Photo Booth Mode

Top  Previous  Next

Photo booth mode provides a live view display and automated countdown for taking multi-camera photos similar to a normal photo booth. Currently photo booth mode can be used with TriggerBox from ESPER or with other camera triggers by using PhidgetsInterfaceKit 0/0/4 or PhidgetsInterfaceKit 0/0/8 relays.

 

The shooting sequence

 

The sequence starts with the ready screen and a live view display taken from the middle camera. A keyboard shortcut or touchscreen action can be used to start a countdown or to take the photos immediately.

At the end of the countdown the live view display is disabled and a command is sent to the TriggerBox to take the photos.

When the photo from the middle camera has been downloaded a preview photo is displayed on the screen while the software waits for the animated GIF or MP4 file to be created by the Multi-Camera Animator. When the animated GIF/MP4 is available it is displayed on the screen for a preset time after which the ready screen is displayed ready for the next set of photos.

A standby screen can be displayed when the system is not in use. This can be selected by using a touchscreen action or by an inactivity timeout. The camera live view is disabled when the standby screen is displayed to prevent possible problems with the camera sensor overheating.

 

Images displayed to the user

 

The screens displayed to users are defined by JPEG images which should be the same size as the screen. The screens can be animated by adding an animated GIF or MP4 file with the same name as the screen image file.

The following screen images are available:

ready.jpg - displayed when the photo booth is ready to take the next set of photos. Live view images from the middle camera are displayed

ready_no_live_view.jpg - similar to the ready.jpg screen but no live view is displayed. This allows the camera to be triggered directly via the camera trigger (e.g. TriggerBox) with the minimum delay

countdown.jpg - displayed during the countdown before triggering the cameras. Live view images from the middle camera are displayed

taking.jpg - displayed just before the command to take the photos is displayed. Live view from the middle camera is disabled

release.jpg - displayed when the command to trigger the cameras is sent

processing.jpg - displays the photo from the middle camera while waiting for the animated GIF/MP4 movie to be created

playback.jpg - displays the animated GIF/MP4 movie for a preset time or until closed by the user

standby.jpg - displayed when the photo booth is in standby mode. Live view is disabled to prevent the camera sensor from overheating

trigger_connecting.jpg - displayed at startup when attempting to connect to the camera trigger

trigger_error.jpg - displayed if there is a problem connecting to the camera trigger

camera_not_connected.jpg - displayed if the connection to the cameras is lost

timeout.jpg - displayed if the photo from the middle camera is not downloaded before the download timeout

processing_timeout.jpg - displayed is the animated GIF/MP4 movie is not created before the processing timeout

 

Using animated GIF files to animate screens

 

Each screen can be animated using an optional animated GIF by placing a GIF with the screen's name in the photo booth images folder e.g. ready.gif for the ready.jpg screen.

If the GIF should play in a continuous loop the suffix _loop should be added to the filename e.g. ready_loop.gif.

Animated GIFs are displayed on an overlay layer and can be placed over the live view display. Use the transparent background color in the animated GIF to create transparent areas - the live view images will be visible behind the transparent areas.

 

By default the animated GIF will be centered on the screen. The position can be specified by appending the following modifiers enclosed in curly brackets to the end of the filename:

T - place the center of the animated GIF at the top of the screen

B - place the center of the animated GIF at the bottom of the screen

L - place the center of the animated GIF at the left of the screen

R - place the center of the animated GIF at the right of the screen

W - width of the animated GIF

H - height of the animated GIF

Each modifier can be followed by a number (to specify the offset in pixels) or a number followed by % (to specify the percentage offset wrt the screen size).

 

Examples:

ready.gif - place a GIF that plays once in the ready screen and place it in the center of the screen

ready_loop.gif - place a GIF that plays in a continuous loop in the ready screen and place it in the center of the screen

ready_loop_{T}.gif - place a GIF that plays in a continuous loop in the ready screen and place its center at the top of the screen (the top half will be off the screen), centered horizontally

ready_loop_{T50}.gif - place a GIF that plays in a continuous loop in the ready screen and place its center 50 pixels down from the top of the screen, centered horizontally

ready_loop_{T10%}.gif - place a GIF that plays in a continuous loop in the ready screen and place its center 10% of the screen height from the top of the screen, centered horizontally

ready_loop_{T10%L}.gif - place a GIF that plays in a continuous loop in the ready screen and place its center on the left of the screen and 10% of the screen height from the top of the screen

ready_loop_{B100R50}.gif - place a GIF that plays in a continuous loop in the ready screen and place its center 50 pixels from the right side of the screen, 100 pixels from the bottom of the screen

ready_loop_{T10%W10%}.gif - place a GIF that plays in a continuous loop in the ready screen and place its center 10% of the screen height from the top of the screen, centered horizontally and resize to 10% of the screen width

 

When an animated GIF is displayed on the countdown screen it replaces the normal countdown text and is only played once. Near the end of the  GIF the taking.jpg screen is displayed and then command to trigger the cameras is sent when the GIF reaches the end.

There is an example countdown.gif in the installation folder. This displays a 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 counter with a progress ring. To test this copy countdown.gif to your photo booth images folder, run the photo booth and press start.

 

Using MP4 movie files to animate screens

 

Each screen can also be animated using an optional movie file by placing a MP4 movie with the screen's name in the photo booth images folder e.g. ready.mp4 for the ready.jpg screen. MP4 animations have the same looping, sizing and positioning options as animated GIFs e.g. to play a movie file in a continuous loop in the ready screen name the file ready_loop.mp4.

Movie files are played on the background layer and will appear behind the live view display. A single continuously looping movie file can be played in the background of each screen by naming it background_loop.mp4. The background movie will be played unless there is a movie file with the current screen name.

 

Set Up

 

Select Photo booth settings... from the File menu to display the "Photo Booth Settings" dialog:
 

photo booth settings

 

Set the photo booth images folder to the folder where the screen images are stored. The default location is a folder named MultiCamera in your Document folder.

 

Use the countdown text font, color and offset settings to control how the countdown text is displayed. The countdown text is displayed as a simple numeric countdown and is centered on the screen. The text offset specifies its vertical placement measured in pixels from the top of the screen. Please note that the countdown text is not displayed if a countdown.gif animated GIF is found in the photo booth images folder.

 

Select the "mirror live view" option to mirror the live view images displayed from the middle camera in the ready and countdown screens. Most guest are used to seeing themselves in a mirror and will find it easier to place themselves in the frame if this option is selected. You may wish to disable this option if the backdrop contains text (otherwise it will be mirrored too).

 

Select "bright live view mode" if you are using flash and the live view images are too dark. When the bright live view mode option is selected the shutter speed of the middle camera can be adjusted using the cursor up and cursor down keys or the "brighter" and "darker" touchscreen actions. The shutter speed will be automatically set to the normal photo taking shutter speed before triggering the cameras.

This option is not necessary when using mid-range or high end cameras which have the option to disable live view exposure simulation in th camera settings.

Tip: When using Rebel series cameras that do not have a B setting on the exposure mode dial you can select auto exposure in live view by repeatedly pressing the cursor up key.

 

Select "Display calibrated live view" for a more accurate live view display. This will rotate and zoom the live view images to match the calibration settings in the Multi-Camera Animator. This option may result in less smooth live view images on computers which don't have fast graphics in which case it should be disabled. When this setting is disabled the live view images are only cropped to match the Multi-Camera Animator settings.

 

The "Inactivity timeout" is the time in seconds before standby mode is selected when in ready mode. Use this option to disable live view to avoid the camera sensor overheating when the system is not in use.

Set the inactivity timeout to 0 to disable the timeout.

 

The "Playback timeout" settings is the time in seconds that the animated GIF or MP4 movie files should be displayed in the playback.jpg screen. At the end of the timeout the ready screen is displayed ready for the next set of photos. The playback.jpg screen can also be closed using the "Close playback" touchscreen action.

 

The "Photo download timeout" setting is the time in seconds the booth waits for the photo from the middle camera to be downloaded after triggering the cameras. If the photo is downloaded before the timeout it is displayed in the processing.jpg screen. If there is a problem with the camera triggers or with downloading the photos the timeout.jpg screen will be displayed.

 

The "Processing timeout" setting is the time in seconds the booth waits for the Multi-Camera Animator to create the animated GIF or MP4 movie file. If the animated GIF or movie file is created before the timeout it is displayed in the playback.jpg screen. If the timeout occurs before the animated GIF or MP4 movie file is created the processing_timeout.jpg screen is displayed.

 

The "Live view cancel time" specifies the time, in milli-seconds, before the end of the countdown when the live view should be canceled. It takes approximately half a second to cancel the live view before taking a photo.

 

The "AF pre-trigger" time controls how long before triggering the cameras that the AF signal should be activated. Pressing AF a short period before taking the photos will give better synchronization between the cameras.

 

Click on the "Touchscreen settings..." button to edit the touchscreen actions on each of the screens:
 

touchscreen settings

 

Select the action using the dropdown lists on the left and the area on the touchscreen that activates the action using the corresponding "Left", "Top", "Right" and "Bottom" edit boxes. The values entered in the edit boxes are the screen coordinates in pixels with the origin in the top left corner.

 

Touchscreen actions can also be viewed or edited interactively using a mouse by clicking on the "Show/edit touchscreen areas..." button. When the touchscreen action editor is first opened it will display the ready.jpg screen and the touchscreen actions for as boxes with white outlines and green text indicating the action. The action can be moved by clicking in the box and moving the mouse with the left button held down. The size of the box can be adjusted by dragging the corners with the left mouse button held down. Touchscreen actions can be deleted by right clicking on the action and selecting "Delete action" from the menu. New actions added by right clicking the mouse and selecting the "Add action...". Different screens can be displayed by right clicking the mouse and selecting the required screen.

Exit the touchscreen action editor by pressing the escape key or by right clicking the mouse and selecting "Exit" from the menu. If the touchsrceen actions have been modified a confirmation dialog will be displayed asking you if you want to save the changes.

Please note: the touchscreen action editor only edits the positions of the touchscreen actions. It doesn't edit the JPEG screen images which display the graphics for the touchscreen buttons - to do this you need to use an image editor such as Photoshop Elements.

 

In Operation

 

First set up the Multi-Camera Animator to create the animated GIFs or MP4 movies files and to calibrate the photos from the cameras (see the "Creating Animated GIFs and MP4s" section) and set it in "Run" mode.

Next set up the camera trigger to trigger the cameras with a suitable delay when using flash (see the "ESPER TriggerBox" section).

Then set the camera exposure settings as required e.g. if using flash set the shutter speed to 1/30 or 1/60, the aperture to f8 and the ISO and flash power to get correctly exposed photos.

Select "Photo booth mode..." from the File menu. The trigger_connecting.jpg screen will be displayed while connecting to the camera trigger system (this could take a few seconds). After it has connected the ready.jpg screen should be displayed with live view images from the center camera.

Press the start or trigger cameras keyboard shortcut or tap the touchscreen to activate the "Start countdown" touchscreen action.

 

Keyboard Shortcuts:

F3 - toggle live view on/off and switch between the ready.jpg screen (live view on) to the ready_no_live_view.jpg screen (live view off)

Shift+F3 - disable live view from the middle camera and switch from the ready.jpg screen to the ready_no_live_view.jpg screen

Ctrlt+F3 - enable live view from the middle camera and switch from the ready_no_live_view.jpg screen to the ready.jpg screen

F4 - take photos immediately with no countdown (there will be a delay of about 1/2 sec while the live view is canceled)

F5 - start the countdown

F6 - switch between ready and standby modes

Esc - exit photo booth mode

 

Note: When triggering the cameras using F4 the delay caused by cancelling live view from the middle camera can be avoided by pressing F3 first. This allows live view to be used for the initial composition and then disabled before taking the actual photos to reduce the delay in triggering the cameras. When live view is disabled the cameras can be triggered directly using the camera trigger (e.g. with a remote release switch connected to the input of an ESPER TriggerBox). The cameras can't be triggered directly when live view is active (except by pressing F4) because the shutter lag is longer when live view is active and the middle camera won't take its photo in sync with the other cameras.

 

Using other camera triggers

 

Other camera triggers can be used to trigger the cameras in photo booth mode by using PhidgetsInterfaceKit relays. Either the PhidgetIntefaceKit 0/0/8 or PhidgetInterfaceKit 0/0/4 can be used. The PhidgetIntefaceKit 0/0/8 has small signal relays and is more suitable for this application. Please visit the Phidgets website (www.phidgets.com) for more information on their products.

 

Select File->Select trigger... and select "PhidgetsInterfaceKit" from the dropdown list in the "Camera Trigger Selector" dialog:

 

TriggerSelector

 

If "PhidgetsInterfaceKit" does not appear in the dropdown list you need to install the Microsoft Visual C++ 2010 SP1 Redistributable Package (x86). This can be downloaded from Microsoft's website.

 

Connect relay 0 to the AF input on the camera trigger and relay 1 to the shutter release input.

Run Multi-Camera and select File->Trigger setup...
 

phidgets setup

 

Press the "Trigger Cameras" button to trigger the cameras. You should hear the relays click on and off when this is pressed.

If the setup dialog does not show the Phidgets relay is connected please check that the Phidgets drivers are installed on the computer and that a PhidgetsInterfaceKit 0/0/4 or PhidgetsInterfaceKit 0/0/4 is connected to the computer via USB.