Blog Archive

Check out all blog posts in my blog archive. Click on a headline to read the teaser.

Software › Webcampak 3 Documentation site online

Finally, Webcampak 3 documentation is online Read More ›

Software › Automated Alert mechanisms

Success of a timelapse project strongly depends on the ability of the technical platform to prevent picture loss. Alert mechanisms play a strong role by sending alerts about possible capture issue (camera malfunction, loss of power, loss of network connectivity). In this blog post we are going to detail how Webcampak deals with this along with recent improvements implemented for Webcampak 3. Read More ›

Software › Webcampak versioning scheme

We recently did our second release of Webcampak 3, that's the ideal time to give a few more details about our new versioning scheme. Read More ›

Software › Bugs, Bugs, Bugs... and migration.

Before any deployment to production we test all components as much as possible. But sometimes things do not go as planned... Read More ›

Software › Webcampak 3.0 in production - Sync files

Second blog post detailing Webcampak 3 features, we'll take a close look at the pictures sync features. Read More ›

Software › Webcampak 3.0 in production - Transferring files

Since mid-August we were testing Webcampak 3 to ensure its proper operation before starting to use it in production. Read More ›

Corporate › Webcampak 3.0 is feature complete

It took us almost 18 months to get there, but Webcampak is now feature complete and we are getting ready for integration testing. Read More ›

Corporate › New Webcampak Website

We've been using Wordpress for a couple of years, it was time for a change... Read More ›

Event › Panam Games in toronto

In 2015, Toronto is hosting the Panam games, and last Friday the opening ceremony took place, with fireworks launched from the CN tower. Read More ›

Roadmap › Webcampak 3.0 - Development on track

A lack of updates on the blog does not necessarily means a lack of activities on Webcampak. The third major Webcampak revision is currently being implemented and will bring a large set of new features and improvements. Read More ›

Project › Building a futuristic house

A few weeks ago Webcampak completed a two years project, here is one of the videos created. Read More ›

Project › Project completion

In just a year, and about 1.5TB of pictures captured, our project in Montréal came to an end as an overview video was being released. Read More ›

Tech › Canadian Winter: Check

There is sometimes a gap between manufacturer's specifications and real world measurements and operation. Although we carefully select Webcampak components... Read More ›

Project › Webcampak in Quebec

Working closely with Avenue8, a communication agency in Montreal, QC, we recently deployed a Webcampak to capture a timelapse of the build of a bridge crossing St. Laurent river. Read More ›

Project › Webcampak picture integration in a corporate website

QRC West project in Toronto just got a new website. Although previous website has already been displaying a Webcampak picture over the past few months, this new layout is a very interesting way to display a project's livecam. Read More ›

Tech › Webcampak infrastructure – 24/7 monitoring (4/4)

Our monitoring and supervision platform take care of ensuring that all Webcampak components operate properly, by checking: Read More ›

Tech › Webcampak infrastructure – Pictures and video permissions (3/4)

A Webcampak project usually involves four different kind of users: Read More ›

Tech › Webcampak infrastructure – Pictures processing (2/4)

With Webcampak we took extra care in ensuring pictures would be safe, even if this implies having pictures saved in multiple places at a single time. Read More ›

Tech › Webcampak infrastructure – Components (1/4)

Typical Webcampak deployments are composed by three different layers: Read More ›

Tech › Webcampak infrastructure overview (0/4)

Webcampak has been created, from the beginning, to be scalable and secured. Scalable, to ensure our solutions can be deployed in a potentially unlimited number of deployment scenarios. Read More ›

Tech › Recommendations for high-end time-lapse videos

Creating a time-lapse video takes more efforts than simply inserting pictures, captured from a fixed camera, next to each other in a video. Read More ›

Tech › New Webcampak version for tablets and smartphones

We've been working over the past few weeks on a new version of our mobile interface. Read More ›

Tech › Quick D-SLR/IP Camera comparison

We recently had the opportunity to test a PTZ IP Camera and decided to see how it would behave in tough light conditions. Read More ›

Tech › Winter in Colorado

Some of you might have noticed a new Webcampak camera within our demo server Read More ›

Tech › Broken shutter on a DSLR camera

Each time a DSLR camera takes a picture, a mobile part of the camera, the shutter, is activated in order to expose the camera sensor. Read More ›

Tech › Webcampak 2.0 – Do you speak Portuguese ?

We juste updated our servers to the latest Webcampak version (2.0-80). Read More ›

Tech › Webcampak R and D

We just received a new product for our test bench. Read More ›

Tech › High above ground (2/2)

Yesterday's blog post detailed an installation on top of a 30m mast performed by rope access technicians. Read More ›

Tech › High above ground (1/2)

We always tell our customers that each Webcampak is unique, not only because of its configuration, but also due to its physical installation. Read More ›

Tech › Webcampak 2.0 – Freedom

When developing a product, you need to define strategies and orientations to ensure that this product, on which you worked during months or years, is going to answer business needs and customer requirements. Read More ›

Tech › Webcampak is compliant with the new Ultra HD standard (previously 4K)

CEA (Consumer Electronics Association) recently announced the name of the new high definition standard following HDTV. It's name will be Ultra HD and will replace 4K (different resolutions were available under 4K name). Read More ›

Tech › Webcampak 2.0 – RAW files compatibility

We've been asked a few times whether Webcampak was compatible with RAW files. Today's answer is yes, we just implemented this feature in our latest release. Read More ›

Tech › Open for business in Canada

That's it, after many months of hard work we just opened our office in Canada (Toronto). Read More ›

Tech › Timelapse technologies for long-term projets

We wrote a two pages document about available technologies on the market to achieve a long-term project (one month and more). Read More ›

Tech › Webcampak 2.0 – Sensors are back

They are now back, when a source is equipped with weather sensors, a specific button will be displayed on the right of 'Email' button, it can be used to display values recorded by the system. Read More ›

Tech › Our vision

This is a diagram giving our vision of a timelapse project. Read More ›

Tech › Impressive

Here a very nice timelapse made in Toronto by Tom Ryaboi. Read More ›

Tech › D-SLR Camera or IP Camera for a timelapse project ?

This is a critical question, with different suppliers trying to promote their solutions, but at the end, costs is probably the only reason why people would want to implement IP cameras for a timelapse project. Read More ›

Tech › Webcampak Cloud – Now Available

After many months of development and an extensive beta phase, Webcampak Cloud is now available ... Read More ›

Tech › Webcampak 2.0 – Demo server updated and new website

We spent the whole summer working hard to get Webcampak 2.0 completed, but that's it, we updated our demo server and website to reflect latest changes. Read More ›

Tech › Webcampak 2.0 – Still on track

We are working hard but still on track to complete Webcampak 2.0 by the end of the summer. Read More ›

Tech › Webcampak 2.0 – New major release in progress

Latest major Webcampak version was released in early 2011, at that time we rewrote the system's core to make it more scalable by using Python programming language. Read More ›

Tech › Moving inside a picture (zoom/pan)

Nous avons ajouté il y a quelques temps des fonctionnalités permettant de se 'déplacer' au sein d'une série d'images et de réaliser des effets de zoom, déplacement (pan) ou de combiner les deux. Read More ›

Tech › Major documentation update

We've been working recently on a major update of Webcampak documentation, moving from a wiki-based documentation to a documentation based upon docbook XML format. Read More ›

Tech › Simplified admin interface and scheduled captures

We started working on Webcampak in 2009 and we've been constantly adding new features since then. Read More ›

Tech › Webcampak in Canada: Toronto skyline and CN Tower

Just a few words to tell you that a new Webcampak has been installed in North America. Read More ›

Tech › North-American experiments

As you may have noticed, we try to assist hobbyist in their project so that they can implement our powerful solution at low cost, they only constraint being that their project must not have any commercial vocation. Read More ›

Tech › New Dashboard

We've just added a new dashboard within Webcampak. Read More ›

Tech › How does Webcampak react when it’s cold out there ?

We haven't been posting on our blog for some time now, we take the opportunity of a few outdoor tests we did recently to give you more details about how Webcampak deals with sub-zero temperatures. Read More ›

Tech › Webcampak is two years old, happy birthday !

Webcampak is was born two years ago, created initially to answer a specific request we've been working on it regularly ever since. Read More ›

Tech › Webcampak: Price, sales process, and politeness

Webcampak is the key element of a whole custom-built solution based upon our customers’ needs and requirements. This is a complex product which might, in some cases, require competences in a wide variety of areas. Read More ›

Tech › Webcampak on display

Our Webcampak has been recently modified to include the ability to display « live » pictures in full-screen with the page automatically refreshed every 5 minutes.. Read More ›

Tech › Webcampak network monitoring

To ensure we provide stabled and reliable services to our customers some of our Webcampak devices are being monitored 24/7 using a central monitoring server built with Nagios/Centreon software. Read More ›

Tech › Programming: New weather sensors graphs

We implemented RRDTool within Webcampak core software. RRDTool is well-known network (not only) graphing tool used by large network monitoring software (Nagios/Centreon being one of them). Read More ›

Tech › Webcampak – Outdoor weatherproof photography system

We recently installed two photo monitoring Webcampak systems for one of our French client. This blog post will give you a few details about the installation. Read More ›

Tech › Webcampak – Custom setup

Today, we'll give you a few additionnal details about internal components of our Webcampak devices. Read More ›

Tech › Preview Thumbnails

We recently installed a Webcampak infrastructure for a large construction project in east of France. Read More ›

Tech › Building monitoring – Variable capture rate

We recently implemented thumbnails in picture visualisation section of Webcampak. Displayed below pictures it lets you preview previous or following pictures. Read More ›

Tech › Vieilles Charrues 2011 (music festival) – Day 3

UPDATE TEASER Read More ›

Tech › Vieilles Charrues 2011 (music festival) – Day 2

UPDATE TEASER Read More ›

Tech › Vieilles Charrues 2011 (music festival) – Day 1

UPDATE TEASER Read More ›

Tech › New sensors

Webcampak has been updated to support a wider range of sensors and to display those differently. Read More ›

Tech › Vieilles charrues 2011: First automated timelapse

As you may be aware, Webcampak is able to automatically generate videos from captured pictures. Read More ›

Tech › Vieilles charrues 2011: Live pictures available from the website

It will let visitors watch in real time captures coming from three different cameras with pictures refreshed every two minutes. Read More ›

Tech › Webcampak installed at Vielles Charrues 2011 music festival

We recently installed a Wecbampak at 'Vieilles Charrues 2011' music festival, a famous event taking place in west of France. Read More ›

Tech › Webcampak available in Spanish

We recently installed a Wecbampak at 'Vieilles Charrues 2011' music festival, a famous event taking place in west of France. Read More ›

Tech › Webcampak: In-flight capture

No this is not a new webcampak functionality with a flying camera, just a small article about a nice picture captures yesterday morning by one of our webcampaks. Read More ›

Tech › Webcampak : record weather and interract with sensors

There has not been much post on our blog recently, we are currently working on improving the core of our system to easy addition of new functionalities. Read More ›

Tech › Webcampak : privacy filter

Installing a photo-monitoring system could be sensitive in crowded environments where inhabitants of the area want to protect their privacy, especially if you plan to publish high resolution pictures live. Read More ›

Tech › Setting a webcampak capture as a dynamic wallpaper on Linux

You can use a webcampak picture as a wallpaper on Linux, this is not a very common situation as webcam pictures quality tends to be low. But with Webcampak you can enjoy high resolution pictures right on your wallpaper. Read More ›

Tech › Setting a webcampak capture as a dynamic wallpaper on MS Windows

How to display a picture captured by your right on your MS Windows wallpaper ? Read More ›

Tech › Webcampak: what about weather monitoring ?

Working with Webcampak can give us interesting pictures... Read More ›

Tech › Webcampak : test it remotely !

What about playing a bit with Webcampak ? We've installed a demo version of the viewer interface on one of our Webcampak. You will only get limited access (no modifications allowed) but it should give you a first inside view of the system. Read More ›

Tech › Zoom sur le Webcampak

Tech › Webcampak : évolution de l’interface

Webcampak, notre serveur d'images et de vidéos, continue d'évoluer, avec cette fois-ci le développement d'une nouvelle interface graphique : Read More ›

Tech › Webcampak : surprise sur prise !

Parfois les essais de configuration de Webcampak peuvent réserver quelques surprises, tel ce cliché pris sur le vif avec une webcam usb HD Read More ›

Tech › Webcampak: Vous avez dit 3G ?

Hier, nous avons connecté l'un de nos webcampak via le réseau 3G, avec pour objectif d'offrir une solution permettant de s'affranchir de toute connexion filaire. Read More ›

Tech › Webcampak: exemple d’infrastructure

Dans une quinzaine de jours, cela fera une année que le projet Webcampak aura débuté. Read More ›

Tech › Webcampak : vidéo de la Tour

Et voici la vidéo générée par Webcampak Read More ›

Tech › Webcampak intégré

Webcampak, notre serveur d'images, continue sa course vers la commercialisation. Il est maintenant testé in-situ, avec une récente intégration dans un boîtier étanche par l'un des testeurs Read More ›

Tech › Webcampak : retour sur la webcam HD

Petit retour en arrière, souvenez-vous : l'utilisation de Webcampak avec une caméra USB HD de marque Hercules, et son intégration pour la rendre étanche. Read More ›

Tech › Webcampak : les photos archivées

Petit retour en arrière, souvenez-vous : l'utilisation de Webcampak avec une caméra USB HD de marque Hercules, et son intégration pour la rendre étanche. Read More ›

Tech › Webcampak : des nouvelles !

Les deux testeurs de Webcampak ne chôment pas, le développeur encore moins vus les emails échangés ;-) Ce travail d'équipe permettra d'aboutir très rapidement à un produit stable, une fois les derniers bugs envoyés _ad-patres_. Read More ›

Tech › Webcampak: état des lieux

Les congés aidant, nous n'avons que peu abordé le sujet webcampak durant l'été. Read More ›

Tech › Webcampak: Gel des fonctionalités

En suivant ce blog, vous avez pu constater que le Webcampak évolue régulièrement. Read More ›

Tech › Webcampak : DEUX testeurs recherchés !!

Webcampak avance toujours, trop lentement pour certains d'entre vous qui auraient un besoin immédiat de ce type de produit, mais nous avons fait le choix de prendre le temps, le temps de développer, le temps de laisser pousser l'idée, de tester. Read More ›

Tech › Webcampak : une idée germe…

Tech › Webcampak: en avant la musique !

L'ajout des dernières fonctionnalités sur le Webcampak se poursuit, vous pouvez désormais ajouter une piste audio sous la forme d'un fichier audio MP3. Read More ›

Tech › Webcampak: vous avez un message

Webcampak est, depuis hier, en mesure de vous contacter directement par email, par le biais de votre serveur SMTP préféré (gmail par exemple). Read More ›

Tech › Webcampak: MiniNet est presque prêt

Nous avons mentionné dans un précédent billet l'arrivée prochaine de deux version embarquées du webcampak, MiniDisk et MiniNet. Read More ›

Tech › Webcampak : en test sur Issy

Un module Webcampak a été mis en service à Issy Les Moulineaux, capturant des vues qui devraient, à terme, permettre de vous présenter une belle animation vidéo HD. Read More ›

Tech › Webcampak: nouvelle interface d’administration

L'interface d'administration du Webcampak approche de sa version définitive. Read More ›

Tech › Webcampak: différentes versions

Avant de vous expliquer le pourquoi du comment de la multiplication des versions il est toujours intéressant de rappeler l'idée initiale qui a aboutie à la création du projet. Read More ›

Tech › Webcampak : solutions envisagées

Webcampak avance, pas aussi rapidement que certains d'entre vous pourraient le souhaiter, il y a de la demande et nous ne voulons pour le moment pas y répondre, volontairement, de façon à sortir un produit véritablement stable, exploitable, et non pas une Beta-version remplie de bugs et autres défauts. Read More ›

Tech › Webcampak : exemple de photo d’APN (MAJ)

Voici une capture d'écran d'une photo prise manuellement depuis l'interface de gestion du Webcampak Read More ›

Tech › Webcampak : gestion des APN

Évolution récente de notre Webcampak : la gestion des appareils photo numériques (APN), via un menu dédié. Ce menu permet d'effectuer un maximum de réglage sur l'appareil photo relié en USB au Webcampak, ici un PowerShot S60 de Canon. Read More ›

Tech › Webcampak : schéma de principe

Poursuivons notre présentation du Webcampak, avec un schéma de principe de son fonctionnement et de ses nombreuses fonctionnalités Read More ›

Tech › Webcampak : vue des sources

Voici ce que l'interface actuelle de Webcampak permet de visualiser, depuis la page d'administration Read More ›

Tech › Webcampak : 1080p en HD !

Webcampak évolue, il peut désormais compiler les photos d'une journée, voir d'une semaine, et vous préparer une vidéo en haute définition (HD) 1080p. Read More ›

Tech › Webcampak : photos souvenir

Webcampak évolue toujours, même si nous n'en parlons pas beaucoup depuis un moment. Read More ›

Tech › Webcampak et Free.fr

Lors de nos essais avec Webcampak, le serveur d'images, nous avions activé le ftp d'un ancien compte Free pour envoyer les images provenant de 4 sources différentes toutes les 5 minutes. Read More ›

Tech › Webcampak : intégration d’une webcam

Webcampak fonctionne actuellement avec deux webcams, dont un modèle HD de marque Hercules. L'intérêt était alors de pouvoir placer la caméra HD à l'extérieur, en la protégeant des éléments, particulièrement virulents en ces temps de tempête en Bretagne. Read More ›

Tech › Webcampak : les essais continuent

Des nouvelles de Webcampak, notre serveur d'images automatisé. A l'heure actuelle, une Beta-version fonctionne, reliée à 4 sources d'images Read More ›

Tech › Webcampak : la HD arrive !

Le développement de Webcampak, le serveur d'images, se poursuit, avec l'essai ce matin d'une webcam HD offrant une résolution de 1024 x 768 et délivrant des images de superbe qualité ! Read More ›

Tech › Webcampak : premiers clichés

Lançons nous, et parlons de ce développement interne qui devrait prochainement être externalisé et proposé sur notre boutique en ligne : je veux parler de _Webcampak_, un serveur de clichés, capable de gérer directement un appareil photo, une caméra USB, ou une caméra IP ! Read More ›

Tech › Projet WiTo – « webcam » Wi-Fi haute qualité – 10/Installation Test