DEV Community: Chinmayee P

Snapbooth

Chinmayee P — Sun, 12 Apr 2026 06:53:07 +0000

This is a submission for the DEV April Fools Challenge

What I Built

I built SnapBooth, a vintage-style photobooth web app that looks completely normal at first.

It includes all the expected features:

Live webcam preview
Countdown timer
Photo strip generation
Downloadable images
A clean retro aesthetic

But hidden inside are three “enhancement” buttons that are actually pranks:

Depth Effect - triggers a swarm of animated spiders crawling down the screen with a jumpscare
Flip Layout - rotates the entire page upside down while flipping only the user in the camera feed (gravity illusion)
HDR Enhance - launches a horror sequence with static, ghosts, and creepy messages

The key twist is that the prank doesn’t just happen in the UI - the webcam feed itself is manipulated in real time, so users see themselves inside the chaos.

Demo

To run the project locally:

python photobooth_backend.py

This starts the backend server and automatically opens the app in your browser.

Best way to demo it:

Let someone take normal photos first
Suggest trying “Depth Effect”
Then “HDR Enhance”
Finish with “Flip Layout”

Code

GitHub Repository:
https://github.com/Chinmayeep58/snapbooth/tree/main

Key files:

snapbooth/
├── photobooth_backend.py   # Backend server + OpenCV processing
├── photobooth.html         # Frontend UI
├── README.md

How I Built It

The app is built using a frontend + backend architecture:

Frontend

Pure HTML, CSS, and JavaScript
No frameworks used
Vintage photobooth UI design
Dynamic SVG animations for spiders and ghosts
CSS transforms for page flipping

Each prank button sends a request to the backend:

fetch('http://localhost:5000/prank?action=X')

Backend

Python HTTPServer to serve the app and handle requests
OpenCV for real-time webcam processing
MediaPipe for person segmentation

Core Idea

Instead of applying effects to the entire frame, the app isolates the person:

Detect foreground (user)
Apply transformations only to them
Keep the background unchanged

This creates effects like:

“Hanging from the ceiling” illusion
Ghost trails using frame blending
Horror overlays with noise and color shifts

Technologies Used

OpenCV
MediaPipe
NumPy
Python standard libraries
Vanilla JavaScript & CSS

Prize Category

Community Favorite

This project is designed for maximum shareability and real-time reactions.
The combination of a believable UI and unexpected interactive pranks makes it perfect for live demos and social sharing - exactly what April Fools is about.

Happy pranking!!

Code-Buddy

Chinmayee P — Sat, 26 Jul 2025 10:00:42 +0000

This is a submission for the AssemblyAI Voice Agents Challenge

What I Built

Code Buddy is an intelligent voice-powered code assistant that addresses the Domain Expert category. It allows developers to upload code files and ask questions about them using natural voice commands, receiving expert-level explanations and suggestions powered by AI.

Demo

GitHub Repository

https://github.com/Chinmayeep58/code_buddy

Technical Implementation & AssemblyAI Integration

Code Buddy leverages AssemblyAI's powerful transcription capabilities to convert voice questions into text with high accuracy, especially for technical terminology.

Key AssemblyAI Features Utilized
Multi-Format Audio Support

Supports WAV, MP3, M4A, FLAC formats
Handles varying audio quality from phone recordings to professional mics

High Accuracy for Technical Terms
AssemblyAI excels at transcribing programming-related terminology:

Function names: "calculate_fibonacci", "parse_json_data"
Technical concepts: "API endpoints", "database queries", "machine learning"
Code-specific language: "optimize this algorithm", "refactor the function"

Robust Error Handling

Additional feature:
Browser Recording (For Convenience)

JavaScript MediaRecorder API for in-browser recording
Generates downloadable audio files
Seamless integration with AssemblyAI transcription

My after the hack: Code, Chaos, and a Lot of Learning

Chinmayee P — Wed, 16 Jul 2025 12:34:06 +0000

This is a submission for the World's Largest Hackathon Writing Challenge: After the Hack.

Developing applications or even small programs started as a necessity, be it for marks, or the sake of participation. I spent my first hackathon wondering what and how my teammates where building stuff, out of passion and so much dedication (oh I remember them not even taking a nap). It made me feel that building a product needs an inspiration along with the expertise.

After the hackathon, I began exploring tech stacks, and without wasting a moment I began building whatever I came across (platform didn't matter, my interest and uniqueness in the project did). Summer break brought in more opportunities to learn. Be it open-source projects or online hackathons, I always learned new things. I used to assume AI would take away my skill and creativity, but I used it to rectify and grow my skill.

One year later I built my own portfolio website, explored technologies like VR/AR, 3D modelling and many more.

That one hackathon left me thinking as to where I stand in the future if I didn't start exploring and building.

Coffee Machine: Office first love

Chinmayee P — Fri, 04 Jul 2025 07:54:15 +0000

This is a submission for Frontend Challenge: Office Edition sponsored by Axero, CSS Art: Office Culture.

Inspiration

Cafeteria was the place I spent the most during my first internship, and it was the place where I for the first time fell in love with the coffee (or should I say coffees). I took some reference from CSS art of other coders, and incorporated some changes.

Demo

Journey

It was a fun time creating this piece, and the only thing I could think (or smell) was coffee. Hoping to create more such art pieces.

Cartoon Character Generator

Chinmayee P — Thu, 03 Jul 2025 09:06:46 +0000

This post is my submission for DEV Education Track: Build Apps with Google AI Studio.

What I Built

A cartoon character generator, that takes in keywords about your personality and creates a unique cartoon character, along with a description. Interesting right!! Watching AI guess your soul cartoon character and trying to describe you.

Demo

Click here to experience it yourself

My Experience

From giving a concise and crisp prompt, to being able to test the app in just a few minutes, this hints what the future is going to look like. Experimenting with Gemini's Build with Gemini AI, was very exciting, and gave me an opportunity to explore how I can use it in my personal projects.

Back to School Games

Chinmayee P — Sat, 08 Jun 2024 07:20:41 +0000

This is a submission for Frontend Challenge v24.04.17, CSS Art: June.

Inspiration

My inspiration for building this project is to improve student-teacher bonding and improve the perspective of looking at school after vacation.

Demo

Journey

Going back to school after summer break can be both joyful as well a little disappointing. That's where games play a part in making the first day less boring. Breaking from the vacation routine could take a toll on both teacher and student, thus having fun and interactive sessions, and playing these games can help make the first day interesting.

There are instructions given for the games, easy to understand.
The process of building this project helped me gain styling skills, effective usage of the CSS effects, and how combining both would result in a beautiful design. I look forward to creating more complex and interactive designs.