FMPrint Overview

FMPrint is Foto Master's cloud-native print management application that enables distributed printing across photo booth events. Built with Flutter for cross-platform support, FMPrint acts as a dedicated print station that polls the Foto Master Cloud for print jobs, downloads photo assets, and sends them to connected printers -- all while providing real-time monitoring and analytics.

How FMPrint Works

FMPrint operates on an event-driven, cloud-first architecture:

1. A guest takes a photo at any Foto Master booth (FMX Windows, FMX iPad, or custom integration)
2. The booth creates a print job by sending a request to Foto Master Cloud
3. FMPrint polls the Cloud every 3-5 seconds for new jobs assigned to its event
4. FMPrint downloads the photo from a secure CDN via a pre-signed URL
5. FMPrint sends the photo to the printer and reports the result back to the Cloud
6. Cloud updates analytics with print success/failure data

This decoupled design means the booth and the printer do not need to be on the same computer or even the same network.

Key Features

Cloud Print Queue

• Automatic job polling -- FMPrint continuously checks for new print jobs (every 3-5 seconds)
• Atomic job reservation -- Jobs are atomically reserved to prevent duplicate printing
• Job expiration -- Reserved jobs auto-expire after 2-5 minutes if not processed, returning to the queue
• Idempotent job creation -- Client job IDs prevent duplicate prints from retries

Multi-Printer Support

• Default printer -- Configured for standard full-size prints (4x6, 5x7, etc.)
• Strip printer -- Separate printer configurable for photo strip layouts (2x6)
• Printer pool -- Distribute jobs across multiple printers for load balancing
• Automatic routing -- Jobs route to the correct printer based on print mode (full vs strip)

Print Modes

FMPrint supports multiple print modes set by the booth when creating the job:

• full -- Standard full-size prints, routed to the default printer
• strip -- Photo strip layouts, routed to the strip printer
• Paper size (4x6, 5x7, 6x8, etc.) is controlled by the printer driver configuration

Real-Time Dashboard

The FMPrint dashboard provides live monitoring:

• Job queue -- All pending, printing, and completed jobs with status indicators
• Printer status -- Online/offline state, paper supply, error alerts
• Cloud connectivity -- API response times and connection stability
• Session statistics -- Jobs printed, failed, total copies, average processing time
• Event info -- Current event name, duration, booth breakdown

Heartbeat Monitoring

FMPrint sends a heartbeat to the Cloud every 10-20 seconds, reporting:

• Online/offline status
• Active printer name
• Jobs printed and failed this session
• Client version and OS info

This allows Cloud administrators to monitor print station health remotely.

Offline Resilience

• Local caching -- Jobs are cached locally during network outages
• Automatic reconnection -- Resumes Cloud communication when connectivity returns
• Graceful degradation -- Core printing continues even if Cloud is temporarily unavailable

Licensing and Pricing

FMPrint is free with unlimited licenses. There is no additional cost to use FMPrint -- you simply create a license in the Cloud dashboard and start printing.

• License keys follow the format FMPRINT-XXXX-XXXX
• Create unlimited FMPrint licenses from Cloud > Licenses
• Each license determines which events the print service can access
• No per-printer or per-device fees

Platform Support

FMPrint is built with Flutter and supports:

• Windows (primary platform for event use)
• macOS
• Linux
• Web (browser-based monitoring)

Getting Started

1. Download FMPrint from your Foto Master Cloud dashboard
2. Install on a Windows PC connected to your printer(s)
3. Launch FMPrint and enter your FMPrint license key
4. Select the event you want to service from the available events list
5. FMPrint begins polling for jobs automatically