Photo Booth Green Screen Help

[jamiebodie]

I am using NKremote and a Nikon D90.

OK, I am very new to green screen, but used it last night and loved it.

One thing, it is very slow. How can I speed this up?

Is anyone using photokey or other software? Does this speed up the process? How do you print your images if there is other software doing the green screen?

I would love to use Photokey 4 Pro as it does a super job of keying the images.

Thanks in advance for your help.

Jamie

[PhotoJames]

Jamie,

I have experienced something similar. It does take longer to process the pictures (I'm using a computer with an Atom processor) but it hasn't had any effect on the number of people going through the booth. If you want to have another program perform the green screen I believe that you can do that. I haven't done that so I can't tell you the process. I'm sure there is someone on this board that can give you the 411. Heck I wouldn't mind trying something like that too.

[Chris Breeze]

Green screen requires more time to process the images than non-green shooting because it has to read in the photo and the background, scan it pixel by pixel replacing green areas with the background and then apply the overlay. You can speed this up by using a more powerful computer or by reducing the size of the photos taken by the computer.

Another option is to set the photo booth output option to "None" and have a separate app perform the green screening and either have that print them out or use our Hotfolder Prints software. This is more difficult to set up and can be tricky if you want the user to be able to select different backgrounds. A dedicated green screen app should produce higher quality results but will probably take longer to actually print the photos. However it does free up the booth to take the next set of shots while the current set is being processed.

[jamiebodie]

...................... You can speed this up by using a more powerful computer or by reducing the size of the photos taken by the computer.

Would adding more RAM help or are we talking processor speed here?


... This is more difficult to set up and can be tricky if you want the user to be able to select different backgrounds. A dedicated green screen app should produce higher quality results but will probably take longer to actually print the photos. However it does free up the booth to take the next set of shots while the current set is being processed.

I would like very much to free up the booth. I have been looking at FXhome PhotoKey 4 Pro. It does a great job of keying and seems to be much faster than GS Wizard and to offer more adjustment options. Is it possible to have the different backgrounds shot in the booth show up in the PhotoKey software? Then send them to Hotfolder prints to be printed? Do you think the printing app would fall farther and farther behind or could it keep up, say a minute or two behind the booth?

[jamiebodie]

I did a little experiment this AM and thought I would share. I timed the processing time on my smallest pics setting and the largest using green screen mode.

The smallest setting took exactly 1 minute, the largest setting took 1 minute and 40 seconds to process the image. So substantial time can be saved here.

I think I could also save time using a separate program to key the images, but I am not sure this is true and that experiment cost about 450.00 to perform. I would hate to be wrong.

[jamiebodie]

............actually I could do the experiment using the trial versions for free. I can be pretty dumb some times.

Jamie

[apples]

Jamie, if you went for a laptop instead of your Atom Netbook you would see those times drop by 2/3 at least !

I switched, can't believe the difference. Now have the netbook as the backup PC,

rgds

[jamiebodie]

I think you may have me confused with someone else. I am running a desktop computer with Windows 7.

Thanks for the help though, I do appreciate the thought.

[jamiebodie]

OK, I have done half of my experiment. I ran the photo booth with the output set to none. I used photokey 4 pro to key my photos using the hot folder option and photokey 4 was able to keep up with NKremote and process the pics as fast as they were taken. I was using a 4 second delay between photos and a 2 second display. The next step is to use hotfolder prints to print the pics and see if everything works together.

Chris, is there anyway to get PhotoKey4 to change out the backgrounds to match those set in the booth if I am using more than one?

READ THIS: Today only, (02/17/2011) photokey4 pro is half price at tubetape.com (no I don't work for tubetape, but saving over 150.00 is fun). Use promo code TUPH36.

If I have done something wrong by posting this here please forgive me as I am just trying to share a deal.

Jamie

[apples]

I think you may have me confused with someone else. I am running a desktop computer with Windows 7.

Thanks for the help though, I do appreciate the thought.

yes, sorry, that was aimed at Photojames.

desktop? you lugging that around?

[PhotoJames]

I don't have any problems with my Atom processor computer (it's not a net book, it's a desktop). It does take a bit of time (5 to 10 seconds) more than typical using the green screen option, but it is always ready long before the next group gets in. And the best part is that it runs very cool. I've done 4 hour events in the summer and heat isn't an issue, the printer puts out way more heat than the computer.

[jamiebodie]

Chris, Is it possible to have the different backgrounds shot in the booth show up in the PhotoKey software?

Thanks
Jamie

[Chris Breeze]

I haven't used PhotoKey so I'm not sure how easy it is to automate it. One option is to write a script which reads the XML summary file saved with the images and use the photobooth image folder information to load the correct background for each image into the green screen software.

[jamiebodie]

Chris, that sounds great, but I have no idea what you just said. LOL Where can I learn more about what you are talking about?

Jamie