From: =?iso-8859-1?Q?Mathieu_Ren=E9?= <creaturiste-AT-primus.ca>
To: <puptcrit-AT-puptcrit.org>
Date: Tue, 5 Aug 2008 21:09:40 -0400
Subject: [Puptcrit] Cheap Rehearsal Monitor



I have to share a very low-tech and inexpensive alternative to a tv puppet 
monitor, that makes me go "duh" when I think about it. Why didn't I think of 
it before?

I have a webcam.
It can film full screen (can go bigger than my screen, actually.)
It can zoom in.
It can flip the image horizontally and vertically.
It shows what it is capturing, live.
As long as I have enough light, the webcam gives me a smooth live feed, 
without flickering.
Webcams need a lot more light than other digital cameras, I find.

So, now I have a monitor to rehearse my puppets in front of!
And it can, of course, reccord what I'm doing.

Even if you don't want your final film to be from a webcam, the webcam can 
be setup to film what the monitor (maybe a laptop or other smaller device 
close-by, or worn by puppeteer) will see.

Of course, I try not to cheat, so I can get used to the mirror image that is 
the standard in TV work.
I use the image flipping option only when my camera is setup upside down 
(when hanging from the computer screen), making it behave the same as if it 
were upright.

Of course, if your computer isn't a laptop, it would limit portability of 
the monitor system.
In my case, I have long enough of a USB cable to do the trick (although I 
may eventually get an extension if such a thing exists)

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