Calligram Creator can work in two modes: operator assisted, and unaided. The latter is typically applied in Photo booths. The Photo booth must provide the following requirements:

• Touchscreen, preferably landscape, of minimum size 1280 x 1024 pixels in size.
• Windows operating system, preferably Windows 7 or 10, 64 bit or 32 bit is both possible. 
• Webcam, either external, attached via USB, or internal, but it must be recognized by the application. Resolution should preferably be moderate, e.g. 640x480 or 600x800 to avoid high CPU load when the signal is processed in Calligram Creator. Proprietary camera software must be pre-installed, to make sure the application recognizes the (web)cam. The application can  not manage/control a tethered camera, since this would require (expensive) camera API integration with the Calligram Creator code.
• Quite a powerful system, e.g. at least an Intel i5 or Ryzen 5 processor. Calligram Creator requires a powerful computing environment.

The interface is initiated from the 'Event Management' tab, by pressing the 'Show visitor interface' button:

The folllowing 'Allowed by visitor' controls are available:

• Allow to send e-mail: when checked the button 'Mail' is shown and active, so the visitor can send the resulting image by e-mail.
• Allow to print Calligram: when checked the visitor can send the image to a printer, while the 'Print' button is visible. A printer must be made available and working as a default printer. Of course also the paper size must ideally match with the actual print size of the resulting image from the booth. Thorough testing is heavily recommended before allowing the booth to run/print unattended.
• Allow to take snapshot: when checked the visitor is allowed to take a snapshot (automated, no additional interface controls are required for a snapshot). In contrast to tethered shooting, where an external image is offered to the hot folder, and where e.g. the visitor is not invited in a booth, but offered a (windows) touch PC to manage the printing and mailing actions.
• Allow to tweak and edit: when unchecked the Calligram/Legogram/Emojigram is immediately made after the snapshot was OK-ed, therefore skipping the tweaking steps (colour, type of Emojis, Lego brick amount). 

'Reset visitor interface': this will reset the interface back to the default settings. The GUI will also be hidden. Only by pressing 'Show visitor interface' the GUI is shown again.

A snapshot is made by an external source

When a Photo booth is used, but the snapshot is still made by a professional operator, e.g. with a special background, greenscreen or for other reasons, the 'Hot folder' is used to show the image in the interface of the customer. Multiple images can exist in this Hot folder. Most important: the snapshot queue will effectively process the images in order of time: first images first. The screenshot compilation below shows what happens after an image is put in the Hot Folder (here: 'Booth'). The inset on the right is a resized Booth interface, where the image is now shown.

After pressing the GUI is shown, slightly smaller than the interface of the main application. The booth window is not put on top, so when you click the main application, it will move the booth interface to the back. This new window can be dragged to a second output monitor is needed. Dragging the window from its default position will reveal again the tab 'Event Management'. When checking the option 'Show full screen', the main application will then become hidden, but is still visible 'below' the GUI window. Pressing the 'ESC' will dock the window back to the application, and the tab 'Event Management' is now fully visible again. This is the view when maximized to full screen, and the (visitor)  'Start' button is now visible. 

The Calligram booth interface

After having pressed the Start button, two scenarios can be followed: tethered shooting will start immediately in the customization screens, while webcam shooting will result in a video mirror, with a countdown timer of 5 seconds. The image above is the interface of a webcam, the image below is the result of a tethered shooting scenario. Note: the recently added face and skin recognition is not available in Booth mode. The snapshot is the actual cam image, not filtered or panned/zoomed in any way. Calligram creation has two customization controls, which are offered one at the time. Emojigram and Legogram both have only one, details are shown further down this chapter.

Here the familiar controls are now shown again:

• Top image: the black and white outline, where the black parts will be used to put the words.
• Bottom image: the colours, based on a number of colours, presets ('Template'), random colours (the 'Dice' button), and radial or linear colour blends. The - and + images can either toggle between 17 preset colours, or toggel between colour images, as found in the 'Data' folder. The colour images will be however be resized to match with the current print dimensions.
• 'Create' button: show the Calligram. A progress pop-up window is shown, so the visitor know that something is happening.

After completion of the Calligram the full result is shown. The visitor can now choose to try again, or accept the result, and start the next actions (mail, print). The magnifying glasses represent the option to zoom in and out, and move the image with the mouse/fingers over the screen:

When the 'Great' button is pressed, the visitor can now complete the session by printing and/or mailing. The post-creation options are set with the 'Allow' checkboxes in the tab 'Event Management'. In the example below both mailing and printing was allowed.

In case also the mailing was allowed, an e-mail keyboard is now shown:

The keyboard layout is QWERTY, where some buttons are replaced with useful keys, like the left and right key, and the Return button is now called 'Send Mail'. The round blue button top-right is the return button when the mail interface must be discarded. Pressing the blue 'Mail' button, will again show this pop-up keyboard.

When the mail client is set up correctly, the visitor will then see the mail-sending progress bar indicating that the mail and image is successfully sending. During mail sending the keyboard is de-activated. It's the responsibility of the visitor to type in the correct e-mail address. In case an error is made, the blue 'return' button can be pressed. This should be clearly communicated to the visitor, that in case nothing happens with the progress bar after a few seconds, the mail can apparently not be sent.

Finally, the last step of the visitor when mailing and/or printing has been completed, is to press the 'Stop' button. In case this is forgotten, the time-out timer will automatically close the current sessions after the indicated period of time. After completing the cycle the snapshot image is removed, and the hot folder is ready for a next snapshot.

Using the webcam for snapshot creation.

In a real Photo Booth usually the visitor is supposed to take the snapshot him/herself. In that case the option 'Allow to make a snapshot' must be active. In such Booth the webcam must first be activated. In case the option 'Allow to make a snapshot' is made active, but the webcam is still not active the operator, preparing the booth, is informed not to forget to activate the webcam first. When the booth interface is made active, the 'allow' options are disabled. You cannot change an 'allow' option when the visitor interface is active. Closing the interface is first needed, then change the settings, and then activate the booth interface again. The start screen in the booth for webcam is a gray rectangle with the text 'Press Start'. With each new visitor the previous data is backed-up and the images are deleted from the booth interface. This is done to protect the privacy of the last visitor.

When the (web)cam is activated, and the booth interface is active, the start screen is slightly different: the webcam is active, and a visitor can immediately make a snapshot pose, before pressing the 'Start' button. A countdown is shown, counting down from 5 to 0. When the snapshot is taken, it is now shown. The two buttons will either continue to the customization screen (described at the start of this chapter), or re-take the snapshot. Countdown is immediate after pressing the 'Again' button. 

In case the visitor won't like to continue, a time-out counter will reset the interface to default (active webcam only, ready to start). The snapshot image is automatically removed from the Hot folder after completing the cycle, or when the time-out counter sets the defaults. 

The Emojigram booth interface

The Emojigram interface in the booth is slightly different from the Calligram version. The workflow is however identical, so many of the above screenshots are also valid for the Emojigram (and as well for the Legogram). This is the specific Emojigram interface after a snapshot was taken or a tethered image has been made available:

On the left the snapshot is shown, the image on the right shows a random selection of the actual emoji library. The visitor can now only select the emoji library. Only four libraries can be shown, and are always shown in alphabetical order. In case there are 4 in the Homework Studio, the last will not be shown here (e.g. 'Samsung' or 'Twitter'). In case less then 4 libraries were made available in the Homework Studio, e.g. 3 libraries, then only 3 checkboxes and library names are shown, etcetera. It's highly recommended to at least offer two. The first (in alphabetical order) is selected by default. When a different library is selected in the booth, a new random selection in real size (72 pixels in size) is shown.

The visitor can customize the Legogram using three parameters: the number of bricks (studs) across, the number of colours, and if Lego-only colours should be selected. When Lego colours are selected certain (required) colours may not be available, and the result can look awkward. But realistic, since this would also look like the result if real Lego bricks were used. By default, the Lego colours are not selected, since the result usually looks much better. On the other hand, if the visitor wants to recreate the image with real Lego bricks then the colours must really be Lego-only.

Note: each time the visitor selects a different amount, the image on the right will be updated. On fast systems this may take only fraction of a second, on slow systems the refresh time may be considered sluggish and annoying. It's a matter of personal acceptance of how fast the response should ideally be.

Time-out counter

The application has a time-out counter in booth mode. The application simply measures the period of time of inactive interaction. Inactive means: no touch or mouse interaction. This was done to make sure that unattended booths will automatically return to start, with no previous snapshots or otherwise customized images still visible. The time-out inactivity period can be set, as well as the count-down warning pop-up window:

When no response is provided by the visitor, the booth will reset the interface after the count-down reaches 0.