Photoboof! Manual
Updated June 5, 2009
If you need any help with any of this, feel free to email support@photoboof.com. We want to get you up and boofing, and we'll even talk you through it on the phone if need be or take control of your computer (with your help of course) to get it set up.
Table of Contents
Quick Start
Computer Setup
Printer Setup
Hardware Recommendations
Camera Setup (Canon Powershots using Photoboof as the controller)
Camera Setup (Canon Powershots and DSLRs using RemoteCapture)
Camera Setup (Canon Powershots and DSLRs using ZoomBrowser)
Camera Setup (Canon Powershots using PSRemote)
Camera Setup (Canon DSLRs using DSLRRemote)
Camera Setup (Nikon DSLRs)
Camera Setup (Webcams)
Photoboof Configurations
Viewer Configurations
Skinning Photoboof
Triggering Photoboof
Triggering Photoboof Remotely
Interfacing with Bill Acceptors
Hardware Recommendations
Running External Commands
Troubleshooting
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QUICK START!
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There's lots of details in this manual, but if want a quick start:
1) Follow the steps in Computer Setup below.
2) Follow the steps in Printer Setup below.
3) Run Photoboof.
4) Go to File --> Show Preferences --> Camera and set your camera controller and restart Phtooboof.
5) If you get any errors, you might need to read the rest of this manual to get started. Or feel free to email support@photoboof.com, attaching your log file (c:\photoboof\log.txt) if possible.
6) If you're only using a single monitor, note that the F1 key will close the Viewer, which will otherwise take over your screen. This is meant to be seen inside the booth and can be on any monitor, and it's highly recommended to show this on a secondary monitor so you can see the main program messages, printer messages, etc. on the primary monitor.
7) By default F12 is the trigger, so Photoboof will start taking pictures when you press the F12 key. See the section Triggers below for many more trigger options. When you buy a license, we send you an arcade-quality backlit button that plugs into your USB port.
8) Feel free to email any questions, suggestions, requests for help, whatever, to support@photoboof.com.
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Computer Setup
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- Run the installer, which will install everything to c:\photoboof. So when you're done, photoboof.exe will be at c:\photoboof\photoboof.exe.
- This program uses the following external programs: IrfanView to print, and a camera control program. If you're using a webcam or a Canon Powershot Photoboof can control your camera, or for Powershots if you prefer you can use either ZoomBrowser for more recent Canon Powershots and EOS cameras, or Canon RemoteCapture for older Powershots (downloadable here) or PSRemote. For Canon DSLRs you can also use ZoomBrowser, Canon RemoteCapture (free, see the link earlier in this paragraph) or DSLR Remote Pro, which costs $95.
For Nikon DSLRs, Nikon Camera Control Pro 2 probably came with your camera, install it. Note that this program isn't free, but if you purchase it for use with Photoboof, send over your receipt and we'll deduct its price from Photoboof.
In all cases tell the capture program to save the pictures to c:\photoboof\capture.
- Recommended setup: a Pentium III or better computer, Windows 2000, XP or Vista, a Canon Powershot controlled by Photoboof, and a second monitor to put inside the booth for people to see their pictures on The Viewer.
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Printer Setup
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Photoboof should work with any printer that works with Windows. Since the program IrfanView has such great printer control, we're using it for the printing engine. Note that after you set things up initially, you never see the IrfanView interface, everything is handled automatically by Photoboof. So make sure Irfanview is installed to it's default location (it's a free download from irfanview.com).
To configure your printer:
1) Set your printer on the Printer tab of the preferences dialog (Photoboof --> Show Preferences).
2) Choose your layout on the Layout tab of the preferences.
3) Now set your paper size, which you do in two places: Windows Control Panel, and Irfanview. So go to Windows Control Panel --> Printers, select your printer, then set paper size, orientation (landscape or portrait), and paper quality.
4) Now in Photoboof start a photobooth session, which you can always do by pressing the F12 key. Once you have a strip completed, click the Show Last button at the top of Photoboof, which will open the picture in Irfanview, and choose Fie --> Print. On the print dialog, choose "Original size (from image DPI)", landscape or portrait as appropriate, and then click the Printer Setup button and go through your printer settings again, paying special attention to paper size and paper quality.
5) If your prints are slightly off center, you can use the "Left Margin" and "Top Margin" areas of the Irfanview print dialog to center things.
6) Note that for the strip layouts (strip, strip2, strip3, strip-vertical), you need to check either "Best fit to page (aspect ratio)" or "Best fit to page (no aspect ratio)" instead of "Original Size from DPI".
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Layouts
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This is the strip layout, which looks great on 2.13" x 6" paper, which you can have cut at any copy shop. Note that only Canon inkjets can print this narrow:
This is the double layout, prints to 4x6 paper:
This is the double2 layout:
The double3 layout:
The grid1 layout:
The new grid4 layout:
The 3x1a ("three by one") layout:
This is grid2 layout, prints to 4x6 paper. The logo on the right is in c:\photoboof\assets\[skin]\\grid2_logo.jpg.
This is grd3 layout, which prints to 4x6 paper. The logo files are in c:\photoboof\assets\[skin]\grid3-logo_left.jpg and c:\photoboof\assets\[skin]grid3-logo_right.jpg.
This is the strip2 layout, which prints to 2.13" x 7" paper. The logo file is in c:\photoboof\assets\[skin]\strip-footer.jpg.
This is the strip3 layout, which prints to 2.13" x 7.5" paper. The logos are c:\photoboof\assets\[skin]\strip-footer.jpg and c:\photoboof\assets\[skin]\strip-header.jpg:
This is the strip-vertical layout. Note the vertical orientation of the camera:
The 6up layout :
This layout (6up2) gives you complete control. The file 6up2-mask.png gets laid over the finished layout, and can contain anything you want. See the grid4 layout for another example of this technique.
Fullpic3 is another layout using the mask technique. This layout lets you put absolutely anything on the completed picture. Note that this is a 1 picture layout.
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Camera Setup (Canon Powershots controlled by Photoboof)
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This is currently the ideal Photoboof configuration. In the next month or two (as of May 26, 2009) we'll be adding support for Canon DSLRs directly into Photoboof as well.
- in Photoboof, go to File --> Show Preferences --> Camera and set the controller to "Photoboof with a Powershot". Restart Photoboof.
- Start Photoboof with your camera connected and it'll start the camera controller. It should be saving its pics to c:\photoboof\capture. Adjust any camera properties on the controller screen.
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Camera Setup (Canon Powershots and DSLRs using RemoteCapture)
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- Install Canon RemoteCapture (it probably came with your camera, or download from here)
- Turn your camera on, making sure the switch is in the Play mode, then run RemoteCapture and click Yes when asked if you want to connect.
- Go to preferences and tell it to save its pictures to c:\photoboof\capture.
- You might change the "size/quality" setting to something smaller, especially if you're using an older Powershot. The setting "medium1/normal" works well.
- Tell Photoboof you're using Canon RemoteCapture by going to File --> Show Preferences --> Camera and setting the camera controller to RemoteCapture.
- If I were you I'd get the AC adaptor for your camera so you don't have to use batteries. BestBuy has them for like $20, and they're cheaper online, especially from ebay, of course.
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Camera Setup (Canon Powershots and DSLRs using ZoomBrowserEX)
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- Install this version of ZoomBrowserEX. Other versions may work, but Canon changes this program often so its a good idea to use that version.
- Turn your camera on, making sure the switch is in the Play mode if its an older Powershot, then run ZoomBrowser, then click Acquire & Camera Settings, then click Connect to Camera, then click the "Remote Shooting" folder tab on the window that opens, then click the "Start Remote Shooting" button. When asked where to save the pictures, direct it to c:\photoboof\capture. Note that you can automate much of this by setting "launch_controller = yes" in the Photoboof configuration file.
- If you're using an older slow Powershot, you might change the "size/quality" setting to something smaller to make picture shooting faster. The setting "medium1/normal" works well.
- If you're using a Powershot, tell Photoboof you're using ZoomBrowser by going to File --> Show Preferences --> Camera and choosing "ZoomBrowser with a Powershot", then restart Photoboof.
- If you're using a DSLR, tell Photoboof you're using ZoomBrowser by going to File --> Show Preferences --> Camera and choosing "ZoomBrowser with an EOS ", then restart Photoboof.
- Note that the ZoomBrowser window will try to take focus whenever a picture is taken. If you're only using one monitor, which isn't recommended by the way (the recommended way is to put the viewer monitor inside the booth, and keep the main monitor for status messages), you might want to set the Photoboof viewer window to be "always on top" in the Photoboof config file. As always, let me know if you need any help.
- If I were you I'd get the AC adaptor for your camera so you don't have to use batteries. BestBuy has them for like $20, and they're cheaper online, especially from ebay of course.
- If you want the users of your booth to see a live preview of themselves, set "live_preview" to "yes" (to leave it always on) or "intro" (to show it just during the intro) in the Photoboof config file. Note that this works much better if you have the people inside your booth seeing themselves on a secondary monitor. And in ZoomBrowser, enable the live feed from your camera by clicking the following button:
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Camera Setup (Canon Powershots using PSRemote)
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- Install PSRemote (download it from http://www.breezesys.com/downloads.htm, but note that the demo mode doesn't save the pictures and so won't work with Photoboof)
- Turn your camera on, making sure the switch is in the Play mode, then run PSRemote or RemoteCapture. It should connect to your camera. If it doesn't, make sure your camera drivers are installed properly.
- In PSRemote, set Size/Quality to whatever you like (I use Medium2/normal). Setting the size larger than that on older Powershots slows things down *signficantly*.
- Also, PSRemote has to be not only open, but connected to the camera, and NOT MINIMIZED. I know, ugh, but you can shrink it to a tiny window.
- Make sure PSRemote is registered and not in demo mode, as it won't save the pictures in demo mode.
- Tell Photoboof you're using PSRemote by going to File --> Show Preferences --> Camera and choosing PSRemote, then restart Photoboof.
- If I were you I'd get the AC adaptor for your camera so you don't have to use batteries. BestBuy has them for like $20, and they're cheaper online, especially from ebay, of course.
TROUBLESHOOTING:
- Is PSRemote in demo mode? It won't save the pictures when in demo mode, and hence won't work with Photoboof. Unfortunately you need to register PSRemote ($50) before using it with Photoboof.
- Make sure PSRemote is saving its pictures to c:\photoboof\capture.
- Open Preferences in PSRemote (File --> Preferences) and make sure the Year, Month and Day boxes are all unchecked, and that the pictures are set to save in c:\photoboof\capture. Photoboof should make this configuration automatically, but on some computers it has trouble setting PSRemote's configuration.
- If Photoboof keeps giving you errors that say "no response from PSRemote!", make sure PSRemote isn't minimized. For some reason PSRemote misses commands sometimes when it's minimized. Note that the window can be in the background, just not minimized.
- If your camera isn't responding to PSRemote, make sure it's in Play mode, not Record mode.
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Camera Setup (Canon DSLRs using DSLRRemote Pro)
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- Install DSLR Remote (download a free 15-day demo from http://www.breezesys.com/downloads.htm. The demo saves the pictures and so works fine with Photoboof.)
- Turn your camera on, making sure the switch is in the Play mode, then run DSLR Remote. It should connect to your camera. If it doesn't, make sure your cameda drivers are installed properly.
- Then set whatever camera settings you'd like in DSLR Remote. Note that Photoboof will take pictures using these settings.
- Hint: click the PREVIEW button to see a sample pic.
- Also, note DSLR Remote has to be not only open while Photoboof is running, but connected to the camera, and NOT MINIMIZED. I know, ugh, but you can shrink it to a tiny window.
- Tell Photoboof you're using a Canon DSLR by going to File --> Show Preferences --> Camera and choosing "DSLRRemote", then restart Photoboof.
- If I were you I'd get the AC adaptor so you don't have to use batteries. BestBuy has them for like $20, and they're cheaper online, especially from ebay, of course.
TROUBLESHOOTING:
- Open Preferences in DSLR Remote (File --> Preferences) and make sure the Year, Month and Day boxes are all unchecked, and that the pictures are set to save in c:\photoboof\capture. Photoboof should make this configuration automatically, but on some computers it has trouble setting DSLR Remote's configuration.
- Make sure DSLRRemote is saving pictures to c:\photoboof\capture.
- If Photoboof keeps giving you errors that say "no response from DSLR Remote!", make sure DSLR Remote isn't minimized. For some reason DSLR Remote misses commands sometimes when it's minimized. Note that the window can be in the background, just not minimized.
- If your camera isn't responding to DSLR Remote, make sure it's in Play mode, not Record mode. Then in DSLR Remote, go to Camera --> Connect to Camera.
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Camera Setup (Nikon DSLRs)
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- Install Nikon Camera Control Pro 2, which probably came with your camera. If it didn't, you can download it here.
- To make your camera remote controllable by the computer, go to Menu on your camera, then select USB, then select "PTP" instead of "Mass Storage".
- Tell Camera Control Pro 2 to save the pictures to c:\photoboof\capture by going to Tools --> Download Options.
- In c:\photoboof\configuration.ini, set the camera_controller to "nikondslr". So the line will look like this: camera_controller = nikondslr
- If you get permission errors, add a prefix to the filename in Nikon Camera Control Pro. For example, you could make the prefix be "photoboof".
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Camera Setup (Webcam)
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Photoboof should work with any USB webcam, provided you have the drivers installed. Open the webcam with another application (for example, whatever came with your webcam, or you might try http://www.webcam2000.info/) and verify that it's working. You also might want to set the color tone, focus, etc.
Then set camera_mode = webcam in c:\photoboof\configuration.ini file and your webcam should be working with Photoboof. If Photoboof was already running before making that change, restart it.
Note that webcams save the pictures extremely fast so you might want to introduce a delay between pictures by going into configuration.ini and increasing the picture_delay setting to 4 (seconds) or so. Also, if you're using The Viewer, you might want to get rid of any delay in use_cheese by setting it to 0.
Also note that there will be a window flashed on the screen whenever the webcam takes a picture. This will be gone in future versions, but for now...
And unfortunately webcams still don't have very good color sensitivity, even if they have decent megapixels, so I'd really consider getting a supported Canon Powershot.
TROUBLESHOOTING:
- if you have problems, try disconnecting any other webcams, cameras, scanners, etc. from your computer.
- verify that your webcam is working in other applications.
- make sure no other application is using the webcam when Photoboof is trying to.
- if all else fails, try changing camera_controller to "webcam2", which is a second webcam mode. It's disadvantage is a capture window flashes on the screen before taking each picture. If this mode works but the regular webcam mode doesn't, please email support@photoboof.com and let us know so we can fix the problem.
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Photoboof Configuration:
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You can configure Photoboof either by going to File --> Preferences, or through a configuration file at c:\photoboof\configuration.ini. No matter which way you do it, all configs are stored in c:\photoboof\configuration.ini.
All configurations are made in the configuration file, which lives at c:/photoboof/configuration.ini. You can launch it manually, or from Photoboof by selecting Actions --> Launch Config File.
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Viewer
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- The Viewer is intended to be seen by people inside the photobooth, but isn't necessary to run Photoboof.
- You can launch it two ways: either manually, by selecting Viewer -->Show Viewer; or automatically, by setting the "launch_viewer_automatically" parameter in configuration.ini to "yes". Note that there's another parameter called "viewer_monitor" which will set which monitor it uses when launched automatically.
- The Viewer launches as a fullscree window on any monitor. A really nice way to run Photoboof is to run the viewer on a second monitor, which lets you use the primary monitor to keep an eye on the Photoboof program window, the pictures as they're taken, the print jobs, etc. Note that if you're launching the viewer on monitor 2, it's a good idea to set "viewer_monitor = 2" and "launch_viewer_automatically = yes" in the configuration.ini file.
- If you're using The Viewer on Monitor 1, you might want to set the Windows Taskbar so it's not always-on-top. That way if there's a printer error or something like that it won't go ontop of The Viewer. To do that, right-click some blank space on the Taskbar, choose Properites, then uncheck "Keep Taskbar on top of Other Windows". Alternatively you can run the utility in C:\photoboof\utils called "ViewerAlwaysOnTop.exe", which will prevent other windows from appearing over the viewer, but remember that you close the viewer by pressing F1, otherwise you'll be stuck with the viewer open.
- The viewer is customizable. Look in c:/photoboof/assets/default. The file "viewer-ready.jpg" is what's shown when Photoboof is ready for someone to start the sequence, and "viewer-countdown-0.png" is what's shown when it's about to take a picture. These graphics can be any size you'd like, even fullscreen, and you position them in the configuration.ini file with the ready_pos, cheese_pos parameters.
- See the Viewer section of configuration.ini file for more Viewer settings. There's some discussion of what each of those does in that file.
- A tip: if you have The Viewer running on your main monitor, it's nice to know the hotkey to close it, which is F1.
- And The Viewer is skinnable. All of the graphics loaded into the viewer are located at c:\photoboof\assets\[skin]. For example, if the skin is set to "default" in configuration.ini, it will load the graphic viewer-ready.jpg from c:\photoboof\assets\default\viewer-ready.jpg. The skin can be any name you'd like (no spaces!), but make sure there's a corresponding folder for that skin. For example if your skin is called "wedding", make sure your graphics are in c:\photoboof\assets\wedding\. See the Skins section below for more info.
- If the you're having trouble getting The Viewer's "say cheese" (viewer-countdown-0.png) graphic to appear at the right time, try playing with the "picture_delay_before" and "cheese_delay" values.
- If you're using Photoboof, ZoomBrowser or PSRemote as a camera controller, you can show the people inside the booth a live preview of the feed from the camera. Set "live_preview" to either "yes" (to show the live preview before each picture is taken) or "intro" (to show the live preview only before the first picture is taken) in the config file or on the Camera tab of the preferences.
- Some advanced usage tips on using live_preview: you can adjust the timing of the live preview by editing live_preview_delay_before (the delay before showing the live preview) and live_preview_duration (the length of time the live preview is shown) in the configuration file. And if you want a different background graphic for the live preview before each picture is taken (for example, maybe you want it to say "Get ready for picture 2!"), copy the existing backdrop for the live preview in your skin directory (viewer-msg_start-preview.png) and add the picture number to it. So for example, if you want a different background before picture 2 is taken, create a file called viewer-msg_start-preview2.png. For picture 3, it would be called viewer-msg_start-preview3.png. If it doesn't find one of these files it simply uses viewer-msg_start-preview.png.
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Skinning Photoboof
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All the external graphics that Photoboof uses can be saved as groups, called "skins". The default skin is located in c:\photoboof\assets\default\. The following graphics are located there in alphabetical order:
You change the skin in the configuration.ini file. For example, if you wanted to create a skin called "wedding", you'd create a folder called c:\photoboof\assets\wedding\, and copy all the files from c:\photoboof\assets\default\ and alter or recreate them as you'd like. Note that the above files have Photoshop source files if you'd like to use those as a starting point.
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Warning Sounds
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Note the option in the configuration.ini file called warning_sound. Setting that to "yes" will play c:\photoboof\click.wav before taking each picture. You can adjust the timing with the value delay_before_warning_sound.
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Triggering the Sequence
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You can start the photobooth session using keys on the keyboard, a mouse, joystick buttons, from some other program, or using arcade buttons attached to your USB or serial port. By default Photoboof starts the sequence when the F12 key is pressed on the keyboard, but it's *highly* recommended that you use an arcade-style button attached to your serial or USB port, which is free when you buy your license.
To set the triggers, go to File --> Show Preferences --> Triggers.
Serial / USB Port Buttons
The best way to trigger Photoboof is a button or buttons that attach to your serial or USB port. The big advantage here is you can use regular arcade buttons, which look very professional and are built to take tons of abuse. This comes free with your Photoboof license, but if you'd like to build one yourself, here are some instructions.
Even if your computer doesn't have a serial port (most modern laptops don't), you can use a USB to Serial adaptor. When you buy a license, let me know your button choice and we'll mail you out a button assembly, wired and tested and ready to plug into your USB port.
Go to Radio Shack and get part number 276-1538, "9-position female d-sub connector", also known as a DB9 jack. I like the solder style. Then connect the pins of the DB9 jack to the buttons like so:
For example, if you only want a single button, you'd wire the common pin of your button to pin 4 on your serial port, and the NC (normally closed) pin of your button to either pins 1, 6 or 8 of your serial port. Using 24-guage speaker wire available at Radio Shack fits in the db9 jack nicely.
If you want multiple buttons, you'd connect the common pins of each button to Pin 4 of your DB9 jack, and the NC (normally closed) pin of each button to either pins 1, 6, 8 or 9 of your DB9 jack. Only one button per pin, so you'd be wiring the NC pin of each button to a different DB9 pin.
You can also wire your bill acceptor to your USB harness. Most bill acceptors have wires that pulse when bills or coins are inserted. Wire these to pin 4 of the DB9 jack and either pins 1, 6, 8 or 9. Note that buttons and bill acceptors can share pin 4 of the DB9 jack.
If you're connecting this to a USB port, as most people do, use a USB to Serial adaptor.
To test your button harness, you can either use Photoboof, or the Serial Tester program in c:\photoboof\utils\Serial Tester. If using the Serial Tester, open the program and tell it which com port your button harness is connected to (to find that out go to Device Manager by going to Control Panel --> System --> Hardware --> Device Manager --> Ports) , then run serial_tester.exe and press the button... If it says "button pressed!", its working.
When you're done, tell Photoboof what com port your button is attached to by going to File --> Show Preferences --> Triggers in Photoboof. Note that you can select "auto" and Photoboof will try to detect it for you.
Note that if you're using a button sent to you with your Photoboof license, here's the driver.
Griffin Powermates
A note about Griffin Powermates: The Griffin Powermate works well as an external (and cheap) button trigger for Photoboof, though they're not nearly as durable as a regular arcade button. There's a special program included with Photoboof that's meant to work with Griffin Powermates, it's in c:\photoboof\utils\trigger-griffin_powermate.exe. To use a Powermate with Photoboof, install the software that came with your Griffin Powermate, then open the Griffin utility from either the Windows Control Panel or the System Tray (the area by the clock) and set it so the Powermate runs c:\photoboof\utils\trigger-griffin_powermate.exe on both "click" and "long click". You may also need to check the "Global Only" box. Here's a screenshot of the Griffin Powermate utility configured to work with Photoboof:
Eco Button
Photoboof can also be started using an EcoButton. These are usually avaialble on ebay for around $20, and work pretty well for triggering Photoboof, but they're not nearly as solid as an arcade button, and you can only use one at a time so no separate buttons for color and black & white modes. But they're cheap, easy, and work fairly well.
Note that to use an EcoButton you need to download and run our EcoButton Listener. To install, download and unzip to its own folder, then run EcoButton2.exe whenever you want to use your EcoButton.
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Remote Triggering
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You can trigger Photoboof from other programs, scripts, or even computers by running the program c:\photoboof\utils\trigger.exe.
Alternatively, you can simply place a text file in c:\photoboof\utils called go.txt. It doesn't matter what the contents of that file are, Photoboof simply looks for it's presence.
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Bill Acceptors
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- The best and easiest way to use Photoboof with a bill acceptor is to connect the wires on teh bill acceptor that send pulses when they receive money to Photoboof's button harness. See this page for more discussion on which bill acceptors work particularly well with Photoboof. See the section Triggering Photoboof for notes on how to wire a bill acceptor directly to Photoboof's button harness.
- Photoboof can also work with any bill or credit card acceptor that directly edits a text file with the number of credits. If that's the case, point it to c:\photoboof\credits_file.txt.
- To put Photoboof into money mode, set the variable money_mode = yes in the configuration.ini file. Note that changing this while Photoboof is running requires restarting Photoboof.
- You can add and remove credits (i.e., increase and decrease the number in the credits text file) from Photoboof under the Actions menu. Or just edit the credits file directly.
- When money is inserted, The Viewer will load the graphic file at c:\photoboof\assets\[skin]\viewer_credits[#].jpg. For example, if they've inserted 2 credits and you're using the default skin, it would load c:\photoboof\assets\default\viewer_credits2.jpg. You can make as many graphics files as you'd like for this. For example, if there are 40 credits inserted, The Viewer will load c:\photoboof\assets\default\viewer_credits40.jpg.
- When the number of credits inserted is at least the number you set in credits_to_start, the customers will be able to start taking pictures by pressing the start button (i.e., whatever you have set as a trigger).
- Note that until the correct number of credits have been inserted, the viewer will display c:\photoboof\assets\[skin]\viewer-not_ready.jpg, and after the correct number of credits have been inserted it'll display c:\photoboof\assets\[skin]\viewer-ready.jpg.
- You can also have Photoboof start automatically when enough credits are inserted by setting the variable money_mode_start_automatically in configuration.ini to yes.
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Hardware Recommendations
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Computer
I definitely like to run it off a laptop since most have VGA outputs for a secondary monitor. Personally I prefer XP, but Vista works fine too. Note that 64 bit versions of Vista don't work with Canon cameras....
When you buy a license you get a free arcade-style backlit button that plugs into your USB port (or serial port if you prefer).
And a second monitor for the "viewer monitor" (what people see inside the booth) is a must.
As far as system specs, everything should work well on any semi modern computer, meaning a P4 or better. If you're using a slow computer such as a netbook, you might decrease the image size so assembling the strips takes less CPU resources.
Camera
As far as cameras, any of the supported Powershots work well. The cadillac route is the Canon Powershot S3, S5 110IS or G series. Advantages: great light sensitivity/color quality, very fast, and powers on when the computer does. On the other end of the spectrum is the A520 which you can get on ebay for like $60.... It's much slower though, like 8 or so seconds between pictures, but that's often fine. Note that the Powershot S5 (just released as of my typing this) has a flash hotshoe...
Printer
The big consideration with a printer is how much attention you want to spend on it. If you'll be attending the booth, meaning will be nearby and don't mind loading in new paper every 40 or so prints and dealing with an occasional printer jam, an ink jet works great. They have an additional huge advantage: they can print to 2.13" x 6" strips. Actually not all inkjets can print that narrow, but the Canons can. I love the Canon IP2600, which can be had for all of $50 at most Best Buys. Its an incredibly good printer, but they make their profit on the inks.
If you need unattended use, you want a dye sublimation printer. My big favorite is the Mitsubishi CP-9550DW (available at fotoclubinc.com), which can load 600 sheets and has never jammed on me yet. Another common option is the Sony UPDR150, but of the two I've had much more trouble with those.
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Running External Commands & Email
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Photoboof can execute commands at various points in the image sequence. You specify what command to execute when (if any) in the configuration.ini file in the External Commands section. Photoboof can execute commands after the following events:
- Photoboof initial start
- No camera detected
- No reply from camera
- Beginning of image sequence
- After taking each picture
- After taking the last of the 4 pictures
- After making the strip or grid, etc.
- At the end of the sequence
- If it thinks the printer is down (paper jam, out of ink, etc.)
For example, you could run a batch file whenever Photoboof detects a problem with your printer. Open configuration.ini and scroll down to the External Commands section, find the value "command_printer_down". To run a batch file called c:\test.bat, you'd make the line look like this:
command_printer_down = c:\test.bat
Remember, no spaces and no quotes in the path.
Or, to have Photoboof email you, go to configuration.ini and fill in the settings in the Email section (it's right below the External Commands section), and make the line in External Commands look like this:
command_printer_down = email
Note that most cellphone service providers let you send text messages through email, you just need to find out what the format is for that provider. Here's a list of some of them. If it doesn't work, verify the address with your provider:
Alltel @message.alltel.com
Cingular @mobile.mycingular.com
Nextel @messaging.nextel.com
Sprint @messaging.sprintpcs.com
SunCom @tms.suncom.com
T-mobile @tmomail.net
VoiceStream @voicestream.net
Verizon @vtext.com
If you have no command for an event, just leave it as none. For example:
command_printer_down = none
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Troubleshooting
-----------------------
- I'm guessing you've already done it, but if you haven't, please reboot your computer.
- Note the log file at c:\photoboof\log.txt, that gives you a time-stamped version of what you see in the console window
- To troubleshoot your camera, see the camera sections above.
- If the you're having trouble getting The Viewer's "say cheese" graphic to appear at the right time, try playing with the "picture_delay_before" and "cheese_delay" values.
- If you're using a Mitsubishi dye sublimation printer and getting blank pages after every print, go to Windows Control Panel --> Printers ---> right click your Mitsubishi printer and choose Properties, then Advanced, and choose "print directly to this printer".
- Note that there's a load tester program that will simply run Photoboof over and over again while it's running. Very useful for testing how stable your installation is. It's in c:\photoboof\utils\load tester.exe. Note that it'll put a little icon in your system tray (the area by the clock), to stop it just right-click it and choose "Exit". And obviously you might consider disabling printing while doing this, that's in configuration.ini, set "number of prints" to 0.
- You can always email support@photoboof.com. And if you need to schedule a support call, no problem.
- Sometimes it helps to reinstall Photoboof.
[END OF HELP FILE]