StarTrek, the Next Generation

[Lin Evans]

I made some subtle (O.K., maybe not so subtle) changes in the intensity, size, etc., of the stars and added the Starship Enterprise in the ending - It's still a work in process but let me know what you think. I have a friend who writes and sells some incredible PhotoShop actions and we are discussing whether feasible for him to make an action which will create star diffractions effects which could be used in creating transparencies for this type backdrop. He has an excellent astronomy background and already has actions which help greatly with deep space noise, localized contrast enhancement, etc., etc., but the question is whether anyone would be interested in an action which creates star diffraction patterns??

If anyone is interested, let me know and also what you think of the starfield effect? When I get it all ironed out I'll post the full p2e backup - right now it's still in process so this is only the zipped executable.

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

Lin

[Ken Cox]

well it runs on my 64 md ati card

music seems very low tho'

looks ok to me

ken

[Lin Evans]

well it runs on my 64 md ati card

music seems very low tho'

looks ok to me

ken

Hi Ken,

Thanks for checking it. It's strange that the music volume is low - it's a Midi file so that may explain some things because Midi apparently isn't as uniform over all systems as mp3, etc. On all our systems the sound is fine in terms of volume so it could be something unique to your system and the midi file being used.

Best regards,

Lin

[alrobin]

Lin,

I have pretty much given up on using MIDI in PTE for that reason. Also, there is no consistency over the sounds themselves in different sound cards.

I still use MIDI, but I convert it to an mp3 file first for use in PTE.

[ronwil]

I too had to turn up the sound on my system and even then it could have done with being a little bit louder. Otherwise OK.

I noticed Lin that at the end you added an additional slide, by a slight movement in the overlay. Also that the sequence closed down after this last slide. I know that we are expecting this latter effect to be available in Beta #3, but how did you do it?

Ron [uK]

--+

[thedom]

Hi,

Very nice, I like it a lot and really improved.

But because of you, I want to see Star Trek again !

Seriously, no problem with midi sound on my system, plays as loud as other sounds (mp3, wav, ...).

Just a little suggestion of improvement for your text :

- make them bigger because they are pixelised (did you use antialising ?)

- or apply a little opacity to them just at the begining to hide a little bit those pixels.

Btw, what do you mean with "anyone would be interested in an action which creates star diffraction patterns" ?

Do you mean "buy for it" ?

I don't know what is "an action which creates star diffraction patterns" but would really like to discover it...

And same question as Ron : how did you make to close your slideshow at the end ???

(Igor send you a copy of his beta #3 ? )

[davegee]

Doesn't the Synth have a different volume control in the MASTER VOLUME display?

It is possible that Ken and Ron's Synth Volume is down in the Master (compared to the rest)?

DaveG

[Ronniebootwest]

Excellent piece of work and very professional. The music played fine on my machine but I think that the text titles need a little refinement.

I would be very interested in a Photoshop Action that would enable this kind of effect to be created. As one who makes and sells tutorials, I know the work that goes into this kind of thing so I would be more that happy to pay for the action.

Ron

[Ken Cox]

thks Dave

"Volume is down in the Master"

-- my midi control was at 50% and master at 50% --ramped both to 100%

sound ok now

check email

data2

ken

[Lin Evans]

Thanks guys, suggestions taken and acted on - text improved (I think) per Dom's idea and changing font's in one case and size and transparency. Added supernova "explosion" - anyone know how to make a good explosion?? This one is "O.K., but not great" .. Ken, thanks for the midi - it's from a newer iteration of StarTrek - they keep changing it over the years.

Let me know if you come up with an ideal way to render an exploding supernova - HA! Changes reflected on original link... but link repeated here.

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

Lin

[thedom]

Lin, for the explosion, you could try to find a good tutorial.

Here is the first one google gave me : http://www.tutorio.com/tutorial/photoshop-...-explosion/

I noticed some strange text motions (when they appear on screen - they "stay" a little while at the bottom of the screen before "entering" the screen) and a strange motion of the starship at the end (last seconds).

Is it on purpose ?

To be honest, I think your text motions could be a little bit more improved.

I'm gonna try to do something tomorrow to show you what I'm thinking...

Now it's time for me to go to bed and to have sweet PTE dreams.

I have to go to "school" tomorrow.

PS: how did you make to close your show at the end (it doesn't loop).

[Lin Evans]

Btw, what do you mean with "anyone would be interested in an action which creates star diffraction patterns" ?

Do you mean "buy for it" ?

I don't know what is "an action which creates star diffraction patterns" but would really like to discover it...

I would be very interested in a Photoshop Action that would enable this kind of effect to be created. As one who makes and sells tutorials, I know the work that goes into this kind of thing so I would be more that happy to pay for the action.

Ron

Dom & Ron,

Noel Carboni writes some terrific actions for PhotoShop, One of his action sets which sells for $19.95 U.S. is designed for astronomy photographers and among other things has an action which creates a Star Diffraction pattern (I'll link you to his site in a moment).

The present action acts on photos of stars and can be used to create the "star" pattern you will see on his site, but it's actually designed to be used on a jpg or bmp or tiff, opaque file, though it can set in a "layer" above the file. To make it simple and useful for creating these diffraction patterns on a transparency "cut-out" it would need to be re-worked or modified a bit. I'm not sure if it's feasible or not to do it in a way which would be useful for those who are not really Photoshop proficient and so I asked him to look into it and see if it might be possible, providing enough people were interested to make it worth doing. Having the diffraction "look" does add significant appeal to a star field photo. Of course some of the other actions are very, very useful as well, but more for the astro-photographer than for the slideshow maker.

He is looking into the feasibility and will get back to me when he has more information. Meanwhile, anyone who wants to see what this would look like just follow the link below. When you get to his site click on the PhotoShop Actions for sale link then look at the astronomy actions and find the Star Diffraction action to see what it looks like.

http://home.att.net/~ncarboni/DigiPhoto.html

Lin

[ronwil]

I placed my Intro Demo, made in Photoshop and PTE, on the Beechbrook site over two years ago. In it two objects collide in space and explode into our Camera Club logo, before fading into a circle of "moons" covered by transparent objects to open sequences. I concocted the noise of the explosion in Audition from a sound effects CD.

My Intro Demo is still on the Beechbrook site.

Ron [uK]

[alrobin]

PS: how did you make to close your show at the end (it doesn't loop).

Lin,

I would like to know too - have you used some other utility to control the show?

[thedom]

I placed my Intro Demo, made in Photoshop and PTE, on the Beechbrook site over two years ago. In it two objects collide in space and explode into our Camera Club logo, before fading into a circle of "moons" covered by transparent objects to open sequences. I concocted the noise of the explosion in Audition from a sound effects CD.

My Intro Demo is still on the Beechbrook site.

Ron [uK]

Ron,

Could you give us the direct link because there are a lot of shows on Beechbrook...

Btw Lin, what are you looking for : a visual explosion or a sound explosion ?

[alrobin]

Could you give us the direct link because there are a lot of shows on Beechbrook...

Dom, try Beechbrook, page 6 - Intro Demo

[ronwil]

Dom

Also if on Beechbrook you click on "Select a Specific File" the sequences drop down in alphabetical order. My demo is titled "Intro Demo".

Ron [uK]

[thedom]

Ok, thanks, found it !

Nice demo.

Funny to think that it was so much work to make such a sequence with previous version...

[thedom]

He is looking into the feasibility and will get back to me when he has more information. Meanwhile, anyone who wants to see what this would look like just follow the link below. When you get to his site click on the PhotoShop Actions for sale link then look at the astronomy actions and find the Star Diffraction action to see what it looks like.

http://home.att.net/~ncarboni/DigiPhoto.html

Quite impressive !

I think you guys definitely want at least to have a look at this actions set.

(click on the image).

Lin, please give us news when you know...

[JohnFeg]

I made some subtle (O.K., maybe not so subtle) changes in the intensity, size, etc., of the stars

Lin,

Enjoyed the show very much. In particular the final zoom in on the starship. It was very realistic.

John

[Lin Evans]

Lin,

Enjoyed the show very much. In particular the final zoom in on the starship. It was very realistic.

John

Hi John,

Thanks - sorry it took me so long to get back - I've been having problems with my broadband again but all seems fixed now.

It's been fun working on this one - hopefully Noel will be able to figure a way to get a star diffraction action for the transparency which is easy enough to make it useful for those not PhotoShop gurus. I think a couple major stars with the diffraction pattern might look nie.

The explosion I'm trying to simulate is an exploding supernova in space so no sound. The images I'm using are actual captures from an exploding supernova - astronomers have finally learned how to accurately predict the times and have been able to get real photos. My problem is how to sequence and time them for s somewhat realistic effect - of course that may be more than is possible right now, but I'm still playing with it. If I get something which works well I'll carefully document it to save others some time.

Beta 3 is great and the new features are very welcome! Congrats to Igor and the team for the new feature set which seems to be working quite well.

Best regards,

Lin