VertexBooth 1.2.0.0 went out on 14 September 2026. It is a free update for anyone already running the software, and the same free download for anyone who is not. The headline is not a feature. It is weight. During a session the booth now holds roughly half the memory it used to. The idle start screen costs almost nothing to run. Everything also moved to .NET 10. Framing, a launcher lock and a webcam frame rate limit came with it.
Here is what changed, why it changed, and what this release still does not fix.
Why VertexBooth 1.2.0.0 was about weight, not features
Photo booth software gets built on a desktop and then run on something else entirely. The machine that actually travels to an event is a thin laptop, a tablet, or a small PC bolted inside a cabinet. Integrated graphics, 8 GB of shared memory, a processor that throttles once the case gets warm. Our software ran comfortably on the desktop it was written on. On event hardware it could run hot, stall for a second in the middle of a guest session, or close.
So before writing a line of fix, we spent a day measuring. A sampler logged memory, handles, drawing objects and processor load twice a second through a scripted booth run. Then a second harness timed the animated screens on their own. The expensive things were not the ones we expected, and none of them were the camera or the printer. The full set of numbers, and what a 4 MB background animation really costs, is in our write up on booth software performance.
The measured difference
All of these came from the same scripted booth run on the same PC, compared against the build from 13 September.
| What was measured | Before | 1.2.0.0 |
|---|---|---|
| Memory peak during a session | about 735 MB | about 400 to 425 MB |
| Memory on the idle screen after a session | about 320 MB | about 185 MB |
| Processor use on the idle start screen | about 9% of one core | 0.3% of one core |
| Processor use during sessions | 18% to 28% of one core | about 16% of one core |
| Interface thread during sessions | 6% to 7% | 1% to 3.5% |
Two caveats, because they matter. The memory rows and the processor rows were captured at different points in the work. That second run also had the booth relaunched once part way through. So read them as two measurements rather than one clean pair. Also, that test machine has sixteen cores and memory to spare. A fanless laptop has far less headroom, which is exactly why a 400 MB swing on every photo was worth removing.
If you want the software without reading any further, the current build is on the VertexBooth download page. It runs fully, watermarked, with no account and no card.
What is new in VertexBooth 1.2.0.0
Framing
You draw one rectangle on the booth’s own view and that becomes the photo. It trims a ceiling, a doorway, or the edge of a backdrop that never belonged in the shot. The important part is that the live view and the printed photo now read the same rectangle, so a guest sees what they are going to get. The card also tells you when you have cropped so far that prints will start to look soft.
Launcher lock and a red exit button
A padlock in the launcher sets a password for that PC. It protects creating, deleting, renaming and exporting profiles, opening Studio, and running the booth if you tick that box. Separately, every screen can now carry a red exit button while leaving the booth stays password protected, and you can move or hide that button per screen. This is aimed at anyone who leaves a machine somewhere unattended, or hands a booth to staff who should not be editing screens between guests.
Webcam frame rate
Camera and Live View has a Frame rate setting under Capture size. Plenty of webcams happily run at 60 frames a second, which is far more than a live view needs and keeps a laptop working all night for nothing. Capping at 30 fps roughly halves the work on a 60 fps camera. Automatic keeps the camera’s fastest, as before, so nothing changes unless you choose it.
Heavy animation warning
A screen whose animated background redraws most of the picture on every frame now says so. The note appears on its card, and in the check before the booth opens. It is a note, not a block, and you can disregard it. The reason it exists is simple. A single full motion GIF can be the most expensive thing on the machine, and nothing in the file size tells you that.
Smaller things
The countdown can be a picture or an animated GIF instead of numbers. Monitoring split into four tabs: Booth health, Live web page, Phone alerts and Accessories. Print designs live in one list with Duplicate and Delete on each card. Overlapping weekly hours now say which one wins.
Running a booth on a laptop? This is the release to be on. Download VertexBooth 1.2.0.0, free to try, no account needed.
The move to .NET 10, and the one thing it broke
Everything now builds on .NET 10, Microsoft’s current long term supported release. For an operator this is invisible, and that is the point. There is still no runtime to install, because everything ships inside the installer. What it buys is a few years of security and performance work from Microsoft that we do not have to write ourselves.
One thing did break, and it is worth naming rather than hiding. .NET 10 no longer passes custom objects through a drag and drop inside a Windows desktop app, so the strip designer stopped being able to drag a layer. It now carries a text marker instead. That was found by our own tests, not by an operator. Still, a smaller shop moving framework versions is exactly where a quiet regression reaches a paid event.
What this release does not fix
Being early is not the same as being vague, so here is the honest edge of it.
- Sony and Nikon tethering are still labelled beta. Every line is written against the manufacturers’ own SDKs and checked, but neither has been run against a real body yet. Keep a capture card as a fallback for a paid event.
- A big full motion animation still costs processor time while it plays. The memory fix decodes a frame only when it is needed, rather than keeping every frame ready, which trades memory for a little processor. An MP4 avoids both costs, which is why the warning suggests one.
- A 1080p webcam still costs about 20% of a core simply delivering frames, even when nothing is being encoded from them. The frame rate setting is the lever for that, not a cure.
- Windows only, dye sub printers only, and no video capture yet. Video and 360 support are on the VertexBooth roadmap.
How to update
The booth checks for a new version when it starts and tells you when one is ready. You can install it, put it off, or skip that version. Nothing installs while a guest is mid session. A booked event blocks one too, including a required fix. Otherwise the button on the download page is always the current release. It is 73 MB, Windows 10 and 11, 64 bit. Your profiles, screens, print designs, settings and photos are not touched by an update.
VertexBooth 1.2.0.0 questions
What is the latest version of VertexBooth?
1.2.0.0, released on 14 September 2026. The installer is 73 MB and runs on 64 bit Windows 10 and Windows 11.
Does the update cost anything?
No. Updates are included, and an early access licence is a one time $250 with no subscription. The software also runs for free with a watermark on each photo, no account and no card.
Will updating change my screens or my saved designs?
No. Profiles, screens, print designs, settings and photos are left exactly as they are. Testing, licence and update settings are per PC and do not travel with an exported profile.
Do I need to install .NET 10 myself?
No. Everything the software needs is inside the installer, so there is no runtime, no framework and no prerequisite to chase down first.
Does it still run on Windows 10?
Yes, on 64 bit Windows 10. The one exception is Nikon Z series tethering, which needs Windows 11. Nikon’s DSLR bodies work on Windows 10.
What is next
Two commitments out of this release. Sony and Nikon come out of beta only once they have been run against real bodies. We will also name the bodies, rather than quietly dropping the label. And the performance harness stays. Every release from here gets measured against the same scripted booth run before it ships. A booth that stalls in front of a queue costs more than a feature that arrives a week late.
Try it on your own hardware before you decide anything. Every part of it works, watermarked, and there is nothing to sign up for. Download VertexBooth, or read what the software does on the photo booth software page.
