How To… get the most from your iSight

• Article 55 of 89
• MacFormat, September 2007

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Webcams are nothing new: they’ve been around since 1991 when some Cambridge University scientists made one so they could tell without moving if their faraway coffee pot still had coffee in it. So it’s no surprise that when Steve Jobs announced Apple’s own webcam, the iSight, back in 2003, no one was that excited.

But then Apple started building iSights into Macs, rather than making them optional add-ons, and things started to change. Soon, almost everyone with a new Mac had an iSight; Then Apple updated some of its software, such as iChat, to take advantage of the iSight; and other developers started to follow Apple’s suit by updating and developing their own applications to use the now-ubiquitous webcam.

Now there’s a whole range of iSight applications and simply letting someone else see you over the Internet is the least of their capabilities.

iChat therefore I am
iChat AV, as it’s now called, is the obvious first use for the iSight. It lets you communicate with any other iChat user or someone with AOL Instant Messenger (AIM) over the web, either by typing instant messages, talking or using webcams. It’s not alone either: there are other instant messaging applications that can use the iSight for video conferencing, including Yahoo Messenger, ohphoneX, AIM, ProteusX, iSpQ, Skype, Fire, and Adium.

iChat AV does have one other advantage compared with other applications in that it comes with OS X. That means developers have been happily creating add-ons to customise your iChat experience.

For example, iChat is one of the few instant messaging systems that can have multiple users in the same conference, thanks to the miracle that is picture-in-picture. But it requires a fast Mac to do this. PowerBoost (http://www.ecamm.com/mac/powerboost/), an $8 application from prolific iSight add-on developer ecamm network, gets round this problem and allows slower Macs to have multi-party video conferences. Also from ecamm is Conference Recorder 2, which allows you record your iChat AV video conferences as QuickTime movies (there’s a similar piece of software from ecamm called Call Recorder that works with Skype), just in case you want to preserve them for posterity.

Those aren’t very fun though, and most iChat, iSight add-ons are fun. ChatFX ($20, http://www.scriptsoftware.com/chatfx/) lets you add special effects to your iSight video within iChat. There’s a big range to choose from too: bluescreen (which lets you show any movie, tv, video, or animation in the background of a video chat), twirl, comic book, alien and many more are included and you can also create effects as well.

Another of ecamm’s programs is iGlasses ($8, http://www.ecamm.com/mac/iglasses/), which allows you to tweak the iSight’s brightness, contrast and other settings. If you have an external iSight and feel like positioning it differently, you can use iGlasses to flip or rotate the image so it’s the right way up. If you’re planning on having some of your video conferences in the dark, you can really crank up the settings to give your iSight night vision! Or if you’ve been spending too much time at home with your Mac and your iSight and you’re feeling a bit pasty, you can get iGlasses to give you a tan (see box 1).

The one disadvantage to iChat is that it requires a user account – an AIM account, a Jabber account or a .Mac account, whichever you prefer (and if that’s not what any of your friends prefer, consider the lack of MSN, etc support the other big disadvantage). If you’re in a hurry for a chat and haven’t taken the time to set up an account – or you find you’re having problems getting everyone’s software to work together – all is not lost, however. A quick way to chat with your webcam equipped friends that you can try is iVideoChat (www.ivideochat.com), which works with any webcam, including the iSight, on just about any computing platform via a web browser.

More than chat
But as we mentioned, there’s more to the iSight now than just video conferencing. Looking for an icon for your Address Book image – or for iChat AV for that matter? You can use your iSight to take a picture directly within both programs. In iChat, simply go to the “Change my picture” menu item then click “Take video snapshot” to change your buddy icon. And in Address Book, pick “Choose Custom Image” to take a new picture of yourself.

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.

Or for a calmer time, there’s the iSight screensaver collection (http://majicjungle.com/screensavers.html), which uses the video from the iSight as part of a screensaver: you can even set yourself on fire with it.

The last and most leftfield usage for the iSight, though, is as a barcode scanner. EvoBarcode ($25, http://www.evological.com/evobarcode.html) simply processes any barcode that you run past it, no matter what their orientation. But Delicious Library ($40, http://www.delicious-monster.com/) lets you scan book, movie, music and video game barcodes, then downloads the cover and information from various web sources into your digital library. You can then search the library, sync it with your iPod, keep track of what you’ve loaned to friends and a whole load more.

The iSight’s come a long way since that first external FireWire version Steve gave to the world back in 2003. Now, it’s so versatile, there’s bound to be something you can use it for, even if you never realised it before.

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