Remember, for best results, look at the camera. :-)

#!/usr/bin/perl -w
use strict;
use Tk;
use Proc::Killfam;
use Tk::Spinbox;
$|++;

# by zentara of perlmonks, July 18, 2011
# this is free to use and distribute
# I wrote this because I wanted just a simple
# webcam grab for my built-in digital camera

# each snap shot will be deposited in the pwd as shot0001.png, shot000
+2.png, etc

# you can run mplayer by itself to do the same thing,
# but remembering all the key options and commandline stuff
# is a mind blower :-)

#put your preferred settings here
#my($width,$height) = (640,480);
my($width,$height) = (800,600);

# defaults are normally good
my $device = '/dev/video0';
my $brightness = 0; # range -100 to 100
my $contrast = 0;
my $fps = 30;  #default frames per second
my $snaps_taken = 0; #counts number of snapshots taken

$SIG{INT} = sub { &close_it_up };
$SIG{PIPE} = 'IGNORE';

my $mw = MainWindow->new(-background =>'black');

$mw->Tk::bind("<q>", sub{&close_it_up});
$mw->Tk::bind("<Escape>", sub{&close_it_up});
$mw->protocol('WM_DELETE_WINDOW' => sub {&close_it_up});

$mw->fontCreate('big',
        -family=>'courier',
        -weight=>'bold',
        -size=>int(-18*18/14));

my $cframe1 = $mw->Frame(-background =>'black')
            ->pack( -fill =>'x');

my $cframe2 = $mw->Frame(-background =>'black')
            ->pack( -fill =>'x');

my $canv = $mw->Scrolled('Canvas',
     -bg => 'black',
     -borderwidth => 0,
     -highlightthickness => 0,
     -relief => 'sunken',
     -width =>  $width,
     -height => $height,
     -scrollregion=>[0,0,$width,$height],                             
+                                
     -scrollbars=>'osoe',   
     )->pack();


## this Frame is needed for including the window in Tk::Canvas
my $Container = $canv->Frame(-container => 1);

my $xtid = $Container->id();
# converting the id from HEX to decimal as xterm requires a decimal Id
my ($xtId) = sprintf hex $xtid;

my $dcontitem = $canv->createWindow(10,10,
   -anchor=>'nw',
   -window => $Container,
   -width => $width,
   -height => $height,
   -state => 'hidden',
   -tags => ['viewport'],
   );

my $pid;
my @options = ( 
                  '-slave','-loop 0', '-zoom',
                "-x $width", "-y $height",
         '-really-quiet', 
         "-wid $xtId",
                 "-vf screenshot",   
 "tv:// -tv driver=v4l2:device=/dev/video0:input=1:brightness=$brightn
+ess:amode=1:fps=$fps:width=$width:height=$height",
  );


my $loadl_but = $cframe1->Button(-text => 'Snapshot', 
              -background => 'black',
              -foreground => 'hotpink',
              -activebackground => 'lightyellow',
              -padx => 0, 
              -command => \&grab1, 
              -font => 'big'
            )->pack(-side =>'left',-padx=>10 );

$cframe1->Button(-text => "Exit", 
             -background => 'black',
             -foreground => 'hotpink',
             -activebackground => 'lightyellow',
             -padx => 0, 
             -command => [sub{&close_it_up}],
             -font => 'big'
             )->pack(-side=>'right', -padx =>10 );


$cframe1->Label(-text=>" Brightness->",
                -background => 'black',
                -foreground => 'lightgreen' )->pack (-side=>'left');
my $sp1 = $cframe1->Spinbox(-width => 4, 
              -font => 'big',
               -background => 'black',
               -buttonbackground => 'black',
               -foreground => 'lightgreen',
              -command => sub{ &set_brightness },
          -from => -100,
          -to => 100,
          -textvariable => \$brightness,
          )->pack (-side=>'left');

$cframe1->Label(-text=>"   Contrast->",
                -background => 'black',
                -foreground => 'lightgreen' )->pack (-side=>'left');

my $sp2 = $cframe1->Spinbox(-width => 4, 
              -font => 'big',
               -background => 'black',
               -foreground => 'lightgreen',
               -buttonbackground => 'black',
               -command => sub{ &set_contrast },
          -from => -100,
          -to => 100,
          -textvariable => \$contrast,
          )->pack (-side=>'left');

$cframe1->Label(-text=>"   Snapshots taken->",
                -background => 'black',
                -foreground => 'lightgreen' )->pack (-side=>'left');

$cframe1->Entry(-textvariable => \$snaps_taken, 
              -background => 'lightyellow',
              -font => 'big',
                -width => 2
         )->pack( -side => 'left');


$cframe2->Label(-text => 'Hit SpaceBar to take snapshot            q o
+r esc to exit ',
                -background => 'black',
        -foreground => 'lightgreen',
                -font => 'big' 
                 )->pack(-expand=>1 );

$mw->Tk::bind("<space>", \&grab1);


&start_player;



MainLoop();
#########################################################
##############################################################
sub start_player{
  $pid = open(MP, "| mplayer @options >/dev/null 2>&1 "); 
  $canv->itemconfigure($dcontitem,-state => 'normal');

}
##############################################################
sub set_brightness{
   #print "$brightness\n";
   syswrite(MP, "brightness $brightness 1\n");
}

##############################################################
sub set_contrast{
  # print "$contrast\n";
   syswrite(MP, "contrast $contrast 1\n");
}

##############################################################
sub grab1{
  syswrite(MP, "screenshot 0\n");
  $snaps_taken++;
}
#############################################################
sub stop{
       syswrite(MP, "quit\n");
       close MP;
       $canv->itemconfigure($dcontitem,-state => 'hidden');
       killfam 9, $pid;
       
}
#################################################################
sub close_it_up{
&stop;
exit;
}
###################################################################
__END__
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