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Old 01-22-2009, 05:07 PM   #1
theMouthPiece
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Photo Booth video... mirrored...?

Hi All

I had a play with PhotoBooth video this evening having a laugh with my daughter recording her on the piano. I noticed that when I played it back, everything was mirrored and the wrong way around...!

Is this correct...? Surely the video camera should present the recorded image correctly...?

If not, how do I 'correct' it?

Ta
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Old 01-22-2009, 05:58 PM   #2
pendragon
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By any chance, is iGlasses (or similar app.) installed? I only ask because it has a setting/preference for a mirrored image.
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Old 01-22-2009, 06:10 PM   #3
wdympcf
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Yes, Photo Booth does mirror things. This doesn't make as much sense if you are using an external camera, but with the built-in iSight it makes perfect sense. If you want to reverse this effect, you can open the video in Quicktime Pro and select Window > Show Movie Properties from the menu. Then select Video Track in the list and click the button to flip the video horizontally.

Quote:
By any chance, is iGlasses (or similar app.) installed? I only ask because it has a setting/preference for a mirrored image.

Not necessary to explain this. Subjects normally appear in video as the camera sees them - left hand on the right side of the screen, right hand on the left side of the screen. Photo Booth flips the video so that it is like looking into a mirror when using your built-in iSight camera. Thus, you can readily observe that your left hand is in fact on the left side of the screen and your right hand on the right side.

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Old 01-22-2009, 06:46 PM   #4
macosnoob
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If you make the recording with iMovie using iSight as the camera source, the image you'll see is "correctly" displayed (i.e., flipped from the way PhotoBooth does it).
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Old 01-23-2009, 02:58 AM   #5
theMouthPiece
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Quote:
Originally Posted by macosnoob
If you make the recording with iMovie using iSight as the camera source, the image you'll see is "correctly" displayed (i.e., flipped from the way PhotoBooth does it).

I don't seem to have iSight on my Mac, well Spotlight doesn't find it. Should I have this?
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Old 01-23-2009, 08:48 AM   #6
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iSight is the camera built into the MacBook. It is the same camera that I assume you were using with PhotoBooth. In iMovie, you select iSight as the camera source from the pull-down menu that appears when you click the camera icon just below iMovie's preview window.
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Old 01-23-2009, 02:51 PM   #7
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Note that iMovie does not have access to the Photo Booth effects, however. If you are keen on using those effects, you will have to use Photo Booth to do the capture and post-process the mirror effect out.
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Old 01-23-2009, 03:08 PM   #8
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Quote:
Originally Posted by wdympcf
Note that iMovie does not have access to the Photo Booth effects, however. If you are keen on using those effects, you will have to use Photo Booth to do the capture and post-process the mirror effect out.

Ok, thanks for the info. How would I PP this out of what I record...?
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Old 01-23-2009, 04:25 PM   #9
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Read my post above about using Quicktime Pro. If you have iMovie 6, which you can get for free from Apple if you have iMovie '08, then you can use the Mirror Video effect in iMovie 6 to achieve the same result. I expect that you will get better results by using Quicktime Pro, as I don't believe it has to do any rendering on the video.
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Old 01-23-2009, 05:00 PM   #10
theMouthPiece
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Quote:
Originally Posted by wdympcf
Read my post above about using Quicktime Pro. If you have iMovie 6, which you can get for free from Apple if you have iMovie '08, then you can use the Mirror Video effect in iMovie 6 to achieve the same result. I expect that you will get better results by using Quicktime Pro, as I don't believe it has to do any rendering on the video.

But to do this means I have to purchase Quicktime Pro yeah? Not sure I want to have to purchase something to accomplish this. I am suprised I can't do it natively.
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Old 01-23-2009, 05:59 PM   #11
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Pursuing that elusive Photo Booth solution . . .

The heavy lifting for Photo Booth effects is handled by a number of Quartz compositions inside the app. Logically, tinkering with the .qtz compositions ought to allow for either mirrored or unmirrored video.

Here's a very quick "fix," which requires that you have XCode installed:

1. Backup Photo Booth as a safety.

2. In Quartz Composer, open the Effects.qtz file (PhotoBooth.app/Contents/Resoures/Effects.qtz).

3. Locate the left-most "Flip" patch. Select it and click the Patch Parameters gear.

4. Uncheck the "Flip" box.

5. Save Effects.qtz.

6. Open Photo Booth and go.

Note: The mosaic-style previews of effects will sometimes appear mirrored, but when you're actually taking a snapshot or making a video, the image will be "correct." The solution to making the previews appear in the "correct" orientation is to locate and alter one or more other flip patches in the quartz compositions inside Photo Booth--a task I'll leave for someone with more time on his or her hands.
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Old 01-25-2009, 02:24 PM   #12
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And now, a typo-free version of instructions:

1. Backup Photo Booth as a safety.

2. In Quartz Composer, open the Effect.qtz file (Photo Booth.app/Contents/Resources/Effect.qtz).

3. Locate the left-most "Flip" patch. Select it and click the Patch Parameters gear.

4. Uncheck the "Flip" box.

5. Save Effect.qtz.

6. Open Photo Booth and go.
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Old 01-26-2009, 04:04 PM   #13
Fastmac
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How about Photo Booth preferences, does this menu item affect video as well as photos?

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Old 01-27-2009, 11:22 AM   #14
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Fastmac
How about Photo Booth preferences, does this menu item affect video as well as photos?

Unfortunately, no, those two "flip" Edit menu commands work only on photos.
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