Product Overview
Cerberus is a powerful but simple to use Webcam application that can be the basis of a sophisticated security system or simple program to upload images to your website.
Window Layout
System Requirements
Windows 98/ME/2000/XP
DirectX 9 and above
At least one webcam ;) Supports all Windows compatible webcams, USB1.1, USB2.0 and FireWire.
A simple, yet powerful application that gives you the ability to co-ordinate up to 10 cameras. It is possible to have each camera updating to different websites and with different style settings.
Although powerful, the application can be set up and functioning within 5 minutes!
The Cerberus installation directory is layed out as follows:
<Installation Dir> Cerberus executable and setting information
<Installation Dir>\captures default location for "instant grab" images
<Installation Dir>\data important application files
<Installation Dir>\data\help help system
<Installation Dir>\data\languages language data for Cerberus
<Installation Dir>\layouts default directory for layouts
<Installation Dir>\motion detect default directory for images captured due to motion detection
<Installation Dir>\overlays default directory for overlay graphics
<Installation Dir>\overlays\352 x 288 save directory for overlay images 352 x 288 pixels. *
<Installation Dir>\time lapse default directory for time lapse imagery
<Installation Dir>\woof2 location for images captured with woof2
* the application comes ready installed with some example images in these directories!
Although the application supports 10 webcams, you may have problems if you try to connect too many webcams via USB 1.1. You may have to limit the amount of bandwidth each camera uses in order to use more than two cameras with Cerberus. I have a Phillips ToUCam XS and a Creative Labs WebCam III and I need to limit the bandwidth of them both in order to view them together. They only downside to throttling the bandwidth of your devices is the real-time framerate that you will get. If you are using webcams across USB 2.0 or FireWire / iLink / IEEE 1394 then you won't hit these problems, even with 10 webcams!
If you have any hints or tips on using Cerberus with many webcams then please let me know so I can incorporate them in to the help.
Why is this program (still) labelled as beta?
Although the application is fully functional, as I am currently the only tester I can't be completely certain that there aren't still a few worrying bugs in the code. There are also a few features which I will implement for the next release, but haven't put in yet. There is also not as much error detection and safe handling of errors as there will be in the first non-beta release. And of course there is even the possibility that certain functions may be ok in one release, then broken in another, and then fixed in a later release. Even with these considerations, the application is very stable and should work without problems for the majority of users.
I envisage version 3.5 to be the first non-beta release, or though I can't predict when it might be released!
email: info@paulalanfreshney.com | web: www.paulalanfreshney.com