Review: Videoscope - How To Turn Your iPhone Into A Kaleidoscope
by Staff Writer
February 14, 2011
Have you ever wanted to turn the world around you into a Kaleidoscope, but didn’t want to bring that special tube around with you? Well now you can with your iPhone 4 or 4th generation iPod Touch using either the rear 720p camera or the front facing camera. You simply point your device’s camera around, and the footage is instantly transformed into a Kaleidoscope view.
That’s not all though, as there are four different camera altering modes in total. Not only is there Kaleidoscope, but also Pinscreen, Impressionist, and Brickbreaker. Pinscreen gives you rectangular prism like columns that vary in height depending on the brightness. Impressionist turns your video into tiny particles, and Brickbreaker makes it a wall of shimmering bricks.
All four modes can be manipulated with touch to add more mind bending visual effects to your video camera view. You can tilt to change the Kaleidoscope’s perspective, and then spin it, and pinch to zoom in and out. Pinscreen lets you hold down the heights of columns, and Brickbreaker lets you tap to smash out part of the wall of bricks. Impressionist is similar to other particle manipulation apps as you can tap with one finger to repel particles, and tap with two to attract them.
Even with all the manipulation, once you’re done tapping and such the image will revert to its original effect. The app renders all the effects live so as you move your device around, the view changes just like if you were in the camera app. It’s amazing seeing your surroundings with a kaleidoscope or other mode, and seeing it in real time makes it that much better.
You can switch between the modes with a couple of taps, and the same goes for alternating between the rear and front facing camera. Each mode offers a unique look, and having the choice for all four will keep you playing around for quite awhile. Not only is viewing the camera feed with one of the effects great, but being able to manipulate the image adds to the wow factor.
You can do the same effects with a still image from your camera roll, and you can save images from within the app. One thing to note is that you can’t record the video with the special effects you can only view it live, and save still images of it. The app’s ability to manipulate live footage shows a lot of power as it’s taking in, converting, and outputting a whole new look to your video practically instantaneously.
The Pinscreen and Impressionist modes aren’t nearly as fluid as the Kaleidoscope or Brickbreaker. They stall when moving the camera around, but you can also pause the camera feed for these modes to work a little better. When using the front facing camera all four modes run without a hitch because there are less pixels since the front facing camera is only VGA.
Videoscope is fun to use, neat to show off, and gives new life to your camera beyond the traditional video. It really is amazing seeing the camera footage in a nearly unrecognizable, but amazing looking form. Videoscope is a should buy for only $0.99 that offers beauty and fun in one great package.
That’s not all though, as there are four different camera altering modes in total. Not only is there Kaleidoscope, but also Pinscreen, Impressionist, and Brickbreaker. Pinscreen gives you rectangular prism like columns that vary in height depending on the brightness. Impressionist turns your video into tiny particles, and Brickbreaker makes it a wall of shimmering bricks.
All four modes can be manipulated with touch to add more mind bending visual effects to your video camera view. You can tilt to change the Kaleidoscope’s perspective, and then spin it, and pinch to zoom in and out. Pinscreen lets you hold down the heights of columns, and Brickbreaker lets you tap to smash out part of the wall of bricks. Impressionist is similar to other particle manipulation apps as you can tap with one finger to repel particles, and tap with two to attract them.
Even with all the manipulation, once you’re done tapping and such the image will revert to its original effect. The app renders all the effects live so as you move your device around, the view changes just like if you were in the camera app. It’s amazing seeing your surroundings with a kaleidoscope or other mode, and seeing it in real time makes it that much better.
You can switch between the modes with a couple of taps, and the same goes for alternating between the rear and front facing camera. Each mode offers a unique look, and having the choice for all four will keep you playing around for quite awhile. Not only is viewing the camera feed with one of the effects great, but being able to manipulate the image adds to the wow factor.
You can do the same effects with a still image from your camera roll, and you can save images from within the app. One thing to note is that you can’t record the video with the special effects you can only view it live, and save still images of it. The app’s ability to manipulate live footage shows a lot of power as it’s taking in, converting, and outputting a whole new look to your video practically instantaneously.
The Pinscreen and Impressionist modes aren’t nearly as fluid as the Kaleidoscope or Brickbreaker. They stall when moving the camera around, but you can also pause the camera feed for these modes to work a little better. When using the front facing camera all four modes run without a hitch because there are less pixels since the front facing camera is only VGA.
Videoscope is fun to use, neat to show off, and gives new life to your camera beyond the traditional video. It really is amazing seeing the camera footage in a nearly unrecognizable, but amazing looking form. Videoscope is a should buy for only $0.99 that offers beauty and fun in one great package.
