Photobooth on the quick!

[eds1275]

I'm getting married on Saturday and was looking into photo booths to rent. Screw that! They aren't worth those prices! I'll build one using junk around the house and $50.

Price list:
Microsoft HD Lifecam - free, it's my webcam
Screen - LG 17" - free, it was in the junk pile
Computer - P4 3.2 2 gigs of ram, tiny xp - free, it's in the junk pile
Software - Free - http://www.openphotobooth.com/index.php
MDF - 1/2" 4x4, $12 at home depot
Lumber - pine 1x4x8 [x2] $10
Paint - 2 paint and primer in one rattle cans on sale at home depot - $10
Button - an x-arcade button I had laying around

I might end up adding a guitar pedal to trigger the photos.

So here's what I got done yesterday.


The paint is drying right now, more pics later!

[Vigo]

  I love cheap projects!

So I am guessing you are opting for the digital copies of the photos only?

Oh, congrats on gettin' hitched!

[eds1275]

After the wedding I plan on uploading a folder to my website and just send out a link to all the guests.

But this is no ordinary wedding. The ceremony is going to be held at Hatley Castle on Vancouver Island http://www.hatleycastle.com/ and is somewhat formal. Then the reception... where our makeup artists will transform all the attendees into zombies, and the booze will make them act the part. 100+ zombies, 3 pro photographers. The zombies were my fiance's idea. Which is great as a friend and I have written a film about zombies that we are going to film in august and this gives us a chance to try out some of the makeup artists.

[eds1275]

My original plan was to build this same idea and then make a collapsible frame out of ABS piping and hang dollar store shower curtains around it. I may just set this up at the reception so there's zombies in the background of every picture though.

[TopJimmyCooks]

Getting married in 5 days, straps on a last minute build, and  . . . zombies. 

What can I say - you're an animal.  Congratulations.

[eds1275]

Done! It has 2 1x4 feet that attach to the bottom to stop it from tipping over. They aren't on in the picture.



Inside ain't pretty, but it works. I might tidy it up in there after the wedding.



So basically what is going on is the pushbutton on the front is wired to a gamepad I hacked [upper left corner] that runs into the usb port. I set up Joy2Key to make that press the C button which is what the software wants. The software runs in a web browser window so I can do the ol' F11 trick to maximize the screen.

The back door of the thing which is not shown has a big furnace duct vent over the PC and the CPU fan blows right out. The back door also leaves a gap for heat to escape through.

This was my first time using Joy2Key. It was awesome and easy. Highly recommended.

[BurgerKingDiamond]

what is that stuff called that you're using to strap down all the components? I've needed some of that for awhile.

[eds1275]

It's called All Round, and is usually found in the plumbing section.

[HaRuMaN]

It's called All Round, and is usually found in the plumbing section.

Beat me to it, very useful stuff...

[Ond]

Great speedy last minute project!  All the very best for Saturday.

 

Ond

[DaOld Man]

I agree. Good quick job!
Congratulations on your wedding and I wish you two the best!
Please post some of your photo booth pics on here afterwards (family friendly of course LOL)

[Le Chuck]

Looking sharp, a nice contrast to GG's fullsize one.

Have fun getting hitched!

[bleargh]

But this is no ordinary wedding. The ceremony is going to be held at Hatley Castle on Vancouver Island http://www.hatleycastle.com/ and is somewhat formal.

SWEET....  Zombies at Royal Roads.

FYI... you do know that's the same building they used for the "X-Men" movies when they filmed in Victoria?  (my mother worked at Royal Roads for several years, and got to meet several of the stars while they were there for filming).  I laugh... reminds that then a few years after that, Vint Cerf was given an honourary degree and she neglected to tell me until after (otherwise I would've driven down island for that meeting).

[wol-nz]

Great job and good luck - you have to post pics of the wedding. I wanna see some ZOMBIES 

[Nephasth]

So, how'd it go? I'm DYING to see the pics from the photo booth.

[eds1275]

I will post some today! After the wedding [which was the least stressful wedding I've ever been to, and it was my own!] we had so many gifts that we couldn't fit the photo thingy in the car, so we ended up leaving it with the lady who did the makeup. She lives a 40 minute drive away so it wasn't a big deal to go pick it up, but we didn't get around to it until a few weeks after the wedding and since then it's just been leaning against my piano! I'll get them after I finish building what I'm building and pic a few good ones to post.

It was a hit though, especially with the kids. I was busy trying to talk to everyone but apparently people were on it all night.