Allen Christopher Software

Creating a Custom Layout in SnapShot Studio™ Photo Booth

Mon, 06 Feb 2012 11:30:00 EST

Creating a Custom Layout in SnapShot Studio™ Photo Booth

2/06/2012
by Christopher Rosado

Creating custom layouts with SnapShot Studio is fairly easy. To get started, you'll need to open SnapShot Studio™ Photo booth. Go into your settings, create a new layout, and then create a new template. If you don't have a copy of SnapShot Studio™ Photo Booth, head over to our download form and get one.

Sample: 6x4, Four Images, One Banner

To save a little time, use the cheat-sheet below.

Fraction Cheat-Sheet:

.75 = 3/4”
.5 = 1/2”
.25 = 1/4”
.125 = 1/8”
.0625 = 1/16”

Warning: This particular layout will require a lot of calculation!

First, let's calculate the width of the three images that will span across the bottom of the layout: 6 inches (paper width) divided by 3 images will equal a maximum of 2 inches in width for each image (6÷3=2).

White Space: How Much Do You Want?

We don't want the images running into one another, so we include the white space in between each image. We'll use .125" (1/8") as our spacer. For three images, we will need to offer an allowance for four spaces: 4×.125=.5" (1/2").

Now that we've calculated our spacer, we need to subtract .5" evenly from 3 images to get our final image width. .5÷3=.166"

Our new image width would be 1.834". Let's put this number aside and move on to calculate the height and figure out how big we can make our top image.

As just like our width, we'll want an even space of .125" between images. There are only two images (including our banner), so we need an allowance for three spaces: .375" (3/8"). We divide that in half to make the allowance for two images: .188". Hold onto this figure for a moment.

We want our top image to be a little larger than the three photos in the bottom strip. With that in mind, let's see what that maximum height(s) would be for two images in a 4" space: 4÷2=2" height. Easy!

We're going to give the top image more height than the bottom, so we'll take .25" from the bottom height and add it to the top. That would make the top image's maximum height 2.25" and the bottom images 1.75".
All we need to do is allow for our white space, for which we subtract .188" from our height of each image:
Final Top Image Height= 2.062" (2.25-.188)
Final Bottom Image Height= 1.562" (1.75-.188)

What about the top image's width? To make the layout visually balanced, we may want to have the top image's right edge line up with the middle of the second image on the bottom. The calculation for this would be 2.876”=(1.834+.125)-(1.834÷2)

Last but not least, we need to figure out the banner size. to keep things balanced, we'll use the height from the top image and make that the height of the banner: 2.062". To figure out the width of the banner, we'll subtract the width of the top image and the total of three white spaces from the paper width: 2.749"=6-(2.876+(.125×3))

All we need to do now is plug in the sizes and tell SnapShot Studio where to place the images, measuring from the top and left sides of the paper… More math :-(


	Image 1	Image 2	Image 3	Image 4	Banner
Width	2.876	1.834	1.834	1.834	2.749
Height	2.062	1.562	1.562	1.562	2.062
Left	.125	.125	2.084	4.043	3.126
Top	.125	2.312	2.312	2.312	.125

Technically, I should have subtracted half of the white space from the top image and added it to the banner, which would then line up the white space perfectly with the center of the bottom image (second image, bottom-left). For the sake of not throwing in further complication and the simple fact that most will not use a rectangular graphic for the banner, we can get away with it as-is.

The math involved with this particular layout was calculation-intensive when compared to other , more simple layouts like the photo strips or 4 Up quadrants.

If you've managed to get a grasp on what we've done in this example, you'll be able to create just about any layout you can dream up!

SnapShot Studio Photo Booth version 0.9.9 R4 Available

Tue, 27 Dec 2011 11:00:00 EST

SnapShot Studio 0.9.9 Release Candidate 4 improves Canon DSLR compatability, speeds up composite rendering.

SnapShot Studio Photo Booth version 0.9.9 R4 Available

Tue, 27 Dec 2011 11:00:00 EST

SnapShot Studio 0.9.9 Release Candidate 4 improves Canon DSLR compatability, speeds up composite rendering.

Getting Better, More Accurate Color from your Photo Booth

Tue, 27 Dec 2011 11:00:00 EST

While SnapShot Studio Photo Booth does make many tasks easier, as a professional operator you'll need to calibrate your gear to get the best quality possible out of your setup. You'll focus on your three main pieces of gear: your camera, monitor, and printer.

Camera Setup: Setting Your White Balance

For experienced photographers, this may be an obvious step. With the resurgence of the traditional type of photo booth, many non-photographers have found themselves responsible for the setup and maintenance of their booths.

Your white balance is your control over color temperature. Different light sources have different temperatures, which have a bias toward certain colors.

Fluorescent lights tend to have a bluish bias while incandescent lights tend to lean toward a yellowish bias. Your lighting will effect the overall color of your photos.

Forget Auto-White Balancing- At least try to!
Most booths will have a consistent light source and your white balance should be set accordingly. For best results, you'll want to manually set your white balance, meaning you'll have to dig out and open up your camera's manual for specifics on your camera's white balance controls.

The general idea is to show your camera what "white" is. The easiest way to do this is to hold a white piece of paper, cardboard, or even cloth in front of your camera while under the lighting you are using for your booth. After setting your white balance, you should see a difference in the overall color of your photos.

If your setup is consistent and is not susceptible to a lot of ambient light (windows, bright overheads, etc), you shouldn't need to constantly set your white balance. It is easy enough to do, so why not set it each time you have an event?

For more in-depth information on setting your camera's white balance, see this article on Digital-Photography-school.com.

Monitor Calibration

The end-game for most photo booths is the print. In order to calibrate your monitor, you'll need a sample print. Calibrating your monitor means that you'll want to accurately display colors on screen as they are printed.
To do this, open an image on your computer (do not use Photoshop or other programs which may use profiles to alter your display or print output). Ideally, you should show some white in your image.

Print your image. Again, try to avoid using a graphics application that will use its own profiles to influence your output. Both Macintosh and Windows systems provide means of calibrating your monitor. See your Display settings in either your System Preferences or Control Panel.

Similar to your camera's white balance, start with matching the white of your paper to the white on your screen. You should see the overall tone of your colors coming closer to your printout. Continue your adjustment until you are satisfied with the results.

You may be saying, "But wait-My prints don't look good at all. Why would I set my monitor to mimic this?". In order to correct your print output, you'll need to accurately represent the color space on your monitor. Without doing so will become an exercise in frustration.

Adjusting Your Printer

Once you have your camera's white balance set and your monitor calibrated, you can begin the process of adjusting your printer's color output. SnapShot Studio sends images directly to your queue, bypassing your standard print dialog box, which may offer last-minute color alteration that cannot be accessed when printing directly. All is not lost, however.

Some printers allow you to make global color adjustments. To do this, open your printer's queue and go to its preferences and adjust accordingly. Different printers may have different controls; consult your printer's manual to learn about specific controls available.

SnapShot Studio also provides built-in color controls for enhancing your output or for creating dramatic effects.
If you are looking to adjust color through SnapShot Studio, use the color controls sparingly.
A little tweak here and there will go a long way.

With the exception of adding your own color settings, SnapShot Studio does not alter the color of your images in any way. It is up to you to control the result of your product!

Help us make SnapShot Studio™ better. Join us in the SnapShot Studio Photo Booth Forum. There you'll find the latest news, downloads, tips, and tricks. Report a bug, request a feature, find or share a tip- it's up to you.

SnapShot Studio™ Photo Booth requirements:

Mac OS 10.5 or later, Intel Processor, 1GB RAM
Windows Vista or later, 1.6GHz Processor, 1GB RAM

SnapShot Studio 0.9.8 Release Candidate 1 Now Available

Fri, 28 Oct 2011 13:00:00 EST

SnapShot Studio 0.9.8 Release Candidate 1 fixes minor issues including possible crashing when changing themes. More sample themes have been included as well. Version 0.9.8RC1 begins the countdown to SnapShot Studio Photo Booth's official release.

Canon DSLR Support, MMS, Email and more In SnapShot Studio Photo Booth Version 0.9.7

Thu, 13 Oct 2011 09:00:00 EST

SnapShot Studio™ Photo Booth 0.9.7 marks the official countdown to version 1.0 and the last days of our pre-order pricing.
SnapShot Studio Photo Booth 0.9.7 introduces several bug fixes and several new features, including Canon DSLR support with Live View integration.

Canon DSLR with Live View

Canon users can now take full advantage of the most powerful photo booth software available today. Use your Canon DSLR to capture photos as well as provide a live feed on-screen for your patrons to view.

Email Your Booth Photos

Let your guests have the option of emailing their booth photos to their own email address. Setup is easy; just use the credentials of one of your existing email accounts.

You can also automatically email a specific address- one that may be connected to a social media service that automates image posting to Flickr, Twitter, or other social media web sites.

Photo Booth to MMS

What if your guests could instantly send their photo booth photos to their mobile phones? With SnapShot Studio Photo Booth, it's as easy as entering the mobile phone number.

Easily Manage Duplicate Prints

You can now set SnapShot studio to display a duplicate window, allowing you to instantly print additional copies for each person in the photo. Once the session ends, the duplicate window appears and you may select the number of prints you wish to provide.

More Bug Fixes, More Improvements

Performance has been significantly enhanced with version 0.9.7, from the countdown timer to printing. Fixes include intermittent pixelation of custom layouts and correction in calculation of odd-sized custom prints.

Help us make SnapShot Studio™ better. Join us in the SnapShot Studio Photo Booth Beta Forum. There you'll find the latest news, downloads, tips, and tricks. Report a bug, request a feature, find or share a tip- it's up to you.

SnapShot Studio™ Photo Booth requirements:

Mac OS 10.5 or later, Intel Processor, 1GB RAM
Windows Vista or later, 1.6GHz Processor, 1GB RAM

More Features In SnapShot Studio Photo Booth Version 0.9.5

Mon, 1 Aug 2011 10:45:00 EST

SnapShot Studio™ Photo Booth 0.9.5 brings new features and more fixes to Allen Christopher's professional photo booth application for Macintosh and Windows systems, including a larger alternative live preview window, auto-start on launch and extended Griffin PowerMate support.

New Live View Capture Window

The new Capture Window loses the thumbnails and takes advantage of this real estate with a larger live view window. The new live view window still takes avantage of your themes and will use your logo badge, page background, countdown, and start button.

Other Updates in Version 0.9.5

Auto-start on launch: Automatically bypasses the operator's start screen and starts the booth session.
Text discriptions for your layouts like "Black and White, Color, Sepia, and Duotone.
PowerMate support now extended to SnapShot Studio's Facebook opt-out window.
Some users reported crashes when trying to select a Facebook Fan Page for posts. This has been corrected.
Layout images presented in SnapShot Studio's Welcome Window will act as a "select" button and start the booth session.

SnapShot Studio™ Photo Booth requirements:

Mac OS 10.5 or later, Intel Processor, 1GB RAM
Windows Vista or later, 1.6GHz Processor, 1GB RAM

Facebook Integration and more in SnapShot Studio Photo Booth 0.9.4

Tue, 21 Jun 2011 10:30:00 EST

Facebook integration has been by far the most requested feature we've had- Today, Allen Christopher Software announces the release of SnapShot Studio™ Photo Booth 0.9.4 for Mac and Windows systems with Facebook integration along with several other updates and fixes.

Now With Facebook Support

Operators can now post their sessions to Facebook in real-time or by batch upload at a later time. Other features include:

Ability to post to Facebook Account or Fan Pages.
Post to Facebook in real-time.
Batch post at a later time.
Allow your users to opt-out from Facebook posting.
Create and use your own Albums.
Advanced features allow for custom AppID and manually set tokens.

Other Updates in Version 0.9.4

Issue where themes would not save has been resolved.
Photo Booth will no longer crash if secondary monitor is not present and slide show is set to active.
Mouse Cursor will no longer auto-hide when PowerMate is detected.
Windows users can now select a particular webcam if multiple cameras are attached.
Mac users- PTP camera selection no longer forces first item in list as choice camera.
Mac users- Webcam settings will now save as expected.

SnapShot Studio™ Photo Booth requirements:

Mac OS 10.5 or later, Intel Processor, 1GB RAM
Windows Vista or later, 1.6GHz Processor, 1GB RAM

PrintRipper 1.4.2 Available

Tue, 14 Jun 2011 11:45:00 EST

Allen Christopher Software today announced the cross-platform release of PrintRipper™ 1.4.2 , addressing a few minor bugs including a crash caused when a nested process folder has been moved or deleted. A fully-functioning demo is available for download.

With PrintRipper™ , you can assign a variety of image manipulation options to individual process folders (hot-folders/drop-folders). The process is on-demand and completely automated It can be set for print output, digital output, or both.

PrintRipper™ allows the event photographer to process all photos, or just the ones they want. In addition, you can also take control complete control and approve or reject incoming photos as you shoot.

PrintRipper™ Features

Automated Image Manipulation
Chroma Key (green screen).
Crop and print photos to any size.
Watermark your photos and Saved Composites.
Add event borders to your photos.
Adjust photo color, brightness, contrast, and saturation
Use color effects making photos Black and White, Sepia, and Duotones
Add white frame to photo.

Automated Processing

You have the option of approving or rejecting photos for processing (Manual feature).
Process is hot folder triggered. Create as many hot folders as needed.
Archives original photo (edited version does not affect original photo).
Instead of printing photos – you can save digital composites of your photos for web, CD, or memory card distribution.
Add File Names to Prints (with or without file suffix).
Append file names with your own tags.
Format control over your text on images, including placement, color, typeface, point size and other attributes.
Keep track of photos processed with the built-in counter.
Run multiple processes simultaneously.
Apple QuickTime™ support to allow processing of a wide variety of file formats.

System requirements:

Mac OS X 10.4 or later (Intel/PPC)
Windows XP/Vista/Windows 7, 32 or 64 bit versions
500MHz or faster processor 512MB of RAM (1GB recommended)
70MB of available disk space

PrintRipper™ is the ultimate on-demand photo finishing tool that no event photographer should be without. PrintRipper™ is available immediately for download and purchase at the Allen Christopher Software website for $139.99 USD.

Come join us. Our goal is to provide you with the tools needed to allow you to concentrate on what you do best—take pictures.

About Allen Christopher Software
Allen Christopher brings over a decade of experience of programming and technical to the Event Photography Industry. With its cross-platform release of PrintRipper™, Allen Christopher has set the stage for an aggressive release schedule to round out a full suite of tools for the event photographer.

Product Page:
http://www.AllenChristopher.com/printripper.html
Purchase Page: http://www.allenchristopher.com/shop/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=1&products_id=3

SnapShot Studio Photo Booth 0.9.2 Fixes More Bugs

Tue, 10 May 2011 10:45:00 EST

Allen Christopher Software announces the release of SnapShot Studio™ Photo Booth 0.9.2 for Mac and Windows systems. Version 0.9.2 fixes minor issues found in previous versions.

Fixes found in Version 0.9.2

Some of the bugs addressed in version 0.9.2 include:
DSLR Status Indicator now updates as expected.
Status Indicator is clickable, allowing a PTP reconnect.
ESC key will allow exit from all user interface windows.
Tuxedo theme now properly labels the startup window's preferences button.

We have also become aware of a webcam issue, so far affecting two of our users. Symptoms include: No thumbnails show during capture process and output does not show the full frame of your images. We are working to determine what webcams present the problem. Once we do, we will work to resolve the issue. If you are experiencing similar issues, please contact us and let us know what webcam you are using as well as your Operating System version.

SnapShot Studio™ Photo Booth requirements:

Mac OS 10.5 or later, Intel Processor, 1GB RAM
Windows Vista or later, 1.6GHz Processor, 1GB RAM

Creating Custom Layouts for SnapShot Studio Photo Booth

Fri, 6 May 2011 10:30:00 EST

Today we will cover how you can create custom layouts for SnapShot Studio Photo Booth, Allen Christopher's professional photo booth program for Mac and Windows Systems. If you don't have a copy, jump to our download page and get your trial copy. Don't worry, we'll wait for you.

Creating Your Layout
We're going to create a fairly easy layout to build: a 4 up, mirrored layout on a 4x6 page. SnapShot Studio requires you to tell it the image width, height, and the starting points of each image from the top and left edges of the page. SnapShot Studio's measurement unit is always in inches.

When building a layout is duplicated or mirrored, you only need to create one half of the page. In this case, we'll be creating a 2 inch wide by 6 inch high layout. The math for this particular layout is easy:

Each of the four images would have a maximum size of 2 inches by 1.5 inches, but you may want a little bit of white space surrounding your photos. To do that, we would revisit our image size to allow for even spacing. For this, we will adjust our image width to 1.8 inches and the height to 1.375 inches. This will leave an even .1 inch white frame around your photos.

Designing Better, Visually
If you are uncomfortable with designing a layout by crunching numbers alone–you're not, well, alone. Fire up Photoshop (or your favorite design app) and let's get started.

Create a document that is 2 inches wide and 6 inches high. Make your rulers visible, have your info palette handy.
Start by dividing your Photoshop image into four equal parts, from top to bottom with guides. You should have marks at: 1.5", 3", and 4.5". Next we'll use the marquee tool to select a single 2"x1.5" section and fill with the color of your choice. Duplicate this layer 3 times and place each move the solid color block in each layer to line up with the guides you created earlier.

Select one of your four layers and use the Free Transform tool (Edit>Free Transform) to resize an image. When resizing, use the shift and option (alt) keys to keep the resize proportioned and centered. Pay close attention to your info window, which will tell you the percentage of your resize. You will apply these figures to the next three images, repeating the Free Transform for each layer.

You have your new image size, you have your even framing around the image–what now?
We're going to use our guides again, this time marking the top and the left sides of each image. When you do this, you may want to zoom your view all the way in to be sure you've nailed the guide to the edge, right down to the pixel.

With edges marked by guides, it's time to turn on your caps lock and start reading the top and left coordinates for each image. With caps lock on, our cursor turns into a cross hair, making it much easier to read the position of our mouse.
Start with the first image. Zoom into the top left corner of the image and place your cursor over the top/left intersect. In your info window, you'll see the x (left) and y (top) coordinates. Write them down.

Create the Layout in SnapShot Studio Photo Booth
If you wrote down the correct numbers, creating this layout will be simple!
Launch Snapshot Studio and go to the Preferences Window. Click the plus (+) button to create a new layout; the Page Editor Window will appear. In the Page Editor Window, click the New Layout button.
In the Page Creator, you'll be asked to name your page layout, the size of your page (4in x 6in), and if you want to duplicate (mirror) your design (yes!). Click the continue button.
Next, you'll be asked to enter information about your first image. The width and height are 1.8 and 1.375. Also, you'll have to enter the left and top starting points of this image which are .1 for both. Click Continue.
You'll have to repeat this 3 more times. The left point for all of the images are the same: .1. The top points are different and you will need to add the height of each image as you go to get the correct top starting point. To make it easy for you, they are 1.575, 3.05, and 4.525.
When you've finished, click the save button.

Permanent Template
You've gone through the trouble of all of this work and will probably want to recall this layout from time to time. No worries, you've created a permanent template. From this point forward, your layout will appear in your preset list.

Even though this seems like a long and difficult process, it can be done very quickly and easily. Without Photoshop and relying on math alone, I had created this layout in less than a couple of minutes. As you create more and more templates, you'll find yourself quick with the math and relying less on laying your project out in Photoshop. More intricate designs will naturally take a little longer, but the results are well worth the effort.

In the next tutorial, we'll cover a more advanced layout with image rotation, overlays, and backgrounds.

SnapShot Studio™ Photo Booth requirements:

Mac OS 10.5 or later, Intel Processor, 1GB RAM
Windows XP or later, 1.6GHz Processor, 1GB RAM

SnapShot Studio Photo Booth 0.9 Adds Remote Capture for Mac and Windows Systems

Tue, 3 May 2011 09:00:00 EST

Allen Christopher Software winds down development of its professional photo booth application with the release of SnapShot Studio™ Photo Booth 0.9.0 for Mac and Windows systems. Version 0.9.0 delivers what has been the most requested feature to date-PTP Remote Capture for capable DSLR cameras.

PTP Remote Capture
Now you can use your DSLR camera to capture the highest quality photos with SnapShot Studio™ Photo Booth. As expected, Allen Christopher Software has made the process of setting up your DSLR easy.

Auto-Discover
SnapShot Studio™ Photo Booth will discover any PTP Remote capable camera that is set to PTP mode. Plug in your camera, select it from the pop menu, and go!

Advanced Error Trapping
While we are in the early stages of our beta, we've included advanced error trapping into our Remote Capture module. Should your DSLR fail to communicate with SnapShot Studio™ Photo Booth, the application will attempt to gracefully exit the current process and lock out unauthorized users until an operator can address the camera issue. Dead battery, full media card, or a cable disconnect- you're covered with SnapShot Studio™ Photo Booth.

Full Documentation Coming Soon
We're working as fast as we can to provide full documentation for all features, including PTP Remote Capture to assist online and off. We realize that even though SnapShot Studio™ Photo Booth is very easy to set up, great support starts with good documentation. We're committed to making the best professional photo booth application better and easier for you.

SnapShot Studio™ Photo Booth requirements:

Mac OS 10.5 or later, Intel Processor, 1GB RAM
Windows Vista or later, 1.6GHz Processor, 1GB RAM

SnapShot Studio Photo Booth 0.9 Adds Remote Capture for Mac and Windows Systems [del.icio.us]

stobiemas — Tue, 03 May 2011 06:04:51 PDT

Stand-Alone Theme Editor for SnapShot Studio™ Photo Booth Available

Thu, 21 Apr 2011 11:30:00 EST

Allen Christopher Software has today announces the release of the free Theme Editor for SnapShot Studio™ Photo Booth For Mac and Windows systems. With the release of a built-in theme editor in version 0.8.7 of SnapShot Studio™ we thought our users would like the ability to create themes on any of their systems, even if SnapShot Studio™ Photo Booth isn't installed.

Theme Editor
Now you can tweak your interfaces to your liking, add your own sounds, and save them–all of them! With our new theme editor, you can save as many themes as you wish for instant recall.

This allows you to custom design themes for specific events well ahead of time, save them, and then activate your theme choice on-site. You can pre-load a month or more worth of themes for your events and then some!

The Theme Editor is extremely easy to use and offers a working preview of your theme as you build it.

Every aspect of the UI is customizable, sounds and all. You can set a theme as a template, offering you a starting point in creating your next theme.You don't have to populate all of the user interface elements, either. You can set only the elements that you will need to use (do you really want a countdown of ten for all events?). You can even create your own badge for branding your photo booth.

Theme Editor for SnapShot Studio™ Photo Booth requirements:

Mac OS 10.5 or later, Intel Processor, 1GB RAM
Windows Vista or later, 1.6GHz Processor, 1GB RAM

Stand-Alone Theme Editor for SnapShot Studio™ Photo Booth Available [del.icio.us]

stobiemas — Thu, 21 Apr 2011 08:32:27 PDT

SnapShot Studio Photo Booth 0.8.7 adds Theme Editor and More

Thu, 21 Apr 2011 10:00:00 EST

Allen Christopher Software has today announces the release of SnapShot Studio™ Photo Booth 0.8.7 For Mac and Windows systems. With the release of version 0.8.7, SnapShot Studio™ adds even more features and addresses issues in previous releases.

Keyboard Triggers
You can now control your photo booth with your keyboard. Use the arrow keys to move through available layouts, space bar to select layouts and to start the photo booth, and the ESC key to stop the photo booth and return to the Preferences Window.

64-Bit Windows Compatability
We are now officially supporting Windows Vista and Windows 7 64-bit operating systems with version 0.8.7. 64-bit systems will no longer crash on startup when a webcam is not present, but will present a warning and allow you to proceed through SnapShot Studio™ Photo Booth as you need.

Slide Show Controls Updated
Slide show controls will update according to your system's monitor count. If multiple monitors are present, you will be able toaccess and use the built-in slide show module. If a single monitor is present, you will not be able to run a slide show.

SnapShot Studio™ Photo Booth requirements:

Mac OS 10.5 or later, Intel Processor, 1GB RAM
Windows Vista or later, 1.6GHz Processor, 1GB RAM

SnapShot Studio Photo Booth 0.8.7 adds Theme Editor and More [del.icio.us]

stobiemas — Thu, 21 Apr 2011 07:39:10 PDT

SnapShot Studio Photo Booth 0.8.6 Debutes with Features and Fixes

Mon, 04 Apr 2011 11:30:00 EST

Allen Christopher Software has today announces the release of SnapShot Studio Photo Booth 0.8.6 For Mac and Windows systems. Version 0.8.6 even more features and fixes to the Professional Photo Booth Suite.

Griffin Technology's Powermate
This is a big addition if you cannot use a touch display and wish not to use a mouse or keyboard for your setup. Use the dial to scroll through available layouts, use the push-button to start taking photos. Powermate is supported on both Macintosh and Windows platforms, no drivers needed. We've also created an option to control the Powermate's dial sensitivity.

Live Slide Show Module
If you are running an additional monitor with your setup, you can now use it to display a live slide show of photos of your current photo event. The slide show allows for custom layouts and is very easy to set up.

Hide/Show Cursor
With the addion of Powermate support, we've also made a few changes to hide/show your mouse cursor appropriately. Noteably, you should now see your cursor in your preferences window even if you have the "Hide Cursor" option selected.

Lead Capture Output File
We made a small change in the save location of your lead capture file. It will now automatically save to the same folder designated to your layout setting.

Startup Crash Fixed (Macintosh)
If you did not have a webcam prefs file, SnapShot Studio would crash on startup. This issue has been resolved.

SnapShot Studio™ Photo Booth requirements:

Mac OS 10.5 or later, Intel Processor, 1GB RAM
Windows Vista or later, 1.6GHz Processor, 1GB RAM

SnapShot Studio Photo Booth 0.8.6 Debutes with Features and Fixes [del.icio.us]

stobiemas — Mon, 04 Apr 2011 09:03:16 PDT

Helping Our Friends and Their Families in Need

Wed, 16 Mar 2011 12:00:00 EST

The world watched as devastation swept over the north-east coast of Japan.
Over a half-million Japanese homeless, food and water in short supply, thousands in need of medical attention- we want to assist as much as possible.

We are giving 30% of all software sales to the Japanese Red Cross Society and Save the Children Fund.

Whether or not you purchase an Allen Christopher product, we encourage you to donate to a relief fund of your choice.

Together we can save lives and help those in need get back on their feet.

Japanese Earthquake/Tsunami Relief Funds and Services

Japanese Red Cross Society

Save the Children Japan Emergency Relief

American Red Cross

Mercy Corps

PayPal Relief Fund Donation

PrintRipper 1.4.1 Available

Mon, 07 Mar 2011 10:30:00 EST

PrintRipper 1.4.1 fixes an intermittent bug when using its Manual Approval window, where duplicate prints are sent to queue. Other minor enhancements have been made to PrintRipper's core image engine.
PrintRipper™ 1.4.1 is available as a free upgrade for all PrintRipper™ customers. A fully-functioning demo is available for download.

SnapShot Studio Photo Booth 0.8.3 Released [del.icio.us]

stobiemas — Mon, 28 Feb 2011 08:48:05 PST

SplashCase Event Display Software Updated to Version 1.1 [del.icio.us]

stobiemas — Mon, 28 Feb 2011 08:47:21 PST

SplashCase Event Display Software Updated to Version 1.1

Mon, 28 Feb 2011 11:30:00 EST

Allen Christopher Software today released SplashCase 1.1, the real-time event photo display tool for Event Photographers.
SplashCase™ will retail at $99.99 for a single license.

This update addresses an issue where some single display users could not run a slideshow.

Some features found in SplashCase™ 1.1:

A Setup Wizard has been added to better assist first-time users.
Source folders for slide shows no longer need to be populated to activate slide shows.
Expanded set of Text Controls added.
Now recognizes any monitors attached to your system.
Various interface changes and updates.

Other features found in SplashCase™ 1.1:

Utilize up to two real-time slide shows simultaneously
Arrange your photo grids from one-up to ten photos per row.
Preview window for an operator's view of all slideshows running.
Create and save presets.
Display file names, with or without file suffix on your displayed photos.
Add Drop shadows to your photos.
Add custom backgrounds to your slides.
Control your thumbnail size and amount of photos to be displayed at one time.
Slideshow dynamically updates with addition/removal of photos to source folder.
New Photos are shown (1-Up) immediately when added to source folder.

SplashCase™ is a great companion to PrintRipper™, allowing you to shoot and display photos instantly while PrintRipper automates the finished output of your photos.

Visit the SplashCase download page to try it today.

SnapShot Studio Photo Booth 0.8.3 Released

Mon, 28 Feb 2011 11:30:00 EST

Allen Christopher Software has today announcesthe release of SnapShot Studio Photo Booth 0.8.3 For Mac and Windows systems. Version 0.8.3 brings new features and fixes to the Professional Photo Booth Suite.

Desination Folder Mending
If you have deleted or removed your photo booth's destination folder, SnapShot Studio Photo Booth will now re-create it. This new addition saves both time and frustration when managing back-to-back jobs and tracking where your composites have been saved.

Correction to Print Orientation
A bug was discovered where some prints would force portrait orientation. This has been corrected and all prints will now print in their intended orientation.

Lead Capturing
There may be instances where you wish to capture information about your users, like email address or ID. SnapShot Studio Photo booth makes email, swipe card, RFID, and barcode capture easy. This feature can be enabled in your user preferences. All data output is written to .CSV format, making your lead capturing easy to import into programs like Excel or transfer to various database applications.

Custom Thumbnails
The ability to show your customer a custom representation of a layout is now active in version 0.8.3. Further, version 0.8.3 will now use your example layout by default, giving you the ability to show customers your layouts with backgrounds, overlay images, and banners.

SnapShot Studio™ Photo Booth requirements:

Mac OS 10.5 or later, Intel Processor, 1GB RAM
Windows Vista or later, 1.6GHz Processor, 1GB RAM

Better Together: SplashCase and PrintRipper Bundle Now Available

Thu, 17 Feb 2011 11:30:00 EST

Two Powerful Tools at One Low Price

Shoot, Show, Composite, Print.

By combining SplashCase™ and PrintRipper™ together, you have the power to show off your images, composite, and print on-demand. When you purchase them together, you'll save $20.00 off of the normal retail price.

Order Your Bundle Today!

Allen Christopher Delivers SplashCase™ 1.0

Thu, 17 Feb 2011 11:30:00 EST

WARWICK, New York—February 17th, 2011–Allen Christopher Software today announced the cross-platform release of SplashCase™ 1.0, its real-time event photo display tool for Event Photographers.
SplashCase™ will retail at $99.99 for a single license.

Since the last public release, SplashCase™ has been well-tuned, adding a few new features as well as sporting some interface changes.

What's New in SplashCase™ 1.0:

A Setup Wizard has been added to better assist first-time users.
Source folders for slide shows no longer need to be populated to activate slide shows.
Expanded set of Text Controls added.
Now recognizes any monitors attached to your system.
Various interface changes and updates.

Other features found in SplashCase™ 1.0:

Utilize up to two real-time slide shows simultaneously
Arrange your photo grids from one-up to ten photos per row.
Preview window for an operator's view of all slideshows running.
Create and save presets.
Display file names, with or without file suffix on your displayed photos.
Add Drop shadows to your photos.
Add custom backgrounds to your slides.
Control your thumbnail size and amount of photos to be displayed at one time.
Slideshow dynamically updates with addition/removal of photos to source folder.
New Photos are shown (1-Up) immediately when added to source folder.

Custom Application Development From Allen Christopher

Wed, 02 Feb 2011 12:00:00 EST

Allen Christopher started as a custom development company and has steadily offered development services, but haven't promoted the service on our web site until now.

Project Consulting with Allen Christopher

Wed, 02 Feb 2011 12:00:00 EST

Take the guess-work out of your next roll-out. Allen Christopher's experience in technology and Event Photography can help you bring your project to new heights.

Allen Christopher Launches Affiliate Program

Mon, 31 Jan 2011 11:00:00 EST

Software Affiliate Program

You share our enthusiasm about our software–now you can earn on your referrals!

Promote Allen Christopher Software on your website or blog and earn commission on your referrals. Our program is straight-forward and simple: you will earn 15% on each sale.

Free to Join, Easy to Use.

First, you'll need to create your account. Once your account is verified, log in and submit your referral program request.
You must have a PayPal account in order to join our Affiliate Program. Commissions are paid monthly.

Join the Program

Already a Member? Sign In.

See Your Statistics, Access Resources.

See your sales online, any time. You can track your sales in real-time as well as see historical sales data.
You can also access Affiliate Resouces any time you like. Just copy and paste your personalized affiliate code into your web page or blog.

Start Making Money Today.

It's simple to join the Allen Christopher Affiliate Program.

PrintRipper™ 1.4 Brings New Features and Usability

Tue, 25 Jan 2011 02:30:00 EST

WARWICK, New York—January 25th, 2011–Allen Christopher Software today announced the cross-platform release of PrintRipper™ 1.4 , further extending the feature set of the automated on-demand photo-finishing tool for Event Photographers.
PrintRipper™ 1.4 is available as a free upgrade for all PrintRipper™ customers. A fully-functioning demo is available for download. In addition to automating the process of various types of image manipulation (such as chroma key, event borders, watermarking, color effects and more), PrintRipper™ 1.4 adds brand-new text formatting controls, Apple QuickTime™ support for extending usable image formats, the ability to pre-set duplicate printing, auto-incremented file renaming, and a host of interface refinements and fixes.

PrintRipper™ Features

Automated Image Manipulation

Chroma Key (green screen).
Crop and print photos to any size.
Watermark your photos and Saved Composites.
Add event borders to your photos.
Adjust photo color, brightness, contrast, and saturation
Use color effects making photos Black and White, Sepia, and Duotones
Add white frame to photo.

Automated Processing

You have the option of approving or rejecting photos for processing (Manual feature).
Process is hot folder triggered. Create as many hot folders as needed.
Archives original photo (edited version does not affect original photo).
Instead of printing photos – you can save digital composites of your photos for web, CD, or memory card distribution.
Add File Names to Prints (with or without file suffix).
Append file names with your own tags.
Format control over your text on images, including placement, color, typeface, point size and other attributes.
Keep track of photos processed with the built-in counter.
Run multiple processes simultaneously.
Apple QuickTime™ support to allow processing of a wide variety of file formats.

System requirements:

Mac OS X 10.4 or later (Intel/PPC)
Windows XP/Vista/Windows 7, 32 or 64 bit versions
500MHz or faster processor 512MB of RAM (1GB recommended)
70MB of available disk space

Come join us. Our goal is to provide you with the tools needed to allow you to concentrate on what you do best—take pictures.

Product Page:
http://www.AllenChristopher.com/printripper.html
Purchase Page: http://www.allenchristopher.com/shop/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=1&products_id=3

SnapShot Studio™ Photo Booth Limited Time Pricing [del.icio.us]

stobiemas — Wed, 19 Jan 2011 12:26:08 PST

SnapShot Studio™ Photo Booth Moves to Version 0.8.1 [del.icio.us]

stobiemas — Wed, 19 Jan 2011 12:25:26 PST

SnapShot Studio™ Photo Booth Limited Time Pricing

Wed, 19 Jan 2011 03:30:00 EST

With the initial beta release of SnapShot Studio Photo Booth for Mac and Windows, users have asked us when they could purchase the Photo Booth. Even more surprising was the discovery of how many were using SnapShot Studio Photo Booth in the field!

Everyone Wins
SnapShot Studio Photo Booth will soon reach version 1.0 and will be priced at $399.99.

Until then, we've decided to offer special pricing for a limited time. Starting today, you can purchase SnapShot Studio Photo Booth for $299.99–that's $100.00 below the release price!

Our Way of Saying "Thanks"
The feedback compliments we've received have been fantastic. Professional Photo Booth software ranges from $400 to over $700 and we wanted to give our early adopters something back for the time and effort they've spent in helping us create a great product–Thank you!

You Can purchase SnapShot Studio Photo Booth at our online store. If you haven't tried our Photo Booth, download your free trial for Mac or Windows now. To learn more, visit the SnapShot Studio Photo Booth product page.

SnapShot Studio™ Photo Booth requirements:

Mac OS 10.5 or later, Intel Processor, 1GB RAM
Windows Vista or later, 1.6GHz Processor, 1GB RAM

SnapShot Studio™ Photo Booth Moves to Version 0.8.1

Wed, 19 Jan 2011 03:30:00 EST

As a follow-up to a very successful public beta, SnapShot Studio Photo Booth 0.8.1 For Mac and Windows systems brings more features, flexibility, and a host of fixes.
Version 0.8.1 brings a new Setup Wizard and Page Layout Creator, adding two of the most requested features to the photo booth.

Setup Wizard
Users unfamiliar with SnapShot Studio Photo Booth asked us to include a simplified way of creating an initial setup.
With our new Setup Wizard, getting your Photo Booth running in record time couldn’t be easier. The Wizard walks operators through the process of setting global preferences and layout choices, explaining each part and control as you go.

Page Layout Creator
No other Photo Booth software can match the flexibility of SnapShot Studio Photo Booth’s Page Layout Creator.With SnapShot Studio Photo Booth’s Page Layout Creator, operators can:

Create custom layouts.
Up to 10 photos per page.
Up to 2 banners per page.
Set custom page size.
Custom photo/banner size.
Rotate and position photos and banners.

As with preset layouts, your custom layouts can contain your own custom background, overlay, and banner graphics.

SnapShot Studio™ Photo Booth requirements:

Mac OS 10.5 or later, Intel Processor, 1GB RAM
Windows Vista or later, 1.6GHz Processor, 1GB RAM

SnapShot Studio™ Photo Booth Setup Help

Thu, 06 Jan 2011 11:30:00 EST

With our launch of SnapShot Studio™ Photo Booth we've received several questions ranging from setup to upcoming features. If you haven't downloaded a copy, go to our download page and get your copy for Macintosh or Windows systems.

Near Future of SnapShot Studio™ Photo Booth

Layouts and Templates
Some have expressed concern over the available layouts within the Photo Booth. Our beta has bundled just a sample of possible layouts. We will continue to add more templates as needed and plan on allowing you to create your own layouts from the ground-up.

Clarifying Setup Needs
If you're familiar with our PrintRipper™ application, setting up our Photo Booth will be easy and logical. If not, you may be faced with the dilemma of not knowing what to do in order to get things working.
For now, we have a brief setup guide to assist (see below). In the near future, expect to see a setup wizard, which will walk you through each and every detail necessary to get your booth up and running.

DSLR Support
This is one of the most frequently asked questions: "Will SnapShot Studio Photo Booth support my camera?"
We are including PTP camera control in both Mac and Windows versions of the photo booth. If your camera supports PTP remote capture (which most pro DSLRs do), you won't have an issue.

Setting Up SnapShot Studio Photo Booth

Getting started couldn't be easier. To begin, all you'll need is a working webcam and to define a few settings.

Go to the Preferences (settings) window and enable your Webcam.
Click the plus (+) button located to the left-bottom of the Print Format List. You should now have the Page Setup window open.
Choose a preset from the preset list. Double-click on a preset to apply.
Choose a Save Destination for your composites.
If you wish to print, choose your printer and set up your printer page size and attributes.
Saving your settings will take you back to the Preferences window. By default, your newest entry will be active. Save your preferences.
You should now have the Start window open. Press the "Start Photo Booth" button to begin.

Administrator Access

Preferences Window

User Layout Selection

We also have a setup video via youtube.com if you prefer:

SnapShot Studio™ Photo Booth Public Beta is Open [del.icio.us]

stobiemas — Tue, 04 Jan 2011 07:38:53 PST

SnapShot Studio™ Photo Booth Public Beta is Open

Tue, 04 Jan 2011 10:30:00 EST

To kick off the new year, Allen Christopher is pleased to announce the public beta of SnapShot Studio Photo Booth.

SnapShot Studio™ Photo Booth beta is available for Macintosh and Windows systems.

SnapShot Studio™ Photo Booth
sports a beautiful and easy to use interface, which will later include the ability to create and save your own "skins".

We have a large list of features that we hope to include by the release of version 1.0 and will announce them as they become available in our beta builds.

Ring in the New Year with a Powerful Photo Booth Solution.

Features in Version 0.6:

Webcam support.
Various choices of 2x8 (doubled on 4x8 paper) standard photo strip layouts.
Various choices of 4x6 photo layouts
Apply borders (with transparency) to your photo layout.
Apply backgrounds to your photo layout.
Apply one or two banners (if applicable) to your photo layout.
Set shutter count down interval.
Set ready message countdown interval.
Toggle sound on/off. Hide/Show cursor.
Set Administrator password to access preferences or to quit
Print Counter with reset option.
Save a variety of layouts and activate/deactivate as needed without deletion or the need to recreate.
14 built-in layouts to choose from.
Auto-save composite booth photos to file.
Auto-save individual photos to file.
Toggle printing on/off.
Automatically print duplicates if needed.
Support for multiple and simultaneous printer use (great for offering selection of format).
Imaging effects such as Chroma Key, Sepia, Black and White photos, Auto levels adjust, and Brightness, Contrast, Hue and Saturation adjustments.

SnapShot Studio™ Photo Booth requirements:

Mac OS 10.5 or later, Intel Processor, 1GB RAM

Windows Vista or later, 1.6GHz Processor, 1GB RAM

Photo Booth Software: Mac/Windows Beta This Week [del.icio.us]

stobiemas — Mon, 22 Nov 2010 08:37:47 PST

Photo Booth Software: Mac/Windows Beta This Week

Mon, 22 Nov 2010 11:35:00 EST

It's been a while since we've gone on-record regarding our Photo Booth development and we're eager to announce the opening of our early beta trials this week.

SnapShot Studio™ Photo Booth will be the official title and will run on both Mac and Windows platforms. The Beta cycle will start with webcam capture only but will eventually include tethered capture for most professional-grade DSLR cameras capable of PTP remote triggering.

SnapShot Studio™ Photo Booth sports a beautiful and easy to use interface, which will later include the ability to create and save your own "skins". We have a large list of features that we hope to include by the release of version 1.0 and will announce them as they become available in our beta builds.

Equally as exciting is the news of SnapShot Studio™ Media Booth, a photo and video booth for Mac OS. Media Booth will allow you to run as a video and photo booth in a single package. You will be able to allow your users to select photo, video, or both.

SnapShot Studio™ Photo Booth requirements:

Mac OS 10.5 or later, Intel Processor, 1GB RAM

Windows Vista or later, 1.6GHz Processor, 1GB RAM

We would like to see Photo Booth running on Windows XP but have not performed enough tests to officially approve usage.

Media Booth will require the above base requirements plus adequate storage for video files.

Please use our Request Form to contact us with your thoughts.

PrintRipper Version 1.4 Beta Released

Wed, 10 Nov 2010 13:30:00 EST

Warwick, New York- Allen Christopher announces the beta release of PrintRipper™ version 1.4 today, bringing a series of user requests into PrintRipper's processing engine.

PrintRipper now leverages Apple's QuickTime to allow a wider variety of image formats including: BMP, GIF,JPEG 2000, PDF, MacPaint, PICT, Photoshop, SGI, Targa, FlashPix, and TIFF files. PrintRipper will read these files if QuickTime is detected.

PrintRipper 1.4 now includes the ability to print a set amount of duplicates per processed image and auto-increment file re-naming for both archived and composite saves.

PrintRipper 1.4 Beta is available for both Macintosh and Windows compatible systems. PrintRipper is made for Macintosh Systems 10.4 or higher, PPC or Intel, and for Windows Systems with XP or higher.

With a vast set of features, PrintRipper™ can surely help automate your photo operations too. Download your free trial today!

SplashCase Beta Ending with Version 0.8.3

Fri, 05 Nov 2010 09:30:00 EST

SplashCase Beta v0.8.3, Allen Christopher's Event Photo Display Solution, is now available for Windows and Macintosh systems. We are begining to wrap up the beta cycle with Version .0.8.3 introducing a handful of updates and fixes:

Reorganized Settings controls.
Force Max Height of landscape images in 1-Up layout.
Force Fill Screen of landscape images in 1-Up layout (does crop images to fit).
Font and size selection for displaying file names on photos.
New update notification method.
Several stability issues addressed.

Other features found in SplashCase:

Preview window for an operator's view of all slideshows running.
Create and save presets.
Display file names, with or without file suffix on your displayed photos.
Add Drop shadows to your photos.
Add custom backgrounds to your slides.
Control your thumbnail size and amount of photos to be displayed at one time.
Slideshow dynamically updates with addition/removal of photos to source folder.
New Photos are shown (1-Up) immediately when added to source folder.

SplashCase is a great companion to PrintRipper™, allowing you to shoot and display photos instantly while PrintRipper automates the finished output of your photos.

The SplashCase Beta Discussion can be found on the GoProPhoto.eu website. SplashCase Beta can be found at the SplashCase download page.

PrintRipper 1.3.3 Fixes Bugs, Adds Features

Thu, 28 Oct 2010 12:00:00 EST

Warwick, New York- Allen Christopher announces the release of PrintRipper™ version 1.3.3 today, addressing additional issues regarding Windows printing, an issue where borders would fail to print, further use of GDI+ graphics handling, a newly revised settings format, the ability to name individual processes, and adding an Auto Levels feature.

PrintRipper 1.3.3 further addresses printing issues on Windows systems where the use of GDI+ for text anti-aliasing had created printing issues as well as various image refresh issues in both the Setup and Update windows. In some cases, the application of Borders and Watermarks would fail as well.

Also updated is PrintRipper's settings file format, paving the way for the possibility of many new features to be added in future versions. In preparation for version 1.4, PrintRipper now allows users to give a process a unique name for easy recall. An auto levels feature has also been added to help users easily enhance their photos.

PrintRipper™ 1.3.3 is available as a free update to all PrintRipper™ customers.PrintRipper is made for Macintosh Systems 10.4 or higher, PPC or Intel, and for Windows Systems with XP or higher.

With a vast set of features, PrintRipper™ can surely help automate your photo operations too. Download your free trial today!

PrintRipper 1.3.2 Now Available

Wed, 20 Oct 2010 14:00:00 EST

Warwick, New York- Allen Christopher announces the release of PrintRipper™ version 1.3.2 today, addressing minor issues and fixing a critical printing issue affecting 1.3/1.3.1 Windows installs.

Version 1.3.2 corrects a critical printing problem where Windows systems would print only a portion of the intended image.

PrintRipper 1.3.2 eliminates message box notifications for updates, which typically halts the processing of any photos if a user does not click to dismiss the message.

Previous versions included "Purchase", "Cancel", and "Register" buttons, but have proven to be confusing in order to run the program in Demo mode. The "Cancel" button has been renamed to "Demo" to avoid any confusion.

PrintRipper™ 1.3.2 is available as a free update to all PrintRipper™ customers.PrintRipper is made for Macintosh Systems 10.4 or higher, PPC or Intel, and for Windows Systems with XP or higher.

With a vast set of features, PrintRipper™ can surely help automate your photo operations too. Download your free trial today!

PrintRipper 1.3.1 Now Available

Fri, 24 Sep 2010 11:30:00 EST

Warwick, New York- Allen Christopher announces the release of PrintRipper™ version 1.3.1 today, addressing minor issues found in version 1.3.

Version 1.3.1 fixes an issue where PrintRipper™ would not register changes made to text output selection.

Also addressed in version 1.3.1 is a far more forgiving registration window.In previous versions, users were required to match case and format exactly as given in their initial registration request. PrintRipper's registration will help users by auto-formating and correct case in their input, making the activation process much easier.

PrintRipper™ 1.3.1 also ships with an update to its Reset Tool. The PrintRipper™ Reset Tool will no longer remove registration files, requiring a user to re-activate their installation. It will also open the user's PrintRipper preferences location, allowing a user to archive their old settings if need be.

PrintRipper™ 1.3.1 is available as a free update to all PrintRipper™ customers.PrintRipper is made for Macintosh Systems 10.4 or higher, PPC or Intel, and for Windows Systems with XP or higher.

With a vast set of features, PrintRipper™ can surely help automate your photo operations too. Download your free trial today!

SplashCase Beta 0.7.5 Released for Macintosh and Windows Systems

Wed, 01 Sep 2010 10:30:00 EST

SplashCase Beta v0.7.5, Allen Christopher's Event Photo Display Solution, is now available for Windows and Macintosh systems. Version .0.7.5 introduces a handful of updates and fixes including:

GDI+ added for anti-aliased text (Windows).
Fixed crash on secondary slideshow when photos are added/deleted.
Fixed crash when a folder is selected for your slideshow, then reselected, then canceled.
Fixed a bug keeping slideshows from updating with the latest images (Windows).
Preference Window options have been rearranged, streamlined.

This is in addition to the enhancements introduced in Beta version 0.7.2:

Preview window for an operator's view of all slideshows running.
Create and save presets.
Display file names, with or without file suffix on your displayed photos.
Add Drop shadows to your photos.
Add custom backgrounds to your slides.
Control your thumbnail size and amount of photos to be displayed at one time.
Slideshow dynamically updates with addition/removal of photos to source folder.
New Photos are shown (1-Up) immediately when added to source folder.

SplashCase is a great companion to PrintRipper™, allowing you to shoot and display photos instantly while PrintRipper automates the finished output of your photos.

The SplashCase Beta Discussion can be found on the GoProPhoto.eu website. SplashCase Beta can be found at the SplashCase download page.

PrintRipper in Action: A Unique Display of Nightlife in Claremont, CA

Tue, 31 Aug 2010 12:00:00 EST

Jeff Clark, manager of PianoPiano in Claremont, CA, has his hands full on a daily basis. PianoPiano is a unique twist on a music-plus-bar establishment and you can feel the electricity of the atmosphere leap from the photos on their website.

Jeff recognized the opportunity to provide photos of their events and after doing a little research, chose PrintRipper to help him automate his photo processing.

We found that after discussing the PianoPiano photo operation with Jeff, he is without a doubt one of our more technically-savvy users.

"I'm not big on buying software. I rarely do it, I can usually find a work around using free software with either a command line interface, or a lackluster GUI interface," Jeff commented when asked about his decision on purchasing PrintRipper.

"I've found that the algorithm you use to lay the PNG over the photo, is extremely high quality compared to that free software," said Jeff, " and that makes it worth while for a high quality watermark for nightly posting to Facebook, etc."

We're thrilled to have Jeff as a customer and impressed with his application of PrintRipper in PianoPiano's photo operations. If you find yourself in the Claremont,CA area, stop in and experience PianoPiano for yourself. Be sure to raise your glass and smile for the camera!

With a vast set of features, PrintRipper can surely help automate your photo operations too. Download your free trial today!

Allen Christopher Announces PrintRipper™ 1.3 The Ultimate On-Demand Photo-finishing Tool for Event Photographers

Thu, 26 Aug 2010 11:30:00 EST

WARWICK, New York—August 26th, 2010–Allen Christopher today announced the cross-platform release of PrintRipper™ 1.3 , the automated on-demand photo-finishing tool for Event Photographers. PrintRipper&trade 1.3 is available as a free upgrade for all PrintRipper&trade customers.

PrintRipper™ automates the process of chroma key, event borders, watermarking, color effects and adjustment, printing, and saving image files. This allows photographers to do what they do best–Take more pictures.

PrintRipper™ Features

Automated Image Manipulation

Chroma Key (green screen).
Crop and print photos to any size.
Watermark your photos and Saved Composites.
Add event borders to your photos.
Adjust photo color, brightness, contrast, and saturation.
Use color effects making photos Black and White, Sepia, and Duotones
Add white frame to photo.

Automated Processing

You have the option of approving or rejecting photos for processing (Manual feature).
Process is hot folder triggered. Create as many hot folders as needed.
Archives original photo (edited version does not affect original photo).
Instead of printing photos – you can save digital composites of your photos for web, CD, or memory card distribution.
Add File Names to Prints (with or without file suffix).
Append file names with your own tags.
Keep track of photos processed with the built-in counter.
Run multiple processes simultaneously.
Track errors (corrupt photos) without interrupting running processes.

System requirements:

Mac OS X 10.4 or later (Intel/PPC)
Windows XP/Vista/Windows 7, 32 or 64 bit versions
500MHz or faster processor 512MB of RAM (1GB recommended)
70MB of available disk space

PrintRipper™ is the ultimate on-demand photo finishing tool that no event photographer should be without.

PrintRipper™ is available immediately for download and purchase at the Allen Christopher, Inc. website for $139.99 USD.

Come join us. Our goal is to provide you with the tools needed to allow you to concentrate on what you do best—take pictures.

About Allen Christopher, Inc.
Allen Christopher brings over a decade of experience of programming and technical to the Event Photography Industry. With its cross-platform release of PrintRipper™, Allen Christopher has set the stage for an aggressive release schedule to round out a full suite of tools for the event photographer.

Press Contact:

Christopher Rosado
Allen Christopher, Inc.
Info(at)AllenChristopher(dot)com

Screen Shots:
Mac/Windows

Pad Files:
Mac/Windows

Print-Ready/Web-Ready PrintRipper™ Logos

Press Release (RTF Format)

###

Photo Booth Software Development Announced

Mon, 23 Aug 2010 12:32:00 EST

Allen Christopher Software announced today that it will begin development on full-featured Photo Booth Software.

"Some of our clients have discovered that PrintRipper serves as a great engine for photo booth-type setups.
We have the ability to really streamline the setup process and create a polished product for these customers that tailors directly to their needs," said Christopher Rosado, developer and owner of Allen Christopher Software.

Some features will include:

Touch Screen integration
Additional monitor support for slideshow display of photos
Custom layout builder

In the fashion of Allen Christopher's PrintRipper and SplashCase, this Photo Booth Software will be available for Macintosh and Windows compatible systems. Additional details will be released as they become available.

SplashCase™ Beta 0.7.2 Preview Posted

Fri, 20 Aug 2010 11:30:00 EST

We're happy to announce our latest update to SplashCase, Allen Christopher's Event Photo Display Solution. This second beta introduces a brand-new user interface and a host of new features:

Preview window for an operator's view of all slideshows running.
Create and save presets.
Display file names, with or without file suffix on your displayed photos.
Add Drop shadows to your photos.
Add custom backgrounds to your slides.
Control your thumbnail size and amount of photos to be displayed at one time.
Slideshow dynamically updates with addition/removal of photos to source folder.
New Photos are shown (1-Up) immediately when added to source folder. SplashCase is a great companion to PrintRipper™, allowing you to shoot and display photos instantly while PrintRipper automates the finished output of your photos.
The SplashCase Beta Discussion can be found on the GoProPhoto.eu website. SplashCase Beta can be found at the SplashCase download page.

Event Photography Mechanics: Service with a Smile

Tue, 27 Jul 2010 12:00:00 EST

Over the past year, I've managed to get out of the office a little more than usual. Most of my excursions have to do with my daughter's activities. Still, it's a chance for sunlight to hit my skin.

I've become somewhat of a character in a Stephen King novel in the sense that I hide away in my home office most of the day, only to escape and run my daughter to her next activity. As I sit and watch my daughter's gymnastics workout, another parent usually introduces themselves to me. It doesn't take long to get to "that" question: "So what is it you do?"

More often than not, I will tell them that I am a programmer or that I "make software". Most don't understand what Event Photography is let alone the need for Event Photography software for the industry. They usually explain to me what it is that they do and then the conversation shifts to another topic. If you've read this far, then you should know that I haven't been honest with these people, at least, not completely honest.

Allen Christopher obviously develops Event Photography Software, but I would bet that our customers would agree that we deliver stellar customer service. We look at ourselves as a service company that makes software, meaning that we give equal attention to the relationship we have with our customers as we do to developing the software itself.
We begin our definition of "customer service" from the care and effort we put into each page on our site, the handling of questions from potential customers and long-time customers alike, to the refactoring of our code in our applications. In essence, the idea of great customer service defines every aspect of what we do.

Some Guidelines to Great Customer Service

Create Multiple Avenues of Contact
There are so many ways to stay in touch with your base. We leverage as many services as we can: Twitter, FaceBook, LinkedIn, Skype, and Email accounts. While we do take phone calls, we tend to reserve them for:

Paid Service Accounts.
Urgent issues.

In most cases, it is far easier and efficient to communicate through other channels. More often than not, we find that phone support slows down the process for us as well as for the customer. There are some that insist on a phone call and we do not object, but rather schedule a call and limit the time frame for each call.

Listen Carefully
We get a lot of email and sometimes it is difficult to "read between the lines". Some will attempt to convey an idea but their true want or need may be something entirely different. Some make feature requests that are great, others that would serve but a single customer. In every case, we do our best to stand in the shoes of the customer. If you learn to do this well, opportunities will seem to come in every direction.

Have Patience
Even though we tend to come off as easy-going and approachable, we are pretty hard-core techies here at Allen Christopher. When your understanding of a subject surpasses the average level of comprehension, you need to be aware of this when communicating with others. Our customers do not need to be expert Mac or Windows users nor do they need to understand our chroma key algorithm, but are the very same people who will come across a bug in our apps or contact us for technical assistance. Having patience with people and listening can sometimes be difficult when you have to start from square-one. Just remember: you're the expert, that's why they're calling you.

Be Sincere
I recall a phone conversation with a customer who had asked me a question about our software that I couldn't answer, because I hadn't contemplated the scenario he had on-hand. My response was: "I don't know off-hand, but will find out." After our conversation was finished, I researched the question a little further and emailed him the answer. Simple, right?

Our belief in what we do at Allen Christopher drives us. When we say, "Our software is great" or "it's a pleasure to assist", we sincerely mean what we say. We want to help our customers achieve great results with our event photography software and we certainly want them to prosper.

Take a genuine interest in your customer's needs. In a world of products and less-than-adequate customer service, there is an opportunity to tower above your competition.

So ask yourself: how can you provide stellar service to your client base?

Event Photography Mechanics: Converting Darkroom Borders for use with PrintRipper

Tue, 06 Jul 2010 11:00:00 EST

Many of you have written to us asking if PrintRipper is compatible with Darkroom Borders. The short answer? No. But wait- that doesn't mean that you can't convert these borders to use with PrintRipper with minimal effort!

Darkroom Border Files: What is this stuff??

When you look at your Darkroom borders folder, you'll see several types of files:

.CRD ("Card" files)- This is a text file that contains the "vitals" of your border layout. Opening this file with a text editor will reveal information like this:

DESCRIPTION: <Patriotic 7 x 5 horizontal 2005>
CARDTYPE: Simple BEGIN_SUPERBORDER BEGIN_HEADER
WIDTH: 2100
HEIGHT: 1500
INITCOLOR: 128,128,128
DPI: 300
FLAGS: MIDDLE | CENTER | STRETCH_PROP_FILL

PrintRipper has no use for this file and you need not concern yourself with it beyond understanding what it is.
.JPG- These files are image files, used for larger thumbnail views. Like .CRD files, PrintRipper has no use for these files.
.EDP- These files appear to be smaller thumbnail files used to display photo position and count. Again, we don't need this file either.
.DFV- This file stores any text information that you may have used. As you may have guessed, this is also not needed for use with PrintRipper.
.TGA- This is a Targa file. This is the file we want! It is your border along with the alpha (transparency) information needed to composite your photos with a border. Also note its file size, compared to the other files...

Now that you know which file is your border image, all we need to do is convert it to a usable format for PrintRipper. You can use any image application you wish, provided that it can open .TGA files and save to .PNG format.

No Holidays for an Event Photographer: Building Your Network through Opportunity

Sat, 03 Jul 2010 12:00:00 EST

How many times have you been asked by a stranger to take a picture for them when at an event, during the holidays sightseeing, or on vacation?
Yes, it's nice of you to take a picture of them with their camera, but why not use your own too? If you're a hard-core event photographer, you already see where this is going...

Before you leave your family at the kettle corn stand to seek out people to photograph, take a step back and simply be aware of your surroundings. <more...>

GoProPhoto Enlists Users to Assist in SplashCase Development

Thu, 01 Jul 2010 03:00:00 EST

GoProPhoto.eu has made the call out to its users to assist Allen Christopher Software in the beta cycle of their upcoming title, SplashCase.
SplashCase can be downloaded at the SplashCase download page.

SplashCase Event Photo Display Software Goes into Public Beta

Tue, 29 Jun 2010 11:30:00 EST

SplashCase is an Event Photo Display Application that displays your photos as you shoot.
Download SplashCase™ and visit the SplashCase Support Forum for more information.

Event Photography Mechanics: Creating Event Borders for PrintRipper

Christopher Rosado — Tue, 29 Jun 2010 11:30:00 EST

Using borders in Event Photography can increase your sales, bolster your bottom line.
Borders can create a memorable experience by adding a venue logo, theme, or date to your photographs.
In this tutorial, we cover the basics of readying your borders for PrintRipper.
< More... >

PrintRipper 1.2.4 Now Available

Mon, 22 Mar 2010 11:00:00 EST

PrintRipper 1.2.4 Fixes intermittent print issues and stability issues when used with Adobe Lightroom.

PrintRipper 1.2.3 Now Available

Fri, 12 Mar 2010 11:00:00 EST

PrintRipper 1.2.3 addresses several stability issues intruduced by a "quiet" 1.2.2 release. This release offers an improved processing and speed.

PrintRipper 1.2.1 Now Available

Thu, 25 Feb 2010 11:00:00 EST

PrintRipper 1.2.1 addresses an orientation issue where some photos from select cameras would not show proper orientation for portrait shots.

PrintRipper 1.2 Released; Free Upgrade to Existing Customers

Tue, 09 Feb 2010 09:00:00 EST

WARWICK, New York—February 9th, 2010–Allen Christopher today announced the cross-platform release of PrintRipper™ 1.2 , the automated on-demand photo-finishing tool for Event Photographers.

With over one-dozen major improvements, PrintRipper™ automates the process of chroma key, event borders, watermarking, color effects and adjustment, printing, and saving image files. This allows photographers to do what they do best–Take more pictures.

PrintRipper™ Features

Automated Image Manipulation

Chroma Key (green screen).
Crop and print photos to any size.
Watermark your photos.
Add event borders to your photos.
Adjust photo color, brightness, contrast, and saturation.
Use color effects making photos Black and White, Sepia, and Duotones
Add white frame to photo.

Automated Processing

You have the option of approving or rejecting photos for processing (Manual feature).
You have the option of approving or rejecting photos for processing (Manual feature).
Process is hot folder triggered. Create as many hot folders as needed.
Archives original photo (edited version does not affect original photo).
Instead of printing photos – you can save digital composites of your photos for web, CD, or memory card distribution.
Keep track of photos processed with the built-in counter.
Run multiple processes simultaneously.
Track errors (corrupt photos) without interrupting running processes.

System requirements:

Mac OS X 10.4 or later (Intel/PPC)
Windows XP/Vista/Windows 7, 32 or 64 bit versions
500MHz or faster processor 512MB of RAM (1GB recommended)
70MB of available disk space

PrintRipper™ is the ultimate on-demand photo finishing tool that no event photographer should be without.

PrintRipper™ is available immediately for download and purchase at the Allen Christopher, Inc. website for $139.99 USD.

Come join us. Our goal is to provide you with the tools needed to allow you to concentrate on what you do best—take pictures.

Press Contact:

Christopher Rosado
Allen Christopher, Inc.
Info(at)AllenChristopher(dot)com

Screen Shots:
Mac/Windows

Pad Files:
Mac/Windows

Print-Ready/Web-Ready PrintRipper™ Logos

Press Release (RTF Format)

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PrintRipper 1.2 Tips and Tricks

Tue, 09 Feb 2010 09:00:00 EST

Using PrintRipper™: Helpful Tips and Tricks

Part I
by Christopher Rosado
Developer, Allen Christopher Software

Developing software can be a funny thing, the fact that some potential users don't see the power you've given them straight-away. PrintRipper™ is a perfect example of this, especially since it has a lot of flexibility and quite a few facets in its simplistic layout. When we decided to build PrintRipper™, we carefully designed and laid out features that our customers were likely to use. Actually, we use PrintRipper™ for much of the photo automation we do for personal and holiday related events.

So... What does Printripper™ Do?

The best place to start is at the beginning. What is the task we want PrintRipper™ to perform? You could be shooting an event that requires high-volume, on-demand printing, such as Santa shots at the mall. It could be a corporate event, gate-style photography, Proms–you name it– where you need to deliver just about every photo that you take.
You may not be in a print on-demand situation but still need a quick and easy way to batch your photos for print or process them for digital delivery. Either way, PrintRipper™ gives you simple solution to set your desired output parameters and process your photos 'till the cows come home.

PrintRipper™ does a lot more than just crop and output your photos. You can batch your Chroma key (green screen) photos, add borders (Photo Frame), and Watermark instantly, as you choose. Before we cover these features, let's discuss getting your photos into PrintRipper™ for processing. The First thing you would want to do is set up a hot folder in PrintRipper™. To do that, click the plus (+) button located in the lower-left of your PrintRipper™ window. That should trigger your Printer Setup Dialog.

In the Printer Setup Dialog you'll need to:

Choose the printer you wish to use for this hot folder.
Set your printer's paper size, margins, quality, paper tray, and anything else you would like to configure for your output.

***Note*** Even if you intend to output digital files instead of prints, you must still select a printer.
If you would like, you can set your Landscape or Portrait settings. You don't have to worry too much about this as PrintRipper™ will read your camera's IPTC orientation to determine if you shot a photo as a Portrait or Landscape and rotate your image as needed.
If you are using a camera that does not include IPTC orientation data, this may present a challenge as you would need to make sure you are consistent with your shooting (in other words, set up a folder as landscape and shoot only landscape, or vise-versa).
After you set your printer up, hit the "OK" button. The next screen you'll see is the folder configuration screen.

There are three elements you must complete before you can save your settings:

Print Folder (your "hot folder")– You can choose a folder that exists or create a new one. If you really want to get fancy, you can even choose a network (shared) folder. Hmm..... Did that last suggestion get you thinking about more intricate setups? I hope so!
Select Your Printer– Yes, we did set up a printer already.... That was mostly to tell the printer what to do. This time, we're telling Printripper™ what printer we will have it print to.
Select your Print Size– select your intended output size from the pop-up menu.

After you've completed the steps above, you want to set two very important options:

Move Images to Archive Folder– if this option is NOT checked, original files WILL BE DELETED after they are processed. I don't need to repeat that, do I? If his option IS CHECKED, a folder called "Archive" will be created within your hot folder and will collect your original files as they are processed.
Save Composites–this will save a digital image file for you INSTEAD of printing the photo if checked. It's a toggle-switch: checked=save to file. Unchecked=print the image.

At this point, you can save your settings and your PrintRipper™ hot folder is ready for action!

Getting Your Photos into PrintRipper™

Tethering/Remote Capture: We've been tethering cameras in here since 2001. Most, if not all professional cameras can tether to a computer. Canon and Nikon make their own special flavors of tethering software, each taking advantage of the features specific to their respective cameras. Some tethering software can be found free of charge or for a nominal fee. There are many options and Google is your friend!

Wireless: We love to photograph wirelessly. Both Nikon an Canon have wireless options available (note that Nikon's solution works with select cameras) and, of course, there's our inexpensive favorite–EyeFi. There is a downside to photographing wirelessly, namely, wandering out of range. All aforementioned solutions do resume transfers once back in range. The other downside is transfer speed. If you plan to shoot high quality jpegs with your 12 megapixel camera, expect a little bit of a delay in your wireless transfers.

Media Card Readers: You may decide that you have no need or desire to tether or go wireless. A simple media card reader will do just fine. You can set up your photos to download directly to your PrintRipper™ hot folder.

Whatever method you choose to transfer your photos to your computer, all you have to do is set your transfer options to point to a PrintRipper™ hot folder (or, if you prefer, point PrintRipper™ to your transfer folder). As your photos are moved into your hot folder, PrintRipper™ will begin to process them

Next week, we'll cover more in-depth tricks dealing with folders, setting up intricate green screen shots as well as borders. In the mean time, I hope you've been inspired to play a little more with PrintRipper™!

PrintRipper™ is available now at our Online store.

• Download v. 1.0 Mac / Windows
• View the Online Manual here.

PrintRipper in Print:

Mon, 05 Oct 2009 09:00:00 EST

MacWorld UK, Germany's MacUp include PrintRipper in their Autumn publications.

PrintRipper receives Four-Star review from SoftSea.com!

Thu, 23 Jul 2009 09:00:00 EST

We were pleased to hear that the reviewers at Softsea.com gave a warm welcome to the release of PrintRipper.