Welcome

This manual describes RAWCaptureBooth in the version shown in the page header: installation, setup, running an event and troubleshooting.

Who it is for#

The manual knows three roles and is organised around them, so nobody has to read what does not concern them.

How the manual is organised#

• Getting started goes from installation to the first picture. These chapters are written step by step, naming every button.
• Event management covers the heart of RAWCaptureBooth: every party is its own event, with its own settings, layouts and pictures.
• Event settings and System and device settings follow the structure of the admin area. They are meant for looking things up, not for reading front to back.
• Tools covers the layout editor, the digital background and the web photo album.
• Running an event contains the timeline of an event day, storage locations, data protection and troubleshooting.

Conventions#

• A path inside the admin area is written like this: admin area "Event management" > "My events".
• Labels of buttons and fields appear in quotation marks.
• Boxes with a coloured bar highlight what is easily missed:

The fastest route to the first picture#

If the booth has just been unpacked, read in this order: Installation, First start, Setting up the camera, Setting up the printer and Your first event. Everything else can wait.

Installation

System requirements#

Without an internet connection the booth keeps working: capture, layout, print and gallery need no network. Only sending, cloud upload and the licence check catch up later.

Moving up from the 32-bit edition#

As of version 3.3.0 RAWCaptureBooth is released as a 64-bit edition only. Anyone who used the 32-bit edition so far simply installs the 64-bit one: events, layouts, captures, settings and the licence live outside the program folder and remain available unchanged. The licence does not need to be activated again.

On 32-bit Windows the previous version 3.2.0 keeps working, but receives no new features.

Installing#

1. Run the installer: RAWCaptureBooth_..._x64_Setup.exe.
2. Choose the language, then accept the licence terms and the privacy notice. The language chosen here also sets the language of the application; it can be changed later in the admin area.
3. Confirm the target folder. The default is the Windows program folder.
4. Choose the additional tasks:
• Desktop icon and Start menu entry — preselected on a first installation.
• Start with Windows — useful for kiosk operation, so the booth comes back on its own after a power cut. Can be changed later under "System Settings" > "System".
5. Finish the installation and start the application.

Where the data lives#

The program itself sits in the program folder, while everything that changes lives in the profile of the signed-in user:

%LOCALAPPDATA%\RAWCaptureBooth\
├── config\      device settings
├── events\      per event: settings, layouts, graphics, pictures
├── storage\     working files of the current session
├── logs\        logs for troubleshooting
└── backups\     backups

Uninstalling leaves this folder in place, so pictures and settings survive a reinstall.

First launch#

On the very first launch a short setup assistant sits on top of the start screen. It covers language, admin access and licence. See First start.

Updating#

An update is installed with the same installer; no uninstall is needed. Settings, events and pictures are kept. The software reports new versions itself and shows the list of changes.

First start

The setup assistant#

On the first launch an assistant sits on top of the start screen. It has five steps and takes less than two minutes.

1. Choose the language — the language of the booth. It can be changed at any time; which languages guests are offered is set separately, per event.
2. Build type — photo booth or photo mirror. For the photo mirror, the camera is rotated by 90° and the live view mirrored right away; more under Photo mirror.
3. Admin access — the assistant shows where the admin area is: behind a hidden area at the bottom left of the screen, marked by a blinking dot. The factory PIN is 0000.
4. What happens next — a pointer that the real setup happens in the admin area.
5. Licence — either a licence key or the free trial with the full feature set. Without an active licence or trial no capture can be started. Both can be sorted out later under "System Settings" > "License management".

"Finish" closes the assistant; it does not come back.

The blinking dot stays in the bottom left afterwards, together with a speech bubble naming the way into the admin area and the factory PIN. Both disappear once the admin area has been open for the first time.

Into the admin area#

1. Tap the hidden area at the bottom left of the screen, where the dot blinks.
2. Enter the PIN (factory default 0000).

"To Photobooth" at the top leads back to the guest view.

The guided tour#

The first time the admin area opens, it offers a short tour: menu, search, favourites, automatic saving and event management. It can be ended at any time and started again later.

It is worth taking, mostly because of the menu structure. The menu is split into three blocks, and the difference decides where a setting lives:

Above them sits "Favorites": the star in the header of each area puts it there — handy for the handful of areas touched before every party.

Directly below sits "News" with posts about RAWCaptureBooth. A pulsing dot there shows that something has been added since the last visit.

The setup list#

"System Settings" > "Setup" walks through everything that has to be done once per device. The order follows the way through the setup: first make the device operational, then connect the hardware, then decide the routes the pictures take to the guest — and last the first party. What the booth can detect it ticks off itself; everything else is ticked with "Done". "Go to setting" jumps straight to the matching area.

The eight items:

1. Activate licence — without an active licence or trial no capture can be started. While the trial runs, the item counts as done and points out that a key can be added at any time.
2. Change admin PIN — ticks itself once saved.
3. Prepare Windows for photobooth operation — switch off edge swipe gestures and make sure in the power options that neither the screen nor USB devices are turned off. The easiest way is the free "FST" tool from the download area of the website; it converts Windows in one go. Then press "Done".
4. Set up and test the camera — on DSLR and mirrorless cameras a successful test shot ticks the item. See Setting up the camera.
5. Set up and test the printer — a test print ticks the item. If printing is switched off entirely, the item disappears. See Setting up the printer.
6. Add an email account — server, login and sender address of the outgoing mail under "Access & accounts" > "Mail access (SMTP)". As soon as server and sender are set, the item ticks itself. The access applies to all events; whether a party sends pictures by email is set with the event. See Cloud and e-mail.
7. Set up a cloud service — sign in to a Dropbox, Google Drive, pCloud or Nextcloud account or enter the address of your own server, under "Access & accounts" > "Cloud account". The account applies to all events too; which service a party uses is set with the event. See Cloud and e-mail.
8. Create the first event — see Your first event.

What comes next#

Camera, printer and the accounts for mail and cloud belong to the device and are now done. Everything else — layouts, start screen, print permission, gallery, QR codes — belongs to the individual party and is set up in the event.

Setting up the camera

Found under admin area "System and device settings" > "Camera". The camera belongs to the device: it stays set up no matter which event is loaded.

There are two separate areas — "Camera: photos" and "Camera: boomerang". Both can use the same camera or different ones, for instance a DSLR for photos and a webcam for the boomerang. GIFs are photo series and are taken with the photo camera. The button "Copy from photo camera" saves setting everything twice.

Camera type#

The camera assistant#

Setup runs through the button "Set up camera". The assistant asks for manufacturer and connection, checks the link with a test shot and then asks when the camera should focus and which exposure suits the setup. The waiting times only appear when the test shot does not get through. Nothing is stored until you finish with "Apply & save".

1. Connect the camera by USB, switch it on and set it to M (manual).
2. Insert a memory card — even with direct transfer to the PC, some models insist on a card.
3. Open "Camera: photos" in the admin area, start "Set up camera" and follow the steps.
4. Finish with "Apply & save".

For Canon cameras the assistant enables extra drivers (EDSDK) and asks for a restart of the application. That is normal.

Checking detection#

The "Detected camera" section shows what the software currently sees — model and serial number. "Refresh detection" repeats the search, for example after switching the camera on.

With several identical cameras connected, "Select a specific camera" decides which one is meant (by serial number, port or model).

If the camera reports its battery level, it is shown as well. Below 25 percent a note asks for a battery change or a charge; the status mail mentions it too. With a mains adapter attached it says "Mains power" instead of a percentage — and no warning.

Mounting the camera in portrait orientation#

If the camera sits on its side - upright on a tripod or upside down under a ceiling mount - its picture comes out sideways. The "Rotate camera image" selection in the "Camera & connection" subsection puts it upright again.

Which of the two 90° options fits shows up in the live view right away: if the picture ends up the other way round, it is the other one.

The rotation applies to the live view and to the finished shot. Layout, gallery, mail, cloud and print all receive the already rotated picture. If mirroring is switched on as well, it applies to the upright picture.

The photo camera and the camera for the boomerang are set separately - two different cameras can be connected there. Once a rotation is set, the angle appears in the badge of the "Camera & connection" section.

Most DSLR and mirrorless cameras have an orientation sensor. They do not rotate the picture themselves, but they record the position in the file - and the photo booth reads that record everywhere. With such a camera the shot is already upright before the setting takes effect; the rotation is then not applied a second time and only affects the live view. If the sensor is missing or switched off in the camera menu, the photo booth rotates the picture itself. Both cases use the same setting - it describes the mounting, not the work.

A note on upside-down mounting: many cameras only report a sideways tilt, not upside down. At 180° the setting therefore usually carries it alone.

RAW files stay exactly as the camera wrote them; they carry the orientation inside the picture itself.

Test shot and live view#

• "Show LiveView" opens the camera image inside the admin area, with grid and mirroring for alignment.
• A successful test shot ticks the item "Set up and test the camera" in the setup list.
• A webcam has no test shot in the strict sense; checking the live image is enough, and the item is ticked by hand.

Showing the photo slots in the live image#

The sub-area "Photo slots in the live image" holds the choice "Show the layout photo slots in the live image". It decides whether guests see how many photos are still to come before the shot. The badge in the header names the chosen representation.

In the strip each tile first carries its number. As soon as the photo is taken, the tile shows it, and the tile of the current photo is highlighted. The strip is semi-transparent and sits on top of the live image. If the layout uses a photo more than once - photo 1 twice, for example - it still appears only once in the strip; the scaled representation shows every photo slot.

Two further fields belong to the strip and only appear with a strip:

• "Hide the strip after" in seconds. With 0 it stays in place. Otherwise it withdraws after the set time and returns for every new shot.
• "How it disappears" - slide to the side or fade out gently.

The same area holds "Photo slot of the layout in the live preview". It determines what the live image shows of the single photo slot: cropped to the slot, the whole live image with dimmed edges, or no marking at all. With the scaled representation there is no edge that could be dimmed - the setting has no effect there.

Filters and digital backgrounds are not visible in either representation; they only arrive with the finished image processing.

Live view exposure#

There are two ways to brighten the live view. Each has its own section, and the difference matters:

• "Set in software" brightens only the image the software displays. The camera is left alone, it works in every camera mode and never affects the finished photo. On mirrorless cameras this is often the only option.
• "Set on the camera" puts the camera on fixed values for the duration of the preview — a shutter speed and an ISO, both configurable in the same section. The original exposure is restored right before the shutter fires, so the flash shot stays correct.

With flash settings such as 1/160 s, f/9 and ISO 400 the live view is almost black; the camera route helps there. Cameras that never show an exposure preview in live view (common on entry-level models) will not react to it — then the software route remains.

On Canon: switch off the exposure preview#

The target-value route has a limit: the shutter speed must not get longer than one frame of the configured frame rate, otherwise the preview stutters. With flash settings the live view often stays too dark because of that. The ISO value carries the remainder.

On Canon cameras there is a second, far more effective switch for this: "Switch off the exposure preview on Canon". During the preview the shutter speed is then set to "Bulb". The camera can no longer simulate the exposure and controls the live view itself - the result is a bright, clearly visible image regardless of aperture and ISO.

The switch only works in camera mode M and only on cameras that accept Bulb. Before every capture the shutter speed is restored and confirmed; if that fails, it is tried again next time. It is switched off by default.

Whether a camera accepts the values at all is answered by "Check the effect on the camera". It sets a test value, reads it back and restores it immediately. If the camera accepts it but does not show it in the live view, that is the awkward case: the camera is being changed without anyone seeing it. Common on entry-level Nikon bodies.

Capture exposure#

The fields for aperture, shutter speed, ISO, exposure compensation and white balance show what the camera is currently set to. Every change goes straight to the camera — there is no save button here. The values are read automatically when the section is opened; "Read values again" fetches them anew if someone has turned a dial on the camera in the meantime.

Nothing is stored here. The camera keeps its settings itself; a value held in the software could go stale without anyone noticing - and whoever sees it then takes it for the camera's state.

What the mode dial allows. The camera detection and the header of this section name the mode the camera's dial is set to. Whatever the camera chooses itself in that mode is greyed out; the reason is shown underneath.

With flash, M is the usual choice. With continuous light of changing brightness, Av/A with exposure compensation is often the calmer choice: the camera evens out the brightness, the compensation only shifts the overall tone.

Before every preview the booth remembers what is set on the camera and restores exactly that afterwards. If restoring fails once, the remembered value is kept and used again next time — so the exposure cannot creep upwards over the course of a long party.

Calculate a suggestion#

If you do not know which values suit your setup, describe it: light source, ambient light, distance to the guests, number of people, movement in the frame and whether low noise or brightness matters more. The booth suggests aperture, shutter speed and ISO, explains the choice, names what to watch out for and how to fine-tune after the test shot. The button writes the suggestion into the fields above.

Autofocus#

• "When the camera focuses" — three positions:
• "Shortly before the shot": The photo booth triggers the autofocus itself and only releases the shutter once focus is confirmed. The more robust choice in low light. On Canon with a persistent connection this already happens towards the end of the countdown. If a camera focuses too slowly in live view (older Canon SLR cameras such as the EOS 1100D), the photo booth switches the setting to "At the moment of the shot" by itself.
• "At the moment of the shot": Focusing is left to the camera. Fastest, but more prone to blurred images in the dark. The factory setting.
• "Manual focus": No autofocus command. For setups with a fixed focus distance; the lens is then set to manual focus as well.

• "Trigger autofocus before starting live view" — not every camera can do this, and some cannot focus at all while live view is running.

• "Repeat autofocus" — 0 by default, so the camera focuses once at the start of the live view. A value from 2 seconds upwards makes it refocus again and again while the live view runs; helpful when guests stand at different distances, but it loads the connection to the camera. Some cameras cannot cope with it and then stop delivering a live view at all.

Camera colour space#

Digital SLRs offer two colour spaces in their menu: sRGB and Adobe RGB. The factory setting is sRGB, and that is where it should stay for the photo booth — sRGB is the colour space screens, web galleries and photo printers work in.

If the camera is set to Adobe RGB, RAWCaptureBooth detects this from the information in the image and converts the shot before further processing. Print and gallery then show the right colours. Saturated colours that do not exist in sRGB are lost in the process, however, and every shot costs a good quarter of a second more. Switching the camera to sRGB is therefore the better route.

The untouched camera file is kept either way and goes into the raw image upload as it is.

Manufacturer drivers#

After changing these switches, restart the camera session.

When it does not work#

Setting up the printer

Found under admin area "System and device settings" > "Printer" > "Printer setup".

Printing is split across two areas on purpose:

• Which device prints and how the picture reaches the paper — here, with the device. Applies to all events.
• Whether and how often anything is printed — with the event, under "Print". No printing at the company party, two copies at the wedding: same booth, same paper, different party.

Preparing Windows#

The printer has to be installed in Windows with the correct paper size in the driver (usually 6″ × 4″). Whatever is set there is what the software uses.

Main printer#

1. Under "Main printer" pick the mode:
• Single printer — the normal case.
• Printer pool — several identical printers share the jobs.
• Disabled — this booth does not print.
2. Select the printer from the list.
3. Run a test print. If it succeeds, the setup list ticks off "Set up and test the printer".

Photo strips: one printer or two#

The 2″ cut for photo strips is a setting in the printer driver, not in the individual job. There are two ways to deal with that.

One printer, cut set up#

The section "Photo strip cut" sits inside "Photo strip printer". The cut is set up there once per device; after that RAWCaptureBooth applies it to every photo strip job itself. The same printer is then the "Main printer" above and the "Photo strip printer" below, and both formats run at the same time.

Setting it up:

1. Click "Set up". For known devices the assistant names the setting you are looking for — on the DNP RX1 and RX1-HS, for instance, "2inch cut" with the value "Enable".
2. "Open driver dialog". The familiar printer driver window appears. Set the named option there and confirm with OK.
3. Optionally print a test sheet: two panels with a cut line between them. It shows at a glance whether the sheet was cut, whether in the right place, and whether the margin is right. To skip it, choose "Keep without test print".
4. "Yes, keep this" stores the setting permanently.

> The printer driver dialog appears on the booth computer. This step therefore cannot be done via > remote access; the assistant says so.

In a printer pool every device is set up separately — the cut is a setting of that printer's driver. A list shows for each printer whether it is already set up. If one device is missing it, photo strips come out uncut as soon as distribution falls back to it.

If the driver changes — after an update, for example — the stored setting no longer matches. It is then not used and marked "no longer matches the driver" in the list; setting it up once more is enough.

Two printers, as before#

Add the same printer twice in Windows:

1. First queue without the cut — goes under "Main printer" in the software.
2. Second queue with the 2″ cut — goes under "Photo strip printer".

This route keeps working unchanged. If your printers are already set up this way, nothing needs to change. Pool operation with several devices is possible here too.

Printer pool#

The pool spreads jobs across several printers — meant for events where one device cannot keep up or where a paper change must not stop the queue.

The software watches the devices and shows which printer is online, which reports an error and what is queued.

Aligning the margins#

Hardly any printer hits the paper exactly. There are two levels for that:

1. Per-printer correction ("Correction top/bottom/left/right") — compensates for the quirks of the device. It belongs to the printer and stays the same across all events. "Test print on this printer" checks the result, "Reset correction" starts over.
2. Offsets with the event — move the artwork inside the printable area, for example when a layout is meant to have a wider white margin.

DNP info tool#

For DNP printers such as the RX1 and RX1-HS the software uses the DNP info tool to read the consumables level and extended status information — in other words, how many prints the loaded media still has. The tool's folder is entered under "DNP info tool"; the setting applies to both printers.

Some Citizen photo printers are identical in construction to DNP models and respond to the same queries. The Citizen CY-02 is confirmed, further models are possible but untested. They are set up exactly like a DNP printer.

When it does not work#

Your first event

Camera and printer are ready and the licence is active. What is missing is the party. This chapter creates a complete event, using the running example "Smith wedding".

What an event is#

An event is a party with everything that defines it: its own layouts, its own graphics, its own start screen, its own print and sharing rules and its own pictures. Exactly one event is loaded at a time. Camera, printer, accounts and licence are untouched by it — they belong to the booth.

The full picture is in How events work.

Creating the event#

1. Open the admin area, go to "Event management" > "My events".
2. Press "Add or reconfigure event". The event assistant opens.

The assistant walks through up to 14 steps. For a first event it is enough to leave the defaults alone and set the three or four entries that really matter.

Step 1: New or existing#

Choose "Create new event". Below it, pick where the content comes from:

For the very first event: Start empty. Presets exist only once a set-up event has been stored as a template; the supplied layouts are there from the setup onwards.

Step 2: Event basics#

Name, date and note. The name matters most — the cloud folder and the link to the web photo album are derived from it. The assistant shows both while you type, and only where they are actually used.

For the example: name "Smith wedding", the date of the party, note along the lines of "contact: best man John, teardown from 2 am".

Step 3: Scheduling#

Decides whether the booth loads this event by itself when the time comes. Start and end with times, across midnight as well — a party from 3 pm to 2 am is recognised right to the end. For a new event the period is switched off — the checkbox turns it on, and the fields then hold a start of now and an end a week later.

This is the setting that makes a restart in the middle of the party harmless: the booth comes back up and loads exactly the party that is running.

The remaining steps#

While saving, the assistant shows which area it is working on. If an area could not be saved, the report is highlighted and the view jumps to it.

The first picture#

1. Go back to the guest view with "To Photobooth".
2. The start screen shows the name of the party and the start button.
3. Trigger a capture, wait for the countdown, check the result.
4. If printing is enabled: print one copy and check colour, margins and cropping on the actual paper.

Switching between events#

"My events" lists every event with name, period, note, counters and disk usage; the loaded one is highlighted. "Load" switches to it. Layouts, graphics, access code and limits are exchanged — camera and printer stay as they are.

How events work

Every party is its own event. It brings its own settings, layouts, graphics and pictures. Exactly one event is loaded at a time; its name appears in the heading of the admin area, so it is always clear what is being edited.

The split everything else builds on#

The split is visible in the menu as well: the green areas belong to the event, the purple ones to the device.

What happens when an event is loaded#

Loading exchanges the event-bound settings, layouts and graphics, and the gallery shows the pictures of the new event from then on. Camera and printer stay connected.

Pictures are never lost: they live in their event's folder and reappear as soon as it is loaded again.

How an event gets its name#

Three entries belong together and are maintained in the event assistant or under "My events":

Presets, copies and templates#

An event can start empty or descend from something existing:

• Preset — a template of layouts, fonts, graphics and event-bound settings. A preset never contains camera, printer, cloud account or licence, so it never reconfigures the hardware. The supplied "Standard" preset is always available.
• Copy of an event — takes everything from an already configured party, without its pictures.
• Customer form — the customer's wishes are read from a file, see Customer configuration.

Where the data lives#

%LOCALAPPDATA%\RAWCaptureBooth\events\<event>\
├── config\      settings of this event
├── layouts\     layouts
├── fonts\       fonts
├── branding\    logos and graphics
├── sessions\    pictures per session
└── gallery\     gallery with thumbnails

The storage location for all events can be changed in the device settings — useful when many parties are kept and the system drive is small.

Managing events

Found under admin area "Event management" > "My events". Every event is listed with name, period or date, note, counters and disk usage; the loaded event is highlighted.

Actions per event#

All actions sit behind the "Actions" button at the top right of the event card. Tapping it opens the list, tapping elsewhere or pressing Escape closes it again.

The name can be changed in the list: the pencil behind it turns it into an input field, Enter saves, Escape cancels. The same symbol sits in the line below behind the cloud folder or the identifier and behind the access code; behind the period it opens the planning. Only the value the pencil belongs to is changed.

A note per event holds what would otherwise end up on a scrap of paper — contact person, teardown time, special arrangements. It is only visible internally.

Where the pictures are stored#

At the bottom of the section the storage location of the events and pictures is shown, next to it two buttons: "Open folder" shows it in Windows Explorer, "Copy path" puts it on the clipboard. For every event a separate button leads straight into its folder.

The folder holds the working data of the software and is not a place to tidy up: renamed, moved or deleted files can cause malfunctions. To get pictures out — onto a USB stick, for example — use the "Export photos" button on the card of the event or admin area "Data Processing" > "Export event photos". Both open the same export.

A link below the notice explains why the folders are nested per event and per session — the arrangement differs from what Sparkbooth, dslrBooth or LumaBooth create.

Photos of deleted events#

The "Photos of deleted events" section lists what deleted events left behind on the hard disk: name, date, deletion time, number of files and disk usage per folder. One button per entry leads into the folder, a second removes it permanently; "Clean up all" sits at the top of the section.

It is needed twice: shortly after deleting, when the displayed path was not written down — and weeks later, when disk space runs short and nobody remembers which folders are still occupied.

Scheduling and automatic loading#

"Planning" defines when the event applies:

• Start and end with times, across midnight as well. If the party ends after midnight, simply enter the following day's date as the end.
• Without an end, the period runs to the end of the starting day.
• Without a period nothing changes: the event is loaded by hand.

What follows from that:

1. At startup the event is loaded automatically if its period is currently running — even after a restart in the middle of the party.
2. While running, the admin area suggests loading the matching event when you sign in. The switch only happens after confirmation, because it exchanges layouts, graphics, access code and limits.
3. If two periods overlap, the one that started most recently is suggested; both events are kept.
4. The head of the list states which event will be loaded next by itself.

Date and time are set on a screen of their own: a month calendar with large day tiles, times in quarter-hour steps, plus "Today", "Tomorrow", "Next Saturday" and "In a week".

Event picker at startup#

The switch "Show event picker at startup" makes the booth ask which event to load when the program starts. The picker appears instead of the start screen and waits without a timeout; "Continue without switching" keeps the last loaded event. The question is asked once per program start.

With the option off, the last loaded event simply continues — the right setting for kiosk operation with autostart. If a scheduled event's period is running, the picker is skipped anyway and that event is loaded.

Backing up, moving, handing over#

Below the event list, "Import, export & handover" leads to event packages. A package contains the settings, layouts, digital backgrounds and graphics of a party — and, if you want, its pictures.

On export you choose whether the pictures come along; the checkbox states in advance how much extra space they need. Archived events can be backed up as well.

The package also contains the access code and the quick settings PIN — so that a backup after a device failure is complete and QR codes already handed out still work.

On import a new event is always created; an existing one is never overwritten. The access code from the package is kept so that QR codes handed out keep working. If it is already in use on this booth, a new one is generated automatically.

After the import the event exists but is not loaded yet — tap "Load" in the list for that.

Customer configuration

Instead of collecting wishes over the phone and typing them in by hand, the customer fills in a form. The file that comes back is read in — and the booth is set up the way they wanted.

The process has three parts:

1. Assemble the form and send it to the customer.
2. The customer fills it in and returns the export file.
3. Read the file in — either while creating an event or into the current configuration.

Assembling the form#

Found under admin area "Event management" > "Customer configuration" > "Create customer form".

1. Tick the questions the customer should answer. On first use a common selection is prefilled; after that the last selection is kept.
2. Set the headline, the subtitle and a note at the top of the form. The note appears unchanged above the questions — so word it the way the customer should read it.
3. Choose the language of the form. The customer can change it inside the form; all six application languages are available.
4. Optionally tick "Use current settings as defaults" — the customer then sees the current state of the booth and only changes what they want differently.
5. Press "Create form" and pick a location to save it.

The result is a single HTML file. It can be sent by e-mail and works at the customer's end without an internet connection — a double-click is enough.

Among other things the form also asks whether the booth should be operated by touchscreen, by buzzer or both.

Reading the answer back in#

The customer returns the export file. There are two ways on from there:

As a new event — in the event assistant, first step, "Content" > "From customer form". Name, note and all wishes come from the file, so the following steps are already filled in. Below it you choose where the remaining settings and the layouts come from: a preset, a copy of an event, or nothing at all. A name or note you typed yourself is not overwritten.

Into the current configuration — under "Customer configuration", select the file, press "Check preview" and read the report. It shows the entries from the form, the planned changes and any warnings. Only "Apply configuration" commits them; a preset is created as a backup beforehand.

What the customer does not see#

The form asks about wishes, not about technology: no credentials, no camera settings, no printer selection. It is meant to replace a conversation, not to remote-control the booth.

Event presets

A preset is the template of a whole party. It stores the complete state of an event: all settings including cloud, mail and print, plus layouts, fonts, graphics, custom AI styles, green screen backgrounds and custom notice pages — but no pictures and no counters. An event created from a preset therefore looks exactly like a copy of an existing event.

How it is used#

1. Set up one event exactly the way it will be needed again — layouts, colours, print rules, sharing.
2. Save that state here as a preset and give it a telling name: "Wedding classic", "Company party without cloud", "Trade fair with pay-per-use".
3. When creating the next event, choose that preset as the basis in the assistant.

There is no supplied preset. As long as none has been stored, a new event starts empty: it gets the supplied fonts, the supplied layouts are in the first event from the setup onwards, and the first layout of your own is created in the "Layouts" step.

Passing presets on#

Presets can be exported as a package and imported again — handy for putting the same state on a second booth or for keeping a backup. The package contains everything the preset is made of: settings, layouts, fonts and graphics. The identifiers of the template stay out, so an imported preset never points at the cloud album of someone else's party.

Appearance

The appearance applies to the whole guest interface: start screen, selection screens, gallery, overlays and buttons. It belongs to the event, so every party can look different.

Colours and font#

The cross next to a colour field resets that one colour to the factory colour. It is greyed out as long as the factory colour is already in place.

Logo and background media#

Logos and backgrounds are scaled automatically. Every medium can be removed or reset to the factory state. Whether the logo appears on the start screen at all is set under Start and notices.

Dimming#

Every background has its own dimming value: one for each background image and one for the video. Out of the box a dark veil lies over them so that title and buttons stay readable on any motif. The veil lies evenly across the whole area and does not tint the motif.

With a calm, dark motif it pays to turn the value down — the image then comes into its own. With a bright or busy motif it belongs higher. 0 shows the motif unaltered; check on the device afterwards whether the texts are still readable.

Every image has its own value — the gallery, the final screen and the gallery on an external device included. If a screen has no image of its own, the dimming of whichever image appears there instead counts.

Button appearance#

The shape applies to all buttons: from the pill shape through two intermediate steps to fully square. The icon buttons for printing, e-mail and QR code go along — the circle becomes a square with the same corners. A pill looks friendly and playful, square buttons matter-of- fact; at a company event the second choice often fits.

Colour and opacity of the buttons are set apart from the surface colour — one fill colour, one text colour and one opacity for the main buttons (Start, Print, Continue), for the secondary buttons (Back, Continue without decoration) and for the cancel button. The three groups sit next to each other so everything can be seen at a glance. The settings also apply to the gallery on a tablet; the admin area is not affected.

The cancel button during the shot has a group of its own because it lies above the live view: it is backed dark instead of light, otherwise it would be lost on a light motif. It also carries a light border. Anyone who wants it calmer can switch the border off — in front of a light picture the button then disappears more easily. Both apply to the labelled version in the button row as well as to the round "X" in the top right corner.

A preview above the three groups shows shape, colours and opacity right away on one example each. It sits on the configured background colour — only against that can it be judged how much of a translucent fill is left.

Without a colour of its own everything stays as it was: the main buttons follow the accent colour, the secondary buttons a light veil, the cancel button a dark surface. The cross next to a colour field leads back there at any time, even once a colour has been chosen.

The opacity affects the fill only, the label stays fully opaque. A low value lets the background image show through. On a calm motif that looks light, on a busy one the button loses its edge — there the value belongs higher.

Loading animation#

Between the shutter and the finished picture the guest sees two waiting screens: "Preparing the shot" and "Finishing your picture". Both show the same animation with an icon in the centre. Variant, icon and speed can all be chosen.

The centre holds a photo, a heart, a star, a champagne glass, sparkles or a smiley. "Own image" puts an uploaded file in that place — a PNG with a transparent background works best, larger images are scaled down to 512 pixels. "No icon" leaves the centre empty.

The speed applies to every variant alike: slow, normal or fast.

There are no separate colours here: the rings follow the accent colour, icon and text follow the text colour. The preview shows the animation exactly as the guest sees it, on the background colour you have set.

Transitions#

By default one screen cross-fades into the next and the buttons on it appear one after another. Four transitions are available - cross-fade, slide, from below and zoom - plus "no effect", which makes the interface jump as it used to. Three speeds go with it.

The buttons appearing can be set separately: softly, from below or popping in. The speed applies to both together.

A calm transition makes the flow look more expensive but costs a fraction of a second on every screen. For a booth with a long queue the fast speed or no effect at all pays off.

Selection screens#

Applies to the tiles with which the guest picks a mode, layout, filter, AI style or background.

Small tiles get a fixed width and are centred - otherwise four tiles on a wide screen would end up just as large as before. The button for choosing stays in place either way, even without labels.

Video overlays#

An overlay is a transparent animation that lies above everything the screen shows - above live view, text and buttons. The whole flow gets a frame in the style of the party without making operation harder: taps pass through the overlay.

Each screen can carry its own file (admin area "Design & branding" > "Video overlays"): start screen, info screen before the first shot, countdown and capture, info screen before further shots as well as image preview and result. Anyone who only wants to decorate one screen leaves the other slots empty.

The overlay only lies on the screen, not in the stored image. A frame that should end up on the photo belongs in the layout.

Background music#

One music file runs in a loop on the start screen, the selection screens and the info screens. From the countdown on it stays silent so guests hear the countdown and know when to hold still.

A long, calm track works better than a short excerpt - its repetition becomes noticeable after a few minutes. The volume belongs rather low: music that drowns out conversations drives guests away.

Own sounds for countdown and shutter sit where they are also selected: in the admin area "Capture flow" > "Countdowns" respectively "Camera". Like the music, the countdown sound belongs to the event; the shutter sound belongs to the camera and therefore to the device - it survives an event change.

Preview images#

The photo stored here fills every image slot in the layout selection and shows in the filter selection how each filter looks. Without a photo of your own the supplied sample image is used.

A landscape picture with a 6:4 aspect ratio works best (PNG, JPG or WebP).

Start and notices

Everything in this chapter belongs to the event and travels with an event switch.

Customise start screen#

The first screen guests see. It has four blocks:

Colours, font and the logo file itself are not here but under Appearance — they apply to the whole interface, not just the start screen. Only whether the logo is shown on the start screen is decided here.

Contact button#

Puts a button on the start screen through which guests can see contact details or report a problem. Label, title and content are freely chosen; the default is "Contact / report problem".

Language selection#

"Language selection" defines which languages are offered to the guests of this party. That is something different from the language of the admin area, which lives under "System and device settings" > "Language" and stays with the device.

Usage and privacy notices#

A notice screen before the session — for privacy, terms of use or warnings. The content is entered as HTML and used unchanged.

Directly afterwards a custom notice screen can follow, with a freely chosen label for the continue button. It is meant for anything beyond a simple notice, such as a worded consent.

Capture flow

The menu item "Capture flow" lists the chain from the start button to the last capture — in the order the guest experiences it. Everything in this chapter belongs to the event and travels with an event switch.

Info screen before the first capture#

An overlay on the live image just before things start — "Smile and look at the camera!". You can set the text, a timer and whether the "Start now" and "Cancel" buttons are visible. With the buttons hidden, only the timer moves things on; the duration then has to be at least one second.

Info screen before further captures#

The same between the captures of a multi-shot layout. Here a separate text can be stored per capture: the first text appears before the second capture, the second before the third and so on.

If the layout has more captures than there are texts, either the last text keeps showing or the list repeats from the start.

Countdowns#

Three seconds is a good starting value: enough to get sorted, short enough not to lose the smile.

Interstitial clips#

An interstitial clip is a short video with sound that slides into the flow: it plays full screen and continues on its own afterwards. Available are the clip after the start screen, a list of clips before the shot, a list of clips after the shot and the clip after the last shot.

The clip after the start screen plays immediately on the start - whether by start button, by tapping the screen or via the buzzer. Business hours, limits and a due payment are checked first: if the start is refused, no clip plays either.

The clips before the shot play right before the countdown of a picture, the clips after the shot right after the picture, before the picture preview. For each list the playback can be chosen: in order, the first clip belongs to picture 1, the second to picture 2 and so on; without an entry for a picture none plays there. Random gives each picture a clip from the list, no matter how many pictures the layout has - optionally so that each clip has played once before one repeats, or completely free.

For each clip it can be set whether it plays at all, whether a tap may skip it, how loud it is and after which maximum duration the flow continues at the latest. A sponsor clip runs through without skipping; an instruction may be cut short.

Picture preview#

Shows the picture just taken for a moment after each capture.

Retaking captures#

The guest may repeat a failed capture - right after the capture, at the end of the session or both.

After every capture#

Requires the picture preview to be switched on: that is where the button sits. With the preview off this option is locked and says why.

On the final screen#

Instead of right after each capture, the guest may also decide at the very end. They see the finished picture and tap the "Retake" button; then they choose single pictures or the whole session. The old result is replaced.

The button can be placed freely in the screen editor of the final screen.

Cancel session#

Whether guests may cancel a running session and how the cancel looks: as a button in the row below the picture or as a round "X" in the top right corner.

With cancelling off, guests can no longer leave info screens, countdown, picture preview and processing on their own - the booth runs the sequence to its end.

Finish and sharing

After the last capture the guest sees the finished picture, gets feedback about printing and sending and is then sent back to the start screen. Everything in this chapter belongs to the event and travels with an event switch.

Customize final screen#

The final screen shows the guest the finished picture and below it the buttons for printing, sharing and finishing. A preview shows how it looks in every picture format.

The button "Open screen editor" opens an editor in which every element can be dragged anywhere — see Designing the final screen. As long as nothing has been moved there, the arrangement stays as it comes from the factory.

Sharing notices#

The short messages at the top when printing, mailing or cloud upload start at the end of a session. Appearance, size and duration can be set; a test message shows the result right away.

Return to the start screen#

Sends the booth back to the start screen when nobody is operating it. By default every touch restarts the clock; switched off, it runs from the moment the screen appears and only "I am still here" restarts it. It can be set separately for:

• selection and info screens
• the gallery
• the final screen

0 switches the respective area off, the maximum is 900 seconds. A progress bar runs along the bottom edge and can be switched off; above it a notice can be shown in which {seconds} inserts the remaining time.

In addition the booth can ask "Are you still there?" first: "I'm still here" restarts the clock, no answer returns to the start screen.

If the final screen has a time of at least 1 second, the "Done & Next" button can be hidden there — useful when the booth sends the guest back through the timer anyway. If that leaves the button row completely empty, the picture is shown larger. Without a timer the button stays, otherwise the guest could not move on.

Without this return, a half-used booth sits on its last screen, and the next guest cannot tell whether they are interrupting or free to start.

Capture modes and layouts

Capture modes and layout assignment#

This is where you define what guests can see and choose during a session. There are three modes, each with the same structure.

A fourth mode can join them: if the AI portraits run as a flow of their own (see Creative features), AI portrait appears between Photo and GIF. It is switched on there; here it gets a block of its own with layouts, display order, default layout, layout selection and print permission. As long as the mode is not running, the block is hidden.

Per mode you set:

• Available layouts — at least one, otherwise the mode cannot be enabled.
• Display order for the guest — the chosen layouts are listed on top with their position, the arrows move them. Guests see them in this order on the selection screen. A newly ticked layout goes to the end.
• Allow guests to choose the layout — with it off, the default layout is always used.
• Default layout — applies when guests may not choose; "automatic selection" leaves it to the software.

For GIF and boomerang there is more: the output format, repeats and whether printing is allowed. The repeats say how often the animation appears in the finished video; GIF and WebP loop endlessly anyway.

The GIF is a photo series: number of photos, pause between photos and display time per picture. Each photo is taken by the photo camera with the real shutter, at full resolution. The pause runs as a countdown so the guests can strike a new pose between the photos

• changing poses or props are the typical GIF effect. The display time decides how long each

photo stays in the finished GIF.

The boomerang is a short clip from the live view: clip length in seconds and playback speed. The capture runs exactly as long as the clip length, with every camera and every webcam. A slow camera delivers fewer frames in that time; the photo booth measures how fast the frames came and plays them back accordingly. If a camera delivers fewer than ten frames per second, the clip runs faster than recorded - at true speed the movement would visibly stutter. The playback speed doubles or halves the result on purpose.

The output format decides what the animation becomes. GIF is the default and works everywhere, including as a mail attachment and on older devices; it also makes the largest file. WebP gives the smallest file with better colours, but older mail programs do not animate it. MP4 video is what guests need to post a capture on Instagram - a GIF cannot be uploaded there. An MP4 is extended to at least three and a half seconds because Instagram rejects shorter videos. Out of the box the boomerang becomes an MP4 and the GIF mode a GIF. Existing events keep their setting; switching is done deliberately by hand.

There is also exclude single shots from data processing - switched on out of the box. In an animation the single frames are steps of the movement; if they travel along into the cloud or into an export folder, the web photo album shows a dozen near-identical images next to every animation, and more personal pictures leave the booth than necessary. Switch the option off only when the single frames are genuinely needed - for later editing, for instance. It also applies to everything handed over after the event. On the photo booth itself the single frames remain - if they are needed after all, switching the option off and running the transfer again brings them along.

Layout details on screen#

Which details of a layout the booth shows guests - separated by the two places where they appear:

• Layout selection screen — title, description and number of captures.
• Capture and info screens — layout title and capture counter, in the picture preview as well.

The selection screen only appears when guests may choose the layout themselves. With the choice switched off for a mode, the three upper switches have no effect.

Layout editor#

Layouts are built in the layout editor — image slots, frames, texts, graphics, backgrounds. It has a chapter of its own; here only the assignment of layouts to modes is set.

Layouts belong to the event. A preset brings its own, and a copy of an event takes over its layouts.

Creative features

Four features change a guest's picture: the digital background swaps what is behind them, an AI portrait redraws them in a chosen style, a filter is applied to the shot afterwards, and when decorating the guest draws on it. They sit together because they act together — each one adds a decision and lengthens the session.

Digital background#

The digital background replaces whatever is behind the guests. It is configured in the background studio (admin area "Creative features" > "Digital background", then "Open background studio"), based on a reference photo rather than on guesswork.

Chroma key#

In the studio the key colour is picked on the reference photo, along with the tolerance. The mask preview shows immediately what is being cut away.

To avoid going through the sliders one by one, use the assistant: "Set up step by step" at the top of the studio. It renders the result with the current values, asks what is wrong with it — remains of the old background, missing parts of the subject, a green fringe or a hard edge — and places two proposals next to the current image for every answer. The choice is made by comparing. If the current image remains the best choice, the next proposal is smaller. "Discard" restores the state from before the run.

The fine tuning below is split into blocks. In most cases the key colour is enough; the other sliders only matter when the cloth does not cooperate.

Fitting the background#

Three settings apply to every cut-out method, including the AI cut-out:

AI cutout#

AI cutout is handled by the RAWCaptureBooth AI Service: a separate 64-bit program installed once on the same computer. The booth sends the photo there and places it on the new background. The AI models are included in the AI Service; only BRIA RMBG 2.0 has to be licensed and added yourself. Settings:

AI cut-out via Replicate#

This route needs no extra software on the booth: the cut-out is computed by the provider Replicate — the same one the AI portraits use. Account and key are stored once per device under “Access & accounts” and then serve both.

“BRIA RMBG” is meant for commercial use: the model is trained exclusively on licensed material.

Managing backgrounds#

Background images are uploaded as PNG or JPG and named. Every background can be marked active:

• One active background is always used.
• Several active backgrounds produce a choice for guests during the session.
• With the choice switched off, the background marked active in the studio is always used.

Under "Background" the studio has two more switches for the choice:

• Show “Random” button: the guest has one of the active backgrounds drawn at random and can accept it or draw again. Takes effect with at least two active backgrounds.
• Offer “Continue without background”: the guest can leave out the background for their shot. The photo then keeps the real background, in the live view and on later recalculation as well. For this, the choice already appears with one active background.

Filter selection#

"Enable filter overview" shows guests a choice of looks — black and white, comic or a warm vintage look for example. Tick which filters are on offer.

How a filter looks is shown using the photo from Appearance > "Preview images".

Time of selection and preview images#

"Guest flow" sets when the selection appears. Before capture is the shortest flow and the right choice for long queues. After capture lets guests choose with their own photos in view — the choice is more confident, the session takes a little longer. Filter per image pays off for layouts with several photos when guests like to combine looks; for corporate events with one consistent look it is too much.

"Preview images" sets what the tiles show. The sample image is there immediately. With the guest's image the photo booth calculates every tile anew — after capture from the photos, before capture from a still of the live view. This costs time per filter, with "Filter per image" additionally per photo. On a slow computer, enable only a few filters; the note below the selection states the number of previews.

Switching off "Filters for AI portraits too" pays off when the AI styles set the look anyway — a black-and-white filter over an oil painting spoils more than it helps. Guests with an AI style then save a step; anyone taking pictures without AI chooses the filter as usual.

Own filters from a LUT file#

Besides the supplied filters, own ones can be created. The basis is a LUT file (extension .cube) — a colour table as produced by Lightroom, DaVinci Resolve or a purchased preset package. Under "Own filters" the file is chosen, named and added; the photo booth reads it right away and renders a preview image. An unusable file is rejected there, not with the first guest. The description is optional; it appears below the name for guests — where the supplied filters show their explanatory sentence.

Every own filter has a strength. It sets how strongly the colour table acts: 100 % is the template unchanged, 40 % mixes it only partly into the original. That way a template that is too strong can be tamed without changing the file.

Own filters belong to the event. They travel along with copy, export and handover, but are not available in another event by themselves. A factory reset of the area only takes back the releases — the uploaded files stay.

AI portraits#

AI portraits redraw the guest's picture in a chosen style — as a comic, an oil painting, an astronaut. Unlike the digital background this is not computed by the booth but by a service on the internet: Replicate. That needs an account there, and the pictures leave the local network.

Setting it up#

The access to the provider sits under "System and device settings" > "Access & accounts" > "AI Provider (Replicate)". It belongs to the device, applies to every AI function and stays put when the event changes. The instructions are there under "Setup". Two steps are easily missed:

• Automatic top-up of the credit belongs switched on. If it runs out during the event, guests get their picture without a style - and nobody is standing by to notice.
• A payment method has to stay stored on the account permanently. Accounts that hold nothing but credit are throttled to six pictures per minute. In operation that looks like a fault of the booth.
• The event's privacy notice has to be adjusted before the feature is switched on. See Data and privacy.

"Check connection" names the reason in plain words — wrong key, unknown model, throttling, no credit or no connection at all.

Intermediate step or separate mode#

Style selection in the flow decides where the guest picks the style.

• Part of the photo flow — the style selection appears before the filter selection as an intermediate step. Anyone who wants no style passes it with "Continue without AI".
• Separate capture mode — "AI portrait" sits as its own tile next to Photo, GIF and Boomerang. Whoever taps it then picks a style; the photo mode is left without a style selection.

The separate mode has its own layouts, default layout, layout selection and print permission, set under "Capture Modes & Layout Assignment". In the layout editor the modes additionally show an AI portrait box. It captures with the photo camera. When updating to this version, the mode takes over the photo layouts ticked "Use for AI portraits" and the values of the photo mode; nothing changes for the guests.

As part of the photo flow the Use for AI portraits tick in the layout editor still applies: guests do not get to see a layout deselected there once they have chosen a style.

Without a stored key and in offline operation the tile does not appear at all — instead of leading into a flow that ends in an ordinary photo anyway. With the quota used up it stays, greyed out, and its button names the reason instead of “Select”. Vanishing in the middle of the party would be worse: the guest would look for the mode they saw a moment ago.

Model and quality#

Only models the provider keeps warm are offered. A community model would spend minutes booting on its first call — unusable with guests waiting. The price list below the selection shows all models side by side with their price per portrait, in the order of the selection: per quality, plus whether and at what extra cost an own background is possible. The column of the selected quality is highlighted, as is the selected model; tapping a name selects the model. The amounts come from the provider's model pages and carry their date, as there is no interface for retrieving prices. The Background Studio shows the same kind of list for AI cut-out.

Styles#

180 styles in twelve groups are supplied. Tick what the guest gets to choose from; "Deselect all" clears the list in one go.

The groups themselves can be adjusted: rename them, add your own and sort them with the arrows. The order applies to the guest as well — whatever is at the top is what they see first. Renaming applies to the language the admin area is currently in; the other languages keep the factory name. A group without released styles is not shown to the guest.

"Allow combining two styles" lets the guest put two styles on one image, such as "Viking" and "Oil painting". After the first style, a page of its own with its sample image asks whether a second one should be added: "Continue with one style" or "Choose a second style". The second one is picked from the group overview again, the first is marked there, and a tap on the second continues straight away. Both styles go to the provider in a single run: it costs as much as one style and counts once towards the quota. Off by default.

Three rules apply to a combination: the person only stays recognisable if both styles keep them. The Beauty rules only apply if both styles come from the "Beauty" group. And if either of the two is photorealistic, the image is labelled like a photorealistic one.

Own styles#

Below the supplied styles there is an area of its own for styles you create yourself.

Your own style needs only a name and an instruction for the model. The instruction is followed far more reliably in English.

Keeping the person recognisable is what the "Keep the person’s appearance" box in the edit window does. It is set from the factory and appends a sentence when sending that holds face, gender, age, skin tone, hairstyle, beard and glasses — none of that has to be in the instruction. Clearing it is only worth it when the style is meant to change the person on purpose: a different age, a fantasy creature, a caricature. The box belongs to a single style and can be changed for the bundled styles as well.

"Render example picture" sends the same person through your style that is shown on the supplied tiles. That way your style fits into the row instead of standing there with a stranger's face. The run costs the same at the provider as a guest's picture and counts towards the quota.

No supplied style names a work, a brand or a character. What is described is the look - a caped hero without an emblem, a masked vigilante, a northern adventurer. Whoever wants to get closer to one particular original creates their own style; then it is their call.

"Show the guest the groups first" switches on the intermediate step: the guest picks a group and then a style within it. With many styles released that is much quicker than one long list. If only one group has styles, the step falls away by itself.

"Show “Random” button" places a dice button below the selection. With it the guest has one of the released styles drawn at random, sees it with its sample image and accepts it or draws again. Inside an opened group, only its styles are drawn. The button only appears with at least two released styles.

Background#

Most styles place the person in a scene of their own — a superhero on a rooftop above the city, a knight in front of a castle. "Background with AI styles" decides whether that stays so:

Styles in the "Beauty" group keep the background anyway; the setting changes nothing for them.

Replace background. In the same sub-section, own images can be uploaded that the model places the person into — the venue, a beach, a castle hall. The chosen style applies to the whole image, including the new background. It works like the Background Studio: switch images active, set one as the main image, add labels. If several are active, the guest picks one after the style; "Random" and "Continue without background" can be switched on. Without a selection, the main image applies.

Images are reduced to at most 2048 pixels on the long edge and travel with the event when it is duplicated, exported or used in presets. Some models charge extra for every image sent along; a portrait with an own background can therefore cost a little more.

Style choice by the guest#

With "Allow the guest to add a wish" switched on, the guest can append a short sentence to the chosen style - for instance "astronaut on the left, knight on the right". It is meant for group pictures where each person is to become something different. The wish adds to the style, it does not replace it, and the sentence that keeps the person stays in place.

The input is off out of the box. What the guest types goes to the provider as an instruction: if they name protected characters, its content filter decides what comes of it. And typing costs time at the booth - with a queue that is the real price.

"Always mark when a wish was added" is on out of the box: where the guest writes along, the picture is more likely to show people doing something that never happened. The rule then applies even when labelling is otherwise set to "Never"; it can still be switched off.

Quota#

The count is listed under Counters and limits and can be reset there on its own. Only what was actually computed is counted — a failure at the provider consumes nothing.

Limit and message are also listed under Counters and limits - the same field, reachable in two places. Once the quota is used up, the guest gets a notice card with the stored text instead of the style selection and can go back or continue without a style from there.

Labelling#

The AI Act requires visible disclosure where a picture could falsely be taken for real. A cartoon style is not covered, a photorealistic portrait is. Out of the box exactly the photorealistic styles are labelled; the default can be switched to "Always" or "Never" and the position of the label chosen.

The operator of the booth makes that call — under the regulation they are the one deploying the system.

What the guest sees#

The style is chosen in a step of its own right after the mode selection, before the filter and layout selection: it determines which layouts fit and whether a digital background is still asked for. Filter and AI style can be combined: first the model redraws the picture, then the filter is laid over it. If "Filters for AI portraits too" is switched off in the filter settings, the filter selection is skipped after a style. All pictures of a session get the same style.

The step does not appear at all when no key is stored, when the booth runs in offline mode or when the data-minimising default is switched on. In none of these cases does the guest see an error message.

While the picture is being computed the waiting screen says that the portrait is being drawn and shows the remaining time. The duration is measured on every run, so the display appears from the second shot with AI onwards.

Layouts and framing#

In the layout editor you can set per layout whether it comes into question for AI portraits. Out of the box all of them do. Once the guest has chosen a style, deselected layouts are no longer shown - and if multi-picture layouts are not released for AI portraits, only those with a single placeholder remain. Whoever chose "no AI" still sees them all.

The capture goes to the provider in the crop of its layout slot. The model therefore computes for exactly the format that will be seen; otherwise fitting it in would cut away the very part it worked on.

Three reasons can only be fixed by the operator: missing credit, an invalid key or none at all. They go out as errors and trigger the immediate status notification, if set up - otherwise the event would run on without anyone learning of the missing portraits.

Decorate picture#

Lets guests draw on the finished picture and add stickers before sharing or printing.

Custom stickers can be uploaded; they appear in the sidebar before the built-in ones.

Printing at the event

This area governs how printing works at this party. Which device prints and how it hits the paper is set separately under Setting up the printer, with the device.

Whether and where printing is offered#

How many copies#

Where the picture sits on the paper#

In addition to the per-printer correction there are offsets for this event:

• Symmetric margin offset — the same distance on all sides.
• Simple shifting — horizontally, vertically and the picture size in millimetres.
• Advanced individual offsets — top, bottom, left and right separately.
• Orientation — automatic, or force portrait or landscape.
• Job name — what appears in the Windows queue; the default is "Photobooth".

Limits and counters#

How many prints are allowed in total is set under "Counters & limits". That is also where you can see how much has been printed — the most reliable basis for the question whether the paper will last until midnight.

Cloud and e-mail

This area describes the routes by which a picture leaves the booth. The accounts behind them — cloud sign-in and outgoing mail — belong to the device and live under Access and accounts.

Cloud upload#

You can also decide what is uploaded besides the finished layout picture:

• Processed individual captures — the single pictures as they appear in the layout, with digital background and filter. Makes the upload longer.
• Unprocessed camera originals — explicitly not recommended: raw files can reach 50 MB depending on the camera.

E-mail to guests#

Defines whether the guests of this party can receive their pictures by mail and what the mail says.

Placeholders are available in the text: {session_id}, {layout_id}, {final_image_url}, {gallery_url} and {recipient}.

What happens without a network#

Nothing is lost: uploads and mails go to the outbox and are retried as soon as the connection is back. The state of the queue is shown under "Outbox / Send later".

QR codes

Two different QR codes that are easily confused:

Web album QR#

Shows the QR code permanently on the start screen so guests can pull the gallery onto their own phone.

Both lines of the card appear in the language of the guest out of the box. A custom text takes their place and then applies to every language alike — useful for a note that is meant in one language anyway, the name of the couple for instance. With both lines hidden the QR code stands alone on the card.

Single-image QR#

Gives a guest exactly their picture, without it having to appear in the web photo album.

On the printout#

The single-image code can also be placed on the printed image. This is set up in the layout editor with a QR element targeting "Single-image QR"; it deliberately does not appear in the stored photo. How long a print job waits for the address is set in the "Timeouts & error messages" section — ten seconds by default.

No cloud, no QR code#

Both features need an upload route. If cloud upload is off or privacy by default is on, they are not offered at all.

Gallery at the booth

The gallery shows the pictures of this party on the booth. It opens through a button on the start screen and only shows the pictures of the loaded event.

Basic settings#

The button on the start screen is independent of this: it can be hidden under "Start screen & info screens" > "Customise start screen" without stopping the gallery. Useful when the pictures are only meant to be shown on a tablet and not at the booth itself.

Presentation#

If the text fields stay empty, the supplied headings appear — translated into the language of the guest. A custom text applies to every language alike. With both headings hidden the gallery starts directly with the pictures; on a small screen that gains a whole row.

What guests may do from the gallery#

Each of these can be switched off for the gallery separately, even when the feature is offered on the final screen.

With privacy by default active, the gallery disappears entirely — session data is deleted right after the session. The only exception is privacy mode on the tablet, see below.

Gallery on a tablet in the network#

The same gallery can run on a tablet or phone in the same network, without occupying the screen of the booth. The address is the one of the photo booth with /galerie added. It is switched on in the admin area "Gallery" > "Gallery on an external device".

This helps when

• an attendant picks out and prints pictures for guests while the booth keeps shooting,
• the queue in front of the booth should not grow because someone is browsing,
• guests should be able to look through the pictures in peace somewhere else.

The page behaves differently from the gallery at the booth on purpose: no back button, no return to the start screen after inactivity, and new pictures appear by themselves without closing an open image or jumping back to the top.

Display and order are taken from the gallery at the booth if wanted. Anyone who prefers one continuous list to scroll on the tablet sets them separately.

If a gallery background image is stored under Appearance, the page shows that one; an image just for the tablet is available there as well — useful because a tablet often has a different aspect ratio than the photo booth screen. the headings are set separately from the gallery at the booth, which pays off wherever the tablet stands beside the booth all evening.

A background image set at the photo booth is shown on the page as well - the tablet then looks like the booth beside it and not like some foreign website.

Privacy mode on the tablet#

If the tablet is there for guests to use themselves, they should print or send their own photo there, but not browse through the photos of the whole evening. That is what privacy mode is for (admin area "Gallery" > "Gallery on an external device" > "Privacy mode").

The tablet then no longer shows a gallery but waits for new photos. A new photo appears for the set display time, optionally opened in full size if it is the only one ("Open a single photo in full size"), and disappears afterwards. The time runs from the moment the photo is taken, not from the first look at it - the duration should therefore let the guest get from the booth to the tablet and still leave time there.

Whether the remaining time is visible can be switched on separately ("Show remaining time"). Useful where guests would otherwise be surprised when their photo disappears; for a plain page it stays off.

In this mode the photo booth no longer hands out older photos to any device in the network, not even via their address. The gallery on the booth's own screen is not affected.

Sharing through the device#

In the full view a picture can be handed to the device's share menu - on an iPad that includes AirDrop, on Android it is the usual share sheet. The button only appears when the page was opened over an encrypted connection: browsers grant a page access to that menu only there. This applies to both systems alike. The wording of the button can be set in the admin area under "Label of the share button"; left empty, the page chooses for itself. It is switched on in the same area as the gallery for external devices: admin area "Gallery" > "Gallery on an external device".

Slideshow and screensaver

When the booth sits idle for a while, it can show the pictures taken so far. That is also the best advertisement it has: whoever sees other people's pictures joins the queue.

Screensaver#

A tap on the screen ends it.

Slideshow#

Ads (sponsor and company images)#

Your own images can be shown between the guest photos — a sponsor banner, the company logo at a corporate party or a note from the host.

With several ads stored they take turns: the first one, after the next block the second and so on. As long as there are no guest photos yet, only the ads run — during setup before the party the booth already shows the customer's logo.

The ads apply to the slideshow in the booth and to the second screen, not to the display type Video. They belong to the event and travel with copies and exports.

Video instead of pictures#

A video (MP4 or WebM) plays silently in an endless loop. With a different aspect ratio you can choose whether it fills the screen and gets cropped, or appears with black bars.

Useful for sponsor clips, wedding films or the operator's own advertising — anywhere the guests' pictures should not be on public display.

Second screen#

For a second monitor, open the address http://localhost:8000/slideshow in a separate browser or kiosk window on that screen. The slideshow runs there permanently, regardless of what guests are doing at the booth. If the photo booth port was changed, the address carries the new number instead of 8000; the admin area shows it already filled in.

Pay-per-use

With pay-per-use active, the guest pays before the capture begins. It is meant for public installations — trade fairs, funfairs, bars — where the guest pays rather than the host.

The Stripe access belongs to the device and lives under Access and accounts. Here you set whether and how payment is taken. Setting up Stripe, PayPal and several booths is described in Setting up pay-per-use.

Three payment models#

The difference lies in the fees: Stripe charges a fixed amount per payment (around 0.25 EUR for EU cards) plus a percentage. For a 3 EUR session, a single payment loses around a tenth to fees; for a 20 EUR top-up it is just under 3 percent.

With Allow one-off payment without a code the credit model also offers single payment — for guests who only want to take one picture.

Prices#

Each capture mode has its own price, 0 means free of charge. That way an AI portrait can cost more than a photo.

A print costs a base price per job plus a price per copy. The copies included only apply to prints right after the session; a print from the gallery always costs. On the tablet showing the gallery nothing is printed then — the guest prints at the photo booth.

Price tiers#

With a code the price can be tiered: guests who do many sessions pay less from a certain session on. Counting is per code, across all photo booths with the same Stripe key. Without a code, i.e. with single payments, the base price always applies.

• Type of tiers: a discount in percent on the mode's price or a fixed price per tier and mode.
• Up to three tiers, each from session — for example 10 % from the 5th session and 20 % from the 10th. A tier with “from” 0 stays unused.
• Price tiers for prints: the same per copy. The base price per order stays; included copies do not count. If an order crosses a tier boundary, each copy costs the price of its tier.

The overview before code entry lists the tiers. After the code is entered, the booth shows the price that applies to the next session.

The flow on screen#

With Show overview before code entry a first screen explains the process in three steps and lists the prices per capture mode and for printing. From there guests go on to code entry, to topping up or, if allowed, to a single payment. New events show the overview by default.

With a credit code:

1. The guest taps the start screen and enters the code. A hand scanner reading the code from the phone types it in like a keyboard.
2. The booth shows the credit and the price.
3. In the mode selection each tile shows its price. Whatever the credit no longer covers is greyed out.
4. The charge is made as soon as the result is on screen. If a session is cancelled before that, it costs nothing.
5. At the end the booth shows the remaining credit and offers Another session without typing the code again.

With single payment the guest pays after choosing the mode, because only then is the price known.

Topping up#

The amounts appear as buttons, up to four. With Allow a custom amount the guest sets the amount between the smallest and largest custom amount.

The payment page at the photo booth opens directly on screen or appears as a QR code for the phone. The QR code is usually the better choice: the card number is not typed in public, Apple Pay and Google Pay work, and the booth is free again sooner. After paying on the phone, Stripe takes the guest to the return URL — the phone cannot reach the booth's local address.

If Offer top-ups at the photo booth is off, the booth only accepts codes. The notice for guests without a code then tells them where credit is available — for example at a tablet used as a top-up station, see Setting up pay-per-use.

After payment the booth shows the new code in large type. The guest remembers it or takes a photo. If they entered an email address when paying, the code is also on Stripe's receipt.

Reservation#

With a reservation the guest does not pay in advance but authorises a maximum amount. Stripe reserves it on the card or with PayPal; money is only taken when settling and only for the part used, the rest is released. On screen everything works as with a credit code: enter the code, do the session, and at the end the booth shows what is still available.

The amounts to reserve appear as buttons, up to four; there is no free amount here. Settle decides when the money is taken:

• when the photo booth is closed, at the latest after the deadline — the booth settles this event's reservations before it closes. Suits an evening with one booth.
• after the deadline — for events over several days and several booths that do not finish at the same time.

The deadline until settlement counts from the reservation, at most 144 hours. Any running booth with the same Stripe key settles — also after switching events and at the next program start.

Open reservations lists all codes on this Stripe account that have not been settled yet, with amount, settlement time and expiry. If one expires in less than two days, a notice appears.

Usage below 0.50 EUR cannot be charged; the reservation is then released in full. The same applies to a reservation whose payment the booth never confirmed: if the guest left before the confirmation, they never saw the code.

Codes#

A code has eight characters without easily confused letters and digits (no 0/O, no 1/I). After five wrong codes, entry is blocked for a minute; each further block lasts longer.

Code is valid “only at this event” is the normal case. “At all events of this Stripe account” suits credit that should work across several events, for example a trade fair over three days with one event per day.

When the network fails “allow sessions, charge later” keeps the queue moving: the booth remembers charges it cannot make right now and makes them as soon as Stripe answers again. A wrong code, however, only shows up when the charge is made later.

Managing codes#

Under Manage codes the booth shows the credit, the event, the status and the latest transactions for a code — no matter at which booth it was topped up.

• Block stops a code, for example when a guest has lost it. Unblock releases it again.
• Refund remaining credit deducts the credit and refunds it to the original payment. Whatever cannot be refunded, for example on a free code, is back on the code afterwards.
• Create free code issues a code with credit without anyone paying — as a prize or as compensation.

Close event settles open reservations and ends all codes of the event; afterwards none of them starts a session. The remaining credit is handled as set under Remaining credit:

Demo mode and test run#

In demo mode the payment is only simulated: no money changes hands, and no Stripe account is needed. That suits trade fairs and demonstrations. Codes from demo mode only work at this booth.

For a real test run, a Stripe test key (starting with sk_test_ or rk_test_) belongs under Access and accounts. Everything then runs as it will later, only with Stripe's test cards instead of real money.

Setting up pay-per-use

This guide leads from the Stripe account to the first paid session. What the individual settings mean is described in Pay-per-use.

The money always goes straight to the operator's Stripe account. RAWCaptureBooth does not sit in between and sees no payments.

1. Create a Stripe account#

Accounts are available at stripe.com. Stripe asks for the company, bank details and ID; only after this check are real payments paid out. Testing is possible before that.

Under “Settings” > “Public details”, enter the company name, contact address and the link to your own terms and conditions. Stripe shows them on the payment page.

2. Enter the key#

In the Stripe dashboard under “Developers” > “API keys” you find the secret key. Safer is a restricted key that can only do what the photo booth needs:

The key belongs under admin area "Access & accounts" > "Payment provider (Stripe)". Enter the test key first (starting with sk_test_ or rk_test_), the real one only after the test run.

No webhook is needed: the photo booth asks Stripe itself for the state of a payment. A webhook set up for an older version can be removed.

3. PayPal, Apple Pay and Google Pay#

In the Stripe dashboard under “Settings” > “Payment methods” PayPal can be activated; Stripe asks for the PayPal business account. Apple Pay and Google Pay are usually already switched on for Stripe's payment page. They appear when the guest's device supports them — on the phone, not on the photo booth screen.

Nothing needs to be set at the photo booth: the payment page shows what is active in the Stripe account.

4. Switch on pay-per-use for the event#

Under admin area "Pay-Per-Use":

1. In "Payment model & prices", tick Enable pay-per-use.
2. Choose the payment model. For trade fairs and parties with many sessions per guest, the credit code suits.
3. Enter prices per capture mode and for printing.
4. In "Top-ups & reservations", set the top-up amounts, for example 10, 20 and 50 EUR.
5. In "Payment & payment terminal", set Payment page at the photo booth to Show QR code, so guests pay on their own phone.

5. Several booths at one event#

Codes live at Stripe, not on the booth. Every booth with the same Stripe key knows the same codes, and a freshly topped-up code works at every booth straight away.

• Enter the same key on every booth.
• Bring the same event to all booths by handover or export (see Managing events). The event's access code stays the same; the booths use it to recognise that a code belongs to this event.
• Code is valid “only at this event” is then enough. For credit that should work across several events, choose “at all events of this Stripe account”.

Every charge carries the booth's computer name. In the Stripe dashboard each code therefore shows which booth took which amount.

6. Tablet as a top-up station#

With a long queue, a separate station takes load off the booth: a tablet at the entrance handles the top-ups, and the photo booth only accepts codes.

1. Tick Release top-up station (admin area "Remote management" > "Access from the network"). The address is shown below, for example http://192.168.1.20:8000/guthaben.
2. Connect the tablet to the same network and open the address in the browser.
3. Lock the page in full screen: on Android with a kiosk browser, on the iPad with Guided Access (Settings > Accessibility).
4. At the photo booth, switch off Offer top-ups at the photo booth if only codes should be entered there, and point to the tablet in the notice for guests without a code.

The guest chooses an amount on the tablet and pays via the QR code on their own phone — or with Pay on this device directly on the tablet. The tablet then shows the code in large type. An existing code can be topped up there as well.

The start page shows the event's logo and title, explains the process in three steps and lists the prices for captures and printing — the same as at the photo booth. With Check balance the guest enters their code and sees what is left on it, along with the latest transactions. A sentence of your own, for example about payment methods, goes into Notice on the top-up station (in "Payment & payment terminal"); it appears highlighted above the amounts.

The station can only top up: the operating interface and admin area stay locked for the tablet unless they are released separately. With Require PIN the tablet asks once for the network PIN.

The guest types the code with the tablet's keyboard. With Show on-screen keyboard the page shows its own keypad instead, for example on a second monitor with a touchscreen. Colours and buttons of the page follow the photo booth's appearance.

7. Test run#

1. Enter the test key and switch off demo mode.
2. Top up an amount and pay with Stripe's test card 4242 4242 4242 4242 (any future expiry date, any security code).
3. Use the code for a session, print, and at the end try Another session.
4. In the Stripe dashboard under “Customers”, search for the code: the top-up and every charge are listed there.
5. Then enter the real key and run through once with a small real amount.

8. After the event#

With reservations the booth settles by itself (see Pay-per-use). If no booth is running any more, an open reservation can be captured by hand in the Stripe dashboard under “Payments”. The code's transaction history under “Customers” shows how much was used.

Unused credit stays on the code. In the Stripe dashboard it appears with the customer under “Credit balance”. A refund is made there on the original payment; afterwards reduce the customer's credit balance by the same amount so the code no longer works.

Refunds are easier in the admin area: show the code under Manage codes and choose Refund remaining credit. At the end, Close event ends all codes of the event; what happens to remaining credit is set under Remaining credit (see Pay-per-use).

Counters, limits and operating hours

Counters#

Three numbers per event: sessions total, prints total and AI portraits total. They are the basis for invoicing and for the question whether the paper will last.

They are reset under "My events" > "Counter reset"; the pictures themselves are kept.

Usage limits#

The texts are the real work here: "Limit reached" annoys, "The photo package is used up — please talk to the host" explains.

Operating hours#

Define when the booth can be used at all. Outside that window an overlay covers the screen, with a freely worded heading and message.

A period can be set on top of that. Without a date the times apply every day, with a date only between the start and end date, the end date included. One date is enough: a start date alone frees the booth permanently from that day, an end date alone locks it afterwards. A window running past midnight counts towards the evening before - anyone open until 2 a.m. does not close at midnight on the end date.

Operating hours are not the same as the period of an event: the period decides which event is loaded automatically; the operating hours decide whether the loaded booth can be used right now.

Buzzer, lighting and relay

Everything in this chapter belongs to the device: it is attached to this booth and stays unchanged when events are switched.

Buzzer and key control#

For guests a buzzer is the more natural control than a screen — anyone can hit a button. Technically a wired buzzer identifies itself as a keyboard or mouse.

Buzzers are told apart by key, not by device: two buzzers are two keys, even when they share one USB receiver.

Wireless buzzers over Bluetooth#

A wireless buzzer needs no cable and is identified by its Bluetooth address. That address is fixed in the device, unique worldwide and survives any firmware update.

Setting up: start "Search buzzers" and press the buzzer to be assigned while the search runs — it then shows up as "currently pressed". Registered wireless buzzers appear in the "Buzzer / key control" section, where you set what they trigger.

Lighting control#

Controls the connected LED lighting: continuous light during operation and a trigger light at the moment of capture. The trigger light is enabled in the camera area ("Enable LightControl trigger light", photos only).

Relay#

Switches connected devices through a USB relay — a ring light, a flash or a socket that should come on together with the booth.

Triggers for external programs#

The photo booth reports steps of the session to the outside — to an address on the network or to a program on its own computer. This ties in equipment that has no area of its own: a ring light with its own software, home automation, a script written in-house.

Nine events are available, from session start to session end. Each carries its own values, such as the capture mode, the countdown duration or the printer and number of copies.

Everything about it: Triggers for external programs — a reference for every event, ready-made example scripts to download and troubleshooting.

Triggers for external programs

The photo booth reports steps of its session to the outside: to an address on the network or to a program on its own computer. This ties in equipment for which there is no area of its own.

It is switched on in the admin area "Lighting / accessory control" > "Triggers for external programs". This chapter describes what arrives there and how to work with it.

What this is good for#

A few tasks from practice that can be solved with it:

• Control a ring light or flash system that comes with its own software. Ramp up during the countdown, switch off at the moment of capture or on a cancel.
• Switch a socket as soon as a session begins, and off again after the final screen - through home automation.
• Pass on finished pictures: copy, rename, drop into a folder, hand over to an image editor.
• Keep count of how many sessions and prints have added up, without asking the photo booth for it.
• Fog machine, light organ, confetti cannon - anything that reacts to a signal.
• Run a display alongside, such as a second screen in the next room showing what is happening right now.

The photo booth expects no answer and evaluates none. It only reports.

Setting up in three steps#

1. Choose the target. Either an address on the network or a program on the photo booth's computer. For a program, the full path including the file extension belongs in the field.
2. Tick the events. Only what is ticked gets reported. Anyone who first wants to find out what arrives when ticks everything and removes later what is not needed.
3. Test. The "Test event" button sends a single event with sample values and shows the command that actually went out - and, on failure, its cause.

The two routes#

Address on the network#

The photo booth calls an address and appends the values as parameters:

http://127.0.0.1:8000?event_type=session_start&param1=photo

event_type names the event, param1 to param4 the additional values. Special characters are encoded, as usual for internet addresses.

A POST with JSON can be sent instead:

{"event_type": "session_start", "param1": "photo"}

The first format fits existing scripts and simple devices, the second newly written receivers.

Program on this computer#

The photo booth starts the given program and passes the values as arguments in a fixed order

• first the event name, then the additional values:

My-Script.bat session_start photo

The program runs without a visible window. Its working directory is the folder it sits in, so neighbouring files can be called by their bare name.

Reference: the ten events#

In the order of the session. A value that an event does not carry stays empty but keeps its place.

Session starts#

The guest has chosen the capture mode, the session has been created.

My-Script.bat session_start photo

Countdown begins#

Arrives before every single shot, so four times for a four-shot layout.

My-Script.bat countdown_start 3

Countdown ends or is cancelled#

The countdown is over. Follows every "Countdown begins" exactly once - either at zero, immediately before the shutter release, or because the countdown was cancelled before that.

My-Script.bat countdown_stop completed

A countdown is cancelled when the guest cancels or the session ends for another reason before zero is reached. No capture_start follows aborted - a ring light that ramped up during the countdown should switch off again here.

Shutter release#

The moment of capture. Also arrives before every single shot, immediately before the picture is taken.

This event carries no additional values.

My-Script.bat capture_start

Photo received from the camera#

The camera has delivered a picture and it is on the hard disk. Arrives only with a connected photo or system camera, not with a webcam - there the picture is created in the interface.

My-Script.bat file_download "C:\...\sessions\20260918\dslr_raw\shot_01.jpg"

Processing begins#

All shots are in, the finished picture is now being computed: cutout, filter, layout. Depending on the settings this takes a few seconds.

My-Script.bat processing_start "C:\...\shot_01.jpg;C:\...\shot_02.jpg" "C:\...\final.jpg"

The target path is already fixed before anything is computed. A script can therefore prepare itself instead of searching the folder. The file itself does not exist yet at this point.

Final screen appears#

The finished picture is on show, the guest decides about printing and sharing.

This event carries no additional values.

My-Script.bat sharing_screen

Print job sent#

A print has been started - by the guest or automatically.

My-Script.bat printing "C:\...\final.jpg" 2 "DS-RX1"

What is reported is that the job has left the photo booth. Whether the paper actually comes out is known only to the printer.

Upload finished#

A picture has arrived at the cloud target.

My-Script.bat file_upload "C:\...\final.jpg" "https://.../s/abc" jpg Wedding

Session ends#

The session returns to the start screen - after the final screen, after the timer has run out or because the guest cancelled.

This event carries no additional values.

My-Script.bat session_end

What arrives when#

A complete run with a layout of two shots, printing and upload:

session_start photo
countdown_start 3
countdown_stop completed
capture_start
file_download C:\...\shot_01.jpg
countdown_start 3
countdown_stop completed
capture_start
file_download C:\...\shot_02.jpg
processing_start C:\...\shot_01.jpg;C:\...\shot_02.jpg  C:\...\final.jpg
sharing_screen
printing C:\...\final.jpg 1 DS-RX1
file_upload C:\...\final.jpg https://.../s/abc jpg Wedding
session_end

With a webcam the file_download lines are missing. If the guest cancels, session_end arrives without the lines before it. If the cancel falls into a countdown, countdown_stop aborted arrives immediately before session_end. Printing and upload only arrive when they are switched on and the guest triggers them.

Reading the values correctly#

In a batch file#

The values are available as %~1, %~2 and so on. The tilde belongs there: values containing spaces, equals signs, commas or semicolons are passed in quotation marks, and %~2 removes them again. With %2 they would stand in the text.

@echo off
if /i "%~1"=="printing" (
    rem %~2 = file, %~3 = number of copies, %~4 = printer
    echo Printing %~3 copies on %~4
)

Simple values without special characters - such as a countdown duration - arrive without quotation marks and can also be read with %2.

In PowerShell#

param([string]$Event, [string]$Value1, [string]$Value2, [string]$Value3, [string]$Value4)

Seconds or milliseconds#

By default the countdown duration goes out in seconds. Some devices expect milliseconds - for that there is the tick box "Give the countdown duration in milliseconds" in the admin area. 3 then becomes 3000.

If a countdown animation stays dark or is over instantly, this unit is almost always the reason.

Ready-made examples#

The files can be downloaded, put into a folder of their own and entered as the target in the admin area. They are meant as a starting point and may be changed.

Log every event#

Writes every call with time, event and all values into a text file next to the script. The first step for everything else.

Download ausloeser-protokoll.bat

Control a device over the serial port#

Sends one command each on countdown and on shutter release to a device on COM3 and switches it off again after a cancelled countdown - the pattern ring lights and similar controllers work by. Commands and port are entered at the top of the script.

Download ausloeser-seriell.bat

Copy and rename finished pictures#

Puts every finished picture into a target folder as well, with date and time in the name. Useful for a photographer working on in parallel.

Download ausloeser-kopieren.ps1

A small receiver for the network route#

A program that listens on an address and shows every event. For trying out the network route before the actual target device is connected. Requires an installed Python runtime.

Download ausloeser-empfaenger.py

Home automation#

Systems such as Home Assistant, ioBroker or Node-RED accept a call over the network. Their address is entered as the target, for example:

http://192.168.1.50:8123/api/webhook/photobooth

An automation is then triggered there. The event is in event_type, and because the values come along as parameters, session start and session end can be told apart without setting up a separate address for every event.

If the system expects JSON instead of parameters, the format is switched over in the admin area.

Troubleshooting#

Nothing arrives at all#

Check in this order:

•  Is "Use triggers" switched on and saved?
•  Is the event in question ticked?
•  For a program, does the field hold the full path including the file extension?
•  What does the "Test event" button say? It shows the command that goes out and, on failure, its cause.
•  Is writing allowed in the folder where the script wants to create its file?

The script runs but does nothing#

A script that looks for neighbouring files in the photo booth's folder will not find them - it runs in its own folder. Paths inside the script should therefore be given in full or based on %~dp0, its own folder.

Values are in the wrong place#

Almost always the difference between %2 and %~2. See "Reading the values correctly" above.

The guest experience stalls#

That must not happen, and it is then not down to the trigger: the photo booth waits at most the configured time limit and then carries on, even if the target does not answer. The time limit can be shortened when a sluggish device is involved.

An event arrives several times#

That is usually correct: countdown start, countdown end and shutter release arrive before every single shot. With a four-picture layout, therefore four times.

Access and accounts

This is where the credentials live. They belong to the device and apply to all events. What a party does with them is set with the event: under Cloud and e-mail and Pay-per-use.

The split has a practical reason: an event package handed on never contains credentials. Sending an event as a template does not send your Dropbox account with it.

Cloud account#

Dropbox, Google Drive, pCloud, Nextcloud and the RAWCaptureBooth self-hosted server are supported.

Signing in runs through the browser: an assistant opens the provider's authorisation page, access is confirmed there and the code is carried back into the booth.

A base folder can be set as well. Every event creates its own folder underneath, named after its identifier.

pCloud#

An ordinary cloud account, set up like Dropbox: click Connect to pCloud, confirm in the browser, done. Whether the account lives in the European or the American data centre is detected automatically — the choice made when creating the account has no effect here.

Base folder and folder for the single-image QR codes work as with Dropbox. If left empty, the folder RAWCaptureBooth is created with Einzelbild-QR underneath.

Nextcloud#

Worth it for anyone already running their own Nextcloud: the images stay in-house and the sharing links for the QR codes are created there automatically — a root URL as with the FTP server is not needed.

All that is required is the Nextcloud address, the same one used to open it in a browser. A click on Connect to Nextcloud opens the sign-in page; after confirmation RAWCaptureBooth receives its own app password. The account password itself is never stored, and the app password can be revoked individually in Nextcloud at any time without touching the account. Disconnect withdraws it from here as well.

No separate app has to be registered in Nextcloud. The route works with every installation, even behind a portal that allows no redirect back to the booth computer — unlike Google, the sign-in can therefore also be done from a tablet.

Base folder and folder for the single-image QR codes work as with Dropbox. If left empty, the folder RAWCaptureBooth is created with Einzelbild-QR underneath.

FTP server#

Useful where a web space already exists and the pictures are meant to live under your own address instead of a cloud provider's. Two entries are needed that are easily confused: the base folder on the server — the path the FTP account sees — and the root URL — the address under which exactly this folder is reachable on the web. Both point at the same place but rarely carry the same name: /httpdocs/photos on the server may be https://example.com/photos on the web.

FTP, FTPS and SFTP are available as protocols. FTP transmits password and images in clear text; where the provider allows FTPS or SFTP, those are the ones to choose.

The folder for the single-image QR codes can be chosen freely. If the field stays empty, a subfolder below the base folder is used. If the chosen folder sits beside the base folder instead of below it, the root URL does not reach it; its own address has to be entered as well. The admin area says so while it is missing.

An access that has been set up can be removed again with the Remove FTP access button. It only appears while something is stored and clears server, user name, password, folders and addresses in one step. Emptying the fields is not enough: an empty password field means “keep the existing password”.

RAWCaptureBooth self-hosted server#

Your own web server hosting the web photo album. It needs the server URL and, if the server asks for them, a user name and password. Which event folder is meant follows from the event's access code, so that code lives with the event rather than here.

A server that has been entered can be removed again with the Remove self-hosted access button. It only appears while something is stored and clears address, user name and password in one step. Emptying the fields is not enough: an empty password field means “keep the existing password”, and an empty server URL is rejected when saving.

Mail access (SMTP)#

The outgoing mail account the booth sends through: host, port, user name, password and encryption (STARTTLS or SSL/TLS). One account for all events.

Payment provider#

The Stripe key — one account for all events. Leaving the key field empty keeps the key already stored. A restricted key works as well as the secret key.

Amount, trigger and flow of the payment are set with the event.

No webhook is needed: the photo booth asks Stripe itself for the state of a payment. PayPal, Apple Pay and Google Pay are switched on as payment methods in the Stripe account; nothing needs to be set at the photo booth for that.

Demo mode only simulates the payment and works without a Stripe account. For a real test run a test key is the better choice, see Pay-per-use.

Outbox

The outbox is the device's queue. Whatever cannot go out right now — no network, an unresponsive server, a failed mail — lands here and is retried automatically later.

It deliberately belongs to the device rather than to an event: the individual jobs know which event they belong to and outlive an event switch. Yesterday's upload still goes out even when the next party has long been loaded.

What it shows#

Per job: what it is (cloud upload or mail), which event it belongs to, when it was created and what the last attempt failed on.

Individual entries can be deleted, as can the whole list.

System settings

The collecting point for everything concerning this booth as a device.

Setup#

The list that guides through the initial setup — described under First start.

Build type#

Photo booth or photo mirror - described under Photo mirror.

Admin access#

Everything about the way into the admin area: the PIN, the automatic logout and the hidden area in the bottom left of the screen that opens the login dialog.

While the factory default 0000 is in place, anyone can get in. The hidden area can be given a press duration — it then has to be held for a few seconds so that a guest does not hit it by accident.

The automatic logout counts from the last activity. With "Input extends the login" switched on — the state the photo booth ships in — keyboard, mouse and touch count as well. Switched off, only what is actually saved or loaded counts; writing in a field for longer then ends in a logout in the middle of the work.

Automatic saving#

With the switch on, every change is applied immediately and the save buttons disappear; that includes the layout editor.

Not affected are buttons that do something instead of saving — test print, factory reset, retry cloud upload and the like. Those still need a deliberate click.

Menu view#

Plus: which area appears when the admin area opens, whether accordions start expanded or collapsed, and whether the buttons for the on-screen keyboard and the layout editor are visible.

Reopen the section last viewed returns to exactly the place where the admin area was left. This only applies as long as the login is still valid — after signing out and once the session has expired, the configured default section appears again.

Display & scaling#

The guest screens are designed for Full HD — 1920 × 1080 in landscape, 1080 × 1920 in portrait. The photo booth converts this size to its own window: on a smaller screen everything becomes correspondingly smaller, on a larger one bigger. Nothing needs to be set for that.

The first line in the area states the result — how large the window of the photo booth is and at what percentage the interface runs there. On a screen with 1920 × 1080 that is 100 percent, on a Microsoft Surface with 200 percent display scaling in Windows about 71 percent.

Reference width and reference height below are something else: they hold the resolution of the connected screen and thus define the format of the editing area in the screen editors. The photo booth measures them at start and follows along when the screen is swapped. To have it right away, click "Adopt from screen" — the button only appears when the stored and the measured resolution differ. Collapsed, the area then reads "Screen changed". These values do not affect the size of the interface.

If the conversion does not fit on a particular screen, "Manual (fixed zoom factor)" with a self-chosen value helps.

"Live image display" below only concerns the camera image: whether it fills the screen and how much margin remains. Buttons and texts are unaffected.

Graphics acceleration#

The interface is drawn by the graphics card. That is the factory setting and usually the right one: scrolling in the admin area and in the layout editor is twice as smooth, transitions and videos do not stutter, and the processor stays free for camera, processing and upload.

The tick "Turn off graphics acceleration" is the emergency exit for devices whose graphics driver mangles the display. This shows as a completely black live view although the photos are fine, or as black areas, stripes and frozen pictures in the interface. After setting it the software has to be restarted; the processor then draws again and the display becomes noticeably more sluggish.

Below the tick it says what the open display is currently drawing with. If the admin area is opened from a tablet on the network, the information applies to that tablet.

A current display engine is required: "Microsoft Edge WebView2 Runtime", verified with version 153.0.4234.32. It normally keeps itself up to date; its version is shown in the Windows settings under "Apps" > "Installed apps". If it is considerably older, reinstalling the runtime from the Microsoft website helps.

Timeouts & error messages#

After these times the software aborts a step that does not respond and shows an error message. They are an emergency brake against hanging, not a waiting time for guests.

They only need attention when steps abort during operation that actually work: a slow camera, a weak computer or a thin mobile connection need longer than the default. Set too tight, the booth discards running captures and transfers for no reason.

The values depend on camera, computer and network and therefore apply to all events.

Online/offline mode#

Puts the booth deliberately into offline operation. The area lists what is then not offered — cloud upload, mail sending, web album QR codes and the AI portraits. The latter need a provider on the internet: in offline mode neither the style selection nor the tile of the AI mode appears, and a running session delivers the picture without a style instead of running into a wait.

When the network drops in the middle of the party, there is no time to look for the area. The same switch therefore sits at the top of the admin menu, below "Save automatically", and takes effect immediately. Anyone who does not want to open the admin area at all finds it in the booth's quick settings menu as well.

Remote management#

The booth reports its state to a web server and accepts commands from there.

Reported are the state and load of the machine, counters, enabled features and errors that occurred — no pictures.

Remote access to the interface#

The photobooth interface can be opened remotely in a browser — even when the booth sits in a restaurant's Wi-Fi or behind a mobile router. Neither a VPN nor port forwarding is needed.

This helps when something has to be adjusted during an event without driving there: swapping a layout, checking the printer, resetting a counter.

Requirement#

Remote access is not set up on the photobooth but where it reports its state: in the management portal or in the backend of your own web server. A dedicated address is created there for each device. The software picks it up the next time it reports in.

Only the main switch stays on the photobooth (admin area "Remote management" > "Remote access to the interface"). Without it no connection can be opened.

In everyday use#

The connection is not open permanently. It is opened one session at a time and closes by itself after the configured time — four hours by default. It can be opened on the photobooth or remotely; the badge in the section header shows while something is open.

When opening remotely, allow for one reporting interval: the software only picks the command up the next time it reports in.

Access from the network#

Once the photo booth is on a network, every other device there reaches it through its address in a browser — a tablet, a phone, the laptop at the next table. This section decides what those devices are allowed to use (admin area "Remote management" > "Access from the network").

Out of the box only the gallery for external devices gets through from the network. The operating interface and the admin area stay reserved for the photo booth screen until they are released here.

The four areas#

The gallery has no switch of its own in this section — it is switched on and off where it belongs (admin area "Gallery" > "Gallery on external device"). All that appears here is how it currently stands.

The top-up station shows only the page for topping up credit — for a tablet at the entrance, see Setting up pay-per-use.

The addresses#

Below the switches stand the complete addresses under which the photo booth is currently reachable — with IP address and port, ready to be typed into the browser of the other device. They appear for a blocked area as well, so it is clear what to enter once it is released.

Several addresses mean the computer has several network cards — usually LAN and Wi-Fi. The right one comes from the network the other device is on.

With the encrypted connection switched on, each area also shows an https address with its own port. Only over that one does the tablet offer the device's share menu.

The photo booth port#

The number after the colon in the address is the port. It is 8000 by default. If another program on the same computer occupies that number, the photo booth does not start — it never even reaches its own screen. For that case the number can be changed in the "Photo booth port" field. Allowed values are 1024 to 65535.

The change takes effect after the next start of the software. While the photo booth is still running on the old number, a note below the field says so. After that the new number applies everywhere: in the addresses above, for devices on the network, for the gallery on an external device and for the slideshow on a second monitor.

The Windows firewall is not an issue here: its permission is granted for the program at first start, not for a single port number — it then applies to every port the photo booth uses. Only a hand-made rule for port 8000, or the permission of another firewall, would have to be adjusted.

When the port is in use at startup#

The admin area is no help in that case: it is part of the photo booth and only reachable once it runs. So the software asks during startup instead. If the port is in use, it looks for a free number nearby and offers it in a dialog:

• Yes — the photo booth starts on the new number right away and remembers it. Nothing else is needed; the admin area then shows the new number in the field.
• No — startup is cancelled, with the familiar notice about the occupied port.

The network PIN#

A released area can additionally be put behind a PIN. The "Require PIN" box sits at each of the three areas separately — so the gallery stays open for guests while the operating interface sits behind it.

The network PIN is separate from the admin PIN. Handing it to the attendant does not hand over the admin access: behind the network PIN the admin area still asks for its own.

Four to twelve digits. As long as none is stored the boxes have no effect — a barrier without a key would be a lock nobody can open again.

A device calling up a protected area gets an input mask in the language set on the photo booth and is then unlocked for twelve hours. After a restart of the photo booth it asks again; likewise as soon as the PIN is changed or removed.

After five wrong entries in a row the prompt pauses for a minute, and twice as long on every further attempt. Counting happens per device.

When to release#

Releasing the operating interface makes sense when a second screen is to operate the booth — a tablet at the attendant's place, for instance. Releasing the admin area pays off when things are adjusted from a laptop during the event, without standing in front of the booth.

After five wrong PIN entries in a row the login pauses for a minute, and twice as long on every further attempt. Counting happens per device; the correct PIN resets the counter.

What a blocked device sees#

Calling up something blocked from another device brings up a page in the language set on the photo booth. It names the area concerned and points out that the administering person can release it — not an error message that looks like a defect.

None of this changes anything on the photo booth screen itself, and remote access through the portal still leads into the admin area.

Licence management#

Shows licence type, remaining term, issue date and the time of the last synchronisation. This is where a key is activated and, before a device change, released again.

The licence has to sync with the licence server at least once every 180 days; with an internet connection this happens automatically. "Next sync due by" shows the date. From 30 days before, the start screen points this out at every program start; after that, no new sessions can be started until the next sync. This does not apply to the trial version.

Backup and restore#

A backup covers the whole device's setup — all events with their layouts, graphics and settings, plus the accounts and the counters. It is the fallback for a device change or a failure.

Captures stay out of it: session folders and gallery do not go into the file. A backup is therefore small and written within seconds. For the images there are "Export event captures", the event package and the session folder.

Restoring keeps existing captures, including those of events missing from the backup — their images then appear under "Captures of deleted events".

Backup and restore run in the background and show a progress bar; the admin area stays usable meanwhile.

To hand a single event to a customer or a second booth, the event package is the right way, see Managing events — it contains no credentials.

System#

Restart and quit the software, restart and shut down the machine, plus:

• Check configuration — looks for missing or invalid fields and repairs them. Helps when something stops working after an update.
• Clear UI cache — clears the browser cache of the kiosk mode so changes become visible immediately.
• Edge swipe gestures — switch them off so that a swipe from the screen edge does not open Windows.
• Debug console — for troubleshooting; the application should run in windowed mode for it.

Photo mirror

A photo mirror is an upright screen, usually behind a mirror front, with a camera rotated by 90° above it. Guests see themselves life-size and operate everything directly on the screen. The same software runs a photo booth and a photo mirror; the difference is a single setting, the build type.

Choosing the build type#

The build type is chosen in the setup assistant on first launch (second step, see First start) and can be changed at any time under admin area "System Settings" > "Build type".

The build type belongs to the device, not to the event. An event created on a photo booth runs on the mirror without any changes and arranges itself there for the upright screen.

Aligning the camera#

When switching, a confirmation lists what changes on the camera: a rotation by 90° and a mirrored live view, for the photo camera and the boomerang camera alike. Without confirmation everything stays as it was. A camera that is already set upright keeps its direction.

"Check live view" in the same section shows whether the direction is right. If the image is upside down, the camera is mounted the other way round - "Rotate the other way" then switches both camera sections to the opposite direction. Rotation and mirroring are afterwards found in the "Camera" section as usual.

What changes for guests#

On a mirror, the bottom edge of the screen is at knee height. The interface therefore arranges itself differently - without extra switches in the individual sections:

• The buttons of every screen sit directly below the heading instead of at the bottom edge. This applies to notices, mode, layout and filter selection, capture, shot preview and the end screen.
• The live view and the finished image sit at the top, as close to the camera as possible. The closer the reflection is to the camera, the less guests look past it in the photo.
• The countdown is always at the top centre, right below the camera. The position from the event stays saved and applies again on a photo booth.
• Dialogs such as the gallery's large view, sharing or the number of prints are at the top.
• If the event sets "Position start/gallery buttons" to "Bottom", they are still at the top on the mirror.

A custom arrangement from the start screen editor or the end screen editor is not affected: whoever placed elements freely there decides their position.

Layout editor

A layout determines what the finished picture looks like: how many captures are on it, where they sit, what surrounds them. Layouts belong to the event.

The editor opens through "Layout editor" in the menu or through the icon at the top of the admin area.

How it is built#

The header bar sits at the top. On the left are "Back", the on-screen keyboard and the layout menu, which shows the name and size of the open layout. It switches between layouts, each shown with a small preview, and holds "New", "Duplicate", "Export layout", "Import layout" and "Delete". In the middle follow "Canvas", "Insert" and "Photo slots", on the right undo, redo, the shortcuts (?), "Preview", "Test print", "Reset" and "Save". Layers and properties sit to the right of the canvas.

More room for the canvas#

The menu on the right can be collapsed with the arrow button at its edge. This pays off on tablets and small screens once fine alignment starts and the canvas would otherwise appear small. The next time the editor opens, it is expanded again.

On narrow screens the areas are stacked and the editor fills exactly the screen height: the header bar at the top, wrapping onto several lines if needed, the canvas below it and the menu at the bottom. The menu collapses downwards, and the canvas grows into the freed space.

The canvas#

"Canvas" in the header bar opens size and background of the layout. The size counts in pixels of the finished picture; for a 300 dpi print on 10 × 15 cm that is 1800 × 1200. The ⇄ button between width and height swaps portrait and landscape. A size needed more often can be saved as a preset and is then available in all layouts.

Creating a layout#

1. In the layout menu of the header bar, click "New" and choose the format to match the paper format (6 × 4 or photo strip, for instance). The dialog shows the available formats as tiles with an aspect ratio preview; custom dimensions can be entered below them. Name and description of the layout belong in the same step.
2. Insert and arrange the placeholders with "Insert" > "Photo slot". "Photo slots" > "Arrangement" places common layouts of one to six photo slots in one step.
3. Add graphics and texts with "Insert" — logo, date, names, frames.
4. Use the layers to set the order: whatever should sit on top of the photo goes to the top.
5. Save, then check in the preview.
6. In "Capture modes & layout assignment", enable the layout for the mode you want.

Several elements can be selected together with the Ctrl key held and then aligned. With three or more elements, the two buttons below the alignment distribute them evenly – for example a row of photo slots or logos.

The selected element shows eight handles for its size and a dot above it for rotating — for photo slots just as for text, graphics, shapes and QR codes. The four round handles in the corners change width and height together, the four square ones at the edge centres change only one side: the side ones the width, the top and bottom ones the height. On a photo slot with a fixed aspect ratio that ratio applies at the corners only; an edge handle leaves it deliberately. On a text the font grows along at the corners only — the side handles set the width at which the text wraps. Small elements keep just the four corners, otherwise the handles would lie on top of each other. Unselected elements stay without handles so they do not catch each other's clicks.

At the corners, images, graphics, shapes and QR codes keep their aspect ratio; dragging there with Shift held changes it freely. The handles at the edge centres still change one side only.

While a single element is being moved, it snaps to the edges and centres of the other elements and to the edge and centre of the canvas; a thin line shows what it snapped to. The "Snap to other elements" checkbox below the alignment buttons turns this off, and holding Alt suspends it for a single drag.

The arrow keys move the selected element by one pixel, with Shift by ten. Ctrl+C and Ctrl+V copy elements, also into another layout; Ctrl+D or the "Duplicate" button in the element section places a copy slightly offset next to it. The "?" button in the header bar, or the ? key, lists all shortcuts and handles.

For fine work the view can be enlarged: Ctrl+mouse wheel zooms around the pointer, Ctrl+plus and Ctrl+minus in steps, as do the buttons at the bottom right of the canvas. The percentage there gives the size relative to the finished picture; clicking it or pressing Ctrl+0 fits the canvas again. When zoomed in, the mouse wheel scrolls the view, and holding Space or the middle mouse button pans it.

A selection frame picks several elements at once: drag on empty space, and every element the frame touches is selected. With Ctrl held they are added to the current selection. A click on empty space clears the selection.

In the layer list, the grip ⠿ on the left of each row moves a layer forward or back by dragging – with the mouse as well as with a finger. A line shows where it will land.

The lock in the layer list protects an element from being moved by accident – useful for a background image or a frame graphic that gets in the way while working on texts and photo slots. On the canvas a locked element can neither be grabbed nor rotated, and a click on it reaches the element below. Alignment, arrow keys and the selection frame leave it in place. It stays selectable through the layer list, and its settings can still be changed. The open lock only appears on the row under the pointer and on the selected one.

A grid can also be shown and, separately, switched on as a second snapping aid; spacing and colour are free to choose. The spacing counts in canvas pixels, not screen pixels. If an element snaps to another element at the same time, that wins — reaching for it is almost always what was meant.

Background and frame images#

A background or a frame is an element like any other: insert it with Insert > Image and move it to the right position in the layer list. Below the photo slots it becomes a background, above them a frame. A layout may hold several images, for example a background and a frame together.

An image at least as large as the canvas fills it completely when inserted. If it is larger, the editor offers to set the canvas to the image size. Smaller images sit in the middle at their original size.

Photo slots > Detect from frame graphic reads the transparent cutouts of the selected image layer and creates photo slots there. This pays off with ready-made frame graphics that have photo openings. If the frame graphic gets in the way afterwards, the lock in the layer list helps.

Effects#

Corner radius, drop shadow, inner shadow/glow, border and glow are available for elements and for photo slots. On a photo slot the effect sits on the fitted picture. The dialog opens like the one for an element: double-click the slot, double-click it in the layer list, or use the pencil there. For a text, the effects are in the "Text" section of the sidebar on the right.

The "Apply effects to all photo slots" checkbox in the photo slot dialog gives every photo slot the same effects – handy for photo strips and collages where every picture should be framed alike. Name and capture position stay per slot, and a single "Undo" reverts it for all.

The opacity in the same dialog applies to the whole element including shadow, border and glow – for example for a subtle logo used as a watermark. The shadow also has its own opacity; it makes the shadow softer without lightening the element itself.

The dial sets the direction of the drop shadow: the line points where the shadow falls. Drag to turn it, the arrow keys turn by one degree, with shift by fifteen. Angle and distance stand next to it as numbers.

The corner radius rounds photos, images, QR codes, rectangles and texts with a background; shadow, border and glow follow the rounding. Without a corner radius the canvas shows everything square, just as it appears in the finished picture.

Instead of a colour, a border can carry a gradient ("Fill"): gold, silver, rose gold and bronze are provided as presets, plus a custom gradient of two colours. A dial of its own sets the direction. Metallic gradients look elegant on light and dark backgrounds alike and suit weddings and anniversaries. Shapes offer the same gradients under "Fill" in the shape dialog.

The inner shadow falls from the edge into the element. With a dark colour and some distance a photo or a text looks embossed; with a light colour and distance 0 the edge glows inwards.

Visible in photo and printout#

Every element has a "Visible in" setting. It decides whether the element appears everywhere, on the printout only or in the stored photo only.

Elements that do not appear everywhere are shown dimmed and with a badge on the working area.

Printing the single-image QR code#

A QR element knows three targets: the web album, a custom address and the single image. The single-image code leads to exactly this one shot and always appears on the printout only — on screen the guest is offered the code anyway, on paper it is the only way.

Editing text#

Text is written directly on the canvas. Insert > Text places a new text in the centre; the placeholder is selected and is replaced as soon as typing starts. Double-clicking an existing text – on the canvas or in the layer list – opens it for editing.

While editing, a bar above the text offers font, font size, colour, bold and italic, alignment and "Insert field" for dynamic values. Every change shows on the canvas at once, and the cursor and selection in the text stay where they are. "More settings" jumps to the "Text" section of the sidebar on the right. It holds every setting of the selected text, plus visibility and effects; each change takes effect at once.

• Enter starts a new line.
• The green tick, a click next to the text or Ctrl+Enter apply the text.
• The cross or Escape discard the changes. A text that was only just inserted disappears again.
• An empty text is removed when applied; "Undo" brings it back.

For rotated text the bar stays horizontal above it, so it remains easy to hit.

The grip ⠿ on the left lets you drag the bar somewhere else, for instance when it covers something. It stays there for the next texts too; double-clicking the grip puts it back at the text.

Letter and line spacing are in the "Text" section of the sidebar. Letter spacing counts in thousandths of the font size, like tracking in graphics programs: 0 is the font's own spacing, 100 adds a tenth of the font size between two characters, negative values move them closer. Widely spaced capitals often look more elegant in headings. Line spacing counts in percent; 100 % is the spacing texts had so far, so older layouts stay unchanged.

A text can get a coloured background ("Background" in the "Text" section). Its frame then keeps the size it was drawn at instead of shrinking to the letters – handy for a banner or a name tag.

An outline ("Outline (px)" and "Outline colour") puts an edge around the letters. It keeps light text readable on light photos too, such as white lettering with a dark outline over a photo slot. Under "Fill" the lettering can carry a gradient instead of a colour, with the same presets as the border – gold for "Mr & Mrs", silver for an anniversary.

Dynamic text#

A text can take its content from the event instead of being typed in. One single layout then serves many occasions: a duplicated event carries its own name and its own date without anyone touching the layout.

The "Text" section of the sidebar offers buttons below the text field, one per available entry; while editing on the canvas, "Insert field" lists them. A click inserts the matching token at the cursor. Fixed text and tokens can be mixed, for example "Wedding of {eventname}" or "{eventname} on {datumstart}".

The values are inserted when the picture is created — in the saved photo, on the printout, in the preview tile and in the live preview of the capture screen. The layout itself always keeps the token. A change to the event name therefore takes effect with the next capture; layouts never need to be updated.

On the canvas such an element shows the value of the loaded event and has a dashed outline. A mistyped token is reported in the "Text" section before it ends up on a printout.

If an entry is empty — the note of an event without a note, for instance — the text is left out. If the field ends up empty altogether, the element is not drawn. A literal curly brace is written twice: {{ and }}.

Fonts#

Texts use installed fonts. If one is missing, the editor says so explicitly — otherwise the printed picture would look different from the preview.

Text can also be set in bold and italic. If a font has no style of its own for this, it is imitated; with a real style the lettering usually looks calmer.

The font list shows a sample line in each font next to its name. A font you only recognise by its look can be found by scrolling; a search box above the list narrows the names.

Fonts belong to the event and travel with a preset or an event package.

Import and export#

• Export layout in the layout menu of the header bar writes a ZIP file with the layout and its graphics.
• Import layout reads it back in — on another booth as well.
• Templates in dslrBooth and LumaBooth format can also be imported directly, as sold by template vendors.
• Color values from dslrBooth or LumaBooth can be entered in the text field next to each color field. Both programs write colors with eight digits, such as "#FFE9E8E4" – the first two digits are the opacity. The field understands this notation; when typing only six digits, take the last six.
• Borders and shadows of photo slots are carried over on import, as are borders around graphics. A template imported earlier only shows them after importing it again.
• QR codes and the "Date" and "Date and time" items are carried over as well, the latter as dynamic texts. Survey answers, signature, session number and file name do not exist here; after the import the editor lists what is missing.
• Shapes – rectangle, ellipse, line and star – are carried over with fill, outline and shadow.

Designing the start screen

The settings under "Adjust the start screen" arrange the start screen along a fixed pattern: logo at the top, title and subtitle below, then the buttons. For most events that is enough.

To place individual elements freely, open the editor — the button "Arrange the start screen freely" sits at the very top of "Adjust the start screen".

The layout#

Moving elements#

A click selects an element, dragging moves it. Holding the Ctrl key selects several at once — they then travel together.

The selected element carries four handles in its corners and a round handle below it:

The arrow keys move by one pixel, with shift by ten. Position, size and rotation are also available as numbers in the properties.

Arranging things straight#

While dragging, an element snaps to the edges and centres of the others; a guide shows which one. The Alt key suspends snapping when a place lies exactly between two snap points.

The anchor point#

Every element has an anchor point: the point of the element that is placed on the stored position.

That sounds like a detail, but it decides whether an arrangement holds in every language. A title with the anchor "top centre" stays centred even when the Polish text turns out considerably wider. With the anchor "top left" the left edge would stay put and the text would push out of the centre to the right.

Colouring texts#

Title and subtitle can have their own text colour. Without the tick "Own", the general text colour from Appearance applies — and a later change there then still reaches the element.

Over a background image, legibility usually matters more than the colour. White stays hard to read on a bright sky, however white it is; a shadow or outline solves that regardless of what happens to lie behind it.

Own elements#

Besides the existing elements, own ones can be added. They depend on no setting and therefore carry their own switch "Show on the start screen".

Own texts and the languages#

An own text first appears the same in every language. That is usually right: names, dates and hashtags are not translated.

If the text is a sentence that should be translated, a version can be added under "Versions per language". An empty field means "take the base text" — so it only needs filling where something different really belongs.

Own images#

Images are reduced to 1600 pixels on their longest edge when uploaded. That is enough for any screen and keeps the setup and the event export small.

Elements that do not appear right now#

Not every element is always visible: the gallery button only appears with the gallery switched on, the language selection only with more than one guest language, the buzzer hint only with a buzzer set up.

The area "Not visible right now" lists these elements, names the reason and leads with one click to the setting that switches them on.

Resetting#

After resetting, the settings under "Adjust the start screen" decide again where everything sits.

The arrangement belongs to the event#

It travels along with copies and exports, like branding and layouts. A different event has its own arrangement — or none, and therefore the familiar one.

Designing the final screen

The final screen is what guests look at longest: the finished picture, with the buttons for printing, sharing and finishing below it. To arrange them differently, open the editor — the button "Open screen editor" sits in "Finish and sharing" > "Customize final screen".

It is operated exactly like the start screen editor: drag, resize at the corners, rotate at the round handle, align and distribute. This chapter only describes what is different on the final screen.

What is on the stage#

The picture area#

In the editor the finished picture does not get a fixed box but an area: the frame says how much room the picture may take up. The picture is fitted into it without being distorted — so a photo strip fills only the middle of a wide area, while a landscape picture reaches its sides.

Thin outlines are drawn inside the frame: landscape, portrait, square and photo strip, all four at once. They show at a glance whether a button beside it would lie on the picture in one of the formats. The format the preview currently shows filled in is drawn more strongly.

Width and height of the area can be changed freely at the corners — unlike with the other elements, no aspect ratio is kept. That is the point of the area: it belongs to none of the formats.

Anchor point and alignment#

The two fields sound similar and mean different things:

By default the picture sits in the centre of the area. To put the photo strip deliberately at the left edge of the area, use the alignment — not the anchor point.

Trying out the picture format#

The finished picture is not always the same shape: a photo strip is narrow and tall, a single photo usually landscape. A button that sits neatly beside the picture in landscape may lie on top of it with a photo strip.

The sidebar therefore offers four formats: landscape, portrait, square and photo strip. One click shows the arrangement with that format — the picture in the preview is a placeholder, only its shape matters.

What to keep in mind on this screen#

Custom elements#

Text, image and area can be added just as on the start screen — a sponsor logo, for instance, or a note about the photo album link. They carry their own switch and appear independently of any setting.

The arrangement belongs to the event#

It travels with copies and exports, like that of the start screen. Another event has its own arrangement — or none at all, and thus the familiar one.

Web photo album

The web photo album is the gallery on the internet: guests scan the QR code on the start screen and browse the pictures of the party on their own phone.

Three routes, three appearances#

Which upload target is set under "Cloud & mail" decides what the guest sees after scanning. Pictures arrive in all three cases.

The software creates the sharing link itself: when first needed, the event's folder is shared and the QR code is pointed at exactly that folder — not at the parent folder, which would expose every event.

Access code and identifier#

Three entries belong together with the event:

The QR code#

The QR code on the start screen is configured under "QR codes", see QR codes. Normally the address is derived automatically from the active upload target; with your own domain it can be assembled manually from base URL and parameter.

What guests can do there#

View and download pictures — in the provider's view on Dropbox and Google Drive, on the album page with the self-hosted server. Anything beyond that, such as a host's login for managing the album, depends on the version of the self-hosted server and is described in its documentation.

Keeping the server current#

When the album stays empty#

Language editor

The language editor changes the texts of the interface without needing a new program version. It is meant for two cases: a wording should sound different, or a translation is missing or does not fit.

Found in the admin area under "Language".

How it is laid out#

Each row has three columns:

At the top are the language selection, a filter across key and text, and the switch "Show missing only". A status line names the total number of entries and how many are without a translation.

"Copy reference" takes the text from the reference column — useful as a starting point. "Reset" restores the shipped text.

How to work with it#

1. Select the language.
2. Use the filter to find the place in question — fastest by typing the text that is visible at the booth.
3. Enter the translation.
4. "Save changes".

The event day

One or two days before#

•  Event created and loaded, name and period correct
•  Layouts checked: are they the right ones, and do logo and date fit?
•  Complete rehearsal: capture, layout, print, scan the QR code, open the web album
•  Consumables counted: paper and ribbon for the expected number of prints
•  Event exported as a package to a USB stick (without pictures) — the fallback if the booth has to be swapped
•  Quick settings PIN set and written down
•  Free disk space checked
•  Software update: either done in good time or deliberately postponed

Setting up on site#

•  Booth placed, camera aligned, lighting checked
•  Camera on M, mains adapter or a full battery, auto power-off disabled
•  Printer connected, paper loaded, test print done
•  Wi-Fi connected if cloud, mail or web album are used
•  One real test session run and the result checked on paper
•  Test pictures deleted, counters reset
•  Full screen active, admin area closed

Handing over to the host#

Show briefly and leave on a sheet of paper:

1. How a session starts and what happens on screen.
2. Where the quick settings menu is and what the PIN is.
3. What to do when the paper runs out.
4. A phone number for emergencies.

Which switches the host gets at all is described under Quick settings for the host.

During the party#

Teardown#

•  Last uploads finished: is the outbox empty?
•  Pictures secured — for example by exporting the event including its pictures
•  If a web photo album is running: give the customer the link and the access code
•  Unplug camera and printer, pack the booth
•  Archive the event once the customer has everything

Quick guide for the host

This page is meant to be printed and addresses the host, that is the customer who has the booth for the evening. Replace the entries in square brackets before printing.

Using the photobooth#

Taking a picture

1. Tap Start — or hit the buzzer.
2. Get into position, wait for the countdown, smile.
3. The finished picture appears. From there you can print, send or share it.

Looking at pictures

Through the gallery button on the start screen. All pictures of the evening are there.

Pictures onto a phone

Scan the QR code on the start screen. It leads to the online gallery with all the pictures.

If something goes wrong#

The quick settings menu#

Individual functions can be switched here during the party — printing, for instance, when the paper runs low.

• Opening it: [arrow button at the screen edge / press and hold the bottom right corner]
• PIN: [____]

What can be switched there was decided by the operator. Anything not in the menu stays as it was set up.

Good to know#

• The pictures are [also stored online / not stored online]. The online gallery is available until [date].
• [Number] prints are included. After that [it stops / it continues at extra cost].
• Set up by [name]; teardown is planned from [time].
• Questions during the evening: [phone number]

Quick settings for the host

The quick settings menu is not meant for the operator but for the host — the customer who has the booth for an evening. It gives them a PIN-protected area in which they can react to a failed printer, dead Wi-Fi or a queue that is too long, without the operator having to drive over.

It is configured in the admin area under "Quick Settings Menu"; it belongs to the event, so it can differ per party. Often nothing at all at a company party, and a fair bit at a wedding with a designated contact.

Setting it up#

1. Set a PIN (4 to 12 digits). The host opens the menu with it. "Remove PIN" releases the menu without one.
2. Choose the access: through the visible arrow button, through an invisible corner at the bottom right of the screen, or both. A hold duration can be added — the area then has to be held for a few seconds so a guest does not hit it by accident.
3. Tick the permissions: every single switch is released or blocked. Anything not ticked does not appear in the menu at all.

Optionally the menu can also be opened with the admin PIN.

Instead of the arrow symbol the button can carry a custom image: choose a file under "Access & Opening", cut-out PNG files work best. "Remove" brings the arrow symbol back. The image belongs to the event and travels with copies and exports.

What can be released#

The two exposure entries behave differently from the rest. The live view exposure is applied with "Save" like any other switch. The capture exposure is not stored: the values are read from the camera when the menu opens, and every step goes straight back to it. If the camera is not set to M, or regulates the ISO itself, the note is right there — otherwise someone turns the dial and nothing arrives.

Counters#

The counters for sessions, prints and AI portraits appear at the top of the menu. Under "Show counters", each one can be hidden individually, for example if the organiser should not see the number of prints. The AI portrait counter only appears anyway when the feature is active in the event or portraits have already been created. With all three off, the counter area is omitted entirely.

Recommendation for the handover#

A small, clearly explained selection works better than every switch. Proven useful:

• Printing — in case the paper runs out or the printer refuses.
• Cloud upload and online/offline mode — in case the venue Wi-Fi dies.
• Capture modes — to switch off GIF and boomerang when the queue gets long.

Data and privacy

Where the pictures are#

All pictures belong to an event and live in its folder:

%LOCALAPPDATA%\RAWCaptureBooth\events\<event>\
├── sessions\    per session: raw pictures, processed pictures, layout pictures, animations
└── gallery\     gallery with thumbnails

An event switch moves nothing: the pictures stay with their event and reappear when it is loaded.

The routes a picture can take#

Each of these routes can be switched off per event. Whatever is pending because there is no network is collected by the outbox and sent later.

Privacy by default#

"Data Processing" > "Privacy by default" deletes the session data immediately after every session. When switching it on, the software asks whether e-mail, cloud upload, gallery, QR codes and the live folder export should be switched off as well.

The setting suits occasions where nothing should remain: company parties with strict rules, events in public authorities, trade fair appearances with data protection requirements.

Handing pictures over#

"Data Processing" > "Export event pictures" writes the pictures of the loaded event into a target folder. You choose what comes along:

• Pictures with layout
• Unprocessed individual captures
• Processed individual captures
• Animations (GIF and boomerang)

The target folder receives one subfolder per category, named as in the event's live folder export, by default "Layout-Bilder", "Roh-Bilder", "Bearbeitete Bilder" and "Animationen". Pictures of other events are untouched. The live folder export does not need to be switched on for this – only the names set there count.

To pass on or back up a whole event including its settings, the export as an event package is the better route, see Managing events.

Deleting pictures#

"Data Processing" > "Delete event pictures" permanently removes all sessions, outputs and individual captures of the loaded event. Other events are untouched.

Alternatively, when deleting a whole event you can decide whether the pictures go with it.

What the operator should tell guests#

The software brings its own screens for that, configured per event:

• Usage and privacy notices — a notice screen before the first capture.
• Custom HTML page — for text you word yourself, such as a consent statement.

What it says is up to the operator and depends on the event and the legal situation. The software does not force any wording.

Troubleshooting

First moves#

When something jams and the party is running, in this order:

1. Change nothing. Turning knobs mid-event makes the situation harder to read.
2. Restart the software. With a period set for the event, exactly that event comes back by itself.
3. Check the cables. Camera and printer, both ends.
4. Only then go into the admin area.

Camera#

Printer#

Network, cloud and mail#

Screen and controls#

Events#

When nothing helps#

1. Create a backup under "System Settings" while the machine still runs.
2. The logs are in %LOCALAPPDATA%\RAWCaptureBooth\logs.
3. Send a description of what was done last, together with the log, to hello@rawcapturebooth.app.

Known Bugs & Roadmap

Found in the admin area at the very bottom of the sidebar, between "System actions" and "Manual".

The area answers two questions that would otherwise need an e-mail: is this behaviour already known? And is the missing feature planned?

The two lists#

At the top are the known bugs that will be fixed with one of the next updates. Below them are the planned features and improvements. Every entry carries a badge showing its state — from "Reported" through "In progress" to "Fixed".

Only entries that affect the installed version are shown. A bug that only occurs in a newer version stays hidden, and so does one that was fixed long before the installed version. Both can be shown with the switch above the list.

Without an internet connection#

The list is fetched from the website and stored after every successful request. If the photo booth has no network — the normal case on the event day — the most recently loaded state appears together with the date it was fetched. Only if the photo booth has never managed to load a list does the area stay empty.

At the bottom it always says when the list was last maintained and when it was last loaded. A button next to it fetches it again.

Sending in reports#

Bugs, suggestions for improvements and wishes for new features go to hello@rawcapturebooth.app by e-mail. The area offers three ways to get there, because a photo booth computer rarely has a mail program set up:

• the address as text to copy by hand
• a button that puts it on the clipboard
• a QR code that opens the mail on a phone — the installed version is already in the text

Helpful in a report are the installed version, the camera model and a description of what led to the behaviour. For bugs that can be repeated, the sequence of steps is the most valuable part.

Reports do not appear in the lists by themselves: they are read, checked and only then taken up.

News

Found in the admin area as the second entry of the sidebar, directly below "Favorites".

The area shows the ten latest posts about RAWCaptureBooth: what an update brings, experience with cameras and printers, tips for the event day. Reading happens entirely in the admin area — no browser opens, and no post leads out of the software.

The dot on the menu entry#

If a post has been added since the last visit, a dot in the accent colour pulses on the menu entry. It disappears as soon as the area has been opened and only returns with the next new post. The new posts themselves carry the "New" badge until the next reload.

After installation and after an update, all posts published up to then count as read. The dot therefore only appears when there really is something new.

Without an internet connection#

Posts are stored on the photo booth after every successful fetch. Without a network, the last loaded state is shown together with its date. Images in a post need a connection; without one, the text stays fully readable.

Polls#

Some posts end with a question and several answers. A click on an answer is the vote — there is no second confirmation. The chosen answer is then marked, and the poll cannot be answered again.

Taking part is voluntary and anonymous. Only the chosen answer and the installed version are sent, no device, customer or licence data. So that a photo booth does not vote twice, it gives itself a random ID that reveals nothing about it.

Without internet, the vote does not arrive. The software reports this and records nothing — the poll stays open and can be answered later. A poll that has ended remains visible but no longer accepts votes.

Frequently asked questions

Events and settings#

I loaded a different event — are my pictures gone? No. Pictures live in their event's folder and reappear as soon as it is loaded.

Why does the booth look different after an event switch? Because layouts, graphics, colours and permissions belong to the event. Camera and printer stay as they are.

Can I change a running event afterwards? Yes. In the event assistant choose "Reconfigure loaded event" — counters and pictures stay untouched.

How do I get the same setup onto a second booth? Through an event package (with access code, for the same party) or through a preset (without access code, as a template).

Why was my scheduled event not loaded automatically? Because it only has a date, not a period. Only events with an explicitly set period are loaded automatically.

Camera and printing#

The camera is not detected. Switch the camera on, close programs that access it, then "Refresh detection". On Canon a restart is needed after enabling the driver.

Why is the live view almost black while the photo is exposed correctly? Because the camera is set up for flash. The remedy is "Brighten live view via the camera".

Why can't I change aperture and ISO? Because the camera chooses them itself in the current mode, in Av/A for example the shutter speed. The camera detection and the section "Capture exposure: settings" name the mode; greyed-out fields are chosen by the camera. In full auto and the scene modes none of them can be set.

How do I get photo strips and 6 × 4 at the same time? Install the same printer twice in Windows — once without the cut as the main printer, once with the 2″ cut as the photo strip printer.

The print is not centred. First check the paper size in the printer driver, then set the per-printer correction. Only after that the offsets with the event.

Sharing and privacy#

The QR code leads nowhere. Usually the event's access code or identifier was changed after the codes were handed out, or the upload target was switched. On Dropbox an unconfirmed account can be the cause as well — without confirmation Dropbox refuses to create sharing links.

Do guests get all the pictures with Dropbox or Google Drive too? Yes. There the QR code leads to the shared folder of the party, with previews and downloads. The difference to the self-hosted server is the interface: it offers an album page of its own with an access code instead of the cloud provider's view.

Nothing is being uploaded. Usually the network is simply missing. The jobs sit in the outbox and go out automatically later.

How do I make sure nothing is left on the booth? Enable privacy by default and switch off the live folder export along with it — otherwise it leaves permanent copies in the target folder.

Can guests see other people's pictures? At the booth, yes, as soon as the gallery is active. Where that is unwanted: switch the gallery off and offer only the single-image QR.

Operation#

The screen goes dark during the party. Windows power options. The item "Prepare Windows for photobooth operation" in the setup list takes care of it.

Swiping from the screen edge opens Windows. Switch off edge swipe gestures, same item.

The booth shows the slideshow instead of returning to the start screen. Then the screensaver is set faster than the return to the start screen. Tune both times to each other.

May I update on the day of the event? Better not. An update may rearrange settings or require a restart.

What happens during a power cut? The booth restarts and loads the event whose period is currently running. Without a period, the last loaded event continues.

Licence#

Can I move the licence to another machine? Yes — release it under "License management" first. If the machine has failed, the seat can be released through the licence management on the server.

Does the booth run without internet? Yes. Capture, layout, printing and the gallery need no network. Only sending, uploading and the licence check catch up later. The licence does have to sync with the licence server at least once every 180 days, otherwise no new sessions can be started afterwards; the start screen announces this 30 days ahead.

Glossary