[General] Photobooth Software Updates

[Venkat Raghavan]

Guys,

Here is a list of progress updates on the software side of things. 

 a. Photobooth mode - take 4 pictures save then as a strip.
I have been successful in taking a picture and saving it to a PNG. 

To do: 
1) Create a unique filename based on mmddyyyy-hhmmss
2) Configuring storage locations based on ini file
3) Check and see if picture is better when a 2.0 MP or greater webcam is 
used
4) Use Imagemagick to stitch the image files together. 
5) See how to embed 256.makerslocal.org in image file metadata
6) Add display captions on screen - (say cheese!)
7) Check possibility of adding a non intrusive 256.makerslocal.org sign 
on the bottom, on the OUTSIDE of the picture strip. 

>  b. Video mode - take video 12-15sec
Currently, I am using mediacontrol API provided by VLC. This 
unfortunately does not do video. The other option is to use libvlc, 
which I will look into, but I am not sure how that will pan out. 

>  c. Mystery Mode
To do: Have to add a button, and a gtk window that pops up and closes 
after a certain time elapses. The directory source of the image 
displayed will be configurable in the ini file, and will pick random 
pictures to display. 

> 2. Linux Based
what else :)

> 3. Use version control system, preferable the svn server at the shop.
Will commit code when I have access. I also need the address of the svn 
server. 

> 4. Highest resolution/fast as possible.
It does not look like we can use the camera on the UPMC. The image seems 
to be all distorted, if it displays at all. Anyways, this will be 
controlled by what webcam we can obtain for the project. 

Also, hardware design needs to account for this. 

Regards,
Venkat