Webcam32 FAQs       User's Guide       Java Support       Help Wizard

Caption Settings

Webcam32 allows a basic caption to be included in the image sent to the web page.  This caption can show the date and time that the image was grabbed from the camera in addition to any other text selected  The caption is an optional attribute which is initially off.  The caption settings are controlled from the Caption option in the Settings menu. From the dialog, the caption's location, foreground, background and color visibility may be set.  The location determines where in the final image the caption will be located.

If the transparent option is selected, the image will be used as the background for the caption.

If the Invert toggle is selected, the color of the caption will be the photographic negative of the background image if transparent.  This is useful if the caption is difficult to read in certain colors or lights.

The Font button allows the selection of a specific font to be used to draw the caption.  The caption text configures the actual text of the caption.  Special characters in the text control the format of the date.  Note that the caption does not appear in the preview window, only in the saved or transmitted images.

The following special characters may be included in the caption text and will be expanded by Webcam32.  For more details on these codes and examples of expansion output, visit here.

Code	Description
%a	Abbreviated weekday name
%A	Full weekday name
%b	Abbreviated month name
%B	Full month name
%c	Date and time representation appropriate for locale
%d	Day of month as decimal number (01 – 31)
%H	Hour in 24-hour format (00 – 23)
%I	Hour in 12-hour format (01 – 12)
%j	Day of year as decimal number (001 – 366)
%m	Month as decimal number (01 – 12)
%M	Minute as decimal number (00 – 59)
%p	Current locale’s A.M./P.M. indicator for 12-hour clock
%S	Second as decimal number (00 – 59)
%U	Week of year as decimal number, with Sunday as first day of week (00 – 51)
%w	Weekday as decimal number (0 – 6; Sunday is 0)
%W	Week of year as decimal number, with Monday as first day of week (00 – 51)
%x	Date representation for current locale
%X	Time representation for current locale
%y	Year without century, as decimal number (00 – 99)
%Y	Year with century, as decimal number
%z, %Z	Time-zone name or abbreviation; no characters if time zone is unknown
%%	Percent sign

 
The Overlay functions allow the specification of a windows bitmap file (BMP) which will be overlaid the captured video image before transmitting to the end viewer.  This allows company logos and other images to be superimposed over the video.  The bitmap image is a mask.  Any pixel in the bitmap image which corresponds to the transparent color pixel value will allow the video image to show through.  Any other color will be shown in the final JPEG image.  The transparent color value may be changed.  The overlay can be used in one of two modes; in the solid mode, the overlay image obscures the video camera generated image.  In the transparent mode, the video image can be seen through the overlay image.

A miniature version of the bitmap selected is also displayed in the dialog.  For best quality results, create an overlay image that is the same size as the generated video image.  If a different size overlay image is used, the overlay will be grown or shrunk to the size of the video image internally.

Advanced Captions

The basic caption settings allow a single piece of caption text to be added to the image.  If a single caption is not sufficient, additional captions can be added using the advanced caption capabilities of Webcam32.

To use the advanced caption facilities, click on the Advanced Caption tab at the top of the caption window.  The advanced caption page will be displayed.  When the advanced caption page is displayed, a new preview window appears in addition showing the current image with any captions included.

To add a new caption, click on the Add button in the advanced caption page.  This will add a new caption with default font, colors and location.  The caption will also be shown on the preview window.  Within the preview window, the newly added caption can be resized or moved using the grab-controls on the edge of the preview caption.  The Size to text button can be used to automatically size the currently selected caption box to exactly fit the enclosing text. The text of the caption can be altered by either clicking in the caption text list (left mouse button twice or right mouse button and selecting edit).  Additional captions can be added by clicking on Add again.

The fonts, colors and transparent settings may be set for each caption.

The text within an advanced caption is constrained to a single line.  That text may be aligned to the Left, Right, or Centered.

To edit or modify a previously created caption entry, either select it from the list or click on it till selected on the preview window.

To delete a caption entry, select the entry and press Del on the keyboard or right-click the caption entry in the list and select delete.

Until the captions are saved by pressing OK, the captions will not be displayed or sent by Webcam32.