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SenseCam v2.3 User Guide Page 7 of 31 10/03/2009
It is possible to tell Windows to automatically use SenseCam Import every time a device
containing images is connected to your PC (check the „Always do the selected action‟ box).
However, this is not recommended if you are likely to plug other devices with images (such
as a regular digital camera) into the PC from time to time because these will also cause the
SenseCam Image Importer to run which is probably not desired behaviour. Also note that an
„empty‟ SenseCam will not result in the SenseCam Import option being displayed.
Prior to importing the images, the SenseCam Image Importer will show a dialog requesting
the user to enter a name for the set of images that are about to be imported. Though optional,
specifying a name here helps to keep the SenseCam images organised. When new images
are imported from the SenseCam, the SenseCam Image Importer creates a new folder on the
PC‟s local storage to store them in. This folder is named with the time and date of import
(which is not directly related to the times that the images and sensor data were collected)
and the name entered by the user into the dialog prior to importing. An example folder name
is “10-February-2006 10-40-43 # Visiting London”. An example without the album name
specified is “10-February-2006 10-40-43 #”.
The date-based folder names that have been created by default can be manually edited
afterwards using Windows Explorer. The viewer application assumes that folder names will
start in the default way in order to sort them chronologically. It is strongly advised to avoid
changing the part of the folder name before the „#‟ character. However, it is fine to change
the folder name after the „#‟ character by either appending text after the „#‟ character to
name the set of images or changing the text if a name was already specified during the
importing of images. Anything after the „#‟ will be ignored by the viewer application.
The easiest way to change the image folder names is to use the shortcut to „SenseCam
Images‟ which was created on the desktop/in the Start menu when the software was
installed. Selecting this shortcut starts up a new Explorer window with all the imported
folders displayed. By default, the location of this is “C:\Documents and
Settings\<username>\Local Settings\Application Data” folder. This location may be
changed by editing the Windows registry (see Section 3.7). If you want the viewer
application to use SenseCam (or other) images already stored on your machine, edit the
registry string to point to the directory containing image folders or copy/move those
directories into the image root directory.
3.3. Using the basic features of the SenseCam Image Viewer
When the SenseCam Import is complete, the SenseCam Image Viewer application will
automatically start and load in the new images. If the SenseCam Image Viewer is started via
the Windows Start menu (or via the shortcut on the desktop), it will present a list of all the
folders imported to date, and whichever is selected will be displayed in the viewer.
Having loaded up a set of images, the sequence can be replayed slowly using the „Play‟
button (labelled „>‟) or more quickly using the „Fast Forward‟ button (labelled „>>‟). As the
sequence plays, the slider underneath the image progresses from left to right. Playback can
be paused at any point with the „Pause‟ button. The mouse can be used to manually drag the
slider to a particular position and have playback continue from that point. It is also possible
to play the image sequence in reverse using the „Back‟ and „FastBack‟ buttons. Any images
in a sequence which are unwanted may be removed by using the „Delete‟ button: this does
not actually delete the files, but merely records (in a configuration file) that they are not to
be used as part of the playback sequence.
