A template (photo layout) defines what the print and the gallery image look like: where the photos sit and which texts and graphics go with them. You can build it yourself in the editor or import a finished frame – from Canva, for example.
Where you design templates
- In the Hub: under Templates, create a new one with Create template or open an existing one with Edit.
- In BoothDock Studio: in the admin area under Design → Photo layouts.
Both use the same editor – everything on this page applies in both places. Which templates an event uses is set in the event (see Create an event).
Using the editor
- Select and move: click or tap an element and drag it; use the handles to change its size.
- Align precisely: the Selected element panel shows position and size as numbers. The px / % toggle switches between pixels and percent of the canvas. The arrow keys nudge a selected element by 1 %, with Shift held by 5 %.
- Delete: click the element and press the Delete key. For image and photo elements the editor asks first. Backspace deliberately deletes nothing.
- Zoom: in the toolbar with − and + or the drop-down, from Fit up to 400 %. Alternatively hold Ctrl (Cmd on a Mac) and turn the mouse wheel. On iPads and tablets you move the zoomed canvas with your finger on an empty spot; elements are dragged as usual.
Placeholders in text
You can write two placeholders into any text element:
| Placeholder | Becomes |
|---|---|
{event} | the name of the event that is active on the box |
{datum} | today's date in the box's language |
In the Hub editor, {event} stays visible as a placeholder – the box fills in the event name when it creates the image.
Importing your own frame
Bring a finished frame as PNG or JPG into the editor with Import. The editor finds the photo windows by itself, in this order:
- Transparent areas in the image,
- otherwise areas in pure magenta #FF00FF – the recommended way, because you don't need a transparent background,
- as a fallback, large rectangular black areas.
Every detected area becomes a photo field (up to 12). The frame sits on top of the photos as an image, and the photo fields reach a little under the frame – so no white edges show. If the editor finds no area, it places one photo field in the middle behind the frame; you then move it by hand.
The right size
Templates work at 300 dpi. If your image has exactly the pixel dimensions of a format, the editor uses that format; otherwise it creates a custom format in the image's size (at most 4800 px per side).
| Format | Pixels |
|---|---|
| 2×6 strip | 600 × 1800 |
| 4×6 portrait | 1200 × 1800 |
| 4×6 landscape | 1800 × 1200 |
| 5×7 portrait | 1500 × 2100 |
Step by step with Canva
- In Canva, create a design with custom dimensions, e.g. 600 × 1800 px for a 2×6 strip.
- Design the frame and fill rectangles with the colour #FF00FF wherever photos should go.
- Download as PNG – a transparent background is not needed.
- In the editor, choose Import and open the file. A message tells you how many magenta areas became photo windows.
Template packages from other photo booth software
Import also accepts template packages as a ZIP with a template.xml, as used by dslrBooth and LumaBooth – template providers such as templatesbooth include these, for example. Photo fields, frame image and texts arrive in the editor as separate elements that you can keep editing.
Templates from the shop
In BoothDock Studio you open the template selection via the name of the current template at the top of the toolbar. The Shop tab offers ready-made templates, sorted by category and with a search. One click creates the template as a new template on the box; after that you edit it like any other. The tab only appears when the box can load the catalog from the Hub. The Hub editor has no shop.
Offering only one layout
In BoothDock Studio, every template under Design → Photo layouts has the switch Selectable in the kiosk in the Usage & printing section. If only one template is selectable, guests skip the layout choice – in photo mode they go straight to the shot.
If the box is connected to a Hub event, the event decides which Hub templates are selectable and sets this again at every sync; a change in the Hub usually arrives within a minute. In that case, tick only one template in the event's Templates tab.