AI Captions and Live Video Processing in .NET MAUI
If you need more than basic camera capture — processing frames before they hit the encoder, applying live effects, or burning AI captions into output — this post introduces the SkiaCamera control from DrawnUi.Maui.Camera. It’s powered by SkiaSharp, supports iOS, MacCatalyst, Android, and Windows, and is designed for real-time feed processing workflows.
What you’ll learn
- How to install and set up the
SkiaCameracontrol with hardware-accelerated DrawnUI canvas - How UI orientation locking works for stable recording while still reacting to device rotation
- How
UseRealtimeVideoProcessingroutes every frame through your pipeline before encoding - How to apply SKSL shader effects (Noir, Movie, etc.) to both preview and recorded video in real-time
- How pre-recording (look-back capture) uses a circular buffer to keep seconds before you hit record
- How to draw overlays — audio visualizers and caption panels — directly onto recorded frames using DrawnUI layouts
- How OpenAI speech-to-text powers real-time captions that get burned into the final MP4
- GPS and EXIF metadata injection for both video and photo capture