CameraThing

A lightweight camera bubble application for Windows, similar to Loom's camera feature. CameraThing provides a floating, circular camera overlay that stays on top of your screen for video calls, recordings, or presentations.

Features • Install • Usage

Features

• 🎥 Floating Camera Bubble: Circular camera overlay that stays on top of all windows
• 🔄 Draggable Window: Move the camera bubble anywhere on your screen
• ⚙️ Settings Panel: Configure camera options (more shapes coming soon)
• 🎯 Transparent Background: Clean, professional look
• 📐 Resizable [Coming Soon]: Adjust the size of the camera bubble to your needs by right clicking on the window.
• 🖥️ Windows Integration: Designed specifically for Windows 10 and 11

Star ⭐ this repository if you find it useful!

Installation

Only Windows is supported. You can download it and install it using ClickOnce here.

It will automatically detect and prompt for updates.

Note

You will also need to install .NET 9.0 Desktop Runtime which you can install here - https://dotnet.microsoft.com/en-us/download/dotnet/9.0.

Option 2: Build from Source

# Clone the repository
git clone https://github.com/hegde-atri/CameraThing.git
cd CameraThing

# Build the project
dotnet build --configuration Release

# Run the application
dotnet run --project CameraThing

Usage

1. Launch: Search for "CameraThing" in your Start menu or run CameraThing.exe from the build output directory
2. Camera Bubble: A circular camera overlay will appear on your screen
3. Move: Click and drag the bubble to reposition it anywhere on your screen
4. Resize: Drag whilst holding right-click to resize the camera bubble
5. Settings: Hover over the bubble to reveal the settings button (the three dots). Use this to toggle the settings panel.
6. Close: Use the settings panel to exit

Technology Stack

• Framework: WPF
• Media Handling: WPFMediaKit for camera integration
• Target Platform: .NET 9.0 on Windows

Contributing

Contributions are welcome! Here's how you can help:

1. Fork the repository
2. Create a feature branch (git checkout -b feature/amazing-feature)
3. Commit your changes (git commit -m 'Add some amazing feature')
4. Push to the branch (git push origin feature/amazing-feature)
5. Open a Pull Request

Development Setup

# Prerequisites
# - Visual Studio 2022 or Visual Studio Code
# - .NET 9.0 SDK
# - Windows 10/11

# Clone and setup
git clone https://github.com/hegde-atri/CameraThing.git
cd CameraThing
dotnet restore

Known Issues

• Currently tested primarily on Windows 11

Roadmap

• Multiple camera source support
• Fix crash when just closing the camera selector toolbar
• Auto Update and installer
• Resizable camera bubble
• Custom shapes (square, rounded rectangle)
• Virtual background support
• Hotkey support

Licence

This project is licensed under the AGPL License - see the LICENCE file for details.

Acknowledgments

• Built with WPFMediaKit for camera handling.
• Thanks to Jan Jones for his blog post on ClickOnce Installer.
• Inspired by Loom's camera bubble feature.
• Generative AI was used to create the logo.

Support

If you encounter any issues or have questions:

1. Check the Issues page
2. Create a new issue with detailed information about your problem
3. Include your Windows version, camera details, and steps to reproduce the issue