Real Time sample of theDom's clock idea....

[Lin Evans]

Hi Guys,

Just playing around and decided that it would be nice to have a clock which really matched the movement of the roadmap in real (simulated) time. In this example the clock actually reflects the elapsed time and approximate (within a couple minutes) time for a trip from Denver, Colorado to Cimarron, New Mexico. The actual distance for this example is 296 miles and at 65 miles per hour average the time it takes will be four hours 30 minutes plus or minus a couple minutes.

As the map simulation advances the clock time accurately portrays the time at any given position within the accuracy possible in a map drawing. Assuming a 12:00 noon start, one arrives in Cimarron at about 4:30 pm if they maintain 65 mph.

zipped executable:

http://www.lin-evans.net/p2e/denvertocimarron.zip

For those in the US - have a great holiday this weekend.... (it's our Memorial Day - commemoration of those members of the armed forces killed in wars).

Lin

[thedom]

Very nice Lin,

Your clock is much better than mine, especially the niddles.

Did you make them in photoshop ?

Just a suggestion about the animation of your flight : I think you could make it look more "realistic" by the use of the "center" feature, especially the looping.

I made a little test that you can find here.

[Lin Evans]

Very nice Lin,

Your clock is much better than mine, especially the niddles.

Did you make them in photoshop ?

Just a suggestion about the animation of your flight : I think you could make it look more "realistic" by the use of the "center" feature, especially the looping.

I made a little test that you can find here.

LOL - actually it's a real clock which I photographed then copied the hands in PhotoShop and made PNG's from them and cloned off the hands on the clock body leaving just the center "mount" where the rotation takes place and made a PNG out of that too.

Great suggestion - I implemented it. I was originally trying rather than a controlled loop a stall at the top and a fall through but it wasn't working very smoothly. I think using "center" for the rotation works better as you suggested.... I also reversed the layers on the opening text credits so the darker text passes in front of the red rather than the other way around. It just seems more aesthetically correct....

Thanks again for not only the center suggestion for the loop, but for the original clock idea - great one!

Best regards,

Lin

[nickles]

Darn It Lin,

Your getting awful good with the PTE 5. Very nicely done demonstration with lot's of neat concepts.

Thanks so much for sharing......

Ken

[Lin Evans]

Darn It Lin,

Your getting awful good with the PTE 5. Very nicely done demonstration with lot's of neat concepts.

Thanks so much for sharing......

Ken

Hey Ken,

I just put some of the great ideas from JD, Al and theDom together. Many years ago I owned a software development company and served as VP of Engineering, so implementation of the capabilities of the tools comes fairly easy for me. The real strengths I think are in the creative aspects which others seem to have a facility for. That's the great thing about this forum - we have both creative people and people who have a facility with the tools and that combination produces a whole which is greater than the sum of its parts. At the top we have a great development team who provide us all with these fantastic tools which lets us explore the depths of possibilities we could only dream of a short while back.

Best regards,

Lin

[JEB]

Lin,

As with many of the other examples that are beginning to emerge I am most impressed. As a relative new boy to this arena I have not yet got too involved with 5 as I am waiting for you "magicians" to help Igor iron out the initial problems. I am particularly interested in how you achieved the moving "route" as I see an application for this in a forthcoming project I am involved with. Any "step by step" explanation would be most appreciated.

John

[alrobin]

I am particularly interested in how you achieved the moving "route" as I see an application for this in a forthcoming project I am involved with. Any "step by step" explanation would be most appreciated.

John,

There are several detailed explanations given HERE . See posts # 129, 135, 138, etc. It all has to do with 2 layers of the map in register, transparent cut-outs of the route, and coloured underlays.

[alrobin]

LOL - actually it's a real clock which I photographed ....

Lin,

I recognized that clock right away - my wife's sister has one exactly like it in her dining room. We stayed a few days at her place this spring, and how I hated that clock!!!! (You'll probably know why. )

[Lin Evans]

Lin,

I recognized that clock right away - my wife's sister has one exactly like it in her dining room. We stayed a few days at her place this spring, and how I hated that clock!!!! (You'll probably know why. )

HA! I know "exactly" why- LOL Next time you stay, wait until no one's looking and pull it off the wall and look in the back. You'll find three batteries. Two are in a "set" and one by itself. Just pull out one of the "set" and the squawking will cease. Slip it back in when you leave and they will never know the difference

Best regards,

Lin

[alrobin]

HA! I know "exactly" why- LOL Next time you stay, wait until no one's looking and pull it off the wall and look in the back. You'll find three batteries. Two are in a "set" and one by itself. Just pull out one of the "set" and the squawking will cease. Slip it back in when you leave and they will never know the difference

Thanks, Lin - I'll remember that the next time we're staying there.

[Lin Evans]

Lin,

As with many of the other examples that are beginning to emerge I am most impressed. As a relative new boy to this arena I have not yet got too involved with 5 as I am waiting for you "magicians" to help Igor iron out the initial problems. I am particularly interested in how you achieved the moving "route" as I see an application for this in a forthcoming project I am involved with. Any "step by step" explanation would be most appreciated.

John

Hi John,

Yes, as Al pointed out, there has been a good deal of discussion. If you have PhotoShop, just take your map (either scan or do screen capture) into PhotoShop and duplicate it and save with a slightly different name. Use "select all" on the duplicate then "edit" "copy" to put the image on the clipboard. Click on "File" - "New" and set the dimensions and dpi identical to the original and set the file type to "transparent". Next do "Edit" "Paste" to put the copy on the layer above the transparency. Next select an appropriate brush size and use the "Eraser" to follow the route and "erase" the actual "road" leaving the checkerboard transparency showing through. Save this without further alteration as a PNG file. Next create a rectangular colored and opaque screen long enough to cover the entire route and save it under a file name which you will be able to identify as your road color. Bring all three onto your page in p2e as separate objects, or you can group the two maps to avoid accidentally moving their positions.

Put the original map on the bottom layer (so it appears first on the list of objects) and go to the Properties tab and rename it so you can keep track of which "image" is which. Put the cut-out on the top layer (so it appears immediately underneath the original map on the objects list and rename it as above so you know which is which. Next set your timing for the display to the length of actual time you want to achieve the entire "road trip" and use the "Order" feature (right click on your red layer then move the cursor over "order" and left click on your choice) to move the red layer between the two maps. You will know when it's in the right place because you will immediately see the existing "road' change colors and usually become thicker assuming you chose a slightly larger brush size to do the cut-out than your original road.

As a reminder - when the original map lies on the bottom layer and the "cutout" is overlayed, it will appear as if nothing has happened because the portion which was cut out is overlaying precisely the original. This means that the original shows through the cut out portion. But when you place the red layer between the two (think contents of a sandwich between two pieces of bread) then you reveal the path of the "cut out" portion of the top layer.

By moving the red rectangle (set the view to a very low percentage so you can see what you are doing) you effect the "moving" route. If you set the original keypoint to zero with a single keypoint at the end of the time line, and the red layer clear off the "map" at the top of the route then the movement begins immediately and proceeds in a linear fashion until the end of the slide. You can, of course use transparency changes on the red layer to make the road appear and disappear as you wish. I did this on my sample to prevent over writing the road designations so it appears that the red line went "underneath" rather than over the route designators. You have complete control over each layer so you can "stop" the progression of the route at any point then start it up again by manipulating its relationship to the timeline. Remember,, however that time doesn't stop just because you stop the progression of the route display. So if you want to "pause" the route progression for something else to happen, you must make the overall time alloted to the slide sufficient to cover this and compensate to keep the progression speed constant by using additional keypoints along the timeline for the red layer.

In my sample I wanted a linear progression and wanted to keep it simple so I didn't have to dink around with the clock as well as the road so I simply set two keypoints at zero and sixty seconds for the red layer and synchronized the clock to an overall display lasting 60 seconds in "real time" calibrated to 4.5 hours in simulated time.

The best way to learn this is to actually do it and play with it until you get a feel for the relationships.

Best regards,

Lin

[JEB]

Lin & Al

Thank you both very much for your responses.

I will let you know Lin how I get on in a few weeks time. I am getting ready for a trip to Italy so will not have sufficient time to play till my return. I don't want you to think that I am ignoring your detailed response.

I think I understand the concept now but as you say I need to play.

Just for your info. it is a river project I am involved with so clearly it will be a blue line and as we will be tracing it from its sourse to the sea it broadens as it reaches the sea so there is going to be a bit of detailed photoshop work to be done!

John