The camera tab shows the interface to the optional (web) camera in the system. Since most laptops have a built-in camera the default cam will be that of the laptop. In many cases an external cam needs to be attached. Currently only USB cams are recognized (not IEEE cams). The resolution of the camera should not be set too high because showing e.g. a HD quality picture may require too much CPU that the mosaic creation will be noticeably slower and 'jerkier'. In case of doubt: a resolution of 800x600 is good enough for monitor shows, where the screen resolution is usually comparable to 1024 or 1280 pixels at most. As a rule of thumb the resolution of the cam should then be half the amount of pixels of the monitor. Usually the most simple web cam with a modest resolution will be a good solution to avoid the CPU load. When high-end web cams are used, it's highly recommended to use Intel i5 or even i7 CPU systems (or equivalent AMD systems).

The following options are available:

• Video camera: select the camera to activate from the drop-down box.
• Video format: select the appropriate video size of the cam: as rule of thumb: 50% of the monitor size will be just fine.
• Interlace: in some rare cases a IEEE or USB with interlacing options can be found. Here the interlace can be set to off. However, in 99% this option is not required.
• Flip signal: to act as a mirror the web cam should be flipped horizontally. This way interactions are easier for people who like to wave to the camera.
• Snapshot (sec): the interval time between snapshots. This way a constant stream of pictures can be generated to fly into the mosaic. It will basically replace a tethered shooting or photo booth availability. The time between snapshots is set by the up-down control (here: every 60 seconds a snapshot is made). When this option is generated the colour of the snapshot will largely vary (depending on the camera position, distance to the people, etc) and the technician should be aware that most pictures may be looking very similar in colour. The mosaic impression may be largely dependent on the final colours! However, each input picture can be filtered, see here for more information.

To take a snapshot, activate the option, and set the snapshot interval (in seconds). When the initial mosaic has been created and the tile placement is active, the snapshot timer is triggered. The progress is seen by the little blue line (see image below). When the interval value is reached, the snapshot image will be saved in the Booth folder, and immediately processed into the mosaic viewer.