This is an app that allows Mac users to control playback (pause/play) iTunes or Spotify using hand gestures.
Important To use, follow the instructions. Once it is installed and running, make a fist in front of the webcam to toggle playback! I realized I never actually specified how to use it once it’s running 😅.
There are several ways to install and use this application.
- From Latest Release (MacOS only)
Visit the Releases tab and select the newest release. Then unzip and double-click the Voleter.app file. The icon should be a fist.
- From Source (MacOS only)
You must have Python3 installed
To install, clone this repo and install dependencies.
git clone git@github.com:alexanderldavis/Voleter.git
cd Voleter
pipenv shell
pip3 install -r requirements.txt
To use the code, make sure you have a webcam enabled.
(Side note, if it does not work at first on Linux with errors about a disconnected camera, run sudo apt-get cheese then run cheese. Close out of the application and try again. I think it has something to do with drivers, despite Ubuntu trying to be "works out of the box". You can also use cheese to configure camera options.
Finally, run the python file with
python3 voleter.py
Once running, you should see Voleter in your machine's menu bar. It will detect if Spotify or iTunes is open, and will select one to control. To manually toggle which app you wish to control, click Voleter and select Control Spotify or Control iTunes.
This project intends to replace the application "Flutter" that was so unfortunately acquired (and soon after abandoned) by Google.
Flutter could control iTunes, Youtube, Spotify, Powerpoint... pretty much anything! It was a fun feature to show off to friends.
Since the original program no longer works on High Sierra (or maybe even several generations back), I decided to try to make my own
The name Voleter is the French verb for "Flutter", and since I was working on this project while procrastinating on a French paper, I figured it was an appropriate name.
- Create executables for Linux and Windows. The
archivebranch has code that can be run on any machine. Therumpspackage allows me to run this code on MacOS as menu bar apps, but analogs can be found for other Operating Systems.
If you wish to contribute to project, fork this repo and have at it! There is likely a lot of optimizations that are possible. Key among them is gaining a better understanding of pyinstaller. The combination of numpy, opencv, and pyinstaller is a doozy, and the current release works but I'm sure someone with more experience with either PyInstaller or Py2App could find my mistakes!
To build the project, install PyInstaller and all of Voleter's dependencies:
pip3 install pyinstaller
pip3 install -r requirements.txt
Then make changes to voleter.py, and run
pyinstaller --onefile --windowed --noconsole --icon=fist.ico voleter.py
Running the command above will create voleter.spec. Use this file to configure any options, then run
pyinstaller --onefile --windowed --noconsole --icon=fist.ico voleter.spec
You will then have a new executable in the /dist file.
Thanks for your interest!
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