Customizing Your Webcam With Items

This section describes how to customize your webcam with clocks, text captions, picture badges and effect items. You can also create motion sensor items, which cause EvoCam to refresh the image when in motion detection refresh mode. Any items you create are automatically saved, and restored the next time you run EvoCam.

For more information on the various types of items you can create, click one of the links below:

Clock Items
Caption Items
Badge Items
Sensor Items
Effect Items
Video Items

For general information about working with items, read the following sections:

About the Canvas

The canvas represents your webcam image. You place items, such as a video item with the image from your camera, on the canvas. When creating a new webcam window, EvoCam automatically creates a video item, resizes it to exactly fit the canvas, and adds it to the canvas. A single canvas can contain multiple video items, allowing you to put two camera views into one webcam image, for example.

¥ To resize the canvas, choose 'Canvas Size' from the 'Options' menu, and choose a size from the menu. To specify a custom size, choose 'Custom Size' and enter the desired size. When resizing the canvas, EvoCam attempts to keep any existing items in the same relative positions within the canvas. Larger images require more memory, so you may need to increase EvoCam's memory allocation in order to use some sizes. To increase the amount of memory available to EvoCam, select the EvoCam application in the Finder, choose 'Get Info' from the 'File' menu, then increase the 'Preferred Size' value in the 'Memory Requirements' section.

• To resize the canvas to half its current size, choose 'Canvas Size' from the 'Options' menu, and choose 'Half Size' from the submenu. This is useful when you want to create a thumbnail image.

• To resize the canvas to double its current size, choose 'Canvas Size' from the 'Options' menu, and choose 'Double Size' from the submenu.

• To double only the width of the canvas, choose 'Canvas Size' from the 'Options' menu, and choose 'Double Width Only' from the submenu. Items are not moved when doubling the width of the canvas. This is useful when you want to make room for a second camera view to the canvas, alongside the current camera view.

To double only the height of the canvas, choose 'Canvas Size' from the 'Options' menu, and choose 'Double Height Only' from the submenu. Items are not moved when doubling the height of the canvas. This is useful when you want to make room for a second camera view to the canvas, below the current camera view.

• To change the color of the canvas, choose 'Canvas Color' from the 'Options' menu, and specify the new color.


Item Layers

Items are organized in layers, with each type of item having its own layer. Clocks float above captions, captions float above badges, and badges float above effects. All items float above the video from your camera. Layers can be made visible or invisible, and can also be locked to prevent their items from being moved or chang
ed in any way.

¥ To reorder items within their own layer, click on items to bring them to the front. You can also tab between items using the Tab key and then use the 'Bring to Front' and 'Send to Back' commands in the 'Items' menu.

¥ To make a layer visible or invisible, use the 'Hide' and 'Show' commands in the 'Layers' menu.

¥ To lock or unlock a layer, use the 'Lock' and 'Unlock' commands in the 'Layers' menu.


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.

¥ To deselect the selected item, use the 'Select None' command in the 'Edit' menu or click anywhere in the canvas that is not occupied by another item.

¥ To select the next item, press the Tab key.

¥ To select the previous item, hold down the Shift key and press the Tab key.


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 in one axis only, hold down the Shift key while dragging the item.

¥ To move an item without bringing the item to the front of its layer and selecting the item, hold down the Command key, then click and drag the item.

¥ To move the selected item in one pixel steps, use the 'Nudge Left', 'Nudge Right', 'Nudge Up', and 'Nudge Down' commands in the 'Items' menu. You can also use the cursor arrow keys to nudge items.

¥ To move the selected item in 10 pixel steps, hold down the Shift key while using the cursor arrow keys.

¥ To easily place items next to each other or on the edges of the video image, use the 'Snap Dragged Items' command in the 'Options' menu. When this option is enabled, items will automatically 'snap' together if placed within 4 pixels of each other.


Duplicating Items

¥ To duplicate an item, click it once to select it, then use the 'Duplicate Item' command in the 'Edit' menu. You can also hold down the Option key while clicking on an item to drag off a copy of the item. Alternatively, you can use the 'Cut Item', 'Copy Item' and 'Paste Item' commands in the 'Edit' menu to use the clipboard to duplicate items. This technique also works to copy items from one webcam window to another.

¥ To duplicate an item into another webcam window, drag the item to the desired webcam window. When dragging items between windows, the item position within the canvas is maintained if possible, allowing you to quickly 'clone' a webcam window.
Alternatively, you can use the 'Edit' menu to copy/paste items between webcam windows. If the item's layer is locked or is hidden in the destination window, it is automatically unlocked and made visible so you can continue to edit the item.

Deleting Items

¥ To delete an item, click it once to select it, then use the 'Delete Item' command in the 'Edit' menu or press the 'Delete' key. Alternatively, you can drag items to the Trash to delete them.

¥ To delete all items, use the 'Delete All Items' command in the 'Edit' menu. This operation must be confirmed as it cannot be undone. Video items and items in locked layers are not deleted.