@anthonylzq/node-webcam

Cross platform webcam usage

Install

Linux

# Linux relies on fswebcam currently
# ubuntu

sudo apt-get install fswebcam

# arch
# fswebcam requires a build from the AUR, it is not listed for installation on pacman/pamac

sudo pamac build fswebcam

Mac OSX

# Mac OSX relies on imagesnap
# Repo https://github.com/rharder/imagesnap
# Available through brew

brew install imagesnap

Windows

Standalone exe included. See src/bindings/CommandCam

Usage

API Usage

The simplest use case:

import { platform } from 'os'
import { capture } from '@anthonylzq/node-webcam'

const main = async () => {
  // base64 as default
  const result = await capture({
    location: resolve(__dirname, 'picture.jpeg'),
    type: platform()
  })

  console.log('result', result)
}

In case you want to use another file type such as jpg, png or bmp you must indicate it in the options object, otherwise you will get an error:

import { platform } from 'os'
import { capture } from '@anthonylzq/node-webcam'

const main = async () => {
  const result = await capture({
    location: resolve(__dirname, 'picture.png'),
    type: platform(),
    returnType: 'buffer'
    options: {
      output: 'png'
    }
  })

  console.log('result', result)
}

This is because in order to build properly the base64 image both attributes must match.

In case you need something more advance you can use the create function that will give you a class that will handle the usage of the webcam for you.

import { platform } from 'os'
import { create } from '@anthonylzq/node-webcam'

// The supported platforms are: linux, darwin, win32 and win64.
// Besides you can use 'fswebcam' as second parameter instead of "platform()"
const Webcam = create({}, platform())

In case you want to list the available cameras in your OS, you can use the list function:

import { platform } from 'os'
import { create } from '@anthonylzq/node-webcam'

const cameras = create({}, platform())

The default configuration for all the webcams classes and methods can be found in the defaults object:

import { defaults } from '@anthonylzq/node-webcam'

console.log(defaults)
/**
 * {
 *   width: 1280,
 *   height: 720,
 *   delay: 0,
 *   title: '',
 *   subtitle: '',
 *   timestamp: '',
 *   saveShots: true,
 *   output: 'jpeg',
 *   device: '',
 *   callbackReturn: 'location',
 *   verbose: false,
 *   frames: 1,
 *   greyScale: false,
 *   rotation: 0,
 *   bottomBanner: false,
 *   topBanner: false,
 *   skip: 0
 * }
 */

Author

Charlie Abeling - Initial Work - Documentation - chuckfairy.

Maintainers

Anthony Luzquiños - Rework - Documentation - AnthonyLzq.