my webcam was connected the whole time, and showing in the windows.
it's only when i press the Grab Screenshot button in the finetune dialog that the error occurs.

I've uploaded a new version of Webcam Signature (1.2) to http://webcamsignature.wikidot.com/download-webcam-signature. Added is a fix to handle the case of when the "Fine Tune Tracking Color" panel is opened with no webcam available. Also added is the ability to draw on the signature area with your mouse.

Problem: When a TV tuner is installed in a PC, Webcam Signature treats it as if it is a webcam (other programs do this too, like Windows Live Messenger) - would it be possible to detect and prevent this? It lags the program having it refresh a bunch of gray fuzzy noise and non-existent video every second or two.

(I have a "Happauge WinTV" TV tuner, if that is relevant at all)

Are you using the TV tuner as your video input source for the program?

Right now, the program automatically loads whatever video input source is available but you can get the program to stop the input from the video source in version 1.2 by clicking on the pen size drop box in the "Pen" area of the program and selecting "Hide".

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yUPaEnsKJYM

http://webcamsignature.wikidot.com/download-webcam-signature

I've coded the Webcam Mouse Mode into Webcam Signature 1.3. You can now use your webcam to move your mouse around. Check out the video!

Also added is a larger drawing area for the signature and hopefully I fixed the unhandled exception the mouser got.

very cool movie
by the way the crashing is gone, the auto grab screen and and color works. 

it's hard for me to control it well -- i think my background is a bit noisy and webcam not so good, so it's a little hard.

it's fun to try to think of other uses of this tool..
i can imagine using it to track a bug's movement over time, like a ladybug or something, put your webcam on it and switch into paint mode

That's good. I think the program was improperly disposing of the grabbed frame.

Try using a flashlight/led/infrared led instead of a pen if you are having trouble getting it to track and set it so that the tracking color is white to bright white.

BTW, version 1.3 also fixed the finicky edge drawing problem. 

Now, I just want to make the program use 10% or less of my CPU time when running instead of 30-40%.

lol, no, I got the program working perfectly, I couldn't get it to track a pen though, but I could get it to track the usb to ps/2 converter perfectly

I'm working on a new version of Webcam Signature that uses a notably different algorithm for tracking. From my testing so far, it is able to track a color object significantly better than version 1.3 especially when the lighting changes or there is glare off the object. Right now in version 1.3, you may have to recalibrate the tracking color if you turn the light on in a dark room or the sun shines through the window and onto your pen, but that does not appear to be as frequently necessary with the new version.

However, one issue remains to be solved. I have to speed the algorithm up. One of the primary issues is that accessing bitmap pixels is a slow process even with using Unsafe bitmaps in C#. However, I may have some code that can solve this issue.

The best one I've seen! Thank you so much   

Although I have all the required programs, and service packs, I get the "Webcam Signature has stopped working" error. I'm running Vista, 64 bit, 2.7 Ghz, 3 gigs of ram.. I really can't figure out what the problem is

I'm not sure it was tested on a Vista 64-bit system before. How many megapixels does your webcam have?

I'm current spending the vast majority of my time getting Circle Dock to a 1.0 release so I might not be able to figure out where your problem is. However, you could always download Microsoft Visual C# Express and run the source code from the Web Cam Signature website. This is the surefire way to see where it in the code it is breaking down. If you can provide a screenshot of when Visual C# Express gives the error, I can provide a better fix/solution. The source code for Webcam Signature is pretty well commented so you should be able to make sense of it if you have a little bit of programming knowledge.

Eric Wong

hello! thank you so much for this wonderful program! 

* I would like to ask if is it capable of tracking 2 or more colors from the webcam?