Warp Effects

• Warp effects are designed to distort certain features or portions of the frame. Effects like Small Nose and Large Eyes shrink or enlarge your facial features, including the nose, mouth, eyes or your entire head. Others distort the viewing area by creating swirls or making the center of the frame bulge out, producing an optical effect similar to that created with a fish-eye camera lens. There are even effects to make your head resemble a cone, a square or an alien shape.
  
  

3-D Effects

• The Dashboard provides three-dimensional effects to enhance your appearance or the viewing area of a video chat. Some of these effects create the appearance of virtual accessories, including a pink wig, a cowboy hat or a cat face, or can make stars or question marks encircle the subject's head. Others produce animations that run along the edges of the screen and include flowers, snow, a beach scene, swimming fish or smoky clouds. These effects appear around the bottom of the frame or on your head and are intended to follow your movements.
  
  

Color Filters

• The Dashboard software also includes more standard effects that are often found in other video programs. You can invert the video for a negative color effect or film video in black and white, such as the ability to invert an image or to make it black and white or sepia, a brownish tone. More interesting effects include the ability to make a cartoon out of your image, give it glowing edges or to make it look washed out like a watercolor painting.
  
  

Considerations

• The video can become slower and choppy when using the special effects during a video chat or while streaming. The facial recognition technology may not always be accurate and at times can have a hard time tracking movements, sometimes making the 3-D accessories seem to be floating in midair. Also, some effects won't work if your video card software and drivers aren't up to date. The best advice is to sit as still as possible while chatting and to check with Microsoft's support website to ensure you're using the latest version of the Dashboard software and LifeCam Cinema drivers.