From: http://freeweb.pdq.net/pja/cba/downlds/defaultd.htm README.TXT Snap Sequence Version 1.0 4/5/00 Introduction Snap Sequence is a sequential capture program for use with the Snappy video capture unit. Snap Sequence offers an alternative to the Snappy program version 1.0 which requires multiple manual commands to capture a picture and then to save the picture to disk. This can become rather tiring and distracting when trying to make many sequential photo captures. Snap Sequence can capture a new frame every 10 seconds and optionally can write these captures to disk in standard bmp files, each with a sequentially numbered file name. Each captured frame is displayed on the Snap Sequence window in full size so that the user can see what is going on without having to guess or to use an external monitor. The user may also specify the number of captures to be done before stopping. Setup If you already have a Snappy program of higher version installed, you may not need or want to load in Version 1. Rather you may want to try using Snap Sequence with the existing version. You should verify that SNAPNTSC.DLL (or SNAPPAL.DLL for European video standards) exists in the C:\Windows directory. Snap Sequence requires the presence of the SNAPNTSC.DLL in the C:\Windows directory. At present, only the Snappy version 1.0 has been tested or used. This version may be downloaded off of the Play Inc. web site, located at http://cf.play.com/play/. Make sure that the standard Snappy software is installed on your computer and that the Snappy hardware is working on the computer. Note that the printer port should probably be set to SPP (standard printer port mode) or bi-directional and Not set to ECP mode. Create a subdirectory with a suitable name, such as SNAPSEQ on your hard drive. Copy the SNAPSEQ.EXE file into the directory. It is also possible to put the program into the SNAPPY directory. The program should be able to be started using the RUN command or double clicking on the SNAPSEQ.EXE item while in Windows' Explorer. You can also create a 'shortcut' or 'icon' (depending on your version of Windows') which will simplify starting SNAPSEQ with a mouse click. Operation 1. Make sure the SNAPPY hardware is plugged in and receiving a Video input signal by running the standard Snappy capture program. 2. Set up the parameters such as the capture size and other settings to the values which you want to have. Press the Save Settings button when all of the parameters have been set. If you are planning on attaching a monitor to the output of the SNAPPY hardware, make sure that the option is selected. Image size BMP File Size 320x240 ~200k 640x480 ~900k 1500x1125 ~4M The true maximum ability of the typical video camera is approximately equal to the 640x480. Going to 320x240 will lose available resolution but it will reduce the disk space required. Going to 1500x1125 may offer a little bit of improvement, but it is way beyond the resolution of the typical camera and takes up a tremendous amount of disk storage and time to be used. 3. Once the settings have been made for both the video input and the Snappy parameters, exit SNAPPY and start SNAPSEQ. 4. In SNAPSEQ, select either the View Captures or Save Captures mode, depending on whether you desire just to see the images or to see and save them to disk. 5. If you need to stop image captures temporarily, you may turn the capture on or off by selecting Pause Captures. This allows you to make changes in video input without acquiring unwanted images. 6. When Finished capturing, select End Captures to return to the Stop Mode. SNAPSEQ MENU FILE OPERATION HELP ---- --------- ---- EXIT VIEW CAPTURES ABOUT SNAPSEQ SAVE CAPTURES PAUSE CAPTURES END CAPTURES When First started, SNAPSEQ is in the Stop Mode and is not capturing images. There are two other modes, View Captures Mode and Save Capture Mode. The Operation Menu options allow one to control the Snappy hardware. FILE/ EXIT Terminate program OPERATION/ VIEW CAPTURES Enter View Capture Mode - capture and display only SAVE CAPTURES Specify a file name and begin saving captures to disk PAUSE CAPTURES Toggle on/off the data captures, displays, and disk writes. END CAPTURES Stop all image captures. HELP/ ABOUT SNAPSEQ Display program version RUNNING SNAPSEQ Unless you have acquired a power supply, Snappy runs off of an internal 9 volt battery which is good for about 1000 image captures. Care should be taken to avoid making too many image captures for viewing only. Snap Sequence will capture an image every 10 seconds when in either of the capture modes which is about 360 images per hour. In the 640x480 image size, this will amount to about 360 MB of disk storage. Snap Sequence allows you to control data capture by proper selection of file names. Each image is kept in a separate BMP extension named file. The file name, which is up to 8 letters and numbers, determines the number of images to capture. The file name should end in a number and only the first character in the file name needs to be a letter instead of a number. When specifying a file name, the first image will be written to that file name and the number at the end of that name will be incremented for the next image capture. Image capturing will stop when all of the digits in the number at the end of the file name have become 9s. Examples: IMAGE0.BMP Begins saving images to the file name IMAGE0.BMP and the captures end when the IMAGE9.BMP file has been written. IMAGE00.BMP Begins saving images to the file name IMAGE00.BMP and the captures end when the IMAGE99.BMP file has been written. IM00000.BMP Begins saving images to the file named IM00000.BMP and the captures will end when either the disk runs out of room or the battery runs down or until IM99999.BMP has been written. IMAGE43.BMP Begins saving images to the file named IMAGE43.BMP and the captures end when the IMAGE99.BMP file has been written. Jup800.BMP Begins saving images to the file named Jup800.BMP and the captures end when the Jup999.BMP file has been written. Known Problems Lockup Keyboard and mouse activity are disabled during the data capture time. If there is no video signal or some other problem exists, an error message from the DLL will be displayed but no mouse or keyboard activity will be possible. Hit CTRL-ALT-DEL once to kick the computer out of the program. A system dialog box should come up and allow you to terminate programs or reboot the computer. It should NOT be necessary to terminate any programs or to reboot the computer. The mouse and keyboard should be operational again. Terminate the system dialog box and then press OK on the program error dialog box. Note - every 10 seconds a new capture will be attempted unless the capture is paused, stopped or the program terminated. Unless the problem is corrected that prevents proper image capturing, you will have a limited amount of time to terminate capture before the program disables the keyboard/mouse again. Snappy is trademark of Play Inc. and Windows' 3.1, Windows'95, and Windows'98 are trademarks of Microsoft Inc.