[Dannygonzales73]

Hi Chris,

I'm not sure you've received this request or not, but is there any possibility that the application (in a future release) would accept a type of animated "ready" file, such as a GIF or SWF? I'm sure a lot of other vendors out there have an issue with guests not being able to follow/read the on-screen instructions that we've configured in the jpg images and think that having guests see some type of animation would be beneficial.

Thanks!
Dan

[PhotoJames]

This topic was brought up again in the PBT forum. I would really like to be able to use an animated gif for the start screen. Not so much to explain the process but more for the entertainment aspect. Custom start screens at wedding receptions and corporate events would be a nice selling feature.

Just curious, if you had a swf for the start screen and you are using a touch screen would you be able to add cues to auto hot key or some other external program?

[alexsiskahn]

I third the motion!

[Sharpie]

Yes this is something I'd be interested in having in PSRemote though not dSLR!

[PhotoJames]

Yes this is something I'd be interested in having in PSRemote though not dSLR!

Hey Sharpie, I use PSRemote too, and I would like to see it on that first, but I'm sure that there are people using DSLR that would like it. But just to be clear, can we have it on PSRemote first please?;)

[Qapla]

I will agree with this option and having it for PSR first, thank you.

[Chris Breeze]

I haven't had time to try this but it appears you can display animated GIFs using AutoHotKey. Please see this thread on the AutoHotKey forum for more details:
http://www.autohotkey.com/forum/topic19264.html

Another approach would be to find an app which can display animated GIFs full screen and then use an AutoHotKey script to show it instead of the ready.jpg screen.

[Chris Breeze]

Here's an AutoHotKey script which displays Internet Explorer when the photobooth is ready. You can then press F4 to show the photobooth window and start the countdown or F5 to hide Internet Explorer and show the photobooth ready screen. Pressing Ctrl+Q will return to the Internet Explorer window.

You can of course display any web page in Internet Explorer and have animations, Flash etc. If you run Internet Explorer in full screen mode (by typing F11) it will hide all the menu bars etc. The script can be modified to use other apps or web browsers e.g. FireFox.

You can download the script from:
http://www.breezesys.com/downloads/photobooth_ready_screen.zip

[stillmation]

I like this last script. Lots of potential there.

I'm polishing off my touchscreen setup so not going to try to much at the moment.
I did try it, in conjunction with my modified options screen script, but will need them to work together better.

Ultimately I see this script as the idle screen of the booth, looping animation or explanations running in the fullscreen IE. Once the screen is touched, this script makes way for the options screen script. That in turn makes way for the PSremote sequence. The processing script kicks in, then the reset script. Returning the user to the options script screen. Upon a delay of say, 5 mins, options screen is replaced once again by the animated idle screen of IE.

I can see it all happening, just got to figure out the code now! :)

[anastassis]

Is it possible to integrate F5 key in the touchscreen setting?

[Chris Breeze]

Is it possible to integrate F5 key in the touchscreen setting?

You could try adding the following to the AutoHotKey script to return to the photobooth ready screen by touching the screen when Internet Explorer is the active window:

#IfWinActive, Windows Internet Explorer
LButton:: HideOtherWindow()

This needs to be at added to the end of the script because the #IfWinActive line affects all lines below it.

[stillmation]

You could try adding the following to the AutoHotKey script to return to the photobooth ready screen by touching the screen when Internet Explorer is the active window:

#IfWinActive, Windows Internet Explorer
LButton:: HideOtherWindow()

This needs to be at added to the end of the script because the #IfWinActive line affects all lines below it.

Thanks for the pointer Chris, a variation on this would also hide the IE and be able to show the options script too I presume. Rather than hide IE and go directly to the ready screen?

Thanks,
Rob.

[anastassis]

You could try adding the following to the AutoHotKey script to return to the photobooth ready screen by touching the screen when Internet Explorer is the active window:

#IfWinActive, Windows Internet Explorer
LButton:: HideOtherWindow()

This needs to be at added to the end of the script because the #IfWinActive line affects all lines below it.

Works Great! Thanks Chris...

[Chris Breeze]

Thanks for the pointer Chris, a variation on this would also hide the IE and be able to show the options script too I presume. Rather than hide IE and go directly to the ready screen?

Thanks,
Rob.

There's no reason why you can't combine both scripts. Probably all you need to do is change HideOtherWindow() to call ShowOverlayWindow() instead of activating the photobooth window.

[alexsiskahn]

So how does one make an animated gif or SWF file anyways? And how would you then play that file in Internet explorer?

[Qapla]

A Google search for "create animated gifs" will net several hits for software made to create them.

[PhotoJames]

You can easily make animated gifs in Photoshop. Make a layered document and each layer will become a frame in the animation. (try searching animated gif in photoshop). After a little searching it looks like InDesign is the program to use (If you have CS4 or later) to create swf files. I guess you would make your elements in PS and then place them into InDesign. I've used ID quite extensively but not for this so I guess I'll have to give it a go. Sounds interesting, I'll let you know when I've done some experimenting.

I know some of you don't have or maybe don't use Adobe CS, but that's what I have. I'd be interested to see what else is out there.

[alexsiskahn]

Hi is anyone doing this? I'm studying it right now. Any tips woudl be appreciated

[stillmation]

has anyone got this setup working well yet?
I've just returned to trying to get it all to run, instead of displaying the welcome screen, I'd like to be able to run an animation in IE or Firefox.