Family History [Resolved]

[trailertrash]

I want to start creating a family history. I have done some research and seen loads of scrapbook and album pictures. Is there a family history template or scrapbook template I could look at or buy to get me started on this.

Any help would be appreciated.

Andrew

[JEB]

I want to start creating a family history. I have done some research and seen loads of scrapbook and album pictures. Is there a family history template or scrapbook template I could look at or buy to get me started on this.

Any help would be appreciated.

Andrew

Andrew,

I have just started to tackle this as a project. I have looked at a number of potential ways of approaching it and decided on using PTE. I suspect that the old adage of there being many ways of skinning a cat holds good but to use another adage I have decided to stick with the devil I know.

I considered utilizing web design technology by taking advantage of an opportunity I have of completing a Dreamweaver course. I also looked at a number of products such as Family Tree Maker which allow you to put together albums for distribution to family members. Not knowing enough about web based technology I came to the conclusion that PTE would serve me best.

Having established in my own mind that my objective was simply to produce a DVD for my son and daughter that could be played on a TV and would provide simple navigation, I decided on the following strategy.

I aim to produce four PTE shows. One for my paternal line, one for my maternal line and another two for my wife's paternal and maternal lines. These will appear as four options on the opening page of the DVD.

Each show will have a commentary which can be paused, reversed etc. through the DVD player controls.

The one major disadvantage I see about this approach is its lack of flexibility for future additions. There has to be a cut-off time for inserting information. This may be better achieved with a web based option but then again I don't know enough about that to be certain. I will probably add an addendum (5th show). I have this in mind as a way of recording information that would make the main four shows even more boring than they are likely to be in any event.

I am also interested in anything any other member has done in the past regarding “skinning cats”!

John

[Guest Yachtsman1]

Hi Jeb

I don't know how much content you are planning for the DVD, you need to look at how much you can fit on a DVD, which I suppose you already have? It was the ADDING TO comment that flagged the thought. Personally I like the PTE format idea with the facility to post your work on a hosting site making distribution easier.

Regards Yachtsman1

[Esc]

Hi Andrew!

I hope JRR will respond to this topic.

5+ years ago he kindly send me a copy of his work on

his family history using PtE. I think Al Robinson at

that time helped him out. It is a interactive collection

of PtE-shows on a CD. Very well done.

I have been in genealogy for more than 20 years but have yet

to get myself together to do my own CD. It is a long work

but very exciting at times. You will learn a lot of history,

family history as well as local, industrial, war etc. along

the way.

/Lennart

[JRR]

Andrew:

Yes I did produce an extensive family tree using PTE "many" years ago. It was actually 110 individual PTE (cross)linked by over 200 OBJECTS (buttons)

I used "Run application and return" as that was the only option back then, you could use "Run Slideshow and return" if they are all in ver 6 today.

More recent versions would work much better as the objects remain in the same relative position now - back then I had to force the show to play on any PC at a fixed resolution otherwise the buttons were not in the proper place.

Today I would either use .png images or invisible gifs as the objects.

There were so many individual PTE shows as I included many different branches of the family on a very discrete basis. I also had AVs on my mother talking about how she met my father, houses they had lived in, and other family memories. Other AVs included newspapers clippings on family events over the past many years etc etc

It took me 6 months full time to produce it.

I suspect that I could do it more quickly today with ver 6 and the knowledge/techniques I have accumulated over the years.

But be cautioned Andrew that while you have an interest in the family tree, the rest of the family might not be as interested and all the work might not be watched as much as you might hope.

While I personally feel the AV show is the best way to go as it allows total flexibility and permits sound files (and video files in the future :rolleyes: ) I would recommend using a self publishing site such as BLURB as that medium would likely be looked at more by family members and withstand the changes in the PC world that will inevitably happen.

[trailertrash]

Thanks for the replies. This is something I have wanted to do for a long time. I have a new great niece who's mum seems to be taking an interest in the history of our family. So I thought I would do a p2e scrapbook for the wee one to see in years to come. I have a web site set up for our tree research and its pretty good. Tribal pages is the provider and they are pretty effecient with the user interface and ease of use. Have a look here:

http://www2.tribalpages.com/tribe/browse?userid=mailman814&view=0&pid=5&rand=154265641

I just wondered if anyone had a ready made template to share or sell, that would give me some ideas on how best to get started on shuch a presentation.

As for family interest, it seems the younger ones today dont have the same interest as us oldies. Maybe they have to wait a few years....

Andrew

[Maureen]

I have been reseraching my family tree since 1968 and my husband's family roots are trully International.

I created a web site which became so massive and compex that I ended up taking it down to create a new "tidier" site and it's still on my to-do list here.

I also have created PTE sequences about various family members and events.

I find keeping all the records up to date is done best using the Genealogy software Family Tree Maker which now has the facility to create simple web sites.

I have researched every branch and some go back to 1496 so I have masses to upload.

My own deceased parents' taped recollections have yet to be converted into PTE sequences.

As previously stated, I found years ago no one in the family was interested in my records. However since the web has developed I have made contact with many very remote cousins who are now starting to do their research too. So it has given me more incentive to keep the records up to date.

Good luck with your project.

I also created a book using the Aldi software. Much cheaper version than Blurb and easier to then produce an amended copy with updates. Check out www.aldi.com and then their Photo services.

Hope this helps.

[trailertrash]

Thank you Maureen,

This is going to be a small project for the wee girl. Just a quick sequence to show her some of the pictures I have ammassed over the years. Her Grandad [my brother] and us [my other 3 brothers] were all in the same Regiment and her forebears were all military people from her Great Great Grandad and her Great Gran to date. So she has a lot to learn. I have family tree maker and will also do some work with that.

My original question was just me trying to cut corners again. Guess there's no easy way round something like this.

Andrew.

[JRR]

I want to start creating a family history. I have done some research and seen loads of scrapbook and album pictures. Is there a family history template or scrapbook template I could look at or buy to get me started on this.

Any help would be appreciated.

Andrew

Andrew (and all)

Esc (Lennart)and I have been e-mailing back and forth for the past little while re my family tree "production" and he has asked that I make my template/pte file available.

An explanation first:

The "production" was done in 2003, using ver 2.x or maybe 3.x of PTE.

It involved over 100 individual .exe files that were linked by OBJECTS.

Back then, OBJECTS did not "stay in place" as they have since ver 5.0. If the show was presented on a different screen resolution than the one it was made on, the OBJECTS did not maintain their position (and in my case I used transparent buttons) and would not line up where they were supposed to.

The transparent buttons appear as rectangles around various family names etc.

Screens were smaller back then, so the production was aimed at a screen size 1152x863 and I used WINDOW MODE to keep everything in place. (I had to use a few other tricks too, but I won't go there now)

As mentioned in an earlier post in this thread, it was a lot of work and has not been viewed by the family as much I would have hoped. If I were to do it again, I would do a printed version in book publishing service (see above postings).

I have created two versions of the pte file:

- one was created as a template in ver 4.48

- second one was created as a zipped back up in ver 6

This was the main show from which most other things linked off.

The two zips are contained in one zip file here

Hopes this is of some help to someone, if only to get a feel for just how much work is involved.......

[Ken Cox]

Andrew (and all)

Esc (Lennart)and I have been e-mailing back and forth for the past little while re my family tree "production" and he has asked that make my template/pte file available.

An explanation first:

The "production" was done in 2003, using ver 2.x or maybe 3.x of PTE.

It involved over 100 individual .exe files that were linked by OBJECTS.

Back then, OBJECTS did not "stay in place" as they have since ver 5.0. If the show was presented on a different screen resolution than the one it was made on, the OBJECTS did not maintain their position (and in my case I used transparent buttons) and would not line up where they were supposed to.

The transparent buttons appear as rectangles around various family names etc.

Screens were smaller back then, so the production was aimed at a screen size 1152x863 and I used WINDOW MODE to keep everything in place. (I had to use a few other tricks too, but I won't go there now)

As mentioned in an earlier post in this thread, it was a lot of work and has not been viewed by the family as much I would have hoped. If I were to do it again, I would do a printed version in book publishing service (see above postings).

I have created two versions of the pte file:

- one was created as a template in ver 4.48

- second one was created as a zipped back up in ver 6

This was the main show from which most other things linked off.

The two zips are contained in one zip file here

Hopes this is of some help to someone, if only to get a feel for just how much work is involved.......

JIM IS NOT JUST A "PRETTY" FACE

great job

ken

[mhwarner]

Andrew (and all)

Hopes this is of some help to someone, if only to get a feel for just how much work is involved.......

I'm sure you must have spent a great deal of time on this endeavor. Just putting together the blended family pictures must have been quite an undertaking. Thank you for sharing this piece. It's given me some ideas for a small project I'm thinking of putting together since I have recently connected with quite a number of young relatives on Facebook.

[trailertrash]

Thanks Jim, I'm downloading it as we speak.

Andrew

[JRR]

...Just putting together the blended family pictures must have been quite an undertaking. Thank you for sharing this piece. ....

Mary:

Yes as time consuming (and mind boggling) as it was to link all the AVs to each other, putting together the Family Tree slides in PhotoShop was very time consuming.

Ken:

Thank goodness I am more than a "pretty face" as it ain't that pretty....

(I keep thinking I should use my profile shot as my avatar - but that would be overdoing it :D )

Andrew:

Hope the pte files help you somewhat

[Slim]

I was looking for a family tree style or template. I found this old link, and wanted to see if the style was still available or if something newer was available to download.

[goddi]

11 hours ago, Slim said:

I was looking for a family tree style or template. I found this old link, and wanted to see if the style was still available or if something newer was available to download.

Greetings,

Not sure where I got this from. Might be from an earlier version of PTE. But try this Family Tree style.

Family Tree.ptestyle

Gary

[Rosemary A]

Gary, Do you happen to have the instructions for this style or does it work in PTE Av 10? I could use it if only I could figure out how to!

Rosemary

[goddi]

Ruth... no, I've never used it. Maybe someone will recognize it and give some instructions. Looks like fun, though.

Gary

I

[Rosemary A]

Thanks Gary, I hope someone comes to the rescue!

Rosemary

[Slim]

Thanks for the replies, but I was looking for a style that would show a picture of a family ancestor and the text with the ancestors info. Does anyone have that type of style or template?

[JRR]

I doubt if it is what you have in mind as it is not a "template", or "style", but about 15-16 years ago (With a very early version of PTE)  I did a Family Tree set  (106) of PTE AV's that connected with each other via Objects. I gave CD copies to all, but no one in the family bothered to look at it, so I ended up publishing a book of it.

The individual images/pages were done in PhotoShop.

I've attached a four sample images/pages. (also in the AVs/book were letters, newspaper stories, pictures of heirlooms etc.)

The full book  can be seen at: https://www.blurb.ca/books/9680792-robertson-family-tree

It obviously was too complex a presentation to upload to the web in SLIDESHOW.

 

[Xenofex2]

No idea if these are the matching instructions to that Family History Style.

Checking to see if I had already got this Style I happened to note that in my Slides Style Folder was also a Word document. So just maybe, here are the instructions.

 

FAMILY TREE PROTOTYPE STYLE

Add a Blank Slide (16x9:1920x1080) and apply the style. Run in Preview or create an EXE.

Choose a starting point.

The Preview/EXE is Interactive.

The "DOWN ARROWS" are active for the FIRST CHILD at each level.

The "UP ARROWS" are active for the MALE at each level. The "UP ARROW" for the female PARENT is active.

The PHOTO links are all active and RETURN to the correct level.

Please feel free to "Jazz It Up" and Add/Subtract Children (and Pages) as required and spread them out. I haven't catered for multiple marriages at any level - you can add spouses.

Change the NAMES and DOB/DOD for each relative as appropriate.

 

Despite downloading the Style a few years back it is something I am still to use. My Family History PTE project(s) are still looking for that inspiration for a storyline.

I did though put a short video together a few years back when the mother-in-law passed away of her early life and this was shown at her 'wake'. Not many photos though but I interspersed the audio/visual with images of what life was like and some major events that were going on at that time. Must say that the box of tissues that I had on the side came in handy.  

Hope those instructions are the ones.

George

 

[Rosemary A]

Thank you so much. I have printed them and will have a go. Great idea for Mother-in-law's wake. 

Rosemary

[Rosemary A]

Hi George,

These must be the instructions for Family Tree slide style. I can follow the instructions and it works. Thank you.

Rosemary

[Xenofex2]

Rosemary,

Brilliant, thankyou for the update.

I have now started thinking more on a future family history project but one based more on a Timeline.

George