camera-flip 0.1.0

Live camera viewer with realtime flip controls and camera switching

camera-flip

A small command-line camera viewer for flipping a live camera feed horizontally or vertically in real time.

camera-flip is useful when you want a quick local camera preview with keyboard controls for mirroring, rotating by flips, resetting the view, and switching between camera devices.

Features

• Live camera preview using OpenCV
• Horizontal flip toggle
• Vertical flip toggle
• Reset flips instantly
• Switch between camera indexes 0 through 9
• Heads-up display showing the active camera
• Safe fallback screen when a camera is unavailable
• Installable as a command-line tool

Installation

Install from GitHub

python -m pip install "git+https://github.com/PedroLopes/camera-flip.git"

After installation, run:

camera-flip

Install locally for development

From the root of this repository:

python -m pip install -e .

Then run:

camera-flip

Usage

Start with the default camera:

camera-flip

Start with a specific camera index:

camera-flip --camera 1

Short option:

camera-flip -c 1

Keyboard controls

Key	Action
0-9	Switch to camera index
h	Toggle horizontal flip
v	Toggle vertical flip
r	Reset flips
q	Quit

Project structure

camera-flip/
├── pyproject.toml
├── README.md
└── src/
    └── camera_flip/
        ├── __init__.py
        └── cli.py

Packaging configuration

This project uses pyproject.toml and exposes a command named camera-flip.

[build-system]
requires = ["setuptools>=77.0.3"]
build-backend = "setuptools.build_meta"

[project]
name = "camera-flip"
version = "0.1.0"
description = "Live camera viewer with realtime flip controls and camera switching"
readme = "README.md"
requires-python = ">=3.9"
dependencies = [
    "opencv-python>=4",
    "numpy>=1.23"
]

[project.scripts]
camera-flip = "camera_flip.cli:main"

Requirements

• Python 3.9 or newer
• A working webcam or external camera
• OpenCV, installed automatically through opencv-python
• NumPy, installed automatically through numpy

macOS camera permissions

On macOS, the first run may require camera permission. If the camera window opens but no image appears, check:

System Settings → Privacy & Security → Camera

Make sure your terminal app, IDE, or Python launcher has permission to access the camera.

Troubleshooting

camera-flip: command not found

Make sure the package installed successfully:

python -m pip install -e .

If you installed inside a virtual environment, activate that environment before running the command.

Camera does not open

Try another camera index:

camera-flip --camera 1
camera-flip --camera 2

You can also switch cameras while the app is running by pressing number keys 0 through 9.

OpenCV install issues

Upgrade pip first:

python -m pip install --upgrade pip

Then reinstall:

python -m pip install -e .

Window does not respond to keys

Make sure the camera window is focused. Click the OpenCV window, then press h, v, r, number keys, or q.

Development

Clone the repository:

git clone https://github.com/YOUR_USERNAME/camera-flip.git
cd camera-flip

Install in editable mode:

python -m pip install -e .

Run the command:

camera-flip