Video Distortion Effect??

[kay &!*]

Is there a video distortion effect for windows that's similiar to the one that Apple MACs has? like the fish eye distortion effect for the built-in webcam?

[darkcser]

Is there a video distortion effect for windows that's similiar to the one that Apple MACs has? like the fish eye distortion effect for the built-in webcam?

I know that various webcams (e.g. MS Live Cam) come with such software like distorting your face, placing a mask on your face, etc. (which is pretty cool since it's doing basic object recognition and tracking under the hood).

A bit off topic but have people seen AR (Augmented Reality) stuff? It seems to be popular with the Japanese folks. The basic setup is that it uses a webcam to recognize a special pattern/symbol on a surface (like a card), and shows you the normal webcam scene but with the pattern/symbol substituted with a 3D object or creature. The algorithms are fairly basic for object recognition so it can't recognize arbitrary objects from different angles hence the need for a special pattern/symbol printed on black and white.

You can also interact with the object or creature by taking a little sign with a symbol on it, and poking at the empty space in real space, and seeing the effect on screen (e.g. take the hand sign, and pat the cat on the head). Rumor has it that some Japanese games have used this technology for some um... more interesting applications...