WebCam-Control-Center Manual
Part 2: Dialogs

Main Dialog

GROUPS

settings - opens the settings dialog

AVI record
AVI filename - shows the filename of the AVI file which will be generated at recording
select filename - opens a file dialog to choose the filename for the AVI file
start AVI record - starts the recording
stop AVI record - stops the recording

picture capture
picture filename - shows the filename of the BMP picture file
select filename - opens a file dialog to choose the filename for the BMP picture
take a picture - takes a picture from the current preview window using the Picture Settings
view picture - opens a dialog which shows the last taken picture - Picture Viewer

preview video device
video run - shows the running video in the video window
video halt - stops the video at the current picture
show window - shows the video preview window - Preview Window
hide window - hides the video preview window - Preview Window
only preview - shows only the preview window in the middle of the screen with a black background
full screen - stretches the current preview window to full screen

adjust video device
frames/sec - selects the amount of frames per second which the video device should show in the preview window
video source - this dialog is supported from the device driver of the video device ( enabled if available ) - Device Driver Dialogs
video format - this dialog is supported from the device driver of the video device ( enabled if available ) - Device Driver Dialogs
video display - this dialog is supported from the device driver of the video device ( enabled if available ) - Device Driver Dialogs
video compression - this dialog is supported from the device driver of the video device ( enabled if available ) - Device Driver Dialogs

motion detector
adjust - opens a dialog to adjust all motion detector settings - Adjust Motion Detector
stop - stops the motion detector
start - starts the motion detector ( disables the activate file transfer option )
DIFFERENCE - shows the difference between the two tested pictures in %
TESTED - shows how often the motion detection tested for difference since start
DETECTED - shows how often motion has been detected

file transfer
activate file transfer - check this if you want to activate the selected modes from File Transfer FTP/EMAIL/PPM . If you want to use the 'file transfer' and the 'motion detector' both. Then start first the 'file transfer' and then the 'motion detector'.
adjust - opens a dialog to adjust all settings for file transfer File Transfer FTP/EMAIL/PPM

preview on top - select if the preview window should be topmost above all other windows

about - opens an info window
quit - quits the program

Settings

Startup

hide the mainwindow - select if the mainwindow should be hide at startup, you see only the icon in the taskbar
start the motion detectior - select if the motion detection should start at startup, the settings like action at detection and area selection must be done before.
start the selected file transfer mode - select if the previous selected file transfer mode ( FTP/Email/Perm.Pic.Mode) should start at startup, all needed settings must be done before
set the mainwindow at the last position - select if the mainwindow should appear at startup at the last position it had in the last session
start with preview video in fullscreen mode - select if the preview window should be fullscreen at startup
if no camera is connected to the PC, hide the dummy window - select if the dummy window should be hide. The dummy window appears if no real camera is connected to the PC.
show the program icon in the systray - select if the program icon should be showed in the Windows systray or not. You need to restart the program to activate this option.

Driver

active video device driver - displays the name of the current selected video device driver
found video device drivers - displays the names of all found video device drivers, LEFT CLICK on the driver name to activate the driver

Picture Settings

The program takes always BMP pictures as a default. This is because some webcams have not the possibility to use a RGB picture mode, so that the BMP picture is the basis for further operations and conversions.
convert taken BMP picture into GIF - select if the BMP picture should be converted into GIF
convert taken BMP picture into JPG - select if the BMP picture should be converted into JPG
% quality - determines the picture quality and file size of the JPG picture

The convert to GIF and convert to JPG options are useful if you would show your video picture as a GIF and/or JPG on your webpage! A GIF picture has max. 256 colors, so it's smaller than the BMP. If the BMP has more than 256 colors, the amount of colors will be decreased to 256. The JPG format supports a high compression factor, so you can greatly reduce the picture file size, while preserving nearly the same quality. If you reduce the quality factor you get smaller file sizes. All browsers supports GIF and JPG pictures.

remove the BMP picture - select if the BMP picture should be removed after conversion (saves disk space)

textoutput into picture
date - select if the date should appear in the picture at the selected position
time - select if the time should appear in the picture at the selected position in 12 or 24 h format
text - select if your user defined text should appear in the picture at the selected position
textcolor - select the text color
backgroundcolor - select the background color
background transparent - select if the background should be transparent

add a number to the filename ... - select this option to add a number to the generated picturefilename. The number is resetted to 1 at each program start. Every time you capture a picture from the main window by button press, the number is incremented. You get the pictures test001.jpg, test002.jpg....

preview - takes a picture and shows the picture using the settings you've selected

AVI Recording

record the AVI with audio - select if the AVI should be recorded with audio, if possible
record the AVI with x frames per sec - input the number of frames which should be generated within AVI recording. The real reached number of frames depends on the CPU power and video device.

add a number to the AVI filename ... - select this option to add a number to the generated AVI-filename. The number is resetted to 1 at each program start. Every time you record an AVI from the main window by button press, the number is incremented. You get the videos test001.avi, test002.avi....

additional settings for IP-Cams
x times duplicate each picture - select how often a recorded picture should be shown while watching the video
select the used AVI CODEC - select the used codec for generating the AVI for IP-Cams. The codec is saved in the WCCC.DAT file.

Remarks: ( only for IP-Cams )
In general you can't receive 15 or more picture per second from your netcam. Let us assume you could receive 15 pictures per second, you could select 15 for the fps setting and 1 for the duplicated setting. Then you have an AVI with 15 frames per second where each frame is a different picture. The AVI runs as fast as it was recorded. It runs in realtime. But if you can't receive so many pictures you have to select a duplicated value, that the AVI is not running very very fast. Let's assume that you receive every second a picture. 1 picture per second and you select 15 for the fps setting and 1 for the duplicated setting.Then you have an AVI with 15 frames per second where every picture is different. The AVI plays with 15 frames per second, so it shows in 1 second, what you have received within 15 seconds.! It's runs 15 times faster as realtime. So you have to select a duplicated value of 15 to show every frame for a longer time ( or you can say, every picture is shown several times). Play a bit around with these two values to find the best for your netcam and AVI.

IP-Cam

IP-Adressable Network Cameras - this listbox displays all IP-Cameras. "0:" left of the IP address means, that the IP-Cam is not active, the address is only saved to activate at a later moment. "1:" left of the IP address means the IP-Cam is active.
edit - press this button to edit the selected IP-Cam, or double click on the listbox entry to edit it ( the IP-Cam settings dialog opens )
insert - opens a dialog to edit the new IP-Cam ( the IP-Cam settings dialog opens )
remove - removes the selected IP-Cam

hold downloaded preview pictures in memory - downloads the preview pictures into the RAM. Use this selection if you have enough RAM available. This selection only works for JPG pictures.
save downloaded preview pictures on harddisk - downloads the preview pictures direct to the harddisk.

The advantage of loading into RAM is, that the harddisk could do other things or could be suspended. The disadvantage is, that some memory leaks could appear by the time. If you have not enough RAM or your download ( preview ) intervall is long, then you can select the download to the harddisk.
A changing of this selection becomes true after a new start of the program.!

"..." - opens a dialog to select the folder in which the pictures are saved, which are downloaded and showed within preview mode.

IP-Cam settings
IP-Cam address - the address of the IP-Cam with picturename added.! ( The picture could only be in BMP or JPG format. )
activate IP-Cam - check to activate the IP-Cam. If activated a preview window is shown and you can select run preview to receive picture from this IP-address.
use picture dimensions - the preview window has the size of the received picture
use usersize - the preview window has the size of the user input
interval for receiving ...- this is the intervall in sec in which pictures are received from the IP-address. This intervall determines the preview rate.

Remarks
No matter if the IP-Cam picture has the BMP- or JPG-format, the program works intern with BMP. So if you want to take a JPG picture, by button press, in motion detection mode etc., then you have to select the conversion to JPG.
If you have several preview windows hide and changed the focus to a different preview window, you can press CTRL+SHIFT to unhide all preview windows to give a former hide window the focus again.

Help

Direct links to the WebCam-Control-Center webpages, where you can find informations and the manual.

Picture Viewer

Shows the last taken picture. If you have selected the conversion into JPG, the JPG picture is shown.

Preview Window

Shows the current video in a preview window.
In the caption is the driver name and version shown.
Double click with the left mousebutton to hide or unhide the caption.
Double click with the right mousebutton to hide or unhide the Main Dialog.

Adjust Motion Detector

General Settings

select the relevant picture areas - opens the dialog for the selection of the picture areas which are tested for motion detection. - Select Relevant Areas

how to test the current picture
test against start picture - select if the current picture should always be compared against the picture made at the start of motion detection
test against previous picture - select if the current picture should be compared against the previous picture, so permanent changes are only reported once
test against last no detection picture - select if the current picture should be compared against the last picture which had no detection. This is important after a detection so that you don't immediately get a second detection reported. If you select previous picture, in most cases you will get 2 motion detections one after the other, because after a detection the previous picture includes the detection movement and the current picture does not.

test for motion
until the first detection - the motion detection only runs until the first detection is made; it runs using the setting for 'every x sec'
often as possible - the detection runs as often as your PC it make possible ( be careful with that mode. )
every x sec - the program tests for motion every x seconds ( input 3600 if you want one test per hour. )

x detections must occur to be sure ... - select to report a motion only if there are several detections before, to be sure that there is a real motion and no fluctuation in the picture quality
x % of the selected area must be ... - to detect a motion, x% of the selected area must be different
x COLOR-VALUE-DIFF to count ... - If the color value difference of two compared pixels is greater than x, the pixel is counted to be different. The amount of as different counted pixels determines if a motion is detected or not. Video cameras can determine changes in color that the human eye cannot detect, causing the program to think that motion has occured when it has not. Therefore, you should test with different color-value-diff settings to prevent false detections.

at start of the motion detector wait x sec - if you start the motion detection the program waits the selected seconds before it starts the first test for motion. In this time you can adjust your video device or leave the room, etc..
after detection of motion wait x sec - if a motion was detected the program waits x sec. before the testing resumes
reset the AVI and picturenumber at start - sets the AVI and PICnumber which are added to the filename to 1 at start of the motion detection. If you don't check, the current number is further counted and not set to 1 at start. So you can stop and restart the motion detection without overwriting the old files. The number is saved at program end.

Action at Detection

Select the actions ( functions ) which should be activated at detection of motion.

Picture Taking, AVI Recording, External Program Executing, Email Sending, Run FTP, Protocol Generation, Sound Playing

Time Interval

motion detection is active ( only if started from the main dialog )
always - motion detection is active 24 hours a day
only from - motion detection is only active within the selected time interval.
and from - a second time period is supported.

AVI Recording

select the filename - opens a file dialog to select the filename for the AVI video
add a number to the filename - a new AVI file is created every time motion is detected. The filenames for these AVI files are made by using the selected filename and adding the detection number 001...99999. ( Example: if the filename is MOVE_.AVI, this results in files named MOVE_001.AVI, MOVE_002.AVI, ... )
set the max number to - set the maximum file number to used for naming files. When this max number is reached, it restarts at 001 ( Example: MOVE_001.AVI to MOVE_020.AVI ). The existing files are overwritten.
AVI length x sec - the length of the AVI video in seconds

Picture Taking

select the filename - opens a file dialog to select the filename for the BMP picture
add a number to the filename - a new BMP file is created every time motion is detected. The filenames for these BMP files are made by using the selected filename and adding the detection number 001...99999. ( Example: if the filename is MOVE_.BMP, this results in files named MOVE_001.BMP, MOVE_002.BMP, ... )
set the max number to - set the maximum file number to used for naming files. When this max number is reached, it restarts at 001 ( Example: MOVE_001.BMP to MOVE_020.BMP ). The existing files are overwritten.

Protocol Generation

Select if a log file should be created at the start of motion detection. A previous file gets overwritten. It's a TEXT file which includes the detection number, date and time when the motion detection occurs:
Nr.:001 DATE: 13-04-1999 TIME: 17:48:47
Nr.:002 DATE: 13-04-1999 TIME: 17:48:53
select the filename - opens a file dialog to select the filename for the log ( protocol ) file.

Sound Playing

select the sound - opens a file dialog to select the filename for the WAV file
play in a loop - plays the sound permanently, if you don't check it, the sound plays only once until it ends

Email Sending

take a picture before sending - select if the program should take a picture from the current video source and attach it to your email before sending the email.
select the picture filename -select the filename of the taken picture. Conversion into JPG / GIF are made like you have selected.

record an AVI Video before sending - select if the program should record an AVI with the desired length before sending the email.
select the AVI-filename -select the filename of the AVI

choose files to attach - opens the Files To Attach dialog to choose which files should be attached to the email. You have also to choose the just taken picture and recorded AVI.

The connection settings are taken from the email dialog from the 'file transfer' section.

External Program Execution

select the program - opens a file dialog to select the filename for the program
execute once - the program will be executed only once
execute at each detection - the program will be executed each time that motion is detected

Run FTP

take a picture before sending - select if the program should take a picture from the current video source before upload.
select the picture filename -select the filename of the taken picture. Conversion into JPG / GIF are made like you have selected.

choose files to transfer - opens the Files To Transfer dialog to choose which files should be uploaded. You have also to choose the just taken picture.

The connection settings are taken from the FTP dialog from the 'file transfer' section.

Motion Detector Remarks
The picture START.BMP is generated when motion detection is started. In addition, the program generates the picture AKT.BMP each time that motion is tested. Then the two pictures are compared and different pixels are inspected for differences in color. ONLY the pixels in the selected areas are compared. If at least x % of the pixels are different, motion detection is determined to have occurred. The COLOR-VALUE-DIFF value is important in deciding if two pixels are different. Video cameras can determine changes in color that the human eye cannot detect, causing the program to think that motion has occured when it has not.To prevent false motion detections you should test using different values. The program calculates the difference for the red, green and blue values of the same pixels in both pictures. If the difference is greater than the COLOR-VALUE-DIFF value, the pixel is counted as different. The difference in color values can range from 0 to 255. To get the best result you must select an RGB picture format - Device Driver Dialogs . All RGB formats are converted into 24 bit.

Sending multiple images of motion detection is possible in emails, which will each have the latest version of the same filename attached to it. If you haven't checked take a picture before sending, the current picture that triggered the motion detection, AKT.BMP, would be converted into AKT.GIF/.JPG (if the conversion is selected Picture Settings). If you want to transfer the current image that triggered the motion detection, this is the file that you should specify in Files To Transfer, along with any other images you might want to include. While the file transfer is happening, the File Transfer Status dialog shows you the status of the transfer. If you wish you can hide the transfer status window.

Select Relevant Areas

You have to select areas of the video picture, or the whole picture, before you can start the motion detection.
The pixels in this selected areas are the only ones which are tested for differences.
These areas are saved in a mask, which results in the mask file MASK_widthxheight.BIN ( example: MASK_160x120.BIN ).
A mask file is saved for each selected video resolution .

select all - selects the whole video area
unselect all - unselects all
3 buttons for the brush size - changes the brush size for drawing the mask
color - changes the brush color to get a better contrast against the picture

Press the left mouse button down to draw dots in the picture.

Device Driver Dialogs

With the device driver dialogs you can adjust the main settings for your video device.
The device driver dialogs comes with your video device and have a different look depending on the manufacturer.
The device driver dialogs are ( only examples ):

video format

If you close the video format dialog the
preview window size dialog appears (no device driver dialog)

you can adjust your desired preview window resolution

video source

video compression

Depending on the video camera that you are using, there is sometimes a video display driver dialog available.

FTP / EMAIL / PPM

General

file transfer is active
always - all activated modes are active 24 hours a day
only from - the activated modes are only active within the selected time interval. ( Example: if 'only from' is set to 8:30 to 14:30 h and you have activated email every 60 sec, the webcam-control-center sends an email every 60 seconds, but only from 8:30 to 14:30; Perhaps your Internet Service Provider has cheaper access within this period. )
and from - a second time period is supported.

delete uploaded files - select to delete the files from your harddisk, which are transferred within FTP mode or attached to an email in email mode after they were sended.
give pictures different filenames - to prevent the showing of incomplete uploaded files on your webpage, the picture is uploaded with a dummy filename and after uploading renamed in the targetfilename.

activate functions
activate FTP - select to activate the FTP transfer ; You must also select the activate file transfer checkbox in the Main Dialog.
activate Email - select to activate the Email sending functions ; You must also select the activate file transfer checkbox in the Main Dialog.
activate Permanent Picture Mode - select to activate the PPM ; You must also select the activate file transfer checkbox in the Main Dialog.

Remarks
You can activate both FTP and Email together, but the Permanent Picture Mode only works alone.

DialUp

phone # - specify the phone number for your Internet access
username - username for your Internet access
password - password for your Internet access
x attempts to connect - quantity of attempts to connect
x sec pause between attempts - the number of seconds to pause between attempts to connect
dialup before FTP/email/ppm - select if you wish to dial up ( and later hang up ) and connect to the Internet before the program uploads the files ( don't check this if you are already or always connected to the Internet ). The dialup is used in FTP, Email and PPM.
hide transfer status window - hide the File Transfer Status window ; If you run the webcam-control-center in the background, it's better to hide this window. For testing purposes, show the window to see what happens.

FTP

connection to the FTP server
hostname - the FTP server name (address)
username - username for your FTP server access
password - password for your FTP server access
x hostport - the port of your host ( 21 is the default in most cases. )
use passiv mode - the passive mode should be activated, but in some cases the firewall needs to disable the passive mode
change to directory - if you want to change to a specific directory on your FTP server before uploading files, input the directory name (leave it blank to not change to a different directory. )

start the file transfer every x sec - select if an FTP transfer should start periodically every x seconds
take a picture... - select if the program should take a picture from the current video source before uploading.
select the picturefilename -select the filename of the taken picture. Conversion into JPG / GIF are made like you have selected.

transfer now - starts the file transfer when clicked
stop transfer - stops the file transfer
choose files to transfer - opens the Files To Transfer dialog to choose which files should be uploaded. You have also to choose the just taken picture.

Remarks
If you want to use the dialup function, you must have installed the Dialer Network component of your OS. This includes the file RASAPI32.DLL. The program tests the existence of RASAPI32.DLL at startup. The convert to GIF and convert to JPG options in Picture Settings are useful if you would prefer to show your video picture as a GIF and/or JPG on your webpage. All browsers support GIF and JPG pictures. If you have checked take a picture and would like to upload this file, insert the filename of the picture (i.e. MyImage.GIF or MyImage.JPG) into the files to transfer list Files To Transfer. You cannot specify wildcards in the file names, so you cannot upload multiple images with numbers appended (i.e. Move_001.JPG, Move_002.JPG...) to your FTP server. Files you have already uploaded will be overwritten by files of the same name the next time that you upload those files to your FTP server. While the file transfer is happening, the File Transfer Status dialog shows you the status of the transfer. If you wish you can hide the transfer status window.

Email Sending

sender name - Insert the name of the sender
sender email address - Insert your email address ( the address from which the email is being sent ) ; If you leave this blank, the email's sender will be unknown.
send the email to these addresses - Insert the address of the receiver and press the 'Insert' button. You can insert several different receivers. To remove an address, select the address and press the 'Remove' button. The email addresses are listed in the file EMAIL_TO.DAT. You can edit this file manually; in the first line is the number of addresses, and in the following lines are the addresses.
SMTP server - Insert your SMTP server ; You can find your SMTP server in your standard email application.
SMTP server needs an authentication - check if your smtp server needs an authentication to send an email
Username, Password - authentication datas for the SMTP server
email subject - the subject of the email ( the headline. )
email body - a text for the body of the message

send the email every x sec - select if an email should be sent periodically every x seconds
take a picture before sending - select if the program should take a picture from the current video source and attach it to your email before sending. Choose the picture file for transfer in Files To Attach.
select the picturefilename -select the filename of the taken picture. Conversion into JPG / GIF are made like you have selected.

record an AVI before sending - select if the program should record an AVI with the desired length and attach it to your email before sending. Choose the AVI file for transfer in Files To Attach.
select the AVI-filename -select the filename of the AVI

send email now - sends the email when clicked
choose files to attach - opens the Files To Attach dialog to choose which files should be attached to the email. You have also to choose the just taken picture and recorded AVI.

Perm.Pic.Mode

select the picturefilename - opens a file dialog to select the picture file name for the PPM

take a picture every x sec - select if the program should take a picture and convert it every x seconds
take a picture continuously - select if the program should takes pictures as often as possible

stop after x sec - select if the picture taking and sending should stop after x seconds. If you have selected 'dialup before FTP/email/ppm', the program hangs up after x seconds.
restart after x sec - select if the picture taking and sending should be restarted in x seconds after a stop

send JPG picture - select if the last taken picture ( converted into JPG - Picture Settings ) should immediately be sent after taking
send GIF picture - select if the last taken picture ( converted into GIF - Picture Settings ) should immediately be sent after taking

Remarks
In permanent picture mode the program connects once to your FTP server on the Internet ( if selected ) and then takes and uploads pictures permanently or in second intervals. If you like, the program can take a break for a while and then restart from the beginning. This way you always have the current video picture on your webpage to always see what is currently happening in front of the camera. A JAVA applet is included for showing these pictures "live" on your webpage.
Another possibility is to take permanent pictures (with breaks and/or intervals) and save them on your hard drive. Then install one of the several freeware webservers/FTP servers and you will have a constant surveillance on your LAN or from the Internet.

File Transfer Status

Shows the current action while Dialup, FTP transfer or Email sending.

Files To Transfer

insert - inserts a file or several files into the file list
delete - deletes the selected files from the file list
delete all - erases the file list

add all files from: - select a directory from which all files or only the files which suits the wildcard, should be uploaded
these files: - insert the wildcard

The selected files for the FTP upload are listed in the file FILES_T.DAT (in the file transfer mode) or in the file FILES_MD.DAT (in motion detection mode) . You can edit these files manually. In the first line stands the number of files and in the following lines are the filenames with paths.

Files To Attach

insert - inserts a file or several files into the file list
delete - deletes the selected files from the file list
delete all - erases the file list

add all files from: - select a directory from which all files or only the files which suits the wildcard, should be attached to the email
these files: - insert the wildcard

The selected files that are attached to the email are listed in the file ATTACH_T.DAT (in the file transfer mode) or in the file ATTACH_MD.DAT (in motion detection mode) . You can edit these files manually. In the first line stands the number of files, and in the following lines are the filenames with paths.

Part 3 >>