Tag Archives: Animated GIF

Greenscreen Gifs with animated backgrounds and overlays

Have you tried Breeze transparent greenscreen? It’s a great way to make your GIFs stand out.

This tutorial assumes you can already shoot simple green screen photo booth images with DSLR Remote Pro, and explains how to add animated backgrounds and overlays  to a slideshow GIF.

Usually when you shoot in greenscreen, each photo is saved with a single green screen background. Transparent greenscreen removes the background from an image and stores it as a png with a transparent background. This lets you add a variety of backgrounds later.

Selecting transparent greenscreen processing in Breeze DSLR Remote Pro 3.11.4

 

The original photo is shot against a greenscreen background

 

DLSR Remote Pro removes the green background and saves the photo on a transparent background

Breeze lets you combine these images into a slideshow GIF which has an animated background.

Add the GIF backgrounds

To make a slideshow GIF with an animated background,  you need to add a series of GIF backgrounds to your PhotoBoothImages folder.

My GIF has 3 photos. Each of these photos will have 3 different background images.

9 GIF backgrounds in the PhotoBoothImages folder (Breeze DLSR Remote Pro 3.11.4)

The background images are named GIF_background_1.jpg through to GIF_background_9.jpg

Add the GIF overlays

My GIFs will  have 9 overlays called GIF_overlay_1.png through to GIF_overlay_9.png

9 GIF overlays in the PhotoBoothImages folder (Breeze DLSR Remote Pro 3.11.4)

Add the on-screen background

To keep things simple I am using 1 still background image for the on screen preview. This is called greenscreen_background.jpg as usual.

Greenscreen background image in the PhotoBoothImages folder (Breeze DLSR Remote Pro 3.11.4)

Select your animated GIF settings

First enable animated GIFs .  How to make slideshow GIFs

  1. There are 3 backgrounds and overlays for each photo
  2. Each photo will be shown for one second
  3. The GIF will be displayed for at least 3 seconds

Printing transparent greenscreen images

The photos are saved with transparent backgrounds, so you can print them against a white background, or on a single background image. The images can be a different color from the background.

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Learn more

Thank you for taking the time to read this post.

Sue

© Breeze Systems 2018

Print animated GIFS & 3D multi-camera images as flip books

New in Flipbook Photobooth 1.8

  •  Print flip books from boomerang GIFs
  • Print flip books from 3D Breeze Multi-Camera images
  • Create and print flip books from MP4 videos
  • Support for new cameras: Canon EOS 6D Mark II, 200D, Rebel SL2,1500D, 2000D, Rebel T7, 3000D, 4000D

What is Flipbook Photobooth?

Breeze Flipbook Photobooth is Windows based event software for creating flip books using a Canon DSLR camera. Guests capture a short animation and play it back by flicking through the pages of a printed flip book.

Most the equipment is the same as you need for a DSLR based photo booth. Books are usually printed on a dye sublimation printer capable of printing 6×2 strips.

  • Green screen support
  • Branding and customisation – front cover, individual flip book pages, and screens can all be branded and customised
  • Breeze flexibility as standard! Offer guests a choice of green screen backgrounds or  book covers.  Add an extra dimension by changing the background or overlay as the book progresses. Upsell larger books or more pages. Use multiple printers at large corporate events. Breeze Flipbook Photobooth supports dye sub media, laser and inkjet printers.

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See Flipbook Photobooth in action

Thanks to Nick Andrews of Open Air Photobooth for allowing us to show this demo of Flipbook Photobooth at Osheaga 2014

Nick runs events and sells photo booth/flip book station packages using Breeze event software.

Printing flip books from boomerang GIFs created in DSLR Remote Pro

Flipbook photobooth 1.8 comes with two scripts  which create flip books when guests make boomerang GIFs in DSLR Remote Pro. One script creates a flip book for every boomerang GIF, the other asks the guest whether to print the flip book.

You can find these scripts in the Flipbook Photobooth installation folder. This is usually C:\Program Files (x86)\Breezesys\Flip Book Photobooth (1) as as shown here:

Breeze Flipbook Photobooth 1.8 includes 2 scripts you can use to create flip books from DSLR Remote Pro boomerang GIFs

Note: These scripts use the free Windows scripting tool, AutoHotKey.  You need to download and install AutoHotKey before you run them.

auto_print.ahk (2)  prints the flip book automatically when the animated GIF is accepted in DSLR Remote Pro.

auto_print_with_prompt.ahk (3) ask the guests whether to print the flip book.

See the program help files for more details

Creating and sharing animated GIFs of flip books

Breeze also provide a free script which creates a GIF animation of each flip book sequence. This script uses the free Windows scripting tool, AutoHotKey and the ImageMagick convert command line tool.   AutoHotKey must be downloaded and installed before you run the script.

  • Download the script and unzip all the files in the ZIP file to a single folder
  • Double click on  flipbook2GIF.ahk to run the script.
  • Open the script in a text editor such as Notepad for detailed instructions.

Please note that this script is provided free of charge and comes without any warranty or support.

You can share these GIFs using Breeze Kiosk or third party sharing software

Where to find Flipbook Photobooth 1.8

Download Flipbook Photobooth 1.8 and try it for yourself for up to 14 days before buying a license.

How do I buy it?

Each Flipbook Photobooth license costs just US $250 (excluding any tax) and includes one year’s free upgrades. Buy your license online from the Breeze website

Buy full Flipbook Photobooth license     Buy upgrade license

Note: Breeze DSLR Remote Pro, Breeze DSLR Remote Pro Multi-Camera and Breeze Kiosk need to be purchased separately.

Breeze Systems are not responsible for the content of external sites.

© Breeze Systems 2018

DSLR Remote Pro 3.9 released: ‘I’ve fallen in love with Breeze again’

DSLR Remote Pro 3.9 – can you resist?

I’ve fallen in love with Breeze again

PBPI delegates last month enthused about a pre-release version of the program. One even exclaimed “I’ve fallen in love with Breeze again”. I am delighted to announce the release of DSLR Remote Pro 3.9 on Valentine’s Day.

What’s new?

  • Improvements to the Photobooth Setup Wizard
  • Animated GIFs with soundtrack
  • Extra branding/ logo overlay for animated GIFs
  • Faster, higher quality green screen processing
  • Fix for issue with complex HTML emails

DSLR Remote Pro 3.9 supports most Canon DSLR cameras and runs on Windows 10, 8 and 7. This release is a free upgrade for all registered users who purchased a license on or after 15th February 2017. Customers with an older DSLR Remote Pro license (and any NKRemote license holder) can buy an upgrade license to use this release.

Download and try DSLR Remote Pro 3.9

Buy full licenseBuy upgrade license

Easier setup – improvements to Photobooth Setup Wizard for everyone

We recommend everyone from Breeze Newbies to Ninjas uses the Photobooth Setup Wizard as a start point for setting up a booth. This is a simple, speedy and safe way to generate a working system which you can customize to your heart’s content (or spend the time you saved doing something even nicer).

Smiling boy eating a piece of choclate cake
Photobooth Setup Wizard – a piece of cake with Breeze DSLR Remote Pro 3.9

Chris has improved the flow of the Wizard, making it a piece of cake to build a system offering guests choices (such as Photos or GIF), and run the booth with square or full screen live view as an alternative to normal landscape images.

New dropdown list to give guests choices (Photos/Boomerang GIF, Photos only, Boomerang GIFs only, Photo or video, Video only)

DSLR Remote Pro 3.9 Photobooth Setup Wizard Step 2 drop down list
This drop down list is a super-fast way to set up the booth to offer guests choice (DSLR Remote Pro 3.9 Photobooth Setup Wizard Step 2)

New dropdown list to adjust live view

Shows drop down list for live view (DSLR Remote Pro 3.9 Photobooth Setup Wizard Step 2)
Live view drop down list – choose from normal, square and full screen (DSLR Remote Pro 3.9 Photobooth Setup Wizard Step 2)

Use the setup wizard to customize the live view. Changing the live view in the Wizard will automatically adjust the animated GIFs and prints created by DSLR Remote Pro 3.9.

New improved ready screen to choose from Photos or Animated GIFs

Check box for single ready screen (DSLR Remote Pro 3.9 Photobooth Setup Wizard Step 2)

Choose Photos or Boomerang GIFs and check Single ready screen so that guests start the booth and choose between still photos and boomerang GIFs from a single screen as here:

DSLR Remote Pro 3.9 ready screen generated by Photobooth Setup Wizard DSLR Remote Pro 3.9
Ready screen generated by Photobooth Setup Wizard: choice of still photos or animated GIF, and full screen live view (DSLR Remote Pro 3.9 using simulated camera)

Shoot and share without printing

Running a ‘shoot and share’ booth with animated GIFs and no printing is increasingly popular. The DSLR Remote Pro 3.9 Wizard no longer asks you to select a printer when you  offer only Boomerang GIFs or Video.

New animated GIFs with audio

You can now add an optional soundtrack to the MP4 copy of your animated GIFs. Learn more

Enhanced animated GIF branding with additional overlay

New: add a second overlay to animated GIFs with branding & logo. The additional overlay is an easy way to brand animated GIFs you have created yourself or sourced from third parties. Learn more

Greenscreen processing – higher quality and faster

Print higher quality green screened images more quickly.  DSLR Remote Pro 3.9 green screen algorithms have been rewritten to be both faster and produce higher quality results. Greenscreen photobooth

DSLR Remote Pro 3.9 – Try it today!

Copyright Breeze Systems Ltd 2018. Breeze Systems is not responsible for the content of external sites.

 

Free animated overlay for Boomerang GIFs

This post explains how to add animated overlays and titles to boomerang (aka ‘burst’) GIFs using DSLR Remote Pro 3.12.

How to create slideshow GIFS with animated overlays.

Setup your booth to create boomerang GIFs

1.Run the setup wizard to create simple boomerang GIFs. You can find details in the the  video for the 3.12 Setup Wizard

Customise the boomerang GIF

2. Next click on File (A) then Videobooth Settings (B) to show the Videobooth Settings screen.

3. Check that the boxes for Create Animated GIF and Use camera’s photo mode are both checked, then select the Animated GIF Settings buttom (C) to see the Animated GIF Settings (video booth) screen

Video Booth Settings screen choosing settings for boomerang animated GIF DSLR Remote Pro 3.8.1

3. The settings below  create a ‘boomerang’ animated GIF from the whole photo (landscape orientation) without any border. This GIF will be 600 wide x 400 pixels high. When you have chosen the settings you need click OK (here and  the other pop up windows until you return to the main screen).

Add the animated overlay

4. You need the same number of overlay images as frames in the boomerang GIF. In this example the animated GIF has 29 frames (separate images) created from 15 original images*. You need 29 overlay images; called video_stills_overlay_1.png, video_stills_overlay_2.png …. video_stills_overlay_29.png .

*If you don’t use a title, there are 28 frames so you only need 28 overlays.

You can download the snowflake overlays hereCopy all 29 images into the  folder you are using for the photobooth screens.

Shows folder containing DSLR Remote Pro 3.8 boomerang GIF overlay images
DSLR Remote Pro 3.8 boomerang GIF: 29 overlay images placed in folder used for screens

Give your boomerang GIF a title

Note: Boomerang GIFs need one extra overlay if they have a title.

For a single title create a title image named video_stills_title.jpg and insert this into the same PhotoBoothImages folder.

For an animated title replace video_stills_title.jpg with several images called video_stills_title_1.jpg, video_stills_title_2.jpg, video_stills_title_3.jpg etc

You can adjust the length of time the title is displayed (D) and whether it is shown at the start or end of the animation (E) in the Animated GIF Settings (videobooth mode) screen

Adjusting the title for a boomerang (burst) animated GIF DSLR Remote Pro 3.8
Adjusting the title for a boomerang (burst) animated GIF DSLR Remote Pro 3.8

Run the photobooth and boomerang GIFs created by guests will have animated overlays.

Download DSLR Remote Pro and try this yourself.

This example uses DSLR Remote Pro’s simulated camera; a handy feature which lets you try out features and set up designs without connecting a real camera to the computer. The GIF has an animated overlay of falling snow and a title. It has been captured in black & white.

Boomerang GIF with animated overlay and title Breeze DSLR Remote Pro 3.8.1

The falling snow effect here uses 29 images to create the animation. The snow flakes are in a different position on each  image.

You are welcome to use these snowflake overlays in your own booth with DSLR Remote Pro. If you found this post useful please share it with others.

DSLR Remote Pro 3.12 is a free upgrade for all registered users who purchased a license on or after 26th November 2017.

Copyright Breeze Systems 2018