imagesnap

A CLI for capturing images on macOS and Linux 📷 📸 🖼️

This crate also doubles as a Rust library. 🦀

Installing

via Homebrew

brew install smudge/smudge/imagesnap

via Cargo

Set up Rust/Cargo and install from crates.io by running:

On Linux you will also need the libv4l2 development headers (usually provided by the libv4l-dev package).

cargo install imagesnap

Usage

Command-Line Interface

Run the command without any arguments to output snapshot.jpg, captured from the default camera:

$ imagesnap
Capturing image from device "iSight"..................snapshot.jpg

On Linux the default device is usually /dev/video0 and listed devices will appear under /dev/video*.

The filename can be changed by specifying an argument. Only JPG files are currently supported:

$ imagesnap shot1.jpg
Capturing image from device "iSight"..................shot1.jpg

Use the -l flag to list all available image capture devices:

$ imagesnap -l
iSight
DV

Use the -d flag to use a specific device:

$ imagesnap -d DV
Capturing image from device "DV"..................snapshot.jpg

Use the -w flag to specify a warmup period (default is 0.5), allowing the camera to perform light balancing and/or focus before taking a shot:

$ imagesnap -w 2.5
Capturing image from device "iSight"...........................snapshot.jpg

Use the -q flag to silence the status and progress output.

Lastly, run the command with -h/--help to see usage instructions.

Rust API

In addition to a CLI, imagesnap can be pulled-in as a dependency for other Rust crates:

imagesnap = "0.0.1"

To snap an image with the default camera, use Camera::default:

let camera = Camera::default();
camera.snap("snapshot.jpg").await;

Note that snap is an async function.

If more than one camera is attached, use Camera::new and specify a device:

let camera = Camera::new(Device::find("FaceTime"), None);

To discover all devices, use Device::all().

An optional warmup period may also be specificied (in seconds):

let camera = Camera::new(Device::default(), 1.5);

If left unspecified, it will default to 0.5 seconds.

Bonus: a git post-commit hook

To automatically take a selfie with each git commit, create the following file at ~/.git-templates/hooks/post-commit or (in a given repo) .git/hooks/post-commit:

#!/bin/bash
FILE="${HOME}/.gitshots/$(date +%s)"
if [ ! -d "$(git rev-parse --git-dir)/rebase-merge" ]; then
  git log HEAD~1..HEAD --pretty=format:'{"sha1": "%H", "author": "%aN", "authored": %at, "commiter": "%cN", "committed": %ct, "msg": "%s", "project:" "' > "$FILE.json"
  git rev-parse --show-toplevel | awk -F/ '{print $NF}' | tr -d '\n' >> "$FILE.json"
  echo -n '"}' >> "$FILE.json"

  imagesnap -q -w 3 "$FILE.jpg" &
fi
exit 0

You may choose to change or remove -w 3 (the warmup delay), depending on your default camera.

Todo:

• Basic functionality working (snap image to file)
• Add additional opts like 'quiet' and 'warmup'
• Get device selection working
• Clean up code, work on generic lib interface
• Update README with library usage
• Support additional file types? (png, tif, etc?)
• Add Linux support (via rscam)
• Add Windows support (via escapi)
• Get STDOUT and pipe detection working (macOS/linux)

Thanks To:

• Robert Harder for the original imagesnap CLI
• The maintainers of the Rust objc crate
• Carol Nichols and Steve Klabnik for the official book on Rust

Contributing

• Check the issue tracker and consider creating a new issue.
• Fork the project and create a new branch for your contribution.
• Write, commit, and push your contribution to your branch.
• Make sure the project builds (cargo build) and functionality still works as expected.
• Submit a pull request.

License

Licensed under either of

• Apache License, Version 2.0, (LICENSE-APACHE)
• MIT license (LICENSE-MIT)

at your option.

Unless you explicitly state otherwise, any contribution intentionally submitted for inclusion in the work by you, as defined in the Apache-2.0 license, shall be dual licensed as above, without any additional terms or conditions.