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When recording videos with a webcam you might want to encourage your users not to shout into the mic by providing visual feedback on the current audio input level during the recording. This is where the volume meter item comes in handy.
 Now play the event and when you record videos the volume meter will show you the current audio input level. This video shows how the meter provides constant feedback, using my drill to provide a consistent noise ! :-) ... COB LED lights produce excellent light and these can be used to greatly improve the quality of your webcam (and DSLR camera) photo capture quality, especially when the room's ambient lighting conditions are not great. This article shows you how to design your own low cost 'flash setup' using COB LED lights situated near your webcam which point towards your users and are automatically controlled by RightBooth’s USB relay switch action command. Step 1 - Items list Obtain the following items:
Step 2 - Build Connect the items together as follows, you don't need a soldering iron :-)...  Step 3 Testing Make sure your flash setup is powered, and the webcam and relay are both connected to USB ports on your PC.
 If your flash setup is wired up correctly, then each time you press the Test button, the COB lights will turn on for 1 second, then turn off. You can use the knob on the dimmer to set the brightness of the lights to your preferred level. Step 4 Use the flash lights in your events
 This is the amount of time that RightBooth will wait before taking a photo on the ‘Take photo’ event screen.
 Save your event. Job done !
The Result When you play your event, each time the ‘Take photo’ screen is shown, your COB lights will be switched on before each photo is taken and will then switch off immediately after. Note: You may want to play around with the timings. In this article the lights are turned on, then 0.5 seconds later the photo is taken, then 0.2 seconds later the lights are turned off. Tip: To ensure that the lights are definitely on when the photo is taken, try pointing the webcam at the lights, while you tweak the capture timings, and if the captured photo is showing complete white out, then you know you've got it right ! When you create your RightBooth events you will usually include images and videos from various locations on your computer. As time goes by, when you return to previously created events you may forget which folders the referenced files are located. Here's how you can discover the location of the files in your events.
 RightBooth version 7.3.1 introduces some additional action commands for improved control of one or more USB relay boards. This video shows some of the new capabilities and full details can be found in the latest RightBooth User Manual: IMPORTANT: Be sure to obtain programmable HID relay boards. Here is a typical supplier:
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/152464651505?ul_noapp=true Version 7.3 includes a number of new features including the video green background remover. For a complete list of all the new features, refer to the Release Notes Here I show how to turn on the video green remover and also how to tweak the settings to cater for differences in each of the videos: If you'd like to have a play, there are some example green videos which can be downloaded here This release has (among other things) the ability to define individual countdown values for each photo in the event. Details here.
See the release notes for all the new features and bug fixes. RightBooth version 7.1.2 (released today) now allows certain screens to be optionally shown only for specific photos taken in the set of photos for each user.
Full details here RightBooth version 7.1.1 (or later) now supports creating Boomerang animated GIFs. Here is a standard animated GIF and a Boomerang animation of the same activity:
Today RightBooth version 7.1.0 is released containing the Event Packaging feature. See here for full description.
RightBooth version 7.0.46 adds two more application languages: French and German, in addition to English and Spanish. If you would like to switch the RightBooth application user interface to use one of these new languages:
When you start for the first time with a new language, RightBooth will create a translated Media Library by copying all the files and folders from the English media library. This process may take a few minutes, so please be patient ! Note: The RightBooth user manual and help file will remain in English. Call for Feedback If you are fluent in French, Spanish or German we would love to receive your feedback on the RightBooth application language translations. If you find any problems, or see any word or phrase that is either miss-spelt or is contextually incorrect then please let us know. You may have noticed the Faster screen updates checkbox in RightBooth Video settings and wondered what it is all about. Read on... RightBooth event screens are rendered using Windows Presentation Foundation (a.k.a WPF) which itself is built on the Microsoft DirectX graphics system, the bedrock of all things gaming on the MS platform. So WPF is the reason why RightBooth provides you with an amazing array of graphics design capabilities, including the ability to display rotated, animated, semi transparent items such as video, images and even the live webcam feed. And WPF will always strive to update your event screens at 60 frames per second to provide a smooth, 'lag free' experience. Now in order to see the best performance from all this graphics wizardry your computer needs a modern, fast graphics card with a reasonable amount of graphics memory and it is fair to say that most of today's modern Windows computers are more than capable in this respect. Having said this, one of the indications that your system might be struggling to keep up on the graphics front is if you notice a delay ( lag ) between your actual movements and those shown on the live webcam feed, especially during periods of video recording. In this situation, RightBooth will give priority to the actual recording process at the expense of the screen updating to help prevent problems occurring in your recorded video files. But if you are experiencing this visual delay and would prefer to reduce it, you can try turning on the 'Faster screen updates' video setting...  When this option is set, RightBooth will write the live webcam frame data directly to your monitor display at the exact size and position where you have placed the webcam item on the event screen, and it will no longer be sent to the DirectX screen compositor. This will reduce the time it takes to update the webcam live feed on your display and therefore you should see a reduction in any delay.
But this setting comes at a price... The live webcam frame data will be shown on the display in an unrotated rectangular area, without any graphics effects, transparency or rounded corners applied to it. It will also be displayed on top of all other screen items, effectively hiding your designed WPF webcam item, which itself will be frozen for the duration of the recording. For this reason you be need to make sure that any other screen items are not placed on top of the webcam item at design time. So for example, you will need to re-position the recording countdown text item so that it does not overlap the webcam item. So while this setting can help reduce the visual delay in the live feed, it does slightly restrict your design capabilities with the webcam item on your 'Record video' event screens. Please note that none of your other design decisions on other screen items will be affected by using the 'Faster screen updates' setting and remember that if you are using a half decent computer then you will not need to use this setting at all. One final point, if you are considering using 'Faster screen updates' then make sure you are running with RightBooth version 7.0.45 (or later). RightBooth version 7.0.43 is released today. The main change is the addition of the 'Event hardware' tab in the Event Designer. This allows each of your event files to be set to specifically use either your webcam, your DSLR camera or whichever device has been chosen in RightBooth Settings. You will find this feature useful if you have both a webcam and a DSLR camera attached to your PC and you want to provide users with a choice of features. For example, you could design one event file for real-time webcam inking and image stamping during video recording and then provide a second event file for hi-res DSLR photo capture, with both events being user-selectable from a menu. In this example screenshot we have set the event file 'mirrorvideo' to specifically use the webcam for both video recording and photo capture:  Starting from July 15, 2019, Google are changing the way that third party apps are allowed to make use of their Gmail API. While this change primarily affects the way in which apps can access Gmail data, it might also affect the ability for third party apps to send gmails.
For more details on this change read this. If you are using a Gmail account to send emails from RightBooth, then as a precaution we recommend that you have another email account ready to switch to should Google block third party app emailing. For example, you can create a free outlook email account at https://outlook.live.com. Then in RightBooth Social media settings, set the Email server as follows:
RightBooth version 7.0.42 (or newer) adds improvements to the quality of your printed photos. To demonstrate the difference, a Canon 1100D was pointed at a fixed scene. RightBooth version 7.0.41 was first used to capture a photo and create a photo print layout file and then RightBooth version 7.0.42 was used to capture the same photo and create a second photo print layout file. The scene...  Here is the same enlarged area taken from each of the photo print layout files:  Enlarged section of the print layout created with RightBooth version 7.0.41 (or older)  Enlarged section of the print layout created with RightBooth version 7.0.42 (or newer) Here are the two print layout files you can download for comparison:
I think you'll agree that there is marked improvement. And you will get this improvement when you are using either a DSLR camera or a webcam to take photos.
Happy photo printing ! Latest training video published explaining how to use label, image and video sequence items on your RightBooth event screens Video tutorial describing the basics of creating a photo slideshow. IMPORTANT: Ensure you are using RightBooth version 7.0.36 RightBooth version 7.0.35 introduces a new 'Start & Stop' setting: Show Print Station. When enabled, RightBooth will automatically show the RightBooth Tasks --> Print photos feature in fullscreen mode. This video demonstrates the new customisation capabilities of the Print Station feature and also how to enable the new setting... This release contains a number of changes to the on-screen keyboard and some important bug fixes.
Please refer to the release notes for details RightBooth 7.0.33 introduces the AZERTY layout option for the on-screen keyboard:
This article explains how to provide your event users with the option to choose how many copies of the photo print layout they want to print. First, ensure you are providing your users with the option to print. From the main RightBooth window, click the ‘Design’ button. In the Event Designer, click the ‘Event Structure’ tab, select the section ‘Print photos’ and tick the setting: ‘Ask the user’...  Now go to the Screen Editor by clicking the 'Edit' button on the main RightBooth window and select the 'Photo options' screen from the screen list.
Job done ! When you play the event, your event users will be able to alter this value anywhere from 1 to 10 by repeatedly clicking (or touching) the buttons. And if you want to restrict the upper limit, alter the value of 'Maximum value for the 'Print more copies' action as shown in the screen shot above. Now watch this video showing the editing process: Options for emailing photos to users are to be found in the 'Email files' section within the 'Event structure' tab, which is available in the Event Designer. The options available for emailing photos are: 1 - No emailing  Photos will not be emailed to users. 2 - Forced emailing  After photos are taken, users will be shown the 'Email address' screen to force them to immediately email their photos. They must enter a valid email address to continue, unless you add a Skip button to the 'Email address' screen. 3 - Optional emailing  After photos are taken, users will be shown the 'Photo options' screen to allow them to choose to email their photos. If they choose to email their photos, they will then be shown the 'Email address' screen. You can enter a number into the text box. This is the number of times each user will be shown the 'Email button' on the Photo options screen, in other words it defines the number of times they can email their photos. 4 - Forced emailing followed by Optional emailing  After photos are taken, users will be shown the 'Email address' screen to force them to immediately email their photos. They must enter a valid email address to continue, unless you add a Skip button to the 'Email address' screen. After they have completed the Email address screen, users will then be shown the 'Photo options' screen to allow them to choose to email their photos again. 5 - Send emails after the event  After photos are taken, users will be shown the 'Email address' screen to force them to enter a valid email address to continue, unless you add a Skip button to the 'Email address' screen. When they have entered a valid email address, RightBooth will save the email in the current event folder. You can then send the emails later (e.g. after the event has finished) using the Email feature available in the RightBooth Tasks section. 6 - Automatic emailing If you want to automatically email photos to one or more known email addresses, simply add the email addresses into the 'To' text box in the 'Event email' section of the 'Event Designer'. In this example, RightBooth will automatically email all photos to personA@gmail.com and personB@hotmail.com:  IMPORTANT: Note the 'Send to user email address' checkbox in the above screenshot. When this option is ticked (the default), event users will be able to perform emailing (as described in the options 1 to 5 above). But if you untick this option, then only personA and personB will receive emails, and event users will not be shown any emailing options. Handling Emailing Problems
If RightBooth cannot send emails for whatever reason (e.g. no Internet connection), it will inform the user and then save the email files in the current event folder to allow you to email them at a later time within the RightBooth Tasks section.
Stamp Property
An item whose Stamp property is ticked will be automatically added (overlaid) onto a captured photo if: a) the item is positioned over a webcam item on any event screen prior to the photo being taken, or b) the item is positioned over the photo after it has been taken and is being displayed to the user. In the Screen Designer, if Stamp items are positioned over any webcam item on any screen that appears before the ‘Take photo’ screen, these items will be automatically added to every photo captured during the event. In the Screen Designer, if Stamp items are positioned over any ‘photo placeholder’ item on any screen that appears after the ‘Take photo’ screen, these items will be automatically added to every photo captured during the event. Alternatively in the Screen Designer, Stamp items which also have their ‘Can move’ property ticked can be initially positioned away from the webcam item or ‘photo placeholder’ item. Then when the event is playing, users can optionally drag ‘Add to photo’ items over the webcam item (or the photo placeholder) item in order to decorate their photos. This feature may also be used in combination with the Drawing Tools to allow users to ‘ink sign’ their photos and/or ‘item stamp’ their photos during the event. Additionally, the Drawing Pad item can also accept stamped items that are positioned over it during the event. And these items will then be included in the drawing pad image together with any drawing ink strokes made by users. IMPORTANT: If you plan to add stamps to a photo, webcam, drawing pad or print layout item, the item MUST be un-rotated (i.e it must have an Angle of 0 degrees), otherwise the stamps will not be added in the correct position. |
AuthorNigel Pearce 
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November 2019
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