RightBooth Video Booth software blog - RightBooth

Making Global Changes to all Screens in RightBooth

28/2/2016

How do you make global changes to all screens in an event? This is where the Formatter Toolbox comes in handy.
We'll explain how to use the Formatter by way of answering some of the questions we've been asked on the subject.

I've altered the background on one of the event screens.
Is there an easy way to add the same background to all the other screens?

Once you have altered the background on any screen, you can then apply the same background to all the other screens in the event. To do this:

In the Screen Editor, make sure you are editing the screen that contains the required background
On the Toolbox, click the Formatter checkbox to show the Formatter Toolbox
On the Formatter Toolbox, click the button: Add background to all screens

'I've changed the size and position of the webcam item on the Start screen.
How do a change it to be the same size and position on all the other screens in the event?'

In the Screen Editor, make sure you are editing the Start screen.
Click on the webcam item to select it
On the Toolbox, click the Formatter checkbox to show the Formatter Toolbox
On the Formatter Toolbox, click the button: Same items have same size on all screens
When the changes have been made, return to the Start screen
Click on the webcam item again to select it
On the Formatter Toolbox, click the button: Same items have same position on all screens

Using this approach you can select any item on any screen, and then use the Formatter to apply its size, position and design to all items of the same type, on all the other screens in the event,

So as another example, if you design a button item on one screen to have a particular image, icon, and shadow, you can then use the Formatter to quickly and easily make all the buttons in the event have the same design.

'I've changed the font name and font size of a button text prompt on the Choices screen.
How do I make the same changes to all the other text prompts?

In the Screen Editor, make sure you are editing the Choices screen
Click on the text prompt whose properties you wish to apply to the other prompts
On the Toolbox, click the Formatter checkbox to show the Formatter Toolbox
On the Formatter Toolbox, tick the font name and font size check boxes and un-tick the font properties checkbox
Click the button: Same items have same font on all screens

We hope you can see that the Formatter Tool helps with design productivity when you need to make global changes to your event screens and screen items.

Using Menus in RightBooth

25/2/2016

Imagine you have a conference or an exhibition where you want to ask the male attendees a different set of questions to the females. So what you really need is to be able to present your RightBooth users with a menu of two choices, one for Male and one for Female.
You then need to show the appropriate questions depending upon the menu choice made by the user.
Here we explain how to achieve this by way of an example.

Step 1
Create a new event file and add all the questions required for the male users into this event.
Save the event, naming it MensQuestions.

Step 2
Create a second event file, this time for the women.
Add the women's questions into this second event and save it as WomensQuestions.

Step 3
Create a third event file. This file will allow us to provide the menu. To do this:

Go to the Event Designer
On the Event Type tab, select the type: Menu
In the Total menu items box, enter 2
In the Event list, click on each menu item in turn and choose the event file you want to associate with each item.

In the screenshot below you can see that we've associated the MenQuestions event file with Menu item 1 and the WomensQuestions event file with Menu item 2:

Step 4
Design your menu screen.
Go to the Screen Editor and choose the Menu screen from the Screen List on the Toolbox.
Size and position the menu buttons and alter the menu text accordingly. Notice in the screenshot below, we've also altered the button image for each choice. You could also add images and other text to this screen if required:

Step 5
Decide whether to keep the Start screen within your menu file. If not, remove it as follows:

Return to the Event Designer
Select the Event Structure tab
Un-tick the Start screen check box.

The event menu file will now contain just one screen, the Menu screen.
Save this menu event file with a name of your choice. In the first screenshot above you can see we've named the file: MenWomenMenu.

Step 6
We now need to modify the Event Flow in the MenQuestions and WomenQuestions event files. Open each file in turn and do the following:

Go to Event Designer
Click on the Event flow tab
Set the On completion, On cancel and On timeout properties to previous event. (see the screenshot below)
Save the changes

Job Done !
Now simply open and run the MenWomenMenu event and everything will work as required.

When a menu item is selected it will open the associated event file to present the selected questions, and when the chosen event completes, times out, or the user cancels the event, RightBooth will then open the previous event, in other words it will return to showing the menu again.

This is a fairly simple example, but by using the approach described in this article we hope you can see how you can create sophisticated and flexible events, involving numerous event files connected together with menus and event flow rules.

Creating and Saving Photo Print Layouts in RightBooth 6

18/2/2016

RightBooth provides powerful and flexible photo print layout capabilities that allow you to create totally unique and professional print layouts for your photos.

The print layout used in this article comprises a column of 4 photos that are duplicated in a second column alongside.

During the event, each user's set of 4 photos will be placed in this printer layout. You can choose to print them during the event, or have them saved for printing after the event.

This Blog article explains how to go about designing this photo print layout.

1 Set your Event for Photo Capture

You must first set your event to take 4 photos.

From the RightBooth main screen, click the Design button to take you to the Event Designer.
In the Event type section, tick the 'Photos' recording type
Type 4 into the photo count text box

2 Enable Printing in your Event

In order to gain access to the Print layout screen, you must first enable photo printing in your event. To do this, again go to the Event Designer, then:

Click the Event Structure tab,
Choose the section 'Print photos'
Set the Print photos option to Yes or Ask the user.

3 Designing The Print Layout Screen

Now that you have enabled your event for photo printing, you will be able to design the Print Layout screen.
From the RightBooth main screen, click the Edit button to take you to the Screen Editor. See image below

In the Screen Editor you will see that the Print layout screen is listed on the Screen Editor Toolbox.
Click on the Print Layout screen (1). This will then show you the initial print layout with 4 photo place holder images positioned on a blank page. Each placeholder is numbered to show you where each of the 4 photos will be placed.
Note: If all the placeholders are not showing on the page, use the Photo Layout Arranger (see section 4 below).

Your layout will be initially set to be the size of your chosen printer paper.

If needed you can alter the paper size by clicking on the Properties check box (2) to show the Print layout properties toolbox (3). Notice that in our example screen shot we are designing our layout on A4 printer paper. You can change the paper size from the drop down selector or by entering the paper dimensions in the W and H text boxes to match your actual printer paper size (in inches).

You can also rotate the paper layout to allow you to design for either Portrait or Landscape printing by ticking the 'Rotate the paper' checkbox on the Print layout properties toolbox. In our example, we are staying with Portrait orientation.

You can now move, size and rotate the photo place holders on the layout to suit your design.
Alternatively you can use the Photo Layout Arranger (see next section).

4 Using the Photo Layout Arranger

Notice that when viewing the Print layout screen, an Arrange button appears (4) at the top of the Screen Toolbox. Click this button to take you to the Photo Layout Arranger.

The Photo Layout Arranger allows you to quickly arrange your place holder images on the page in various ways.

To create our example layout, first set the values as shown in the screen shot opposite.

We've specified one column with four rows to accommodate our four photos. Notice the photos are positioned centrally on the page.

We have then added a Gap of 55 pixels between each place holder to space them apart.
We've also added a Margin of 50 pixels to keep all photos in from the edges of the page.

Next, increase the Rows to 5.

Notice that because we only have 4 photos in our event, we do not see a fifth photo place holder in the column, this position remains blank.

We are doing this so that we create some space at the bottom of the layout to allow us to add some text objects (see later)

Now change the Duplicate layout property to Horizontally

This will duplicate the layout and place it alongside the original in the horizontal direction.

This now effectively creates two layouts, with each photo placeholder appearing twice on the page, and each layout having one column with five rows and the same Gap and Margin values.

Click the OK button to accept this Photo Layout and it will be automatically applied to the Print Layout screen.

5 Decorating the Print Layout

Once you have arranged the photo place holders, you can then perform some screen designing and add various images and text items to make the print layout more interesting.

To do this, tick the Add items checkbox on the Screen Designer Toolbox. This will show the Add items toolbox from which you can choose to add new images and new labels to the layout.

In the screen shot you can see we have added some images and text items and we are editing one of the text items with the word 'CONGRATULATIONS'.

You could add the name of your hosts, or a contact telephone number, or anything you like !

We've also changed the page background colour to light blue and added various image items. Remember: changing the background from white will use more printer ink !!

Notice that we've placed some of the image items behind the photo place holders (the balloons) and others in front of the photos (the stars). You can do this using the layering buttons on the Item Properties toolbox.

When you are happy with your print layout, make sure you return to the RightBooth main screen and save your event file. Your print layout will also be saved in your event file.

Now when you run the event, after each user takes their four photos, the photos will be automatically placed in the print layout and then printed.

Saving your Layout Design - RightBooth 6
In RightBooth version 6 you can save your print layout designs separately from the event file by clicking the Save button at the top of the Screen Toolbox.

You can then pick and choose from your saved layouts later by clicking the Open button at the top of the Screen Toolbox.

In this article we have described how to achieve just one layout. Try experimenting with the Photo Layout Arranger Tool to see what other arrangements you can achieve with your photos.

And don't forget, if the Arranger tool doesn't give you what you need, just manually move, size and rotate the photo placeholders on the screen to achieve your desired layout.

We hope you can see that the Print Layout Designer provides a powerful set of features that let you create the perfect print layout for your photo events.

Creating a Water Reflection Effect in RightBooth

17/2/2016

I'm sure you've seen the water reflection effect used many times on websites and in promotional literature.

This is where an image appears to have a faded copy below it, as if it is being reflected in water.

Well now you can apply the water reflection effect to screen items in your RightBooth events, including reflecting the live video webcam item. This Blog article explains how to achieve the effect shown opposite.

Add the Background
In the Screen Editor, choose a screen from the screen list and then add a suitable background image as follows:

Click on the screen background to select it.
On the Screen Toolbox, click the Properties check box to show the Screen Properties Toolbox

In the Background properties, click the Image button to choose an image from the RightBooth Background Library. The image we are using in the example comes from the Views folder in the Library.

Add an Image

On the Screen Toolbox, click the Add items check box to show the Add items toolbox.
On the Add items toolbox click the Image button to add a new image item to the screen.
Double click on the newly added image item to give it some content. In our example we have chosen the wedding couple image from the Wedding Valentine folder in the RightBooth Media Library.
Size and position the image where you would like it on the screen.

Duplicate the Image
Ensuring that the wedding couple image is selected:

On the Screen Toolbox, click the Copy button, followed by the Paste button to add a copy of the image to the screen.

The copied image will be placed exactly over the current image.

Flip the Duplicate Image

Click on the new duplicate image to select it
On the Image Properties toolbox, tick the Flip Y property to flip the duplicate image item in the vertical direction.

Position the Duplicate Image

Use the mouse to drag the duplicate image into position below the original image.

Notice in the screen shot opposite that we've moved the duplicate image slightly off the bottom of the screen to allow for the correct position.

You can alter the Zoom value on the Screen Toolbox to help with positioning items off or partially off the screen.

Create the Reflection Effect
Ensuring the duplicate image is still selected, on the Image properties toolbox set the following Appearance property values:

Opacity = .75
Fade = Top
Fade amount 35%

Voila! You have recreated the example water reflection effect.
Try experimenting with these properties to see how it alters the reflection.

Now Reflect a Webcam Item
Yes. You can reflect the live webcam item. Try it...

Show the Start screen.
Click on the live webcam item.
Duplicate it.
Flip it.
Position it under the original webcam item.
Add the desired reflection properties

You now have a REALLY COOL live webcam water reflection to impress and astound your users !!

Using Multiple Monitors in RightBooth 6

16/2/2016

RightBooth 6 can make use of up to 4 monitors attached to your computer for displaying screens independently from each other.

Multiple monitor screens will run as a non-interactive slideshow and will be shown at the same time as (and independently to) the main RightBooth recording event on the primary monitor. This can be useful if you want to show information screens, advertising screens, web sites or screens containing videos and photos that are being recorded by users on the Primary monitor.

For example, your primary monitor might be housed inside a booth (or kiosk) with a second monitor outside the booth (or in a separate room) in order to attract passers-by to the system.

To make use of the RightBooth multi monitor features, Windows must be configured to provide an extended desktop. Details on how to do this are outside the scope of this Blog but full details can be found in your Windows Display Settings.

When you have your additional monitors attached to your computer and configured as an extended desktop, you then can turn on and access the RightBooth multi monitor features for a particular event. Here we will show an example of using a second monitor.
To do this in RightBooth:

Open the required event file
Go to the Event Designer
In the Event Designer panel, click on the Event structure tab
In the section: Multiple monitors, tick the option: Monitor 2 screens:

If you now visit the Screen Editor your second monitor will be enabled and you will see the options for Monitor 1 (the primary monitor) and Monitor 2 (the second monitor) at the top of the Screen Toolbox.

To add screens to Monitor 2:

Click the Monitor 2 radio button, notice when you do this that all the RightBooth toolboxes will move over to the second monitor screen.
Click the Add items checkbox to show the Add items toolbox.
Click the Screen button to add a new screen to the Monitor 2 screen list.

You can then select a screen from the list and add items to it such as text, images, video files and the live webcam. You can add as many screens as you need to the list, containing any items you require.

In progress screens
Two screens which are included by default on the second monitor are Video in progress and Photo in progress.
These screens will automatically be displayed (and will interrupt the second monitor screen slideshow) whenever a video is being recorded or a photo is being taken by users on the primary monitor.

The 'In progress' screens can be useful in helping to reduce the graphics activity of your computer during any recording on Monitor 1.

You can also consider adding a webcam item to the 'In progress' screens. The webcam item will show a duplicate feed of the webcam camera, allowing spectators of Monitor 2 to watch each video being recorded and photo being captured on Monitor 1.

Adding Sequence Items
You may want to add video, image and sequence items to Monitor 2 screens. During the Monitor 2 slideshow, these items can be designed to show sequences of previously recorded videos, photos and messages, allowing passers-by to watch recordings made earlier by other users.

Note: If you are using RightBooth 6 Diamond edition, the above example for Monitor 2 can be repeated for monitors 3 and 4.

Multicasting - RightBooth 6
Multicasting is a feature that lets you replicate any screen from the Primary monitor onto one or more of the other monitors attached to your computer.
For example, when users are recording video on the Record video screen you can opt to show this screen on one or more of the other monitors. To do this:

Ensure you set up your system to use more than one monitor
In the Screen Editor, choose the event's 'Record video' screen
On the Screen Toolbox, tick the Properties checkbox to show the Screen Properties
At the bottom of the Screen properties toolbox, tick the monitors you would like the Record video screen to be multicast onto.

In the following example, we have a system configured with 3 monitors and we are multi-casting the 'Record video' screen onto both monitors 2 and 3:

Using Screen Transitions in RightBooth

15/2/2016

RightBooth now includes over 40 screen transitions that can be added to any screen in your event.

The video shows the Spin on / off transition. In this example it has been placed on the event's Start screen and will happen each time the event moves from the Start screen to the Choose recording screen.

How to Add a Screen Transition
In the Screen Editor, select the screen on which you would like to apply a transition.
Show the Screen Properties panel.
On this panel, the Animate properties then let you:

Select the transition type (here we've chosen Spin on/off).
choose In and Out values (range 0..1) These values specify the extent of the incoming and the outgoing transition. A larger value gives a greater range to the transition.
set the transition Speed. How long the transition will take in seconds.
choose Fade in and Fade out. Whether to fade in the incoming screen and fade out the outgoing screen, over the course of the transition.

Animate properties for the example Spin on/off screen transition

Points to Note

The screen transition will occur each time the system navigates away from the screen, as a result of a user interaction or a screen time out.
Each screen can have a different transition.
The user cannot interact with the system while a screen transition is in progress.
The Random transition will randomly select one of the other transitions each time the transition occurs.

Mirroring the Webcam in RightBooth

12/2/2016

RightBooth 5 (and 6) differs from previous versions in the way it offers webcam mirroring. This article explains all.

What is webcam mirroring?
This is the ability to flip the webcam's camera view in the horizontal direction, so that when you stand in front of the camera you will see a flipped reflection of yourself on screen.
These two images show a mirrored webcam and a non mirrored webcam:

Mirrored webcam

Non-mirrored webcam

Why is webcam mirroring useful?
Webcam mirroring helps when you want to position yourself within the camera view, so if you move to the left, your reflection on screen also moves to the left, and vice versa.
By default RightBooth 5 will show all webcam views mirrored on all screens in the event.

Is there a downside to webcam mirroring?
Webcam mirroring replicates what happens when you stand in front of a real mirror. Everything is flipped including written words you might hold up in front of the camera. And obviously, on the screen you don't look like others see you in real life, you're flipped !

What about the recorded videos and photos. Are they also flipped?
No.
Webcam mirroring only happens on screen. The actual recorded videos and photos captured by RightBooth will always be saved the correct way round, in other words they are captured exactly as the webcam's camera 'sees' you. And any words held up to the camera will be readable in the recorded files.

Can I turn webcam mirroring off?
Yes.

Go to the Screen Editor
Select a page containing a webcam item
Click the mouse on the item to select it
On the Screen toolbox click the Properties checkbox
On the Webcam Properties panel tick or untick the Flip X property to turn the mirroring on or off for the current screen (see opposite).

I've turned mirroring off but the webcam is still mirrored on other screens
That's right.
Each webcam item has it's own Flip X property. The reason is that you might want to have selective mirroring only on webcam items on particular screens in the event. For example, on the screens leading up to the start of a video recording you may want to turn on mirroring to help users with positioning. But during the actual recording you may want users to see a true reflection of themselves and their surroundings on screen. So the choice is yours.

On the properties panel you may have noticed that you can also Flip the webcam in the Y direction. Why might that be useful? We will cover that in another Blog article soon.

Please also read this related article

Adding a Logo to videos and photos in RightBooth

11/2/2016

Updated June 2017 for RightBooth 6

A number of users have asked whether it is possible to add a company logo, strap line or message to all the videos and photos that are captured during the event. This can be useful if you want to advertise something, promote yourself, or your company, or simply stamp a message or an image from the event hosts onto all the recordings.

RightBooth 6 provides a logo feature to give you this ability and here we explain how to set it all up.

Create your logo
A logo is nothing more than an image file containing your logo design. The image file can contain anything you like, including text, and it can be any size and shape. However, you should bear in mind that the logo will be automatically resized by RightBooth and placed over the recorded videos and captured photos, so there really is no point in making your image any bigger than the size of your video and photo capture sizes.

You can create your logo in any graphics design package, such as PhotoShop or a free package such as The Gimp
We recommend you save your logo file in the PNG format.

Here is an example image containing the RightBooth logo and two strap lines. It is a single PNG image with a transparent background:

Adding your logo onto videos and photos in RightBooth 6
In RightBooth, open the event file in which you'd like to include your logo.

On the main window click the Design button to take you to the Event Designer.
Select Event structure tab and choose the Overlay image section
You will see the Overlay logo properties.
First, click the Choose logo image button to browse your computer for your previously created logo image file.
Next, in the Position drop down list choose where (on the video feed) you would like the logo to appear, such as Top left or Bottom left (corner).
Then alter the Size value. This is the size of the logo as a percentage of the size of the video frame.

Adding your logo onto videos and photos in RightBooth 5
In RightBooth, open the event file in which you'd like to include your logo.
Go to the Screen Designer and select a screen that contains a webcam item, such as the Start screen or the Record video screen.
Select the webcam item, by clicking on it with the mouse.
On the Screen Designer toolbox, click the Properties check box to show the Webcam properties panel.

At the bottom of the panel you will see the Logo properties (opposite).
First, click the Image button to browse your computer for your previously created logo image file.
Next, in the position drop down list choose where (on the video) you would like the logo to appear. Notice in the example opposite we have chosen the Bottom left corner, but you can choose from various positions, such as Top Right, Middle and Centre Left.
Then alter the Size value. This is the size of the logo as a percentage of the size of the video frame. Notice we have chosen 75%.

The Result
Your logo will be displayed in the webcam item over the live video feed at your chosen position and size. Notice in our example below, the logo occupies 75% of the width of the video.

Final Points

With your logo enabled, it will now be recorded into ALL the videos and photos that are made during the event.
Logos are event file specific, using it in one event file will not affect your other event files.
If you want to turn the logo off, you need to select No in the position drop down list mentioned previously.
If you choose to Flip the webcam view on screen (using the webcam Flip X or Flip Y properties), the logo will also appear flipped on screen, but it will always be saved correctly in all recorded video and photo files.

Playing video files in your RightBooth events

10/2/2016

RightBooth includes powerful features for playing video files in your events.

RightBooth Version 5
Before you start, make sure you've downloaded and installed the RightBooth Video Library. You can access this by clicking on the Media Library button, which you will find on the main window of the RightBooth application. This will take you to the download page on our website where you can obtain both the Media Library and the Video Library.

RightBooth Version 6
The Media Library will normally be installed as part of the initial use of the software

Video Backgrounds

You can add a video to be played on the background of any of the screens in your event.
First, access the Screen Editor and choose the screen on which you want the video to play.

On the Screen Toolbox, click the Properties check box to display the Screen properties panel (shown opposite).

Then click the Video button (circled in red). This will let you choose a video from the Video library which will then play on the screen background. Videos in the RightBooth Video Library have been carefully edited to act as seamless video loops which work well in the background, but you are not restricted to videos from the library, you can also browse and select one of your own videos.

Notice that it is possible to set how the video will Fit on the screen. You can also choose the playing Speed (1 = normal speed, 0.5 = half speed, 2 = 2x, etc), the Volume of the video's audio track (0 = Mute, 1 = Max volume), whether to Repeat the video (loops), the Delay between each repeat (in seconds) and whether the video will Hide at end of playing.

Your chosen video will play each time the screen is shown during the event and will stop whenever you leave the screen. And each screen can have it's own video background.

Video Items

You can add a video item on any screen in your event.
A video item is a container for playing a video file at any place, size and angle on the screen.
First, access the Screen Editor and choose the screen on which you want to add a video item.

On the Screen Toolbox, click the Add items check box to display the Add items panel (shown opposite) and then click the Video button (circled in red) to add a video item to the screen. By default, a newly added video item will play a video prompt to double click the item, so... double click the item to access and select a video on your computer, which will then play in the video item.

With the video item selected, use the Properties panel to change various properties for the video item. There are many properties that can be altered (including those mentioned above) and my advice is simply to try changing them to see what effect it has on the video item. We'll add a blog post about Properties soon.

One video item property worth mentioning here is the Content property. By default this is set to Video file, meaning that the item will play your chosen video file. However if you alter this to Latest video capture then the video item will play the most recently recorded video file in the event, and this is the property that is used on the video item that is automatically placed the Show video screen. Check it out.

Video Sequence Items

A video sequence item is similar to a video item, the main difference being that it can play a sequence of videos, one after another.

On the Add items panel, click the Video sequence button to add a new video sequence item to the current screen.

Again, the new video sequence item will prompt you to double click it to add content, so double click the item to take you to the Video sequence files panel. Here you can create a list of videos that will play in the sequence item.

On this panel there is also the option to show videos from the event. If you select this, the video sequence item will play a sequence of videos that have been previously recorded during the event. This can be very useful when placed on the Start screen, or when placed on a second monitor screen, to act as an attractor for other users.

A quick mention here about Animation properties. On the Properties panel you can add an animation to a video sequence item. This will cause a transition animation to occur between successive video items in the list. Again, we suggest you experiment with animation properties, but keep checking the Blog as we'll add a post about transitions and animations soon.

RightBooth 5 Released

9/2/2016

Announcing the release of RightBooth 5.

It's been 8 months in development and totally re-designed with powerful new features, an amazing screen editor, stunning graphics effects, green screen, overlays, animations, screen transitions, video fades and rotates, image blending, integrated emailing, a great karaoke video feature, information events, menus, second monitor support...

Actually there is so much more to it so why not check it out for yourself?

The complete feature list is here.

Looking forward to hearing from our users and evaluators.

RightBooth 4.0.29 Released

2/2/2016

Enhanced compatibility with Windows 8.1 embedded.
Bug fix: Allow audio meters to show in Audio Input settings