Category Archives: Getting started

Replacing a computer running DSLR Remote Pro

Is it time to replace the computer you use to run DSLR Remote Pro?

Check out these two guides before you start

Choosing a computer for your booth

Breeze Booth (DSLR+Windows) aka DSLR Remote Pro is very efficient, and often runs well on lowered powered devices than apps from other suppliers.

Before getting out your wallet, think about the ways your booth will be used, because this will affect the spec and cost of the computer you need.

  • Do you simply shoot still photos for social events?
  • Will you shoot burst GIFs or video?
  • What about about slow mo and video FX?
  • Will you use filters, background removal or other effects?
  • Do you require lightening fast results, or is a short delay before viewing the images unimportant?

When you are clear about the the services you will offer, Choosing the right computer for your booth helps you find the computer spec which meets your needs.

Making the move

Once you have obtained your new computer, you need to move DSLR Remote Pro from your old machine to the replacement.

Moving Breeze DSLR Remote Pro to a new computer will guide you through this process.

 

© Breeze Systems 2023

Choosing a computer for your Windows photo booth

My all time favorite comment in the Breeze Facebook group began

Anything with more processing power than a potato can generally run Breeze.

It’s absolutely true that you can run a stills Breeze photo booth on a low powered computer, although we don’t support the King Edward or Yukon Gold.

The same poster added

 …I’m not doing gifs or videos, just photo layouts and prints.

Which was a sensible caveat. Before choosing your computer, think how it will be used.

Videos, burst GIFs, photos with filters, background removal and other effects run much better on a more powerful machine.

Probably not the best power source for a video booth

We have added a new page to the website Choosing a computer for your photo booth.

This page replaces one of our most popular blog posts and includes advice about hardware requirements for processing videos quickly. This is  probably the most demanding task for a photo booth computer.

Have a great weekend,

Sue

© Breeze Systems 2022

 

Adding a hidden exit to your booth

How do I add a secret button to exit the booth?

It’s important that guests cannot exit your photo booth screens, but you need a controlled way out.

When the booth has a keyboard attached just hit the Escape key from the Breeze Ready screen.

To exit using the touch screen, you need a hidden button. Ideally combine this with password protection.

Adding the secret button and password

This page explains how to add a hidden exit to both DSLR Remote Pro and Webcam Photobooth. Add the exit command to your touch screen settings.

Getting to the touchscreen settings in DSLR Remote Pro

Accessing touch screen settings  (1) and adding your password (6) (DSLR Remote Pro 3.15.2)

Getting to the touchscreen settings in Webcam Photobooth

Accessing touch screen settings  (1) and adding your password (6) (Webcam Photobooth)

(1) Start the program and go to the touch screen settings for your Ready screen. There will be a short pause before you see the next screen:

Adding an Exit button to the Ready screen (DSLR Remote Pro 3.15.2)

Right click anywhere on this screen to show the current screen and add new actions.

Actions make something happen when the screen is touched in a particular area. This screen already has actions to start the booth and switch between color and black & white. We are going to add a new action to exit the Ready screen.

(2) Select Add Action

(3) Choose the action Exit Full screen photobooth from the drop down list

(4) Drag and drop the action to a convenient location. Use an empty corner of your screen for hidden buttons. Guests won’t see them but you and your staff will find them easily.

(5) Right click again and choose Exit

6) Add a password in case a guest guesses the location of your button, or touches it by mistake.

Remember to save your changes as you leave each screen.

What this looks like in practice

Your Ready screen looks exactly the same, there is no clue that the button exists:

Ready screen with no sign of hidden exit (Breeze DSLR Remote Pro 3.15.2)
The same screen showing the location of the hidden exit

Anyone finding the secret button the can’t exit the booth  without knowing the exit password I added at (6) .

To exit the booth you also need to know the exit password (Breeze DSLR Remote Pro 3.15.2)

Adding other actions to your screens

Touch screen actions are powerful tools which give Breeze programs enormous flexibility. Use them to access the reprint selection screen, an information or T&C screen, add choices using profiles and much more.

Guests often ask for an extra print after their session has finished. DSLR Remote Pro includes options to display a reprint selection screen. Link to this screen using the Display Reprint Selection Screen action

© Breeze Systems 2020

New Tutorial: Printing from Breeze Booth for iPad

Breeze Booth for iPad supports both Windows printing and Apple’s AirPrint.

The new tutorial  explains the advantages of both, and how to set them up in Breeze Booth. Find Printing from Breeze Booth here

You can try Breeze Booth without having or signing in to an account but it will be limited to ten photos or GIFs per day before a watermark is added to the output. Start here.

© Breeze Systems February 2020

Breeze at Photo Booth Expo 2020

 

We are counting down the days to Photo Booth Expo, and looking forward to seeing many of you in Vegas. Find us in the Exhibition Hall at booth 1113; book your place at Steve Bliesner’s classes (details below).

Steve will be running four classes on Breeze at PBX this year. Classes will cover both Breeze Booth for iPad and Breeze Booth for Windows ( aka DSLR Remote Pro). There are separate classes for beginners and advanced users, with discounts for people booking several classes.

Breeze Booth for iPad, Beginners Class – Wednesday the 26th 11am

Everything you need to get a basic event up and running with the Event Editor, and then synced to the iPad app using Dropbox. The finished event will include the option to take photos, make a GIF, and apply digital props, as well as options to send them via email and SMS, direct from the iPad.

Breeze Booth for iPad, Advanced Users Class – Wednesday the 26th 12pm

For users who are already comfortable cresting events and syncing them to the iPad. This class will work through some of the more advanced features, such as white labelling the iPad App, animated screens and countdown, setting up Event Codes (for easy deployment across multiple booths), using Breeze Hub, Information screens and menus, creative uses of surveys and sending HTML emails.

Breeze Booth for Windows (aka DSLR Remote Pro) Beginners Class – Wednesday the 26th 1pm

The basics of getting up and running with Breeze Booth for Windows. A complete walk through of the using the Setup Wizard, adding print layouts, making some basic interface tweaks through to sending images and GIFs via email and SMS.

Breeze Booth for Windows (aka DSLR Remote Pro) Advanced Users Class – Wednesday the 26th 2pm

For users who already have the basics down and are looking to take advantage of some of the more advanced features. How to structure your setup for fast and efficient handling of multiple events, the best way to deploy events across multiple photo booths, profiles, advanced interface tips and tricks and how to use Breeze Hub for a better way to send emails.

Book your place

Buy your tickets here. You will need to select buy tickets in the top right corner of the page.

 

 

 

Removing branding from Breeze Booth for iPad sample events

Breeze Booth comes with five sample events as standard, professionally designed to run on iPads. You can tweak or customize these examples to use at your own events.

This new Breeze Booth for iPad tutorial shows you how to adjust these designs for your own use.

If this post is helpful, please share it with others.

© Breeze Systems

Creating events from scratch: Breeze Booth Event Editor 1.2

Breeze Booth features the most flexible and powerful interface designer of any iPad software on the market. Use the unique drag and drop Event Editor to create totally custom experiences, complex multi menu systems and engaging data surveys.

Note: Event Editor 1.3 was released on 17th July, and can be downloaded here

Sounds fantastic! Where do I start?

Start by running the new Event Creator in Event Editor 1.2. You can create custom working designs in just three simple steps.

This post runs through

  • downloading and installing Event Editor 1.2
  • creating events from scratch with the Creator
  • cloning existing events
  • transferring events to iOS 12 devices (iPads and iPhones)

Downloading and installing Event Editor 1.2

Create and edit events using Breeze Booth’s powerful Event Editor on any Windows PC running Windows 10, 8, or 7

Download Breeze Booth’s new Event Editor here

Already designed your own events?

When you download Event Editor 1.2, you will also download the latest release of Breeze Hub and the five sample events provided with Breeze Booth. That’s great for beginners.

If you already have event designs you want to keep, we suggest unchecking the box Copy sample events to your Documents folder so that no changes are made to your events folder.

Uncheck Copy sample events … if you don’t want your existing events folder changed

Create your first event

Open the Event Editor and select Create event..

Three step Event creator creates working events for any iPad or iPhone *  using the new Chameleon theme designed by Wilkes Booth Co:

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Once the Creator has built a new event you can transfer it to your devices or use the Event Editor to make further changes.

Cloning existing events

You don’t need to build all your events from scratch. Save yourself time and effort by right clicking on an existing event to clone it:

You can also import complete Breeze Booth events created elsewhere using the Import Event… button.

Right click on any event to clone it (Breeze Booth Event Editor 1.2)

Cloning the sample events

You are welcome to use the sample events we provide with Breeze Booth at live events. To make these events your own, clone them and edit the cloned copy of the event. (You will then have an easy way to start again from the original event.)

Transferring your new event to your iPads and iPhones

Once your design is complete you need to transfer it to your iPads and iPhones.

The simplest way to transfer events to your devices uses Dropbox .  Advanced users may prefer to transfer events via your own website

Take it further

This post scratches the surface of what you can achieve with Breeze Booth. Take a look at the Props and Filters and Surveys sample events for more ideas.

Go ahead – make it yours, make it your clients. Breeze Booth can be re-skinned to make it look like your very own photo booth software. Deploy remote and unattended iPads without fear of clients knowing what software you use. Learn more in the Breeze Booth help files

Summary

We have learned how to use the Creator to build events from scratch, and how to clone these and other events. I have linked to a separate post Syncing Events with Dropbox which demonstrates the simplest way to transfer your events to iPads or iPhones.

Is there a free trial?

You don’t need to buy a license to create events for Breeze Booth . Just download and install Breeze Booth Event Editor 1.2 onto a Windows PC. You can try out Breeze Booth and companion Apps Event Editor and Breeze Hub free of charge.

* Devices must run iOS 12. At time of writing (May 2019) Breeze Booth supports iPad Pro 11 and iPhone X series and well as iPads with 4:3 screens and iPhones with 16:9 screens

Thank you for taking the time to read this post. Please share it with others who may find it useful.

Sue

Breeze Systems 2019

Sample iPad events for Breeze Booth

This post was updated in January 2021

Breeze Booth comes with five sample events as standard, professionally designed to run on iPads. Run these events out of the box to get a feel for what you can achieve with the App, then tweak or customize them to use at your own events.

This post covers

  • a brief guide to each event
  • general information about the sample events
  • how to download and run the sample events on your iPad

Getting started

You can run Breeze Booth on any iPadOS, iOS13, iOS 14 device without having or signing in to an account but it will be limited to ten photos or GIFs per day before a watermark is added to the output. There is no charge to open the account.  Use it to buy subscriptions and redeem vouchers to sign in your iPads.

You will need an account with at least one active subscription or voucher to use Breeze Booth for iPad for unlimited photos. Please see Creating an Account and Logging into the Web App for more information.

Downloading the App and sample events to your iPad

Download Breeze Booth from the App Store

There is no charge to download and run Breeze Booth on an iPad or iPhone.

Breeze Booth runs on all iPads and iPhones running iPadOS, iOS13, or iOS 14. Once you have downloaded the App, you will be prompted to download the sample events onto your iPad. This may take a little time as two of the events are quite large. Once they are successfully downloaded, you can run any of the five events.

More help getting started

General information

Each sample event includes a Welcome screen with information about the event. Tap anywhere on this screen to start the event.

Sample welcome screen for the Props & Filters demo. An overlay called ready_overlay.png is displayed over over a plain background called  ready.jpg

You can replace this screen with one suited to your own events, perhaps including instructions for your operator, or support information for unattended booths.

If you don’t want to use welcome screens you can hide them.

The welcome screens include a reminder that there is a secret button in the top right hand corner of each event ready screen to access the admin menu. You can password protect the settings screen if required.

Admin menu

The sample admin menus are the same for all the sample events, and include five options

  • return to the admin screen
  • switch between front and rear cameras
  • adjust the camera settings
  • sync (download the most recent version of) the event
  • back – go to the previous screen

Privacy/information button

There is a privacy/information button in the top left or lower right corner of all the sample events. This takes guests to one or more screens with extra information. These screens are a great place to put your business details, terms and conditions, privacy statement, or even troubleshooting advice. The sample events all include two pages of information; you can change both the content and number of information screens

Printing and emailing from the iPad

Breeze Booth can run as a standalone App where guests email images and/or print them using AirPrint. You can also link the booth to a Windows PC running Breeze Hub for Windows based printing.

The five sample events all print and email directly from the iPad, so you do not need a  Windows PC to run them.

Booth orientation

You can run Breeze Booth in both portrait and landscape, and set it up to automatically switch between the two when the iPad is rotated. Most iPad booths run in portrait orientation, so the sample events are designed for this. We have included a simple screen prompting operators to rotate the iPad back to portrait if they try to run it in landscape.

 

Sample landscape ready screen directing users to rotate the iPad back to portrait orientation (Breeze Booth)

You can change the design of this screen or remove it.

Five sample events

  1. Props and filters
  2. Boomerang GIF
  3. Photo (no printing)
  4. Print Menu (Printing)
  5. Surveys

To make the most of these demos (1) run them, (2) read these notes, and (3)  look at how the event is set up in the Event Editor app.

A separate tutorial explains how to  remove the branding and make other changes if you use these events for real.

Demo 1 Props and filters

This demo features:

  • Digital / AR Props
  • Color Filters
  • Mirror Effects
  • Sub Menus
  • Emailing of images
  • Info Screens
  • Initial Profile

Digital / AR Props

Digital Props are transparent PNG files that attach  and track to a guests face (eg, as the guest moves, the prop moves with them). The size and position of the Prop can be easily set in the Event Editor app. A  “smiling” feature, let you change the prop when guests smile (check out the Smiling Flowers  Prop to see how this works).

Choosing the Smiling Fowers prop Breeze Botoh for iPad

Color Filters

 Breeze Booth comes with monochrome, sepia and comic style filters as standard. You can add six more custom filters.

The color and BW filter in this demo were custom made in Lightroom. To learn more about how to create your own filters, see the online manual.

Mirror Effects

Breeze Booth includes a range of mirror effects; from a simple vertical split screen mirror, to a quad screen of vertical and horizontal. Mirror effects can be applied to still images, slideshow GIFs and burst/boomerang GIFs.

Sub Menus

Breeze Booth lets you  create your own sub menus. Props and filters demo uses one menu  to display the choice of special effects.  A second menu is used for Admin options, giving simple access to functions including Sync, camera settings and exit to the main settings. Tap the right hand corner to check this out.

Sharing by email and text

The sample events share photos by email using the inbuilt iOS Mail App. For more control over email style and content use  SMTP emails.

You can also share by text using a third party service called Twilio. The sample events do not include this option.

Info Screens

Info screens are a way of presenting information to people using the photo booth. In this demo, the Info Screen is being used to display a Privacy Statement. Unattended booths might use info screens for a guide on how to use the photo booth. Corporate events might have info screens displaying their terms and conditions.

Initial Profile

Initial Profiles are a great tool to force guests or your operator to view particular information before running the booth. The sample events use the initial profile to educate people about these demos.

Demo 2 Boomerang GIF

This demo features:

  • Boomerang / Burst GIF
  • BW color filter
  • Animated overlay

Color filters

Breeze Booth comes with monochrome, sepia and comic style filters as standard. You can add six more custom filters.

The color and BW filter in this demo were custom made in Lightroom. To learn more about how to create your own filters, see the online manual.

Animated Overlays

GIFs can also have animated overlays applied as a series of transparent PNG files. For more information about setting up animated overlays, see the online manual.

Demo 3 Photo

This simple demonstation takes 3 photos and makes a slideshow GIF from them.

Demo 4 Print Menu

This demo features

  • multiple profiles
  • print layouts
  • printing

Multiple Profiles

Profiles can be used to build a custom menu system, offerings guests  choices. In this demo, the menu allows a user to choose which print layout they want.

Print Layouts

The demo shows three different layouts; 6×2 strip, a single image 6×4 and a 6×4 with 4 photos. 

Printing

Photos can be printed directly from the iPad with an AirPrint printer, or use our free App Breeze Hub for Windows based printing.

Windows driven printing lets you use a huge range of printers including almost all dye sublimation printers. More about printing.

Demo 5 Surveys

To make the most of this demo, have a read of these notes, and be sure to try out all the surveys. Then check out where and how the images have been saved, and have a look at how the event is set up in the Event Editor. 

Note: The sureys demo has been designed to show creative ways you can customize Breeze Booth to collect and use guest data. It is not intended for use at live events.

This demo features 5 different surveys

  • Opt In/Out (with multiple options)
  • Simple Accept/Decline
  • Age gate
  • Simple Graphical Options
  • Advanced Graphical Options

Also demonstrated, is how data can be affected by the choices users make. As an example, the choices users make can determine:

  • Where images get saved
  • The file names of images
  • What text gets added to print layouts
  • What text gets added to emails

Where/how the images are saved

To see how survey data can affect where and how images are saved, run the demo on your iPad and check out what has happened to the images from your session.

On the iPad, open the Files App and then tap On my iPad, then Breeze Booth, then Photos. Take special note of the folder names, specifically paying attention to the Demo 5 folders, and then take a look at the files in each, and see how the file names are effected by the survey choices.

Using Survey Data in emails

Data from the survey can be used in emails like the one sent by this event.

Using the Survey Data in prints

Have a look at the print attached to the email. See how Steve creatively used the data you entered for emotion, age and Toblerone price on the print.

Learn more about Surveys here.

 

This post was written by Sue Breeze, based on Steve Bliesner’s notes about the sample events provided with Breeze Booth.

 

 

 
 

 

 

 

 

 

Syncing events with Dropbox – Breeze Booth for iPad

How to use Dropbox to transfer new and updated events from the Event Editor 1.2 (on a Windows PC) to your iPads. This post includes a trouble shooting section.

June 2020: This post has been replaced by a website tutorial here

June 2019: Post updated to clarify that events can be saved straight to Dropbox

May 2019: Some images and text in this post have been updated to reflect the latest releases of the Breeze Booth App and Event Editor 1.2

Introduction

When you download Breeze Booth from the App Store, you are prompted to sync (ie download) sample events from Breeze servers at https://bb4ipad/com/sync 

When you create your own events you also need to transfer them to your devices. The simplest way to do this is to use Dropbox. This post explains how to set up Dropbox on each iPad (or iPhone) and download events using Dropbox.

Note: Breeze Booth now supports both iPads and iPhones running iOS12. References to iPads in this post also refer to iPhones.

Setting up Dropbox on your iPad

  • Install the official Dropbox app on your iPad (this can be downloaded from the Apple App Store).
  • Select Sign in to Dropbox in Breeze Booth for iPad’s app settings and authorize the app. This will create a “Breeze Booth for iPad” folder in your Dropbox “Apps” folder.

Copy the events on your PC to your Dropbox folder

Once you have set up Dropbox for Breeze Booth you need to copy your folder of events into the correct Dropbox folder to transfer them to the iPad.

Copy the events folder from C:\Users\yourname\Documents\Breeze Booth for iPad

Copying the whole events folder

to C:\Users\yourname\Dropbox\Apps\Breeze Booth for iPad

Dropbox folder structure for events

Note: When you sync the events using Dropbox on your iPad, the program will look for this folder. You must name it correctly, or the App will not find your events.

Note to advanced users: You can use tokens including {eventName} in your Dropbox folder naming. This post does not cover this.

Saving events straight to Dropbox

Once the initial set of events have been copied to Dropbox, you can either save new and updated events directly into Dropbox, or continue using an intermediate folder and manually copy them. Saving events straight to Dropbox is simpler and faster.

 To direct the Event Editor to load and save events in Dropbox, select File then Open, navigate to C:\Users\…\Dropbox\Apps\Breeze Booth for iPad\events  and open events.xml

To point the Event Editor to your Dropbox events folder, click on File then Open, navigate to C:\Users\…\Dropbox\Apps\Breeze Booth for iPad\events  and open events.xml

When you return to the main Event Editor screen note that the folder name at the top has changed:

 

Event Editor 1.2 main screen with folder highlighted

You will be prompted to save your changes before closing the Event Editor

Breeze Booth EventEditor prompts you to save any changes before closing the program

Tell Breeze Booth for iPad to sync events using Dropbox

As there are several ways to sync events, you need to tell your iPad which to choose. In Breeze Booth for iPad go to Settings and select the Sync via Dropbox.

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Import the latest version of your events into Breeze Booth for iPad from Dropbox

You can choose whether to update (‘sync’) all your events at the same time, or update a single event. Updating all events is the best way to check everything on the iPad is up to date, but may be slower than updating a single event (especially if you have a poor Internet connection).

You can also update the event list before updating individual events.

Get an updated list of events

Update list of events button (Breeze Booth Events screen)

Get the latest version of all your events

Update all events button (Breeze Booth Events screen)

Get the latest version of a single event

Once the event(s) have been updated, you are ready to run them

Concerned about guests getting access to your Dropbox files from the iPad?

Advanced users: Signing into the Dropbox App on an iPad and signing Breeze Booth for iPad into your Dropbox account are not the same. Once your events are set up correctly, you can secure your Dropbox account by:

either signing out from the Dropbox App and keeping Breeze Booth for iPad signed into Dropbox

or Deleting the Dropbox App from the iPad

Only delete the Dropbox App from the iPad when Breeze Booth for iPad is signed in to DropBox. If you sign Breeze Booth for iPad out from Dropbox, you  will need to reinstall the official Dropbox app before signing back in again.

You can also set an exit password to keep guests from accessing the Breeze Booth for iPad settings page

 Using an exit password to keep sticky fingered guests from  the Breeze Booth for iPad settings page

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Keep life simple when syncing with Dropbox

  • Do name your folders correctly
  • Do not uninstall Breeze Booth for iPad from your iPads
  • Do not delete the Breeze Booth for iPad folder in Dropbox

Stuck? Getting out of trouble

 

iPad App can’t find my new/updated events

Path not found errors occur when the App cannot find the event files. Causes:

  • Dropbox has not finished syncing the files to the iPad
  • Dropbox folders or files are not named correctly
Path not found: Event cannot be synced because of a folder or file naming error

Motr

Error: not logged into Dropbox occurs if Breeze Booth for iPad is not signed into Dropbox

Unable to sync event because not logged into Dropbox

Check the iPad settings screen:

More places to find help

Breeze Booth for iPad has detailed help files online

If you can’t find an answer in the help files, feel free to email support@breezesys.com or post in the Breeze User group on Facebook

Summary

This post explained how to transfer new and updated events from a PC to Breeze Booth for iPad using Dropbox. You will need a Dropbox account and an Internet connection for this to work.

 

 

© Breeze Systems 2019