
continuously, is retained. This opens up the possibilities because a tiled
series of images will vary according to size and appear as a sort of animation
if its running continuously.

Currently there is but one which allows interaction while its running and
that's the Zoom Fullscreen where PageUp and PageDown change the image size.


ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 25. Help with Settings ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ

The Settings notebook allows you to choose which settings are saved to the
INI-file and the current state of some of those settings.

The first page (Save) turns these on or off and the second page (Settings)
changes the current state. The check boxes on the Settings page are the same as
those on the context menu and the Picture pull-down menu.

The third page (Lockup) has a list of lockup types to choose from. The fourth
page (Text) controls how text is written on a saved picture. And finally there
are some Advanced settings.

     Save
     Settings
     Lockup
     Text
     Advanced


ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 26. About QuickCam Viewer ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ

This displays a panel with the application copyright, version and name.

Also shown are Device-Driver and QuickCam ROM versions.

Software updates and up to date tips are available from:

http://www.cix.co.uk/~elad/qv2.htm

http://www.2d3d.com/qv2.htm


ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 27. Advanced Settings ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ

Note that these settings should only be used with a full understanding of the
consequences. Incorrect usage can degrade image quality and performance of the
Quickcam Viewer.

Calibrate brightness is a toggle (Ctrl-b) which allows or prevents the camera
brightness control from being changed during Auto-exposure. Brightness is only
adjusted during Auto-exposure so this has no effect if it is off. Owing to the
way the auto-exposure is performed, specifically on the B&W camera, brightness
is adjusted with exposure and must be changed to get a good image. However,
under some lighting conditions (eg. flourescent) or where the optimum setting
is on the edge of two values, the auto-exposure calibration may cause this to
oscillate. For the colour camera, this is a 'white level' which is adjusted up
with increased exposure times where the image would otherwise become grainy.

Technical note: on the B&W camera this control is a DC offset adjustment, of
the CCD video signal, which varies slightly with changing exposure.

Camera auto brightness is the value the hardware calculates as the optimum DC
offset. This is shown for information and for B&W cameras only, it has no
meaning for colour cameras.

Average intensity adjustment allows the mean point, at which the auto-exposure
will settle, to be changed. Auto exposure needs an average intensity to home in
on, this control allows that to be changed. The effect is that the image can be
made darker or brighter.

Palette allows toggling between a Gamma corrected and a Linear palette. This
feature is available for B&W cameras only.

Set Defaults has been moved here from the front panel to discourage frequent
use. Use with care, see Help for Set Defaults for more details.


ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 28. Camera Controls ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ

This is a brief outline of the effects you should expect when adjusting the
sliders representing camera controls.

Brightness:

Adjusts the picture brightness.

Exposure:

Adjusts the Exposure time in much the same way as a familiar camera does.
Varies from about 1/1000th of a second to 1 second.

Contrast:

Adjust the light to dark contrast of the picture.

Black Level: (colour only)

Adjust the picture's black level. Might need adjusting if the picture becomes
yellow.

Hue: (colour only)

Adjusts the blue level. If the picture is too Red, increase the value. If its
too blue, decrease this value.

Saturation: (colour only)

Adjusts the anti-blooming level. This appears on the picture as vertical
streaks around areas of bright light.


ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 29. Camera Settings ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ

Camera settings encompasses the picture size and number of greys, the current
frame-rate and the state of the auto-exposure toggle.


ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 30. Colour controls ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ

Shows a dialog with Hue, Saturation and Black level sliders.

Note that the three sliders normally used for Brightness, Exposure and Contrast
also double up as Hue, Saturation and Black level. Click on the icons to the
right of the sliders to toggle between them.

Moving the mouse pointer over the icon will show its current state and what its
alter ego is.


ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 31. Device Driver ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ

The device-driver takes the following command-line parameters:

/b  Use bi-directional parallel-port mode

/u  Use uni-directional parallel-port mode

Note that omitting one of the above means the driver will auto-detect the
parallel-port mode.

/p:378  Force the driver to use this parallel port eg. 378h (in hex only). This
disables auto-detection and is useful if it affects a printer or where the
camera is always on the same port.

/v  Verbose mode, display banner on driver loading.


ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 32. Float on top ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ

Toggles whether the viewer will attempt to stay at the top of the Z-order on
your desktop.


ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 33. How to Register ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ

You can register this copy by sending e-mail to either:

[e-mail]  (in the USA) or

[e-mail]  (UK, Europe and the rest)

Registration will allow unlimited use of the program and will enable all
features. Any updates until the next major version release will be free too.
The nagging About box won't show up each time you start it up either.

Please use the order form in the file order.txt, also viewable from the Help
menu.


ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 34. Hints for getting a good picture ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ

A few hints for getting the best picture for the ambient lighting conditions,
manually. This should be used if, for some reason, the Auto-Exposure
calibration isn't up to it.

Γûá Click on the Set Defaults button, this will initialise the camera and set
some default values for Brightness, Exposure and Contrast. The viewer will then
either run Continuously or Pause, depending on the Startup option setting.

Γûá Turn off Auto-exposure (Ctrl-A) which disables Exposure and Brightness
calibration.

Γûá Make sure the viewer is running continuously and adjust the Brightness slider
(top) until an image appears and then simply fine-tune the Exposure and
Brightness until the best picture appears.

Γûá The Advanced page of the Settings should show a Brightness value, for B&W
only, which is that calculated by the hardware. This is a good starting point
but it is recommended that it be increased by a value of about 5-10 to get a
good picture.

Γûá See Camera Controls for more information on what effect each of the
Brightness, Exposure, Contrast (and Hue, Saturation, Black) sliders have.

Γûá Image Settings can be saved in the Viewers INI-file by using the Save button
in the Settings notebook, or on exit from the Viewer by checking the
appropriate Settings box, this is the default. The Settings can also be
reloaded using the Load button in the Settings notebook, or by using /L as a
command-line parameter which loads them on startup, this is the default.


ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 35. Known problems/Disclaimer ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ

Problems or comments on this application are gladly accepted by:

[e-mail]

Software updates and up to date hints and tips are available from:

http://www.cix.co.uk/~elad/qv2.htm

http://www.2d3d.com/qv2.htm


ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 36. License Agreement ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ

End User License Agreement

This QuickCam Viewer Software, QV2, is owned by Spheredata Ltd. and distributed
by Spheredata Ltd in Europe and by 2d3D Inc. elsewhere. Spheredata Ltd grants
to the user a nonexclusive license to use this Software solely for its internal
business purposes and on a single QuickCAM (tm) camera. The user may not
commercially distribute, sublicense, resell, or otherwise transfer for any
consideration, or reproduce for any such purposes, the QV2 software or any
modification or derivation thereof, either alone or in conjunction with any
other product or program. Further, the user may not modify the QV2 Software,
other than for its own internal business use.

THIS QV2 SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED TO THE USER "AS IS". SPHEREDATA LTD AND 2d3D INC.
MAKE NO WARRANTIES, EITHER EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, WITH RESPECT TO THIS QV2
SOFTWARE AND/OR ASSOCIATED MATERIALS PROVIDED TO THE USER, INCLUDING BUT NOT
LIMITED TO ANY WARRANTY OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE OR
AGAINST INFRINGEMENT. SPHEREDATA LTD DOES NOT WARRANT THAT THE FUNCTIONS
CONTAINED IN THE SOFTWARE WILL MEET YOUR REQUIREMENTS, OR THAT THE OPERATION OF
THE SOFTWARE WILL BE UNINTERRUPTED OR ERROR-FREE, OR THAT DEFECTS IN THE
SOFTWARE WILL BE CORRECTED. FURTHERMORE, SPHEREDATA LTD. DOES NOT WARRANT OR
MAKE ANY REPRESENTATIONS REGARDING THE USE OR THE RESULTS OF THE USE OF THE
SOFTWARE OR ANY DOCUMENTATION PROVIDED HEREWITH IN TERMS OF THEIR CORRECTNESS,
ACCURACY, RELIABILITY, OR OTHERWISE. NO ORAL OR WRITTEN INFORMATION OR ADVICE
GIVEN BY SPHEREDATA LTD. OR 2D3D INC. SHALL CREATE A WARRANTY OR IN ANY WAY
INCREASE THE SCOPE OF THIS WARRANTY. LIMITATION OF LIABILITY -- SPHEREDATA LTD.
AND 2D3D INC. ARE NOT LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIMS OR DAMAGES WHATSOEVER, INCLUDING
PROPERTY DAMAGE, PERSONAL INJURY, INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY INFRINGEMENT, LOSS OF
PROFITS, OR INTERRUPTION OF BUSINESS, OR FOR ANY SPECIAL, CONSEQUENTIAL OR
INCIDENTAL DAMAGES, HOWEVER CAUSED, WHETHER ARISING OUT OF BREACH OF WARRANTY,
CONTRACT, TORT (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE), STRICT LIABILITY, OR OTHERWISE.

QUICKCAM IS A REGISTERED TRADEMARK OF CONNECTIX. OS/2 AND WARP ARE REGISTERED
TRADEMARKS OF IBM CORPORATION. ALL OTHER TRADEMARKS AND SERVICE MARKS ARE THE
PROPERTY OF THEIR RESPECTIVE OWNERS.


ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 37. Load Settings ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ

The Load button allows the current settings to be loaded from the INI-file.


ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 38. Lockup Settings ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ

Lockup settings are pretty straightforward. Pick the type of lockup you'd like
to use from the list by highlighting it. To test or use, open the desktop
context menu (RMB on desktop) and choose Lockup now.

To disable the Desktop Lockup facility, uncheck the Allow lockup box. Now why
would anyone want to do that!


ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 39. Low-light Filter ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ

The low-light filter attempts to remove the specks which appear on an image
when the lighting level is low, some call it a despeckle filter. The specks are
as a result of elements of the CCD leaking current when the exposure times are
long. Electrical noise contributes as well, but is minimal by comparison. The
effect manifests itself as bright or white pixels on the B&W camera and bright
red, green or blue pixels on the Colour camera, usually scattered randomly
around the image. Someone, kindly I think, described it as looking like a star
field. Basically it gets in the way, hopefully the filter will reduce the
interference and enhance (or should that be restore) the image. Its most
effective on Colour cameras which I've found are more susceptible. The effect
on B&W is much less noticeable and hardly warrants any attention, but its there
to use as appropriate.


ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 40. Parallel ports ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ

Parallel ports can be configured in too many ways due to varied
implementations. There are really only two important modes of operation, they
are uni-directional and bi-directional modes.

Most PC BIOS setup facilities allow the port mode to be changed. The original
uni-directional mode is often labelled AT-mode. The most commonly used
bi-directional mode is EPP.

For the purposes of this application it is recommended that the port be set to
AT or EPP mode. EPP is preferred as its bi-directional and will give at least
double the throughput compared to uni-directional mode.

Both these are know to work with QV2. Others known to cause problems are PS/2
mode and ECP mode.


ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 41. Picture Settings ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ

Picture settings include whether the picture is stretched to fit the window and
whether to keep the aspect ratio when stretching.

The Compress saved picture toggle also allows compressing the picture when its
saved to a BMP file. Without compression the file is saved as a basic BMP file
which is probably the most portable. With compression the picture data is
compressed using RLE8 for greyscale and RLE24 for colour. This generally
results in a much smaller file.


ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 42. Save ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ

This page allows selective saving of settings. Where the checkbox is selected
the settings will be saved, where it is not selected the settings are not
saved.

     Camera settings
     Picture settings
     Window position
     Scheduler settings
     Save on exit

 The two buttons allow the settings to be loaded and saved immediately.

     Load Settings
     Save Settings


ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 43. SaveAs ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ

Choose the file format to use when saving a picture.

There are two choices, OS/2 Bitmap (BMP) or JPEG.

BMP saves all image data and will use RLE8 compression for greyscale and RLE24
for colour.

JPEG saves files using lossy compression, which means some information is lost.
But the saved files are generally about 20x smaller than BMP depending on the
quality. A higher quality results in a bigger file.


ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 44. Save on exit ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ

Saves settings when the program terminates. This ensures that the most recent
settings are saved to the INI-file.

Remember that starting QV2 with the /L command-line parameter will load
settings on startup. The installation program will set this by default.

This combined with Save on exit means not having to worry about it!


ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 45. Save Settings ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ

The Save button allows the current settings to be saved to the INI-file.


ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 46. Scheduler Settings ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ

All scheduler settings are saved if this box is checked. For more details see
Snapshot Scheduler.


ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 47. Settings ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ

The settings on this page are the same as those on the context menu and the
Picture pull-down menu.

     Camera Settings
     Startup Settings
     Picture Settings
     SaveAs


ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 48. Shrink and Expand ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ

Toggles the size of the application window from its normal expanded full size
to that of the picture window.


ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 49. Snapshot Scheduler ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ

The Snapshot Scheduler provides a means of taking snapshots and saving them to
a bitmap file.

The trigger for taking a snapshot is either time or motion. Time-based means
taking snapshots at pre-defined intervals and between given times of day.
Motion-based snapshots are taken when motion is detected in the frame.

The snapshots saved to file(s) are the same as that seen on the viewer at the
time. For time-based triggering, if the viewer is not in continuous mode, a
snapshot will be taken using the current settings. Motion-based triggering
requires the viewer to be in continuous mode.

Note that if enabled, auto-exposure will still work while taking single
snapshots. But it may take longer to catch up with changing lighting
conditions. See Stutter for an alternative and more on this. The scheduler will
also continue to operate while the viewer is minimised.

Snapshots will be taken between the Start and Stop times, in hours, minutes and
seconds, and set using the spin buttons. The Frequency at which they are taken
is entered in the same way. For motion triggering this changes to Sensitivity
to allow control over the amount of movement before triggering.

The scheduler has two modes of operation:

Γûá Once means the scheduler will stop running at the Stop time, ie. snapshots
will be taken between the Start and Stop times and then the scheduler will
stop.

Γûá NonStop forces the scheduler to run continuously, it will never stop only
taking snapshots between the Start and Stop times.

There are two check boxes, one only visible when the trigger is for motion:

Γûá Stutter ensures the exposure is good before taking a scheduled snapshot. This
is useful if the Frequency is low and the light may have changed significantly
since the last scheduled snapshot was taken. It forces a number of preview
snapshots to be taken before one is saved to a file. Exposure is not guaranteed
to be perfect but it should be close.

Γûá Sound is enabled only for motion triggered snapshots and simply beeps when
motion is detected and a snapshot is saved.

The directory and filename can be set using the Change push button.

There are three modes of operation:

Timestamp: The scheduler will save each snapshot in unique files named
QChhmmss.BMP in the selected directory, where hhmmss is the current time. Note
that this can use up a lot of disk space as a unique file is written each time.

Same name: This will always save consecutive snapshots to the same specified
file. The file will be overwritten with a new one each time. This is useful for
keeping an updated file for use on a Web page, for example.

Cycle: This will save to a sequence of files. Here the filename is the key, it
must contain a sequence of one or more zeros. The zeros will be substitued with
sequential numbers and will cycle around. It's simpler to explain using an
example. Using the filename QUICK00.BMP will result in files being written
named QUICK00.BMP through to QUICK99.BMP, a total of 100 files. A filename of
QUICKCA0.BMP will generate a sequence of 10 files with the zero cycling from 0
through to 9.

Note that time, filename and path values may be changed on-the-fly. As long as
the scheduler is running it will pick up changes to Start, Stop and Frequency
times immediately. The Filename and Directory entries, however, are only
updated by clicking on Continue or by using the Change button and selecting OK
on the file dialog.


ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 50. Spatial Filter ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ

There are many applications of this type of filter, a few of which are
predefined. It may be worth noting that chapters of textbooks are dedicated to
this subject, so there are no plans to go into much detail here.

The Spatial Filter implemented is restricted to 3x3 masks. The simplest
explanation of its operation is that the Mask consists of 9 weighting values.
The Mask is passed over the entire image and the value of the pixel under the
centre element is adjusted in intensity according to the normalised sum of the
weights. This means that the pixel intensities for each element are weighted by
the value shown and summed. The result is normalised and then used to adjust
the intensity of the centre pixel.

Note that the filter computation requires a lot of floating point processing
time and can have a big impact on the frame-rate. So its suggested that it only
be used while taking single snapshots.

The default filter provides a High Boost effect which sharpens up the image.
The High Boost filter is actually a variation on a High Pass filter, which is
also predefined. There is an Amplification Factor which varies the amount of
boost. All values are floating point and for this reason all spin-buttons are
shown multiplied by a factor of 100. So, the actual value used is the value
shown divided by 100.

Futher to these two filters there is a Low Pass filter which has limited but
interesting use.

Finally there is the Custom setting which allows all of the mask entries to be
set.


ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 51. Startup Settings ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ

The Startup paused check box changes the way QV2 behaves on startup. When this
is checked QV2 will startup and take a few snapshots to get the exposure right.
When  not checked it will start up and run continuously.


ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 52. Text Settings ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ

This page configures the text that is written onto a picture. Note that the
text can be turned on and off from the pull-down or context menus.

Camera settings are the current values shown on the sliders, eg. Brightness and
Contrast but not Exposure, see below.

Exposure the current value for Exposure.

Date and time puts the current date and time on the picture.

Show on Viewer turns text on the viewer display on and off.

Text allows the text entered in the box below it to be written on the picture.

Display as - Actual value puts the camera control value in its actual range of
0-255 on the picture whereas Percentage  displays them as percentages or in the
case of Exposure, in seconds.

Justify selects how the text is horizontally justified at the picture left,
right or centred.

Align chooses whether the text is written from the top of the picture
downwards, or from the bottom up.

Text font allows the font to be selected. Note that any text in the Custom text
box is displayed using the currently selected font.


ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 53. Window Position ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ

Saves the Window position. If left unchecked QV2 will always start centred on
the screen.