Submit Hint Search The Forums LinksStatsPollsHeadlinesRSS
14,000 hints and counting!

Enable iSightCapture in 10.4.10+ and 10.5 Apps
A security fix in Leopard and 10.4.10 prevents the app iSightCapture from working unless it is run by the console user. Here is a workaround to get things going again. Create a simple AppleScript with the following command as the entire file:
do shell script "/your/path/isightcapture imagename"
Replace /your/path/isightcapture with the full path to the iSightCapture program, and replace imagename with the name you'd like to use for captured images. Save the script as an application, and call that program when you want to capture the iSight's output. This forum thread over on the macosx.com forums contains more details, including info on how to set up a cron task to automate screen grabs, as well as a way to stop your little program's icon from showing up in the Dock.

This works as advertised, except I used a script I had made before that took the picture and uploaded it to a server (from a previous hint here). I just set up the app to run at login, and it now works just as it did before.

[robg adds: The home page for iSightCapture seems to have vanished, which is why I haven't linked to it...]
    •    
  • Currently 3.40 / 5
  You rated: 5 / 5 (5 votes cast)
 
[16,788 views]  

Enable iSightCapture in 10.4.10+ and 10.5 | 11 comments | Create New Account
Click here to return to the 'Enable iSightCapture in 10.4.10+ and 10.5' hint
The following comments are owned by whoever posted them. This site is not responsible for what they say.
Enable iSightCapture in 10.4.10+ and 10.5
Authored by: club60.org on Feb 01, '08 08:01:44AM
Enable iSightCapture in 10.4.10+ and 10.5
Authored by: Stef@nK on Feb 01, '08 11:57:52AM

thanks, this is very interesting.
I'm the developer of the free AppleScript Studio application EyeSight, which uses iSightCapture for taking scheduled pictures. Unfortunately the described error occurs (sometimes) also in Leopard after about 20-30 minutes while EyeSight is running. I have no idea to prevent this



[ Reply to This | # ]
Enable iSightCapture in 10.4.10+ and 10.5
Authored by: gregarios on Feb 03, '08 07:27:45PM

I'm running 10.4.11 and iSightCapture 1.1 seems to be working just fine by itself on my machines now. (after Security Update 2007-009 I believe)

Must have just been a bug.

I have it running on a 2007 iMac 24" Intel, a 2007 MacBook, and a brand new iMac 24" CDE.



[ Reply to This | # ]
Enable iSightCapture in 10.4.10+ and 10.5
Authored by: ssimon on Feb 05, '08 04:56:16AM
iSightCapture can now be found at http://www.intergalactic.de/pages/iSight.html

[ Reply to This | # ]
Enable iSightCapture in 10.4.10+ and 10.5
Authored by: DrDavid on Apr 27, '08 11:39:24AM
This did not work for me. Let me give a few details.

I am using the scripts from MacOSXHints to take a picture on wake from sleep and post to a web page.

http://www.macosxhints.com/article.p...70126214841550

This was working fine, but somewhere around the end of March this stopped working (perhaps when Apple issued an update?). The symptoms are that on wake from sleep, the light on my iSight goes on for a short while as it should, indicating it is taking a picture. But no picture is saved. When I use the Activity monitor, I see that the program iSightCapture is still running. It looks like it gets stuck after taking the picture. So, rather than not being able to access the iSight camera, it looks like something gets stuck after taking the picture.

I tried the work around from this article (I'm running Mac OS 10.4.11). I created the script application as directed, and when I double click on it, it works fine. But, when I put the path to the script application in my .wakeup file, I continue to get the same behavior - on wakeup, the camera light goes on for a short while, but the iSightCapture program never exits and no picture is saved.

By the way, one consequence of this problem is that Skype and other programs can not access the iSight program. The stuck iSightCapture program continues to hold exclusive access to the camera until I reboot the computer or kill the process. This is what originally led me to investigate the issue.


[ Reply to This | # ]
Enable iSightCapture in 10.4.10+ and 10.5
Authored by: jfox95 on Dec 19, '08 11:32:44AM

My set up is still working fine. I will try to get a tutorial up and provide a link here when I do.



[ Reply to This | # ]
Enable iSightCapture in 10.4.10+ and 10.5
Authored by: jfox95 on Dec 26, '08 10:11:59AM
wrote it up real quick: http://foxscorner.com/blog/2008/12/isightcapture/

hopefully it makes sense haha

[ Reply to This | # ]
Enable iSightCapture in 10.4.10+ and 10.5
Authored by: victorp88 on Feb 02, '09 02:09:00PM

when i open the application I get this error:

FATAL: graphics exporter failed

help please



[ Reply to This | # ]
Enable iSightCapture in 10.4.10+ and 10.5
Authored by: Der Scherar on Jun 04, '09 03:52:07AM

I found a more "creative" way to access the isight remote or via php...

I used a folder action to activate the cam. I wrote a php to touch a file in a watched folder, which folder script starts the cam and takes a picture.

It's not the fastest way, but it works...

on adding folder items to this_folder after receiving added_items
do shell script "/usr/local/bin/isightcapture -t jpg /path/to/pic-folder/cam.jpg"
end adding folder items to


[ Reply to This | # ]
Enable iSightCapture in 10.4.10+ and 10.5
Authored by: robertharder on Sep 15, '09 10:14:48AM

Since isightcapture is no longer supported, I wrote a new command line tool for 10.5 and up (it uses QTKit, introduced in 10.5). It's public domain. Feel free to modify.

http://iharder.sourceforge.net/current/macosx/imagesnap/

-Rob



[ Reply to This | # ]
Enable iSightCapture in 10.4.10+ and 10.5
Authored by: tompohl on Jan 24, '10 12:49:46PM
I've put together a little tutorial on how to once again use isightcapture and automate taking your picture and posting it to a website when your computer wakes. HOWTO: Track your mac

[ Reply to This | # ]