Sparkbooth Photo Booth Software News

Sparkbooth 3.7 update is now available! This release includes some new themes and matching layouts.

Changes in this release:

• Valentine's Day theme and photo layouts
• Wedding theme and photo layouts
• Birthday theme and photo layouts
• Photo Album mode buttons are now labeled (Print, Facebook, Twitter, and Email)
• Other minor fixes and optimizations

Upgrade to Sparkbooth 3.7 from 3.5 or 3.6 by pressing the update link on the About screen, or press the Download button below.

Your client that wants a landscape layout with 3 photos as shown below.

As you can see this requires a background image and a overlay of a girl. So the client has the background image and a photo of his son to be used.

The background image needs to be resized and cropped to 1200 x 800 so it fits the 4 x 6 landscape layout size. We used IrfanView, a FREE photo viewing program with a ton of features, to do this. [Note: Paint.net can also be used to for this]

For the overlay image, we need create a transparent 1200 x 800 PNG image, and place the photo of the son in the bottom-right and add the text "Happy Birthday" plus the date.

• We used Paint.net to remove the white background color around the Son and Box. Use the Magic Wand tool to select the background, and press ctrl+X to cut the background away.

  

• Create a new blank 1200 x 800 landscape image in Paint.net. Press ctrl+A to select the entire image, and ctrl+X to cut the selection so you are left with a transparent background.
• Copy and paste the image of Son and Box in the bottom right of the blank overlay
• Use the Text tool to add text for "Happy Birthday" and the date
• Now select File > Save As and save the overlay as PNG type. Why not JPG? You cannot save the transparent background with JPG, and image is less "muddy" in PNG.

Next we opened SB Layout Creator and...

• Open the layout selection list and select one of the READ ONLY Landscape WIDE layouts with 3 or 4 photos in it... [ ... 4 x 6 Landscape, Wide ]
• Use the Clone Layout button to the right of the selection box (also on the top left) and Name this new layout something short and simple that relates to what you are doing.
• Now you should be seeing a landscape wide layout with 4 photo boxes (all wide) and we only needed 3 so we Clicked on the #4 color box to select it and used the Delete Photo button (2nd btn next to Photo) to remove the extra photo we didn't need.
• Here is where it could get tricky or confusing... How do I know where to place the photo boxes? The easiest way I have found is to add the Background image and then adjust the Photo boxes around it. See upper right area under Paper Properties and click the paper clip next to Background and go to the folder where you created & saved the background
• You can now resize the photo boxes by clicking on one to select and grabbing one of the Black squares in one of the corners and draging to make larger or smaller. Under Photo Properties you can be more precise on your size.
• At this point you should have your photo boxes sized and placed where they look just right for this new layout you are creating.
• Now it's time to add our Overlay image... On the right side under Paper Properties click the paper clip next to Overlay and go to the folder where you created & saved the Overlay and select it...
• If one or more of the boxes need adjusting/moving do so by clicking on it to select it and adjust it where it fits just right for this new Layout...

  

• Press the Preview button (Eye icon) to test the layout

  

• Just to the right of the Preview button is the Export Layout button that will save your new layout as a SBL file that can be added to your Sparkbooth Photo Booth program.

Open Sparkbooth now

• Press F1 for Settings
• Select About Sparkbooth to make sure you have the latest version 3.6 or later will work but I suggest you Check for updates and download the latest version. John Updates so often with new features and you should stay on top of what is happing with your Sparkbooth program.
• Next select Photo Layouts and what ever the last layout you were using will be there... but now you should see an icon on the top left that looks like a File Folder... Click it to go get that new SBL (layout) file you created...

  

If I didn't miss something here you should have the Basics of how to use the new Layout Creator program and adding Backgrounds and Overlays.

Good luck and post any Questions/Suggestions you may have and John will be here to help... and many of us other users too will be around

Joe Connell A1 Photobooth Contact me from our web site www.A1PhotoBooth.com

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Another quick update to the Sparkbooth Layout Creator. Update 0.6 includes

• Added resize grips to other photo corners, so you can resize in any direction
• Fixed photo selection issue on start
• Fixed photo jumping on move or resize

Please post your questions and issues to the Sparkbooth Layout Creator support site.

Just a quick update to the Sparkbooth Layout Creator. Update 0.5 includes

• New paper sizes based on the dye-sub printer reference at Photo Booth Owners
• New photos sizes are based on last selected or edited photo size
• New photos are now automatically selected
• Fix mislabeled tool tips
• Update message now shows changes

Please post your questions and issues to the Sparkbooth Layout Creator support site.

Announcing Sparkbooth 3.6! This update works with the Sparkbooth Layout Creator. Sparkbooth Layout Creator is a visual drag and drop editor for creating your own photo layouts / templates. The Layout Creator is free to all Commercial license customers. There are also new features for Consumer license customers, check out the change list below!

Changes in this release:

• Chinese New Year theme and photo layouts
• Hypnotic animated loading messages
• Cycle through different Twitter tweet texts. Under Captions setting for Twitter uploaders, separate tweet text by using ";". This will help with Twitter preventing tweets of the same value
• [Commercial] Guest Facebook upload can display Like dialog for your Facebook Page. After guests post the photo to their Facebook account, they can "Like" your Facebook Page. Increase fans for your Facebook page! This is a Commercial feature you can enable under Setting > Commercial. Do not forget there is already an automatic Twitter Follow option under Commercial settings!
• [Commercial] Import Sparkbooth Layout files created using Layout Creator. Try out the Sparkbooth Layout Creator now.
• Other minor fixes and optimizations.

Upgrade to Sparkbooth 3.6 from 3.5 by pressing the update link on the About screen, or press the Download button below.

Your New Year's Eve party is a great time to setup a photo booth using Sparkbooth. Here are some helpful tips and ideas for a successful New Year's Eve photo booth including general setup, props, and backdrops:

• Use the New Year's Eve theme and photo layout backgrounds in Sparkbooth 3.5
• Sparkbooth Setup Checklist
• DIY New Year's Eve Photo Booth Props
• Do not have time to create your own props? Check out these New Year's Photo Booth Props
• New Year's graphics for creating custom photo layouts
• DIY Photo Booth For Your NYE Party Guide
• Lowe's DIY New Year's Photo Booth Backdrop
• Oh Happy Day's DIY NYE Sequin Photo Booth
• Swerve's DIY New Year's Eve Photo Booth

Sparkbooth 3.5.51 update includes:

• New Years Eve theme
• Optimize Winter Holiday theme
• New photo layouts with backgrounds (New Years Eve, Winter Holiday, Thanksgiving, Halloween)
• [Commercial Only] Automatically follow Twitter account for Guest Twitter uploader
• New upload image

Sparkbooth 3.5.50 update includes:

• New Holiday Winter theme
• Send It Later is now an email option for the Photo Album. Great for sending emails later if you do not have an internet connection during the event.
• Import/export settings. Go to Settings > Commercial > scroll download to Import/Export Configurations. Use this to copy your Sparkbooth settings between computers. Note: Does not export save locations, layout backgrounds, layout overlays, camera selection, printer selection, custom voice mp3s.
• Auto create save subfolders. Go to Settings > Saving > check 'Create new subfolder per day'. Useful for automatically clearing photo album of previous day's photos.
• Enable printer setup on start up. Go to Settings > Printing > check 'Printer setup dialog on start'. Use this if you need to configure your printer using Sparkbooth's printer Setup and Test
• Add configuration links in Photo Album settings
• Do not disable email in Guest Upload Chooser if emailer is not ready

• New Fall/Thanksgiving Theme
• Photo Album sharing button replaced by separate Facebook, Twitter, and Email buttons
• Photo Album sharing settings moved to Settings > Photo Album > Sharing
• Fix Facebook upload login
• Do not display upload error on skip
• Fix video disconnect after switching themes
• Fix button position of prompts for small screens
• Fix cancel shortcut disabled if color shortcut was disabled
• Fix prompt form skipping

And here are a couple Thanksgiving backgrounds for the square "2 x 2 Top, 4 x 6 Portrait".

Sparkbooth 3.5.44 is now available for download. Changes include:

• Album button show thumbnail of last photo
• Resized layout preview to fit inbetween buttons
• MailChimp subscribe results logged to sparkbooth-mailchimp.txt
• Photo upload results logged to sparkbooth-upload.txt
• Fix display 'spacebar to begin' message on start up
• Fix virtual keyboard focus at end of text input
• Notifications can be formatted
• Will automatically initialize online services when computer goes online