JohnFeg

While working on my “Seville Boat Excursion” project, I have encountered a few things that are, perhaps, worth mentioning: a) 2 hours of work was lost because of a little crash. I’d had MS Media Player on, listening to a music CD. On shutting it down, with PTE still running, PTE shut down as well. I found it difficult, nearly impossible, to make any modification to small objects (the little riverboat) in the object list. The only way round this I found, was to bring the object to the front and then, after tweeking it, putting it back to it’s correct position, relative to the other object, by tediously repeating “step back one”. Has anyone found a better way? c) Regarding the sympathetic presentation of images, against the background of the master image. To my taste, adding a subtle drop shadow, proved to be the most pleasing. See what you think when I post for comments. That, I hope! will be tomorrow. d) The easiest way to accurately position the small PNGs of the bridges – over the map, (so that the boat appeared to pass beneath them) turned out to be by including in the Bridge PNG some distinct, contrasting feature (generally it was a road edge) Then, by reducing the opacity of the Bridge PNG to 30%, it was a very simple business obtaining good registration. e) Surprisingly, I found that “cut-out” objects displayed better if no feathering was applied. All food for thought; but, BEWARE of Media Players! John

Al, that sound good advice. I'm not in the slightest interested in games and I'd much rather get something that has been tested in the PTE environment. The Radeon is additionally a hell of a lot cheaper. Next time you're in the UK I'll buy you a beer. Regards John

Having now made several trial shows using V.5 beta 2, I'm pretty sure my card is struggling - (it's an NVIDEA Ge Force 6200 Turbo Cache All my animations display, but, the zooms are a bit "jerky". Now, taking the cue from my dear old Mother. Who always bought us as children shoes that were too large. (the number of sizes in excess being directly propotional to the state of the family budget!). So I'm considering a card, with "a bit of slack", in anticipation of Ivors future application improvements. I've found this beast, a Gainward 7950 GX2 PCI-E with 1Gb. of RAM, but honestly have no idea whether, or not, comparable performance improvement could be gained at a lower price? I'm really only interested in what it will do, relating to PTE. If any of you computer experts have any views on this matter, I' be very grateful to hear them. John

Ron, I think perhaps you "over-egged the pudding" somewhat. A case of over enthusiastic use of port wheel by the helmsman! I think the effect would work better if: a) the ships speed through the water was a bit slower. These modern, welded sardine cans of ships are not as fleet of foot as they ought to be! she heeled a bit to starboard, during the turn. c) the turn was a little more leisurely. To be quite honest though, I don't think the technique (if it's even worthy of that term) will serve in any other circumstance than when the subject is both small and on the screen for a very short duration. For the final version of my map project I have abandonned it. Instead, I'm using another image (of a location along the route) to cover up the awkward transition. Your sequence, however, made me quite nostalgic. I served in Destroyers for many years and have never really managed to totally assimilate shoregoing life. Best wishes John

As soon as I can lay hands on a suitable map I'll post it for comment. This little project, for me, has been both agreeable and satisfying, notwithstanding, the moments of utter frustration when thing didn't quite go accordin to plan! John

Do you mean : replace the bridges with black rectangles ?

Thedom, Al & Lin, Well you folk have certainly given me something to think about. I've placed a large bottle of Asprin alongside my machine LOL, tonight I'll get down to it. It seems to me, at least for the "travelogue" sort of shows I make, that it will be well worth getting the fundementals of this type of animation sorted out. It lends itself well to the application of a 1001 themes and variations. On the subject of how images of locations along the way are presented; initially, I made my images "spring out" (from very small image @ 0% opacity to about 50% screen area at 100% opacity) I liked the effect of still being able to see the map, while an image is displayed. However, it seemed that the image was not sypmathetically related to the map, maybe because the edges were too sharp. When I'm a little futher down the track I'm going to try feathering the image edges, using images having edges with no straight lines and applying a drop shadow. I'll let you know how it goes, but, don't hold your breath! I can't work at the rate as you guys are able to produce results. Regards John

Thanks again for your help. I've, I hope, grasped the technique for adding the boat. BUT, having woken very early this morning, all fired with enthusiasm for applying your "keep the route centre stage" idea. When I added a new keypoint (to the map cut out-route image) and then tried to zoom and pan it, I hit a snag. It zoomed and panned OK, but. independantly of the underlying "map background image" and, of course, registration was lost. I'm sure that all the images must be linked. but cannot figure out how to do it in the existing image list. Can it be done? or must I start from scratch? I hope you will not mind, too much, me again distracting you from your own work. John

Thank you Thedom, I'm grateful you took the trouble to make such useful suggestions. My intention, for the final version of the animation, had been to make the journey some 4 mins duration. As the red marker progessed, photographs would "spring out" at the appropriate point, to fill about 50% of the screen area, so that the map remained visible. There is a voiceover for each photo' on completion of which, the photo fades out. I got this version completed today. I WAS quite pleased with it, until I saw your idea of maintaining the route centre screen. SO, it's back to the drawing board in the morning! One thing, that I'm not sure is practical, is: the addition a small boat. It would necessitate a great number of individual "red progress bars" if the boats heading was to remain parallel to the river banks (and as an ex Navy man, nothing else would be good enough). If you can see a way round this little difficulty, I'd be glad to hear of it By the way, I much admired the night shot over the Guadalquivir. Kind regards John

Very much enjoyed "Versailles" Jean-Pierre. Many of your transitions were most tasteful and creative. You set a standard to work towards. Many thanks for sharing. John

This demo has now been posted at http://www.alrobinson.com/Seville_Boat_Trip.zip

Alrobin, Ken & Thedom, Many thanks for the help. I've sent the demo to Alrobin's site, he has been kind enough to host it for me. Hope it will be of some interest. john

Some 4-5 weeks ago Alrobin , and others, produced some animations that illustrated the progress made, on a journey, by means of a "Red Progress Line" moving along a cut out route on a map. At the time the was some discussion on how to cope when the route included sharp changes of direction, in particular, the visually unpleasing effect this produces because the red progress bar ceases to be perpendicular the axis of the route. I've been putting together a show which includes a river excursion on the Gualalquivir in Seville. This trip included a 180 degree course change, within the 150m, or so, wide river. My method, which I think resolves the above difficulties, has been made into a 4.25mg. file (inc. .exe file, artwork and Project File. I'd like to make this available for comment and information. BUT , am not sure how to post it on the forum. Will be grateful for a bit of guidance. John

Question for Ivor, will it be possible, at a later stage in V.5 development, to attach sound files to images added to the "Main Image" in "Objects & Amimation". John

Very many thanks Ken. My mail address is :- johnfeag52@btinternet.com Looking forward to hearing from you. John

I just got back from holiday, the download for the "Layer Comps" tutorial seems to be no longer available. Does anyone have a link where it can be obtained? John

Trés bien Cèlou. I liked your demo very much, but, I couldn't figure out how you made the effect of rotating the cards about their vertical axes. Your method, in French or English, would be very much appreciated. John

Is it known yet when the function, "Add Sound" to a slide (When in the main menu screen) will be made operable? V5 is really a great joy to work with. Congratulation on what the team for a great achievement. John

Al, Yes, I thought that might be the case. Had thought about what you suggest, but, I don't want to tie myself into the inflexibility that that option would entail. I've been playing around with V.5 for a few days and, other than for this limitation concerning sound files, I consider that, for the purposes of the particular Slideshows I'm presently working on, it is practical to work using V.5. Version 5 really is such a monumental step change. Perhaps Igor can give us some idea when the option to add sound to slides will be activated. If this is not to be futher into the future than, say 3 months, my plan will be to construct those new shows I have "on the slips" in V.5 and then hold them, uncompleted, until such time that the voiceover can be added. Hope I'm not being overoptimistic! John

I've tried to add sound files to slides using the "Sound" facility on the main V.5 screen. Although the file routing and name appear, as normal, in the slot; no sound! The files are just short "voiceovers" in mp3Pro (FGH) format. I've tried these same files in PTE V.4 and they run perfectly. Is it simply that the "Sound" function has not yet been enabled in V.5? or have I missed something? Grateful if somebody can shed some light. PS Thank you Al. and Michael; the mask and the bee demos, they were appreciated. Regards John