Children's metric. Photo album

[Aleina Show]

I think all PTE AV users are trying to make a book in this program! So I decided to make a children's album. I was inspired by the After Effects template. But since I myself drew clipart and made animations, fantasy sometimes led me aside.
I worked on this template for 3 weeks. Making the book in the program turned out to be more difficult than I expected. The hardest part was working with reflections and shadows. In each slide, I had too many layers with shadows and I got confused in them. Animation of animals I did in another program. Unfortunately, PTE AB does not support looped footage. And I did not do footages with an alpha channel for 20 seconds, since their size is simply huge. The same applies to footage with black and white masks. I preferred gif animation. It was rather difficult to calculate the duration of the GIF file so that it did not twitch at the moment of slide transition. Since the end of one slide is repeated at the beginning of another. The gif file has to be duplicated.

I will be grateful for your feedback.

Best regards,

Aleina

 

[mhwarner]

Aleina,

I like the basic book style and would find a template or set of styles very useful.  I can't help you with the animation stuff.  It is cute and I'm sure many would be interested in it but I probably would not use it in my shows as I do mostly only travel and landscapes.  Thanks for sharing it and I hope you will publish a book style.  

 

Mary

[JRR]

Aleina:

You put a lot of work into that book! Congratulations on the result.

Somethings that could be done differently (Obviously this is subjective, no problems with the way it is now):

- Your animal gifs(?) and other clip art have a lot of action to them, so much so that I found myself being distracted by them. Perhaps a little less bounce??

- This is really picky and likely should be ignored, but if one looks at the book as the pages are being turned, there is no progress being made. The left side is always one page thick, the right side is several pages thick. Is there a way to add thickness to the left and subtract thickness on the right?  As I say, this is extremely picky.

Congratulations again, well done

 

 

 

[Aleina Show]

mhwarner,  JRR

Thanks for your feedback and for the suggestions for improving the work. Your opinion is very important to me. 

22 minutes ago, JRR said:

Perhaps a little less bounce??

Quite possible. It is always difficult for me to maintain balance with my love for the animation of everything that I see.  I will definitely consider your opinion in the following works.

25 minutes ago, JRR said:

Is there a way to add thickness to the left and subtract thickness on the right?

I think it's possible. But for this you need a little more experience in working with the program than I have. Your idea is great and I will try to make such an effect.

Best regards,

Aleina

[thedom]

Wow, so much work, so many animated details ! Great great sequence.

I have a few suggestions :

- do not use “curved” ill image for the pages on the left (see capture), parallell line to the bottom of the book will look better in my opinion (or curved in the other direction)
- try to fix the little glitch in the middle of the book when camera goes on the left side of the book
- try to soften some movements of the camera, some of them are a little bit abrupt sometimes 
- if it’s possible to add more variety in the angles of camera, it would be nice

anyway, congratulations for this excellent animation.

Ps : Do you work in the kids sector ?

[thedom]

[wideangle]

Hi Aleina

This is another presentation from you where you have put a lot of excellent work into it, particularly with your animations.

The decision for you is how much focus you want to put on the animations, compared to the actual photos.  Like JRR, I found myself looking more at all the animations and missing the photo details sometimes. Whether you want larger photos and fewer animations is, I guess, a personal choice.

Having said that, it is still very impressive.  Thanks Aleina.

Regards

wideangle

[Aleina Show]

thedom, wideangle

Thank you very much for your feedback and suggestions for improving my work! I am very grateful to you!

12 hours ago, thedom said:

do not use “curved” ill image for the pages on the left

Thanks for the advice, I think it can really improve visual perception.

12 hours ago, thedom said:

try to fix the little glitch in the middle of the book when camera goes on the left side of the book

So far I do not know what to do with this problem. There is a transition at this place. Previously, the glitch was much stronger. I completely redid the book 2 times because of this glitch. But later I want to completely redo the concept of the book in order to reduce the number of layers with shadows in which I got confused. My first book is a little defective. I did not have enough experience.

12 hours ago, thedom said:

- try to soften some movements of the camera, some of them are a little bit abrupt sometimes 
- if it’s possible to add more variety in the angles of camera, it would be nice

I completely agree with these proposals and will definitely work on these improvements.

12 hours ago, thedom said:

Do you work in the kids sector ?

No, I do not work in the kids sector. My tendency to create childish templates is related to my desire for animation. It is in children's templates that there is a wide scope of application of my interests.

3 hours ago, wideangle said:

The decision for you is how much focus you want to put on the animations, compared to the actual photos.  Like JRR, I found myself looking more at all the animations and missing the photo details sometimes. Whether you want larger photos and fewer animations is, I guess, a personal choice.

Thank you very much for your kind words! I understand that animation distracts a lot of attention. And I always have to make this difficult choice. Animation or photos? How difficult it is when you love both of these things equally. But my opinion is inclined towards animation precisely in children's works. Since children are more interested in looking at what is happening around them, rather than looking at their own photos. And the kids have great reactions to my animated templates. Of course, I would like it to look nice to adults as well.

[wideangle]

Aleina

I fully understand what you are saying, especially if animation is your passion.

Keep up the good work!

Regards

wideangle

[nelson]

Very impressive Aleina!! You have the ability to see your work through the eyes of a child.

Love the animations,

Kieron

[stranger2156]

Hi Aleina,
excellent work for children as a keepsake and for their parents. A lot of animation can of course distract from photos, but in children's presentations it is perceived, as a rule, organically and acceptable.

On 6/6/2020 at 8:17 PM, JRR said:

Is there a way to add thickness to the left and subtract thickness on the right?

It's really very demanding, JRR. The process of turning pages is too time-consuming, and, as I have seen over time, it is not necessary to implement it when presenting photos in books. You can also visualize page thickness when scrolling. The only question is how important is this when displaying photos ... in a book? In the demonstration of the presentation of the book, I agree, there you can hone every detail to infinity. In this case, in my opinion, it would be enough to open the book “in the middle”, with approximately the same stacks on both sides. And then the coup will not cause such a dissonance in the volume of pages on each side.

 

On 6/6/2020 at 6:40 PM, Aleina Show said:

The hardest part was working with reflections and shadows.

As for the shadows ... in my opinion, they are a bit sharp at the junction of the pages, and when I open the pages, I would make them a little softer. I think this would give a better perception of the whole picture.
Aleina, I wish you creative success in creating new works and mastering the program. We hope that you will please us with this more than once.

Best Regards,

Paul.

[JRR]

Stranger2156/Paul:

My comment re adding thickness as the pages turn was made as my being  very picky. Your suggestion of opening the book "in the middle" would work quite well

[Aleina Show]

wideangle, nelson,  stranger2156, JRR

Thanks for your feedback! Thanks to you, I can look at my work from the other side and find its strengths and weaknesses, and I already have several ideas for improving the template. Thank you all very much!

4 hours ago, stranger2156 said:

In the demonstration of the presentation of the book, I agree, there you can hone every detail to infinity. In this case, in my opinion, it would be enough to open the book “in the middle”, with approximately the same stacks on both sides.

That is a good idea, Paul! It is technically very interesting to create a “real book”, but I understand that sometimes the result is not worth such a big effort. Your option deserves attention.

4 hours ago, stranger2156 said:

As for the shadows ... in my opinion, they are a bit sharp at the junction of the pages, and when I open the pages, I would make them a little softer. I think this would give a better perception of the whole picture.

Thank you for your opinion. I will still work on the shadows.

[Aleina Show]

6 minutes ago, JRR said:

My comment re adding thickness as the pages turn was made as my being  very picky.

It is right. If we do not strive for excellence, we will not have professional growth. I am also a perfectionist. And I always appreciate such advice.

[thedom]

3 hours ago, JRR said:

Your suggestion of opening the book "in the middle" would work quite well

That’s the option I choosed for my photo album and I had no comment about it, probably meaning it is acceptable.

[Aleina Show]

27 minutes ago, thedom said:

That’s the option I choosed for my photo album and I had no comment about it, probably meaning it is acceptable.

Yes, I noticed that too. It’s a good option.

[Tonton Bruno]

Some time ago, I started to work on a project for a more realistic album.

The idea is to turn 6 pages then insert 3 new photos in the album.

I have to spend time to find the best way to offer in the style the option to put one horizontal  or two vertical photos in each page.

 

[thedom]

Hi Bruno, great, I love the idea!

I have a suggestion with your 2nd capture. In my opinion, for something realistic, the photography should bend the opposite way (to the top instead of bending to the bottom).
Anyway, I am very curious to see the result and hope you will succeed to make what you want.

[Tauratinzwe]

For interesting and realistic slots in the page to hold the images, check out the PS actions at PanosFX.com.  Panos has a set of actions that give a variety of slots.  A few examples:

[Aleina Show]

8 hours ago, Tonton Bruno said:

Some time ago, I started to work on a project for a more realistic album.

I liked your option, it turns out realistic, the pages are voluminous, cardboard. And did you manage to make it so that when you turn over the number of pages on the left increases and decreases on the right? I also want to see your result.

4 hours ago, Tauratinzwe said:

For interesting and realistic slots in the page to hold the images, check out the PS actions at PanosFX.com.  Panos has a set of actions that give a variety of slots.  A few examples:

This is an interesting suggestion, thanks!

[thedom]

7 hours ago, Tauratinzwe said:

For interesting and realistic slots in the page to hold the images, check out the PS actions at PanosFX.com.  Panos has a set of actions that give a variety of slots.  A few examples:

Beautyful and very tasteful !

Thank you for sharing.

[Xenofex2]

Aleina,

I am a bit late to this topic as our internet at home was down. I would though like to add my own comments/suggestions.

Currently I am looking through years old photos of the Grandchildren trying to select photos to use in ‘The Magic Room’ template. I have actually just completed one project for our son’s children, and really pleased with the outcome, am now re-visiting the template for the children of our daughter. I have though already selected more potential photos than I could use, so perhaps I am someone who could/might be able to use the template. I really like it.

As a possible result of all this, I am looking at your project from a completely different viewpoint. For whom is it aimed? I think it could only be used once because of the animations, eg, I could not use it for images from a year say, then Volume Two for the following year etc as it would be too samey? Whilst others have commented on the animation which was okay for the age period of photos that I would use, my thoughts were on the text. I can only guess as to what each say, but as a Grandparent I would not know what the child’s height/weight etc was at a certain time so would then potentially have difficulty trying to think of something for that particular text box. Okay one can delete the text and there is a lot of it, but then find the actual and then empty text box to also delete. Just some initial thoughts. I do though like it.

Answers I guess really depend on whether this is just a personal project or ……?  

George

[Aleina Show]

George,

Thank you very much for your practical outlook on the job. I will try to answer your questions.

Yes, I think that using the same project for 2 years in a row is not the best option. But the same opinion can apply to most finished projects. There are universal styles that we can apply in any project. But they are usually boring for children. But you gave me a good idea to think about. I could create animation sets separately so you can change them in different projects as you wish.

As for text layers. Initially, the project was planned as a metric in which it was possible to fix the most important features of the child. What he loves or does not love, what he knows how to do. He waves his hand on "goodbye," slams the closet doors, etc. Some details of his grandparents may not know. What can you ask your child's parents about?

I was inspired by graphical examples of metrics on the Internet. And the original work in After Effects. You can look at it, maybe some texts from there will suit you.

https://videohive.net/item/family-memories-baby-photo-album/13709995

In addition, you can use decorative letters with pictures instead of letters. For example, such

http://ru.legionfonts.com/fonts/atman-dings

https://good-surf.ru/forum/index.php?id=1181000

You can use any images instead of text, for example, icons, flowers, hearts, cars. It all depends on your imagination.

I tried to make editing this complex project as simple as possible. On Igor’s advice, I made all the layers “non-clickable”, except for those that require editing. And this is text and photo. In most cases, you will only need to click on the screen in the "objects and animations" to select the desired text layers and layers with photos. This way you can easily find text areas. And if any of them seems redundant to you, you can remove them.

The project has a small video tutorial on editing the project with English subtitles.

Best regards,

Aleina

[Xenofex2]

Aleina

Thankyou for that reply. It has reminded us look at your website. Wow.

Thankyou.

George

[thedom]

11 hours ago, Aleina Show said:

I tried to make editing this complex project as simple as possible. On Igor’s advice, I made all the layers “non-clickable”, except for those that require editing. And this is text and photo. In most cases, you will only need to click on the screen in the "objects and animations" to select the desired text layers and layers with photos. This way you can easily find text areas. 

I learned something today !
I was wondering what is the use for this feature. Now I undesrtand!

10 hours ago, Xenofex2 said:

Thankyou for that reply. It has reminded us look at your website. Wow.

What is the url please ? Thanks.