Burst GIF Settings

Burst GIFs are short movies that play in a continuous loop. They are sometimes referred to as boomerang GIFs when they play a sequence forwards and then backwards.

In this Guide

• Filenames
• Selecting Output Type
• Hide Live View
• Countdown Text
• Overlay Blend Modes
• Frames to Capture
• Overlays per Photo
• Capture Interval
• Playback Interval
• Boomerang
• Confirmation Screen
• Sharpen Photos
• FIlename Suffix
• Layout Editor
  • GIF Width & Height
  • Bounding Box
  • Crop Bounding Box

Intros, Outros, Backgrounds and Overlays

Burst GIFs can have optional intros, outros, background images, overlay images and a soundtrack. These can be static (eg, single image) or animated (by using a series of images).

Filenames

Selecting Output Type

You can save a Burst GIF as either a GIF or an MP4 (or both)

Animated GIFs have the advantage that they automatically play back in a continuous loop and can be embedded in an HTML formatted email in the same way as JPEG images. They have the disadvantage that they can only display 256 colors per frame out of the 16 million colors that could be in a photo. They also have the disadvantage that they use lossless compression which can result in large file sizes and cannot include an audio soundtrack.

MP4 movies have the advantage that they can represent the same number of colors as normal JPEG photos and they use similar compression to JPEGs to reduce the file size. The main disadvantages of MP4 movies is that they don't automatically play in a continuous loop and they can't be embedded into HTML formatted emails. Instead they need to be included as a file attachment to the email.

Hide Live View

Normally live view images are displayed in the GIF ready screen but this can be disabled (e.g. for a menu screen) by selecting "Hide live view in ready screen".

Countdown Text

The "Countdown text" specifies how the countdown text should be formatted during the countdown before taking each photo. It can use the following token

Use the "Countdown (secs)" setting to specify duration of the countdown.

Overlay Blend Modes

The overlay blend mode can be selected using the overlay blend mode dropdown list. This controls how the optional overlay images (e.g. gif_overlay.png or gif_overlay_1.png, gif_overlay_2.png etc.) are blended with the GIF layout.

Frames to Capture

The "Frames to capture" setting specifies how many frames to capture from the live view display when creating the GIF, Normally this is set to at least 10 frames to create a good animation.

Overlays Per Photo

The "Overlays per photo" setting specifies how many overlay frames are created per photo. This can create an animated frame that updates at a faster rate than the photos e.g. if overlays per photo is set to 2 the sequence would be:

Capture Interval

The "Capture interval (secs)" setting determines how long it takes to capture the sequence i.e. duration = capture interval x number of frames. The minimum usable setting for the capture interval is around 0.05 secs but this will depend on the model of the iPad and the exposure settings. 

Playback Interval

The "Playback interval (secs)" setting specifies how long to display each frame of the GIF. Set this to a longer setting than the capture interval to create slow motion GIFs or to a shorter setting to display the GIF at faster than normal speed. 

Boomerang

Select the "Boomerang (forward/backward)" setting to create a boomerang GIF. This will display the photos in forwards order followed by reverse order e.g. if there are 10 frames in the GIF it will display them in the order 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 9, 8,, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2 and then repeat. When the boomerang option is not selected the frames will be displayed in the order 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10 then repeat.

Confirmation Screen

Select "Display confirmation screen" to display the GIF in the confirm printing screen after capture. The confirmation screen gives the user the chance to review the GIF and to accept or reject it.

Set the timeout to the number of seconds the confirmation screen should be displayed before it is closed automatically. Set "Accept GIF on timeout" to automatically accept the GIF if the timeout occurs otherwise it will be cancelled and the photo booth will return to the ready screen.

Sharpen Photos

Select "Sharpen photos" to sharpen each photo before adding it to the GIF. The "Unsharp mask intensity" and "Unsharp mask radius" settings control the type and amount of sharpening. (More information about sharpening can be found by searching the internet for "Unsharp mask").

Filename Suffix

The "Overlay/background filename suffix" provides a way of dynamically selecting different overlays and backgrounds for GIFs. Normally the filename for the background image used for prints is gif_background.jpg or gif_background_<n>.jpg and the overlay is gif_overlay.png or gif_overlay_<n>.png but this can be modified to dynamically select different overlay and background images using information such as the time, user responses to surveys or random numbers. The suffix is also applied to backgrounds and overlays added to prints.

Please see Print Layout Editor for information on how to use this setting.

The overlay/background suffix can also be used to select the countdown and preview screens. One use for this is when using a survey to select different backgrounds when using AI background removal.

Layout Editor

GIF Width & Height

Use the "GIF width in pixels" and "GIF height in pixels" settings to specify the size of the animated GIF.

Bounding Box

Use the "Photo bounding box left" to specify the position in pixels of the left of the photos from the left of the GIF frame.

Use the "Photo bounding box top" to specify the position in pixels of the top of the photos from the top of the GIF frame.

Use the "Photo bounding box width" and "Photo bounding box height" settings to specify the size in pixels of the left of the photos.

Crop to Bounding Box

The "Crop photo to bounding box" setting controls how the photo is resized to fit the bounding box.

If "Crop photo to bounding box" is set the photo is resized so that it fills the bounding box horizontally and vertically and cropped to fit. Example: if the photo is 900x600 pixels and the bounding box is 300x300 pixels the photo will be resized to 450x300 and 75 pixels will be cropped from the left and right of the photo so that it fills the bounding box.

If "Crop photo to bounding box" is not set the photo is resized so that it fits inside the bounding box. Example: if the photo is 900x600 pixels and the bounding box is 300x300 pixels the photo will be resized to 300x200 and centered within the bounding box.