|
spacedesk is an amazing app. It lets you use a tablet as an extended desktop to your main computer. Then you can show and interact with RightBooth on the tablet. Here's how:
Then:
Watch this video that demonstrates this setup:
1 Comment
RightBooth version 7.7.25 is now released, containing the following new features and bug fixes:
I was recently asked if it is possible to reduce the amount of time it takes for a recording event to process video files, which in turn allows you to have a greater throughput of users at the recording station. This question seems particularly important when recording videos and then applying video enhancements, prior to showing them on a sharing station. Let's consider recording videos using a wireless GoPro. This is a typical workflow:  One way to reduce this time is to use another instance of RightBooth on the same computer as the recording event to play an intermediary Watch folder event that does the following:
Then you can remove the video enhancements from your recording event and set it to simply copy the GoPro videos to the watch folder event. Here is the new setup, using 2 instances of RightBooth:  Note: The file copying steps can be performed automatically by the 2 events:
RightBooth Version 7.7.22
RightBooth Version 7.7.20
RightBooth allows you to choose a User Input Setting. This is done in RightBooth Settings --> User input. The choice you make will be applied to all the events you play on the computer. Here you can see the User input setting has been set to Touchscreen:  The chosen device can then be used to progress through the event screens and to make choices on various event screens.
Single keyboard key – Selecting this option will require users to interact with events by pressing a key on the computer keyboard. By default this key is set to be the keyboard spacebar, but this can be altered to another key from the Key list. With this input mode you will need to give users access to the physical computer keyboard during events. Key list – This setting lets you choose one keyboard key that can be used to control your events when the User input mode is set to Single keyboard key or USB button. By default the control key is set to be Space (i.e. the spacebar on your keyboard). Other valid keys you can use are the function keys 1 – 12, the Scroll Lock key or the Pause key. Multiple keyboard keys – When this option is chosen, then during the event each text prompt that accompanies a choice button will also be shown with the associated key required to select the option. The keys that are associated with the various button actions are listed in the 'Action Key' table (see below). USB button – Users will be prompted to ‘press button’ during events. A USB button is an optional peripheral device that connects to your computer via a USB lead and it can be configured to send one or more specific keystrokes to the computer. By doing this, your users would simply need to press the USB button in order to control the recordings and you can then hide your computer keyboard and mouse out of sight. When using the ‘USB Button’ input mode, your USB button should be configured to send the keyboard key to the computer that matches the key you have selected in the Key list box (see earlier), which by default is the Space (spacebar). USB buttons – Users will be prompted to ‘press button’ on various screens during the event. This mode allows you to control RightBooth with a number of USB buttons attached to your computer. The USB buttons must be configured to send keyboard keys to the computer that match the keys listed in the Action key table. Compatible, low cost USB buttons can be obtained here: www.usbbutton.com Details on how to configure a USB button for sending keyboard characters to the computer are provided in the USB button user manual. However, in order to configure a USB button so that it works with RightBooth, we have included a USB button configuration file (rightbooth.ubn) with our software. This file can be found in the RightBooth program installation folder and can be loaded into the USB Button Configuration utility available from www.usbbutton.com. Mouse – Selecting this option will require users to interact with events using the computer mouse. Touchscreen – Selecting this option will require users to interact with events using a touch screen monitor. You can then hide your computer keyboard and mouse out of sight during events.  Logitech StreamCam RECOMMENDED FOR USB-C Connection Price: around $100 We have been testing the Logitech StreamCam which offers recording frame rates at up to 60 fps. This webcam offers fantastic video quality, audio quality and recording frame rates when connected to a USB-C port. In our testing, we achieved the following recording results:
IMPORTANT. If you connect this camera to a standard USB port you will not achieve recording frame rates greater than 30fps.
Latest video demonstrating the new photo post-processing features introduced in RightBooth version 7.7.10. The latest version of RightBooth is now released and contains the following improvements:
Latest training video explaining how to make use of RightBooth screen animations in order to add animated transitions between your event screens: Here is a flowchart showing the general process that RightBooth takes when recording videos using different camera types. Note that the hour glass indicates where RightBooth will display the Busy event screen for the time taken to perform the associated task.  When you install RightBooth it also installs a Media Library. Part of this includes the Print layout library which (starting with RightBooth version 7.7) contains a number of pre-designed layouts that you can use in your photo capture events. There are two ways to choose a layout from the Print Layout Library: 1 Choose a Print Layout in the Event Wizard You can create a new photo capture event by clicking the 'Create' button on the main RightBooth window and choosing 'Create a photo capture event' You can then work your way through the Event Wizard and at the Printing stage you can choose to include printing in your event and then browse the Print layout library for your preferred layout. In this screenshot I have chosen to include printing by selecting 'Ask the user', then I clicked the 'Choose a photo print layout' button and I am browsing for a pre-made layout from within the library:  2 - Choose a Print Layout in the Screen Editor If you have designed your photo capture event to include photo printing then you can access the event's current Print layout in the Screen Editor.
 Update: 26th May 2022 This article describes the use of the iriun webcam app, but since writing it, DroidCam has been brought to my attention and in many ways it is more reliable and better performing than iriun. So when reading this article, also consider using DroidCam: https://www.dev47apps.com/ Want to use an iPhone's camera as a wireless webcam input into RightBooth? This article explains how. Also note that this solution works with an iPad's camera, or any Android phone or Android tablet's camera. Note: This is a great solution for wirelessly capturing photos and recording 'talking head' videos. It may not be ideal for fast motion video recording, such as that obtained from a 360 spinner booth. See Suggestions to improve performance (below). Note 2: If you are looking to record 360 (or fast motion) videos wirelessly in RightBooth, we recommend using a GoPro camera, because the videos are recorded on the camera prior to them being transferred over WiFi to RightBooth for video processing. Setting Up Step 1
Step 2
Step 3
Step 4
Step 5
  Working in Portrait Mode If you prefer to work in Portrait mode, there is an option to switch to Portrait in the Iriun Webcam app Settings on your mobile phone. You will then need to tick the 'Rotate 90' check box in RightBooth Webcam video settings. Step 6
 Job done!
You can now capture high quality videos and photos in your RightBooth events, directly from your mobile phone (or tablet). And because the camera input is treated as a webcam by RightBooth you can also make full use of all RightBooth's webcam features, including Snap Camera overlays, digital props, ink drawing, face detection, video enhancements and video augmentation. Suggestions to Improve Performance A number of users have reported that the video recording is not fluent when using iriun and that it can skip frames, especially when recording fast movement, such as that obtained on 360 spinner equipment. If you are finding this happening, try the following:
In addition to standard text, QR codes have evolved to encode text that has special meanings to QR code scanner apps. When a QR code scanner detects a special encoding it can then instruct your device (e.g. mobile phone) to perform an associated action or run an associated app. Examples of special QR codes include Skype codes, email codes, URLs and WhatsApp messages. In this article we are going to consider WiFi QR codes and how to add them onto your RightBooth event screens. Then, when scanned, the code will allow your event users to connect to a WiFi network of your choice without them having to manually select the network or enter the required WiFi password. Step 1 - Create a WiFi QR Code Image RightBooth has a feature that lets you show QR codes on your event screens but it currently doesn't provide the ability to generate WiFi QR codes. However, there are a number of apps online that can generate WiFi QR code images for you free of charge. The one I am using for this article is the JS WiFi Code Generator which can be found here: https://qifi.org/ At this website, simply enter the SSID, Encryption method and Key (password) for your WiFi router. In this example, I am creating a WiFi QR code for my TP-Link N600 router which uses the WPA2 encryption method:  When you have entered your WiFi details, click the 'Generate' button, then click 'Export' to download the generated QR image to your PC...  By default your browser will download your QR code image into your Downloads folder, so make sure you move it to somewhere more permanent such as your Pictures folder. Step 2 - Add the QR Code Image onto your RightBooth Event screen
 Step 3 - Add a white border to the QR code image This is required to help improve the ability for QR code scanner apps to detect the QR code.
 Job done!
Now when the QR code appears on your event screen, users can scan the code using the QR code scanner on their WiFi enabled device (e.g. mobile phone) to join your WiFi network. So you want your RightBooth users to enter one or more coins into a coin acceptor before they are allowed to use your event. What you need to do is to find a coin acceptor that can be used to send a keyboard keypress into Windows. Then you can alter your RightBooth event so that it cannot be used until coins have been inserted into the coin acceptor. Option 1 Coin acceptor with a micro switch connected to a StealthSwitch 3 or a U-HID There are many companies providing arcade style coin mechanisms that generate pulses on a micro switch output, such as can be found here: https://www.arcadeworlduk.com/categories/Arcade-Parts/Coin-Mechs/ Obtain a StealthSwitch 3 here: StealthSwitch 3 or a U-HID board. Connect the StealthSwitch to the PC using a USB cable. Then wire the coin acceptor to the StealthSwitch and test that the coin acceptor can control the StealthSwitch input. For information on how to do this, see the section: Connecting the coin acceptor to the StealthSwitch 3 on this website Other Options If you are feeling more adventurous, you could experiment with solutions like this: www.casino-software.de/cash-interface2_e.htm#keystroke or this: jukeblaster.com/coinkit.html Modifying RightBooth to accept the keyboard key Once you have your coin acceptor working and connected to the PC, here is the change you need to make in RightBooth:
 Now when you play the event, RightBooth will wait at the Start screen until a coin is inserted into the coin acceptor. You can design the Start screen so that it prompts your users to enter a coin (or coins) in order to use the system.
Once coins have been entered, RightBooth will receive the specified key input and will then progress onto the next screen in your event, allowing the user to access the rest of your event features. Also, at the end of each user session, RightBooth will return to showing the Start screen, waiting for the next user to enter coins into the coin acceptor. With this setup, you can set RightBooth to be used by touchscreen (or mouse) so that once your users have successfully progressed past the Start screen, they can then fully interact with all the other screens in your event. Please note: If you run into difficulties with your chosen coin acceptor or StealthSwitch you will need to contact the supplier for help. As far as RightBooth is concerned, it will be simply waiting at the Start screen for the keypress to be generated. Updated: April 2022 Training video explaining:
IMPORTANT. You will need to be using RightBooth version 7.6.28 (or newer) in order to implement the solution described in this article. I had an interesting email chat with one of my RightBooth users about the consistency of the Voice Recognition feature. He was simply wanting his event users to say the word 'cheese' in order to trigger the taking of a photo. So he created a photo capture event and on his event Start screen he added the word 'cheese' as a label item having the action 'Next screen', and then he turned on the Voice Recognition feature. But when playing the event he was finding that the spoken word 'cheese' was not always being recognised as such, and this led to our email chat. On testing this myself, I discovered that when speaking the word 'cheese', the recognition engine was occasionally (and incorrectly) recognising my spoken word as one of the following similar sounding words:
Now this recognition inconsistency is actually inherent in the Microsoft Voice Recognition system and it makes RightBooth appear to ignore quite a few spoken words. So here is my suggestion to improve the reliability:
 Job done!
Now when any user says 'cheese' and it is incorrectly recognised as one of the similar sounding words, RightBooth will still accept the word as a voice command and will progress to the next screen as intended, effectively making the voice recognition more reliable and consistent. RightBooth version 7.6.27 has been released and contains the following new features and fixes:
1) Add the 'Record audio' checkbox in RightBooth Settings --> Cameras --> Webcam audio. This allows you to record webcam videos that do not contain an audio track. 2) Allow .wav files to be used as the audio track in the RightBooth Video Enhancements. 3) Add the QR code item to the 'Add items' toolbox in the Screen Editor. This allows QR codes to be added to event screens with a fixed aspect ratio and a correctly sized white border that improves the ability for QR code scanner apps to identify the QR code. 4) Add the 'Choose when to perform file copy actions' options in Event Designer --> Event files/folders. These new options allow you to choose at what point in the playing event flow that various file copy actions will occur. You can choose from the following:
Fixes:
So you have a DJ at your event and you want to allow your guests to send song requests to the DJ throughout the evening. This article explains how you can facilitate this using RightBooth. 1) Use the RightBooth Event Wizard to create a message event. Or in the Event Designer --> Event type, tick the Message check box to include the Message option in your video recording or photo capture event. In this screenshot we have chosen to include messages in our Photo event:  2) In Event Designer --> Event structure --> Email files, in the section 'Email the event messages' choose the 'Yes' option. This will force each message entered during the event to be automatically emailed to the DJ:  3) In Event designer --> Event social media, untick the option 'Send to user email address'. (see screenshot below). This prevents each user from being asked to enter their own email address after they have entered their message. 4) Enter your DJ's email address into the 'To' text box. This will cause RightBooth to automatically send each message to the DJ's email address. You can also customise the email Subject and Body text accordingly:  Note: If you want to send the messages to more than just the DJ, enter each of the other recipient's email addresses on new lines in the 'To' field. 5) In RightBooth Settings --> Social media --> Email server, enter your email Server Host and your account details. This is the email account from which RightBooth will use to send emails to the DJ's email address:  Note: Please refer to your email provider's documentation for the details of your email account. 6) In the Screen Editor, on the Choose recording screen, alter the Message button text item with appropriate wording:  7) In the Screen Editor on the Type message screen, alter the text prompts with appropriate wording:  Job done ! Now play the event and each time a user enters their song request, it will be automatically emailed to the DJ for his consideration. |
AuthorNigel Pearce 
Archives
September 2023
|
RSS Feed
|
|