Support & version notes

What's new in version 2.0?

• SynthCam now offers multi-point focusing and tilted focal planes. The number icon on the toolbar cycles through 1, 2, 3, and 4-point modes. In each mode the solid square shows where the camera itself is metering and focusing, and the open reticles show other points the app is tracking and keeping sharp. These squares and reticles can be moved or resized by dragging or pinching them. The 2nd screenshot below on the app's iTunes page what 4-point mode looks like before pressing Record. Multi-point focusing lets you align the focal plane with any collection of objects in the scene. It also lets you simulate a tilt-shift lens. To do this, place 2 or 3 points along a line through the scene, then rotate the phone slowly and continuously while recording. With some practice you can take pictures that make the world look like a miniature model. Look at the 3rd screenshot on the app's iTunes page.
• Synthetic images are sharpened when stored in the Camera Roll. Tracking and resampling induce a consistent 1-pixel blur, so mild unsharp masking works well for this purpose. The level of sharpening is adjustable on the Preferences screen.
• A collection of algorithms that makes tracking more robust: by predicting where the focusing square might go next and moving it there, by detecting a wandering focus square and freezing it before it starts jumping around, etc. The accelerometer is still used to correct pitching and rolling as in version 1.1, but only in 1-point focusing mode.
• Redesigned focusing square to make it visible against any background.
• Tuned what things get reset on single and double tap of Reset button.
• Tracked features can be closer to the edge of the screen than before.
• More graceful if tracking is lost or a tracked feature wanders offscreen.

Bug fixes and improvements in version 2.0

• The Reset button, which looked like a trash can, is now a refresh icon. First tap discards the current image, but leaves the focus square alone. Second tap resets everything, including focus square size.
• The accelerometer is used to compensate for accidental pitching or rolling of the phone. This may improve the sharpness of in-focus objects. However, it cannot correct for yawing. This feature can be disabled on the Preferences screen.

Bug fixes and improvements in version 1.1

• HD resolution and Retina Display now working correctly on iPod Touch 4.
• Retina display improved, so option to disable it is no longer needed.
• GPU blending improved, so option for CPU blending is no longer needed.
• Touch-to-focus didn't also touch-to-expose. Now it does.
• White balancing now locks during capture, making blending more reliable.
• Fixed several bugs in handling of pan and pinch gestures.
• Fixed bug causing app to crash when reactivated from background quickly.
• Images captured in landscape mode are now stored with correct orientation.
• Tracking is more stable, and reacts more gracefully if tracking is lost.
• Improved performance and fixed several bugs related to saving images.

Known issues with version 1.1

• Double tap on Reset (refresh icon at left side of toolbar) recenters the
• focus square, but doesn't revert from spot-based focusing and metering to
• camera's default area-based algorithms. Apple provides no way to do this,
• except by killing and relaunching the app.

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