missybonline

As some of you may or may not know I have been trying my hand at streaming live video on Ustream (#MSBsWife).  Being that I am a Win XP user it seems my choices for good video editors that don’t cost a fortune are few and far between. With that being said I did happen to come across (with a few recommendations from friends) a program called Webcam Max.

Webcam Max is kind enough to allow you to download a FREE 30 day demo version that is well loaded with around 200 effects to really give a good test run of their programing. You can find the downloads via their website www.webcammax.com as well as download.com and brothers.com

One of the features that I really do enjoy are the backgrounds.  I know that I don’t always want to show the world the state of my house and this gives me the chance to “cover up” what ever may be in the back ground with a lovely shot of lavender fields or a tropical beach etc.  I have found though through trial and error that if you have an auto focusing camera, such as a logician 9000 pro, that you will have a blotchy background unless you do one or two small adjustments prior to taking the background cam shot. First try to have a solid back ground to work with ( any dark colored sheet works very nicely) and give it a bit of lighting.  If this is not a viable thing to try then go against the wishes of the “please vacate the shot for 3 seconds” rule and keep a tiny bit of yourself in the view so that it will keep the focus and lighting on you and not the back ground. Also move slowly into the frame shot and try not to move around to much to keep your background consistent.

Another feature that I like is the “Line” effect. This is a great tool if you want to make 2 colored comic styled video’s of yourself. It sure beats trying to make flip books!

Now if you are a fan of fun house mirrors and just want to waste your day away laughing at yourself there are a multitude of distorting mirror to keep you in stitches.

With the holidays coming around you can podcast in the snow with the “Snow” effect.  This is a fun effect for the kids as you can get them to hold still to have the “snow” collect on their heads and shoulders then have them “shake it off” only to have them start all over again. This also makes a great game.

If you get tired of that troll in your chat room on your stream you can aim semi automatic weapons at them or have the grim reaper chase after them.

The masks and frames are fun to play with but I’m not sure how useful they are in everyday stream applications. The one gripe that I have with the “Mask” effects is that they are 90% male on the demo version, perhaps with  a full version you can download more female characters. You also have to be looking straight on into your cam for them to line up correctly over your face and they have a tendency to shuffle and spin around a bit when you move.

I do like the “Text” feature as you can set your cam shot to “busy”, “be right back”, “away”, and even “on the phone” which is useful when you have to mute your stream for a business call. This option is even customizable so you can make your own sayings!

There is also a “Doodle” mode that will allow you to draw a mustache on your own face or little clouds and such on your background. You can also write notes to your viewers or point out important facts.

Webcam Max also comes with a built in “screen” effect that will allow you to show people what is on your monitor without the hassle of another web cam or moving your web cam and hoping it will focus on your screen properly. I have recently used this particular feature in my ustream video review of the Wi-Fire to point out connection speeds.To see it in action just go to http://www.ustream.tv/channel/msbswife.

Now obviously that isn’t all 200 features because I do want to keep some things a surprise for the next person to discover.  Some of you may be wondering “how much of a system hog is this program” and to that I can answer that if you have an older system/processor it will be a bit of a hog (80%-90% power), however, if your system is newer and has a faster processor you can comfortably run ustream and Webcam Max at the same time while only eating up about 35% power.

If you would like to download the demo or purchase your very own copy of Webcam Max for as little as $1.66 a month just go to http://www.webcammax.com/. You will be glad you did!