How To… get the most from your iSight
- Article 55 of 89
- MacFormat, September 2007
It might seem like your iSight webcam is just for videoconferencing, but there’s a whole lot more you can do with it
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Apple also includes with new Macs an application specifically for taking pictures with the iSight. Photo Booth works just like its name suggests: click the button, say “cheese”, wait, and your Mac will take a picture of you. It also comes with a set of effects that you can apply to the picture. You’ll end up with a filmstrip of images to play with – and throw out if you decide they’re as bad as a passport shot.
Then there’s the free DotMatrix (b-l-a-c-k-o-p.com/DotMatrix.html), which lets you use up to three iSights at once to create instant RetroBooth photographs.
For recording movies rather than just still pictures, there’s iMovie HD and QuickTime Pro, both of which can record directly from the iSight, so you can incorporate action from your surroundings into your latest movie project – perfect, say, for capturing a holiday video podcast for your blog if you have your MacBook with you. And if you’re a committed video blogger, there’s Videocue and Videocue Pro (£24.99/£54.99, http://www.varasoftware.com/products/videocue/), which combine the iSight video feed with an autocue, so you know what you should be saying while it records you. It has an editor for mixing in other video and when you’re done, can then upload the finished vodcast to your blog.
WebCamTweaker ($15.95 with free upgrades for life, www.tweakersoft.com) lets you add effects while you record your iSight movie. Not only does it change the picture with familiar tweaks like glass and pinch, it can add animations to the movie or create a timelapse movie instead. The movies are compatible with the iPod so you can add them directly to iTunes and sync them. You can also export any pictures you take to iPhoto or use them in iChat.
But for true movie-making prowess, you need to turn to Boinx Software, makers of iVeZeen ($14.95, http://www.ivezeen.com/) and iStopMotion ($39.95, http://www.istopmotion.com/). iVeZeen practically turns the iSight into a camcorder: it lets you record iSight movies in a variety of formats, including camcorder DV, so you can easily incorporate the iSight’s output into other videos; it has all those fine-tuning controls for the picture you’d expect; it can be voice- or motion-activated so it’ll only record if there’s something happening; and it lets you turn off the iSight’s auto-focus for that ‘Bourne Ultimatum’ look.
iStopMotion is something else altogether. Fancied recreating ‘Clash of the Titans’ in your front room? Used by filmmakers around the world, iStopMotion is a time-lapse photography tool that’s affordable and versatile. It works with still cameras as well as the iSight and has professional-grade animation tools, such as onion skinning, uncompressed video recording, and a user interface based around frames, just like iMovie.
A walk on the wild side
By now, you might think the limits of the iSight have been explored. You’d be wrong. There are applications that work at a different level altogether.
Worried that your Mac might be stolen? iAlertU (www.slappingturtle.com) will sound an alarm if your iSight detects movement and can email a picture of the thief to your favourite police officer’s email account.
Evocam ($25, http://www.evological.com) is more fully featured webcam software that also provides motion detection, movie recording, built-in web serving, e-mail notification, and a variety of other options. As well as being able to publish video output from your iSight directly to a web site (just like that very first webcam), Evocam’s motion and audio sensitivity allows it to email you or take other actions when the iSight detects movement in the room.
Or if that all sounds scary, you could always use it to keep an eye on the kids when you’re on the other Macs. If you can that is, since the kids might already be using the iSight to play some of the games in ToySight ($24.95, http://www.freeverse.com/games/game/?id=45). This collection includes 15 games that use the iSight to detect your movements and then uses that to control the game. If you have friends with iSight-equipped MacBooks, you can invite them round for networked dog-fights.
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