VisualizerApp is a free browser-based document camera. Point any webcam at a document, textbook, or object and share it with your class — no software to install.
This guide primarily documents v3 Early Preview. Stable v2 works similarly, although some menus and newer classroom tools differ.
Getting Started
The camera starts at the highest resolution your webcam supports (usually 1080p 16:9). You can change resolution and aspect ratio in the sidebar under Hardware.
Freeze Frames
Freezing captures a snapshot you can annotate, zoom into, or show to students while you rearrange the physical document.
Free: 8 frames. Pro: 16 frames. Oldest frames are replaced when the limit is reached.
Annotation Tools
Press A or click the pen icon to open the annotation toolbar. Available tools:
Free tools: Pen, Highlighter (semi-transparent), Text (click to place, type, press Enter; use A-/A+ in the text box to resize), Line, Arrow, Rectangle, Ellipse.
Trail pointer: Available 3 times per session on Free; unlimited on Pro.
Colours: 8 preset colour swatches plus a custom colour picker.
Settings: Click the sliders icon to adjust line width (1–40px) and highlighter opacity.
Actions: Undo (Ctrl+Z), Clear all, Save image (downloads as PNG), PDF export (Pro; first export free per session), Bake (permanently merges annotation into the frozen frame). On frozen frames, Undo/Clear now steps back baked edits too.
Math overlays: Use the grid button to cycle overlays (graph paper, dot grid, axes). Use the expand arrows button to change grid size.
STEM tools: Click the rulers button to cycle tools. The ruler is free; protractor, compass circle, and angle tool are Pro. Drag the white handles to move or resize.
Use the Pro panel’s Save All as PDF for multi-page exports.
Use Bake to permanently save annotations on a frozen frame; otherwise annotations are temporary overlays. On the live view, annotations overlay the video but don’t affect the camera feed.
Trail Pointer (Virtual Laser)
A virtual laser pointer that leaves a glowing yellow trail which fades after 1.5 seconds. Perfect for highlighting areas on projected documents.
Trail pointer is available 3 times per session on Free; unlimited on Pro. You can change trail colour from the annotation colour swatches or custom picker while Trail is selected. The trail is visible in Presenter Mode, so students see it on the projector. Trail pointer activates automatically when you open Presenter Mode. Adjust the trail length (0.5s to 5s) in Pro Tools → Enhancement.
White Screen (Digital Whiteboard) Pro
Turns the entire display into a blank white canvas you can draw on with the annotation tools. Perfect for quick explanations, diagrams, or working through problems with students.
Presenter Mode Pro
Opens a clean, distraction-free output window for projectors, Zoom, and interactive whiteboards. You can switch scenes, draw annotations that stay with each scene, capture student work with labels, show 4 labelled frames at once in Student Work layout, resize the spotlight pointer, and navigate frames — all from the presenter window without touching the main app.
Quick distinction: Presenter scene keys 3/4 set a plain WHITE/BOARD output background. The Whiteboard/Blackboard camera profiles are separate camera presets and are best viewed in Presenter 1 (LIVE) scene.
What shows in Presenter Mode: live or frozen video, all annotations (including presenter-drawn annotations), trail pointer, timer countdown, board modes (whiteboard/blackboard), dyslexia tints, grid/math overlays, and the FROZEN label.
If you have a book open in the Resource Pane, Presenter Mode will open the book fullscreen instead — great for reading aloud to the class.
Wireless Phone Camera
Use your phone as a wireless document camera. No app needed — just scan and connect.
Both devices must be on the same Wi-Fi network. The phone’s camera is higher quality than most laptop webcams and has autofocus. Keep your phone propped up pointing down at the desk.
Timer
Countdown or stopwatch timer with visual overlay for students to see on the projected screen.
The timer turns green while running, amber in the last 10 seconds, and red when finished with a pulsing animation.
Camera Profiles
One-click presets that adjust zoom, brightness, contrast, sharpness, and colour modes for different classroom tasks. Open the sidebar → Image Profiles.
Free profiles:
Default — Normal camera view, no enhancement.
Document Scan — 1.2x zoom, higher contrast and brightness for reading paper documents.
Pro profiles:Pro
Whiteboard — Point at a real whiteboard. Pushes the background to white and darkens marker ink. Does not black out the camera.
Blackboard — Point at a real blackboard/chalkboard. Darkens the board and brightens chalk writing.
Object / Demo — 1.5x zoom with warm tones for showing 3D objects, science kit items, art supplies.
Low Vision — 2x zoom, high contrast, yellow tint for accessibility/SEND students.
Art / Colour — True colours with no filters for displaying artwork accurately.
Book Reading — 1.3x zoom, cream tint (reduces eye strain), crisp text for reading aloud.
Science Close-up — 2x zoom, maximum sharpness and contrast for specimens, circuits, small components.
Resource Pane (Books, Audiobooks & PDFs)
Search and display books or audiobooks alongside your camera feed in split-screen view.
Strict rights mode is enabled: borrowable or unclear-rights items open in the Internet Archive reader/site. In-app rendering/player is used only when rights are clearly open.
Keyboard Shortcuts
Press ? in the app for a quick reminder. All shortcuts:
| Space | Freeze / unfreeze |
| A | Toggle annotation tools |
| G | Cycle grid / math overlays |
| S | Toggle spotlight |
| V | Toggle vignette |
| C | Capture / save image |
| R | Start / stop recording (opens Standard vs Loop picker) |
| T | Open timer |
| D | Split view (dual pane) |
| F | Fullscreen |
| B | Resource pane (books) |
| W | Wireless camera |
| P | Presenter Mode |
| ← → | Previous / next frozen frame |
| ? | Show shortcuts reminder |
Presenter window shortcuts (when presenter window is focused):
| Space | Freeze / resume; captures a frame to the deck when freezing |
| 1 2 3 4 | Scene switch: Live / Freeze / White / Board |
| A | Set pen tool |
| C | Clear annotations |
| U / Z | Undo last stroke |
| D | Toggle frame deck tray |
| ← → | Previous / next frame |
| 5 | Cycle layout: Student Work / Split / Overview / Single |
| R | Toggle reveal mask |
| M | Pointer mode cycle: Trail / Spotlight / Off |
| + / − | Resize spotlight (or scroll wheel) |
| L | Toggle lock mode (prevent accidental close) |
| H | Show / hide presenter cheat sheet |
| Esc F | Exit / fullscreen |
| Double-click | Draw tool wheel (pen, highlighter, eraser, colours) |
| Right-click | Spotlight wheel (capture, label, deck nav, layout, mask) |
Main window safe forwarding while presenter is open: Ctrl+Alt+1..4, Ctrl+Alt+M, Ctrl+Alt+L.
Pro Features Pro
Pro unlocks everything needed for professional classroom delivery. You can start with a one-off 24-hour browser preview, then a 7-day Pro Free Trial with no payment card. Paid access is available as an Annual Pass for £39 one-off excluding tax with up to 6 device activations, or a Monthly Subscription for £3.99/month excluding tax with up to 6 device activations.
What Pro adds: Presenter Mode with scene switching (Live/Freeze/White/Board), per-scene annotations (drawings stay with each scene), board capture (Space on White/Board saves annotations to deck), Student Work 4-up layout with arrow-key paging, frame labelling (click label in deck tray to name students), deck reorder (drag-to-rearrange), resizable spotlight pointer (+/− or scroll wheel), lock mode, pointer modes (trail/spotlight/off) + presenter cheat sheet, unlimited trail pointer + trail length control, white screen mode for digital whiteboarding, 16 freeze frames (vs 8), PDF export with student name labels (single + multi) and Save all as PNG, 5 min recording (vs 2 min free), one active loop clip with 30s, 1m, and 2m duration presets, loop clip PiP overlay in Presenter Mode with corner position presets, whiteboard/blackboard camera profiles, dyslexia-friendly colour tints, auto-freeze, 7 Pro camera profiles, remember settings + presets A/B/C, and watermark-free exports.
24-hour Pro Preview: In VisualizerApp you can run a one-off 24-hour Pro Preview in your browser/device with no sign-up, key, or payment card needed.
To activate: Click the Pro panel at the bottom of the sidebar, enter your licence key, and click Activate. Your key is validated instantly and Pro features unlock.
7-day Pro Free Trial: Start the trial via Lemon Squeezy using your email address. Keys are issued automatically by email and no payment card is required for this step. After the 7-day trial, choose the Monthly Subscription, Annual Pass, or email about a site licence. See pricing options →
Pricing page: View VisualizerApp pricing
Tips & Troubleshooting
Camera not starting? Work through these checks in order:
- Click the camera/lock icon in your browser’s address bar and allow camera access for visualizerapp.com. Reload the page after changing it.
- Check the computer’s privacy settings too. On Windows, allow camera access for desktop apps; on macOS, allow camera access for Chrome or the browser you use.
- Close Teams, Zoom, Meet, OBS, camera software, and any other browser tab using the camera. A USB camera can normally be opened by only one app at a time.
- Unplug the USB camera, wait a few seconds, reconnect it, and press Retry. If necessary, fully quit and reopen the browser.
- Open Hardware, choose the correct camera, and temporarily set Resolution and Aspect Ratio to Default.
- Try an Incognito or Guest window. If that works, an extension, saved site permission, or browser-profile setting is probably involved. Reset the site’s camera permission before clearing all site data, because clearing data can also remove saved VisualizerApp settings.
Still not working in Classic? Open Hardware and select Copy camera diagnostics. Paste the report into your support email or feedback form. It includes browser support, permission state, device count, safe camera settings, and the last error. It never includes camera images, audio, device IDs, device labels, licence keys, saved work, or URL query data.
Wrong camera selected? Open the sidebar → Hardware → Camera dropdown to switch between connected cameras.
Image looks stretched? Change the aspect ratio in the sidebar under Hardware. Try “Auto” or “16:9”.
Wireless camera won’t connect? Both devices must be on the same Wi-Fi network. Make sure no VPN is active. Try refreshing both pages.
Pop-ups blocked for Presenter Mode? Your browser may block the new window. Click the blocked pop-up icon in the address bar and allow pop-ups for visualizerapp.com.
Accidental exits in Presenter Mode? Press L in the presenter window to enable lock mode while teaching, then press L again to unlock.
Drawing in Presenter Mode: Annotations are stored per-scene — drawings on the Whiteboard stay on the Whiteboard, drawings on the Blackboard stay on the Blackboard, and drawings on Live/Freeze share a separate layer. Click and drag anywhere on the presenter canvas to draw with the current tool. Double-click to open the draw wheel (change tool, colour, undo, clear). Right-click to open the spotlight wheel (capture student work, label it, navigate frames, switch layout). Press Space on White/Board scenes to capture the board + annotations as a deck frame. Click the label under any deck thumbnail to type a student name — names appear in the Student Work layout and in PDF exports.
Performance mode: Enable it in the Hardware panel to reduce blur effects and cap Presenter Mode FPS for smoother use on Chromebooks or older laptops.
Browser support note: VisualizerApp is tested primarily in Chrome. If you see issues in Safari, Firefox, Edge, or other browsers, please report them via the feedback form so we can fix them quickly.
Works offline: VisualizerApp is a Progressive Web App. After your first visit, the core camera features work without internet. Book search, PDF exports (first-time library load), and wireless pairing still require a network. Install it from your browser’s “Install app” option for the best experience.
Availability note: VisualizerApp is currently a small self-funded project. We cannot guarantee 100% uptime yet, so PWA install is recommended for better continuity of core classroom tools.
Privacy / school review: VisualizerApp is designed to keep core camera processing local in the browser, with no student accounts required for normal document camera use.
Need help? Contact hello@visualizerapp.com or support@inline-computers.co.uk, or use the feedback form. For privacy, data, billing, or custom organisation quote questions, use support@inline-computers.co.uk.