A Finished Slideshow with Beta 3

[Lin Evans]

At least one person has mentioned that they couldn't make a complete and real slideshow yet with the beta, but I've not really had any difficulty doing that. I've linked to a sample below. It's about a 40 meg download, so only suggested for those with broadband internet connect.

It's not a "long" show, but uses very high resolution art images to get closeups with lots of detail. It's probably not the best slideshow I've ever done, but it demonstrates some of the possibilities with version 5.

Link to zipped executable below:

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

Lin

[Ken Cox]

Lin

a bit jerky on my 64 mb ati card

the first "medallion"? the inward zoom -- the silver actually shimmers - not supposed to but NEAT

colours are superb

ken

[Lin Evans]

Lin

a bit jerky on my 64 mb ati card

the first "medallion"? the inward zoom -- the silver actually shimmers - not supposed to but NEAT

colours are superb

ken

Hi Ken,

I'm not surprised, some of the images are as large as 4606x3372 so it does take a toll on resources. It actually runs smoothly on my wife's cheap little Dell notebook which barfed all over my first puzzle image with full sized PNG pieces and 32 layers so it "probably" will run smoothly on most newer systems.

The majority of my clients whom I make presentations for are art gallery owners or art buyers who have the latest and greatest in equipment so I think it will work out for them even with the really large files. I'm still experimenting to see what the limits are and to find a good compromise where I can get smoothness and still be able to zoom in tightly for detail.

The "shimmer," I'm afraid is going to be unavoidable. Even if I really dull the sharpness of the image, I still get a good bit of this in zooms and rotates. It's just the normal aliasing from having a combination of phosphor persistence on a CRT or trail-smear on an LCD monitor plus multiple slightly different views of tiny detail differences between frames at about 30 fps.

On woodlands, flowers, most architecture, etc., it probably won't be an issue but for jewelry or shiny, multi-faceted surfaces, I'm afraid it's going to be something we just have to live with.

In all the quality of image is "sooooo" much better than anything I've ever been able to do with ProShow Gold or Producer or even Vegas Video I'm elated. This new graphical engine allows some fantastic possibilities for my business. There are some work-arounds. You noticed that on the Acoma pottery with the two little bears I elected to use two separate close-up frames with no zoom. Those intricate designs are hand painted with a Yucca leaf! They are so close together that any zoom or movement causes extreme "shimmer" so sometimes it's necessary to change the "style" of presentation and use the zoom, pan, rotate where it works best and avoid it in other places.

Thanks for watching and reporting back!

Best regards,

Lin

[Ken Cox]

Lin in my opinion the larger the file the better -- let the program crunch the images - i think there will be less problems -- if you have the hp, and when the avi feature is enabled i believe the dvd will be superb -- no shimmer or jaggies -- my system can handle up to 3.8 mb picts with no problem

ken

[jevans]

Lin,

This is a fabulous show with stunning pictures. I was rivetted to the screen until it finished. Despite the image size, it ran smoothly with my Radeon 9200. 128mb graphics card. PTE seems to be an ideal medium for that kind of demonstration. If I was a buyer, you would have a large order - and I am tempted anyway.

Jeff

[Lin Evans]

Lin,

This is a fabulous show with stunning pictures. I was rivetted to the screen until it finished. Despite the image size, it ran smoothly with my Radeon 9200. 128mb graphics card. PTE seems to be an ideal medium for that kind of demonstration. If I was a buyer, you would have a large order - and I am tempted anyway.

Jeff

Hi Jeff,

Thanks! Actually my "day job" is photographing art for galleries and for art gallery clients who live in other countries and are interested in particular art objects on this side of the pond.

I've tried to "retire" a couple times, but no luck - LOL, so I have passed a percentage of my work to some of my younger associates and have cut back on my travel and hours but still have a pretty large backlog of work to get out. I think that version 5 is going to be exactly the tool I've been looking for to create shows for these clients. Over the years I've done a good deal of audio/visual shows and in the past few years I've just ran video to supplement the P2E or ProShow Gold still shows from a P2E menu or as an object call from within a P2E slideshow. The video has primarily been to show alternate views of objects quicker than I could do with still images. But this new p2e is going to open lots of doors I think. Once Igor gets the video drop in capabilities incorporated and all the features included I think there will be much less need for creating some of the 360 degree virtual reality photos I've done in the past. The resolution on these has never been all that great but it does offer the client the ability to interactively "rotate" the object and see it from different perspectives. I've found that much quicker to do with a turntable and video camera even though it precludes the "interactive" portion, but with being able to use high resolution images the zoom in is now quite sufficient to allow intricate details to be seen. What we already have plus the ability to drop in a video clip will be the icing on the cake!

I found a few "typo's" on my artists credits and had to re-do that file but I think it's all correct on the link now.

Best regards,

Lin

[alrobin]

Very nice images, Lin. As Ken says, the shimmering on some of the zooming images actually enhances them. It's a characteristic that can be controlled to some extent, yet used to good advantage where desired.

[Lin Evans]

Very nice images, Lin. As Ken says, the shimmering on some of the zooming images actually enhances them. It's a characteristic that can be controlled to some extent, yet used to good advantage where desired.

Hi Al,

Thanks! Yes, there have been times when it actually worked to an advantage. On one partiular landscape shot there are pine trees in the foreground and the pine needles are moving and appear almost exactly as if the wind were blowing. I had to do a double take to realize I wasn't playing a high quality video - LOL.

I'm not too concerned with the shimmer - it's easy enough to work around it where it doesn't play well into the theme and I think Igor will be adding some code for movement on very small objects which will ameliorate this in those cases. I would rather have the detail and resolution than a completely smooth image during zooms and rotates and loose the resolution and detail so I can definitely live with a work-around for problem areas.

Best regards.

Lin

[Paul T]

At least one person has mentioned that they couldn't make a complete and real slideshow yet with the beta, but I've not really had any difficulty doing that. I've linked to a sample below. It's about a 40 meg download, so only suggested for those with broadband internet connect.

It's not a "long" show, but uses very high resolution art images to get closeups with lots of detail. It's probably not the best slideshow I've ever done, but it demonstrates some of the possibilities with version 5.

Link to zipped executable below:

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

Lin

Hi Lin

Just looked at your presentation and thought it was fantastic, and a great example of how we will be able to use the software. I have only done small shows at the moment with this version but not used it to it's full potential as you have. Some of the artwork you have photographed is stunning and have now viewed your show twice. Producing and restoring stone carvings for restoraion projects myself the subject you used does hold my interest. I have produced AV presentations of the work my company carries out for clients but not as advanced as yours and you have set a new standard for me to aim for.

www.suffolkmasonry.co.uk

Regards Paul

Regards Paul

[Lin Evans]

Hi Lin

Just looked at your presentation and thought it was fantastic, and a great example of how we will be able to use the software. I have only done small shows at the moment with this version but not used it to it's full potential as you have. Some of the artwork you have photographed is stunning and have now viewed your show twice. Producing and restoring stone carvings for restoraion projects myself the subject you used does hold my interest. I have produced AV presentations of the work my company carries out for clients but not as advanced as yours and you have set a new standard for me to aim for.

www.suffolkmasonry.co.uk

Regards Paul

Regards Paul

Hi Paul,

Thanks! Igor, Aleksey and Pavel have definitely created a wonderful tool for us to help present our images in exciting new ways.

I took the opportunity to see the website of Suffolk Masonry. I think that would be extremely interesting work! You have so many beautiful stoneworks in the UK preservation must be a very high priority. Here in the US, we have some, but none of the antiquity of course of those in the UK and in Europe where centuries of heritage are there entrusted to subsequent generations preserve and to enjoy. I should think that p2e will help you make some great presentations!

Best regards,

Lin

[rakn]

Hi Lin,

I just enjoyed your presentation, and it looked really nice on my screen too. High resolution images can hold so much details, and this way of exploring them is so beautiful. Until now I have not done much more than experimenting with a couple of slideshows myself, so I'm a bit curious about the technique. I understand the way of having different layers with individual animations (like the beginning with the stars and the comet etc). But does that require some images to be pre-created with transparacy (and saved with "alfa-channel" stuff in .png or equal formats) ? I did see through the "holes" (stars) in the sky so I imagine that the sky itself must be an image with "built-in" transparency ?

Ok, I understand if these things belong to the "Artists Secrets" category and of course I respect that ...

What about music then .. I know I cannot ditribute a slideshow with copyrighted music. Does that include sharing slideshows with other enthusiasts in this forum ? And the music in "heavenlyart", is that free or copyright material ? Don't tell me you made the music too by yourself ...

Best regards

Ragnar

[Lin Evans]

Hi Lin,

I just enjoyed your presentation, and it looked really nice on my screen too. High resolution images can hold so much details, and this way of exploring them is so beautiful. Until now I have not done much more than experimenting with a couple of slideshows myself, so I'm a bit curious about the technique. I understand the way of having different layers with individual animations (like the beginning with the stars and the comet etc). But does that require some images to be pre-created with transparency (and saved with "alfa-channel" stuff in .png or equal formats) ? I did see through the "holes" (stars) in the sky so I imagine that the sky itself must be an image with "built-in" transparency ?

Ok, I understand if these things belong to the "Artists Secrets" category and of course I respect that ...

What about music then .. I know I cannot ditribute a slideshow with copyrighted music. Does that include sharing slideshows with other enthusiasts in this forum ? And the music in "heavenlyart", is that free or copyright material ? Don't tell me you made the music too by yourself ...

Best regards

Ragnar

Hi Ragnar,

No secrets - LOL - the starfield was created in Photoshop by creating a PNG file. Create a transparent image by File, New, then give a size of around 1200x1200 and chose transparent as the background. Leave this checkerboard appearing file up and create a jpg of the same dimensions with a dark blue/black color. Do a "Select All" then "Edit" "Copy" to put the blue/black image on the clipboard then close this image and paste the clipboard to the transparency. This leaves you with a two layer image having the transparency underneath and the blue/black image on top. Cut out the stars with the eraser tool. I used 1 pixel, 3 pixel, 5 pixel 7 pixel and a few larger ones. Vary the opacity to make faint or bright stars. The more opacity the brighter. Save this file as a PNG.

Next create a white square of about the same dimensions (1200x1200) then use the Filter, Artistic, Sponge tool to make a variegated sponge-like appearance. Adjust the extremes of levels to make this black and white and if you wish splash around some red, blue and yellow in a random pattern. Save this as a jpg.

Bring both into p2E, put the starfield png on the front and the variegated jpg behind. Next enlarge the jpg so that when you rotate it you don't have the "corners" showing through. In other words make it large enough behind the starfield that the variegated portion is always visible. Set this to rotate at a speed appropriate for the display time of your slide. About 170 degrees per minute of display makes a nice "twinkle" effect as the black, white, red, blue, yellow, etc., shines through the cut-outs on the starfield pattern.

The Halley's Comet was an actual public domain photo which I pasted on top of a transparent layer the same size then feathered the edges with the eraser tool and cut out all which should be transparent to view. You then crop away all unessential areas. Remember the size and transparency of this can easily be set in p2e so you can make it larger to start or smaller and vary the size and transparency and speed as it crosses the heavens.

The music is all royalty free music which I have purchased or from donations. I never use commercial music in slideshows - it's too expensive to buy the rights.

There is lots of low priced royalty free music available on the web. I would suggest looking at Barry Beckham's collection which is very, very reasonable. I purchased eight CD's from Barry and they are excellent. There are also many free royalty-free selections around the web - just do a search. Here's Barry's link:

http://www.beckhamdigital.co.uk/royaltyfreemusic.htm

Best regards,

Lin

[rakn]

Hi Lin,

That's wonderful, now I have got something to experiment with. Thanks for sharing. I figured that there was some rotating pattern behind the "holes in the sky". I also took a look at the Beckham site, and beside the music I found a goldmine full of tips and tutorials etc.

Do you have any idea what has happened to my Photoshop - when I created the first (the transparent) image I saw no checkerboard pattern, just a grey area. And when I pasted the blue image on the transparent one, there was still only one layer in the layers palette (now filled with blue). Although the rest worked ok with the eraser tool, and I got my transparent "holes", this is quite annoying when I do other PS work like soft erasing in a layer. I simply have no checkerboard pattern under my bottom layer...

Any idea ... ?

Thank you

Ragnar

[Lin Evans]

Hi Lin,

That's wonderful, now I have got something to experiment with. Thanks for sharing. I figured that there was some rotating pattern behind the "holes in the sky". I also took a look at the Beckham site, and beside the music I found a goldmine full of tips and tutorials etc.

Do you have any idea what has happened to my Photoshop - when I created the first (the transparent) image I saw no checkerboard pattern, just a grey area. And when I pasted the blue image on the transparent one, there was still only one layer in the layers palette (now filled with blue). Although the rest worked ok with the eraser tool, and I got my transparent "holes", this is quite annoying when I do other PS work like soft erasing in a layer. I simply have no checkerboard pattern under my bottom layer...

Any idea ... ?

Thank you

Ragnar

The PhotoShop issue is a mystery to me. I haven't seen that type of problem and I tried to recreate it but couldn't. Be sure that transparency is set to 100%, check the "Advanced" properties and see if anything looks unusual - other than "normal" for settings. That would be annoying to not have the checkerboard pattern because you really can't tell necessarily where you have erased especially if there are similar areas of color in the layer you are erasing.

Hope you find an answer....

Best regards,

Lin

[PhilG]

Ragnar

The Photoshop checkerboard is easy to sort out.

Open Photoshop, go to Edit/Preferences, then click on Transparency & Gamut.

There is a button to set up the checkerboard in different colors.

PhilG

[Ednys]

Lin,

A facinating an most enjoyable show.

I am flying across the pond in about 11 weeks time to Arizona. I would really like to see an exhibition of the artist who makes those multicoloured models. Do you know if any of his work can be seen in Az at all. If there is a way of seeing some, I will only have to try and persuade our tour guides to get us there to see them.

Thank you again for showing what can be done with this program and all the written tutorials that you have produced.

Glenys

[Lin Evans]

Lin,

A facinating an most enjoyable show.

I am flying across the pond in about 11 weeks time to Arizona. I would really like to see an exhibition of the artist who makes those multicoloured models. Do you know if any of his work can be seen in Az at all. If there is a way of seeing some, I will only have to try and persuade our tour guides to get us there to see them.

Thank you again for showing what can be done with this program and all the written tutorials that you have produced.

Glenys

Hi Glenys,

Tell me where you will be in Arizona and I'll find a couple of stores for you which handle Jon's art (Jon Anderson).

The art is Fimo Polymer Clay (a Fiore process) and Jon is considered the world's foremost artist in this venue. The process is very interesting. The designs start being made of bread-loaf sized clay and theses "canes" are then stretched over and again until they are tiny but still containing all the intricate design. They are then sliced with an exacto knife like flat potato chips and molded in tiny "tiles" around clay or wooden forms carved in animal shapes. Finally they are baked in an oven which causes the clay to expand into a single unitary piece.

Jon was born in Arizona and was trained as an engineer but his artistic side took over. About ten years ago he moved to Bali and has a studio there with a number of craftsmen who help with the manufacturing of these unique spirit animal creations. They range in size from an inch or so (the little frog on the gold/malachite pendant is two inches) to some larger ones which are 15 inches or so. All the elaborate and highly detailed designs are clay, there is absolutely no paint anywhere on these.

His art is sold in various places around the Southwest U.S. and there are a number of dealers in Arizona. They range in price from about $70 for some tiny pieces to several thousand dollars for some of the more elaborate larger works.

So if you let me know where you will be in Arizona, I'll get you the address of a few dealers.

Best regards,

Lin

[Ednys]

Lin,

We will be staying in Flagstaff and Tucson, but as of this moment I do not know which way around or for how long in each place.

We are meeting some cousins of my husband that we only found out about three years ago. They are arranging where and when we stay with each of them. All we know is someone will pick us up at phoenix and deliver us back there. They are sorting things out inbetween.

It would be lovely to see this art work if we can.

Glenys

[rakn]

Ragnar

The Photoshop checkerboard is easy to sort out.

Open Photoshop, go to Edit/Preferences, then click on Transparency & Gamut.

There is a button to set up the checkerboard in different colors.

PhilG

Hi Phil,

Right you are (almost)...

In the Transparency & Gamut preferences dialouge window the "Use video alpha (requires hardware support)" was checkmarked, and when I removed it the problem dissapeared !

Many thanks for the tip !!!

Ragnar