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    Webcam central - mini mode & face recognize?

    Discussion in 'Dell' started by dishe, Oct 19, 2009.

  1. dishe

    dishe Newbie

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    Howdy folks, new to the forum...

    Just bought myself a Studio 1555 with Vista 64, and was inspired to opt in for the built in 2mp webcam after seeing the nifty features Dell bundles with their webcam units.

    Well, it seems all this comes with in the end is Dell Webcam Central... maybe I'm missing something here, but is this supposed to allow me to apply effects to my webcam when using it to chat (skype, etc)? The effects it comes with seem to only work within its own Webcam Central window... there are no options for effects to appear within Skype or any other application that uses the video feed.

    However, I've seen other dell computers that do this out of the box... after reading through the help file, I found mention of a mini-mode for webcam central. Mini-mode is supposed to pop up automatically with options while using the webcam in other apps. But it doesn't. There is no trace of any mini-mode anywhere but in that help file. What am I missing here? Is it available with this software or not?

    Also, what about facial recognition? I've seen Inspirons that do that out of the box as well... So far, this Dell Webcam Central program seems kind of useless to me. I'm not interested in snapping pictures and recording videos with it, but that's all it seems to do.

    Anyone know how to make it do effects and/or face recognition to log in?
     
    dishe, Oct 19, 2009
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  2. Mastershroom

    Mastershroom wat

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    Facial recognition is a separate program called FastAccess, which you have to pay extra for when you order your laptop. As for the webcam mini-mode, I have no idea; I never used Webcam Central.
     
    Mastershroom, Oct 20, 2009
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  3. dishe

    dishe Newbie

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    Ok, fair enough- I see fast access is an add-on now.
    But the webcam effects?

    I've seen other dells that let you apply all sorts of fun effects to your webcam feed out-of-the-box, but unlike fast-access, it doesn't seem to be an add-on software option.

    It doesn't have to be with webcam central, I just assumed that's what did it because that's the only Dell webcam-related software installed.
    Anyone know more about this?

    Its not worth it for me to buy software that does it- its just a gimmick- but my kids like it when we skype to family, and they're mostly why I opted in to get the built-in cam. If I can make them happy, I'd like to figure out how this is supposed to work (and figure out why it doesn't on mine).
     
    dishe, Oct 20, 2009
    #3