AlterCam 

AlterCam creates a virtual webcam and allows you to add effects to output videos. As the input, the application supports not only your webcam stream but also recorded videos and your computer screen recordings. Fortunately, it supports opening multiple video formats. The final stream can be either broadcasted through any communication software supporting video or saved to a video file.

The tool has a nice straightforward interface. In fact, working with it is as simple as choosing a source (webcam, IP cam, desktop, recorded video) and selecting any of the numerous effects. Then, you can start previewing the applied effects in real time. The final step would be to configure the client program to use the virtual cam you have created instead of the real one.

AlterCam supports adding more than 50 effects, many of them are quite ingenious and funny. Besides, you can add pictures and text overlays. Conveniently, it allows changing not only the image but your voice as well. So, using a combination of both voice and image alterations, you can become practically unrecognizable, which is very useful if you want to play a practical joke on your friends. Alter Cam supports various output resolutions, including high-definition video. Moreover, it can use two video codecs VP8 and MJPEG with a high compression rate. Similarly, it uses multiple audio codecs.

Unfortunately, using AlterCam wasn’t a good experience for me. First, it created a new virtual audio device on my machine and changed my settings without authorization. Second, although its developers claim it doesn´t require so much computing power, the application made my computer overheat when I tried to use various effects at the same time. Third, it took a lot of time to start processing a pre-recorded video. And worse than all that, it froze for no apparent reason.