Ostrich, the open source Flash Webcam motion capture interface classes now properly supports multiple camera resolutions.
Nothing like spinning a bug correction as a new feature! Thanks Antonio for pointing out that the setMode() was missing for the camera. I often wondered why the resolution was so bad and did not know about the setMode(). When you create your new OstrichCamera object you pass the left, top, right and bottom with defaults of 0,0,640,480. This gives a desired width and height which is maintained at the best resolution for the aspect ratio. Before using the setMode() the resolution seemed to be 160×120 and then scaled up. So this is much better.
Grab the new ZIP file at the left of the site for the update to the OstrichCamera class.
-2011-
Filed under: Update | Tagged: adobe, cam, danzen, feathers, flash, ostrich, resolution, setMode, webcam |
Ostrich Flash - Webcam Motion Capture 
Hey Dan!
i hope you are well!
i’m working on an art installation that will utilize projectors and i plan to use the webcam recognition features of Ostrich. Is this component made using AS2 or AS3? I currently develop in AS2. I’m really excited about the potential of this project. Please let me know! I will keep you posted on the progress of this project.
Thank you kindly for your altruistic spirit and invetive fervor!
Regards,
-Igor
Hi Igor,
Ostrich (then called VideoMotion) was originally written in AS2. The Ostrich Zip is AS3. I do have an old version http://www.danzen.com/feathers/videomotion_as2.zip it is on the timeline and has less features but it allows you to make something follow where there is motion on the camera. May not detect the Mac camera as I fixed that in Ostrich – but if you look at the OstrichCamera code you may be able to transfer over the Mac Camera detection portion. Best of luck! (And move to AS3 one day!)
Thanks for getting back to me. You’re right i should make the switch to AS3… especially considering i work as a flash developer right now 🙂
[…] – I have found the way to interact with the webcam, but I want to find the way to don’t show the image from the camera in the screen *Please see: https://ostrichflash.wordpress.com/2011/02/07/ostrich-flash-webcam-motion-capture-now-supports-multip… […]
If you do not want to see the cam video then comment out the line where we addChild() the cam. Or you can set the alpha down. Most of the times it is good to let people get oriented as to where they are. But of course, up to you.
Hi. I wanted to download the zip file but it cannot be done as it says that the file is corrupted or something.
” The archive is either in unknown or damaged”
Strange – works for me. I will send it to you at your e-mail address. Are you PC or Mac and will you try again in a little bit – perhaps it is something to do with the connection.
PC. Will let you know if it works once you send to me
Good – glad we got it fixed.
Hi Dan
How would you recommend adjusting the frequency the ‘blobs’ are called to the stage in the blobs example?
I still want smoothness just less instances, I have the response set to the maximum 10 at the moment. Any help greatly appreciated.
Stu
Hi Stu,
There is a max variable in the OstrichBlobs which sets how many rows and columns there are. It is set to 12. If you reduce it to 6 then it will divide the screen into 6 rows and 6 columns. It may not have the effect that you want. The other thing is, you can use the blobs array to get the points of the blobs and put smaller clips at these points for instance. Then just hide the Ostrich blobs.
Hi,
How to disable the camera flipping? I would like to make the flipping as option but not sure where to start from… Can you show me how to disable the flipping?
Hi Maven.
Yes… camera flipping with BitmapData is trickier than one might think. Of course, if I did nothing in the first place then it would be flipped. It is a good idea to provide the option although I will certainly default it to flipped – I have seen too many projects left reversed and it drives me crazy. Even Steve Mann’s laser mediated reality glasses I tried were left reversed! Anyway – I will work on it today and let you know when it is ready.
Hi Maven,
The latest zip has a final parameter on the OstrichCamera class that is a Boolean – set this to false to stop the camera from flipping. The default is true.
so your cam call might be something like:
var myCam:OstrichCamera = new OstrichCamera(0,0,640,480,false);
Please test it out and let us know if it works!
Dan
thanks, this is a neat tool
[…] For example Dan has different variations of it on his own blog. My favorite among them is multiple cam resolution because it adds a whole different dimension and challenge to the creativity. Another user Nitin […]
[…] For example Dan has different variations of it on his own blog. My favorite among them is multiple cam resolution because it adds a whole different dimension and challenge to the creativity. Another user Nitin […]