How To...

How to add a new webcam
To add a new cam, do one of the following:

1. Copy the URL of the cam from another program and paste it into Camembert by using the Paste () command.

Important: You must paste the exact URL of the image — this usually ends with .jpg although sometimes it will end with .jpeg. In some cases, where the image is dynamically generated, it may end with a query such as .cgi?cam=17&size=320.

or

2. Choose the New () command to add a new cam to the list. The properties panel will appear so that you can configure the new cam.

Fig. 5: A new cam item in the control centre.

Next, it's a good idea to try out the new cam. Double-click the new cam item and a cam window should open. It will have a border which you can turn off if you wish. Wait for the image to download, and then right-click on it and choose Size To Image. This will size the window to match the size of the image. From now on, the window will remember its size. Finally, position the window on your desktop by dragging the title bar or by pressing the arrow keys.

How to import webcams from a file or webpage
If you have a text file or HTML file (a web page) containing URLs, you can drag and drop it onto the control centre window, or you can open it with the Import command (). Camembert will scan the file and extract any URLs it finds that are suitable for viewing as cams. Any URLs that end with supported file extensions will be added to the cam list. You can then modify their properties as usual. Camembert tries to give the new cams sensible names, but you can change the names in the properties panel.

Important: Camembert only recognises URLs that begin with http:.

How to organise the cam windows on the desktop
By default, cam windows open with a border. You can drag a window to any position on your desktop and it will stay there and open there the next time the program is run. Even if you have turned the border off, you can still move the window by pressing the arrow keys. If you hold down the ctrl key and press the arrow keys, the window will move in larger steps, otherwise it will move by a single pixel. This allows you to finely adjust the positions of the windows. Remember to click the window first, to ensure it has the focus.

How to delete broken cams
The Internet is in a constant state of flux; a cam that works one day may be deleted tomorrow. Broken cams are ones that continually fail to download. If a download fails, you will see an error code in the cam window's title bar (or on the image if the border is hidden), and a red cross () against the cam's list entry. If you find that a lot of cams keep failing and you want to get rid of them, use the Select Broken Cams command () to select them, and then use the delete command () to delete them from the list.

How to minimize the program to the system tray
If you minimize the control centre, it will disappear from the screen, and a small icon will appear in the system tray. You can double-click the icon to get the control centre back on-screen, or you can right-click on it to get a pop-up menu with useful commands.

Fig. 4: Camembert in the system tray

How to remove the border from a cam window
You can toggle a cam window's border on and off by right-clicking on it and choosing Border from the pop-up menu.

How to make a movie from a sequence of cam images
If you have a program that can make movies from a set of JPEG images, you can make a movie by using images from one of your image history folders. An example of a program that can do this is Pink Mouse's Image Organiser, also by Pink Mouse Productions. To open the image folder, right-click on a cam window and choose Explore.

How to update a cam window's display
Right-click on the cam window and choose Refresh, or simply press F5.

How to quickly close all the cam windows
Go to the View menu and choose Close All.

Read useful information about web cams and other notices
Go to the Help menu and choose On The Web. You should see a list of subjects to choose from. When you choose one, your web browser should open and show you information about the subject you selected. Some of these will be third-party web sites offering web cams that you may want to consider using with Camembert (but you should read the site's terms and conditions first). Others will be notices posted on the Pink Mouse Productions web site. Click here for more information.

How to keep the image history trimmed to a fixed number of files
First, select a cam in the list or right-click on a cam window. Choose the properties command () to open the properties panel, and click the History tab. Check the Keep box to tell the program that you only want to keep a fixed number of image files, and specify the number in the files box.




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