Volunteer required!

Please post your tutorials here for ProShow Gold only. Provide a link if you have a file that can be downloaded by others. This is not a discussion section, but rather a source for sharing tutorials.
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Volunteer required!

Postby trulytango » Wed Apr 01, 2009 12:05 am

Hello Gold users

I posted a show yesterday, from which I am generating some slide styles that replicate the layouts and sequences that have some movement. I've used PSP for a long time and know it well, so creating slide styles for PSP poses no problem, but when it comes to PSG I'd like a little help if anyone wants to offer?

I currently have 5 layouts and motion sequences ready for testing in Gold. They're in 4:3 format and I will be generating the same slide styles in 16:9 once I know I have them nailed. So if you fancy this FREE slide styles pack - along with my 'Looking Back' themed kit, by way of a thank you for helping, please let me know :D

Here's a link to the show... the slide styles I am generating involve the opening credits (and the layout immediately after it), the image that slides into place behind the crossed ribbons just prior to the wedding shots; the pair of sliding square frames shown in the 2nd part of the show and a couple of other static image layouts (in aperture frames)

http://www.photodex.com/sharing/viewshow.html?fl=3087182&alb=150420

Thanks and talk to you soon
Iris
Windows 7 HP 64-bit, Intel i5 2500K Quad Core, 8GB RAM, 1.0GB Ge-Force NVIDIA GTX 560i, Adobe Photoshop CS5, Producer 6 (GPU Benchmark was 336, now 324), a big old Canon 20D and a funky Canon Powershot G15

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Re: Volunteer required!

Postby TinaJ » Wed Apr 01, 2009 1:06 am

I would love to help Iris, but I only have 3.5. Still haven't been able to convince myself I need 4, as I can replicate those slide styles pretty easily myself! But if it would work in 3.5 i'll do it!!
Tina
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Re: Volunteer required!

Postby cherub » Wed Apr 01, 2009 1:14 am

Iris,
You can install Gold trial on your own computer.
It will not interfere with Producer if you install it in a different directory.
If it does interfere (file associations etc..), then just reinstall Producer once again, and you are all set to test at your heart's content. :D

All my best,

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Re: Volunteer required!

Postby trulytango » Wed Apr 01, 2009 1:16 am

Hi Tina

Thanks but I really need someone with version 4 - slide styles being the feature I am testing.

My main focus is on Producer but it would be nice to be able to offer alternative styles (layouts/motion) etc. to Gold users too :D

Thanks again
Iris

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Re: Volunteer required!

Postby TinaJ » Wed Apr 01, 2009 3:13 pm

Well that's too bad!:(
But on the other hand, I didn't see anything I couldn't do in Gold, so I may start making my own slide styles for old Gold!
Tina
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Re: Volunteer required!

Postby DickK » Wed Apr 01, 2009 3:37 pm

Iris -- okay I can probably help, what do you need done? PM me if you prefer and I'll give you an email address you can use if needed to get them to me. I'm not actively building a show right now so I can try "stuff" to my hearts content.
Dick
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Re: Volunteer required!

Postby trulytango » Wed Apr 01, 2009 11:46 pm

Thanks Dick... I have a pack ready to go, I will send you a PM and get it to you and another person who has already kindly offered to help :D

Tina - in Producer slide styles are a wonderful new addition, and the only reason I upgraded. They save time and appear to be far more reliable than old style templates. For Gold however, you are already restricted to doing things over a number of slides, so the possibilities are still a little restricted.

There were a few things in the sample show I did that would be quite difficult and time consuming (or even not possible?) to do in Gold, but therein lies the challenge 8)

Thanks everyone
Iris

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Re: Volunteer required!

Postby TinaJ » Thu Apr 02, 2009 1:24 am

Iris I think we are talking about 2 different things. I have the trial of Gold 4, and although I haven't had the patience to sit and try every one of the styles there, the ones I did try all appear to be just different ways of grouping photos and movement. When I played with them, adding photos to ones that appealed to me, I found I had to spend an inordinate amount of time adjusting timings and transitions, all to get a few pics on the screen with a black background. It was definitely not a 'drop in your pics and go' type of scenario. On the other hand, I've spent a lot of time in 3.5 and have memorized timings and adjustments for my own slide styles,ie, deck of cards, group moving left, right, etc. As I watched your show, I don't think I saw anything that looked 'canned' but more, a creative use of pics and other elements, more in the fashion of having the digital scrapbook 'ploppers' where there are the elements that you add your photos to. In your case you have also added the movement feature.
As I am comfortable in 3.5, and have the multiple slide thing down, I figured I would hold off on 4 a while longer :D
However, as an aside, I do get a LOT of movement ideas from television, I often see commercials or shows, in particular CSI Miami,which makes me think that they are using proshow too!!:))
Tina
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Re: Volunteer required!

Postby im42n8 » Thu Apr 02, 2009 11:43 am

Tina,

Iris isn't kidding when she sez these styles can save lots of time! The style provided with v4 were just a taste of what's possible. They're generally very simple ... not one was of interest to me. However, you can do some very complicated styles and save lots of time recreating. All you have to do is put the images on the slide and apply the style and voila! Done! WRT PSP, the time savings can be considerable (such as with my page curl style). Creating a multi-slide style for PSG can also save LOTS of work too (such as with a carousel). In many ways it's an improved template version (w/o having to resort to templates). Basically, it seems to be little more than a couple of keystrokes to apply a style to a slide!

In some cases, tweaking might be necessary but not usually. I know in PSP, I've had to redesign some of the styles to account for different image sizes (from multiple different cameras) to keep the same look and feel ... and sizing ... across the play time for that slide (which usually means adding 1 or more masks ... not something that is allowed in PSG--the images would need pre-processing prior to import!).

By and large, I think the changes to V4 justify the upgrade. That's despite the radical changes in menuing, the reduced stability of the program, and the higher required horsepower (sometimes it seems to take forever before the program does something after a button was pushed!).

Dale

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Re: Volunteer required!

Postby TinaJ » Thu Apr 02, 2009 1:05 pm

Well I sure hope Iris didn't think I was denigrating her work in any way-on the contrary I am in awe!! I just feel comfortable in my own little world still, such as it is, with the things I know best. WHEN and IF I ever get the time to piddle more with 4, that's when I'll go great guns at it and maybe see there is more to it than meets my eye currently.
Tina
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Re: Volunteer required!

Postby trulytango » Thu Apr 02, 2009 2:14 pm

Hi there

Tina! I certainly didn't think you were denigrating the stuff I do... in fact I want to thank you for your feedback as you made me think about things and, all things considered - you hit the nail on the head when you described my stuff as being similar to a DigiScrappers kit (my words - not yours)! I am already making changes to what I set out to do :D

Dale - you are so right re Slide Styles and Producer - they are far superior to old style templates! They can pack such a punch and yet save you so much time. But I can see where Tina is coming from... there's only so much stuff you can pack into a Gold Slide style before the need for a subsequent one becomes apparent. If Gold users prefer to keep a bunch of slides saved as a show-file-style of template I can well understand their scepticism.

I did in fact produce a full show template (.pst file) re my Looking Back show, and I trialled it with a number of Producer users. Sadly though, Producer's template bug is too rife and I have had to abandon the idea of offering full show templates. I simply do not have the time to troubleshoot the darn bugs and it is too frustrating for the new user. It is really annoying to discover that a template created in PSP 4 on one machine, will not even behave itself when opened up and used as a template on the same machine! Laughable almost - unless you spend the equivalent of weeks on a project then the laughter turns to tears? Granted, my slides can have a lot of layers/elements but that shouldn't be a problem according to Photodex's 'unlimited layers per slide' claim. So templates can simply go rot as far as I'm concerned...

Sorry for banging on about PSP in a PSG thread, but it is one I started with the best of intentions :lol:

Thanks again for your help everyone.

Iris
Windows 7 HP 64-bit, Intel i5 2500K Quad Core, 8GB RAM, 1.0GB Ge-Force NVIDIA GTX 560i, Adobe Photoshop CS5, Producer 6 (GPU Benchmark was 336, now 324), a big old Canon 20D and a funky Canon Powershot G15

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Re: Volunteer required!

Postby im42n8 » Thu Apr 02, 2009 2:55 pm

Iris,

You might try what Jennifer and Mona have done, forgo the template and supply a PSH file instead! You can supply it sans the images or use placeholder images (it might be a pain to go that route, but at least they wouldn't see the "file not found" message in place of the image!). Those seem to work out fine. Heck, I basically used my old shows or a show I created specifically to hold my "styles" from which I'd copy the slide or slides needed. I had given up on the templates early on because, to me, they were kind of a pain to deal with (maybe I was just lazy! :) ).

When I provided some folk with something I'd done (at least lately), I've been supplying the psh file (sans images) for pre-v4 and styles for v4. WRT the psh file, if I created it with v4 (as has lately been the case), I found that pre-V4 proshow would open the file after giving a warning message. I just made sure that I didn't include any features that weren't in pre-v4 (or, pre-v3.5 ... blurs and adjustment layers as appropriate, if I remember right).

With the appropriate approach, creating styles in Gold just means (as in a carousel), that a slightly different mindset is needed. I found that, sometimes ... such as with carousels, it was best to take a GOLD-like route since it gave me more flexibility in the timing (slide times as well as transitions, for timing the slides' effects to the music) ... dealing with the keyframes can be a real pain when a lot of layers are involved ... which meant more discipline (vs finesse) in designing the "style!"). Gads, I've gotta do some conversions on my carousels! Styles would make them easier to work with (start, middle, and end styles)!

WRT what Tina said, I agreed with her perspective but wasn't sure what her appreciation of styles was (so it was a plug to upgrade, esp if it was free ... Tina, I wouldn't upgrade yet then if it's gonna cost you. You might consider the next release or two tho ... some of those bugs and "features" are probably going to be improved and/or fixed... or something).

Dale

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Re: Volunteer required!

Postby TinaJ » Thu Apr 02, 2009 4:04 pm

You are right Dale, not free for me:( I figured I had time to let the bugs shake out, and was planning to upgrade to Producer when my 2 years was up. Then I can use my methods while slowly learning the newer stuff.:)
Tina
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Re: Volunteer required!

Postby trulytango » Thu Apr 02, 2009 10:19 pm

im42n8 wrote:You might try what Jennifer and Mona have done, forgo the template and supply a PSH file instead! You can supply it sans the images or use placeholder images (it might be a pain to go that route, but at least they wouldn't see the "file not found" message in place of the image!). Those seem to work out fine. Dale


Hi Dale

Supplying .psh files has always worried me a little. I have shared them in the past but there's a real possibility that you get a call from someone who has simply overwritten it, even if you supply an instruction for the 'template' to be duplicated or filed somewhere safe first :roll: So I trotted off down the 'real' templates route a while back (I say real, only to distinguish a .psh file from a .pst (template) file)... thinking that once imported they're likely to be a safer bet. Storage-wise they are... but their erratic behaviour on use makes my blood boil :evil:

I have had a few PM's from people asking if I am going to produce a full template from my recent show... but I have to admit the bugs in the machinery put me off. However, maybe I will revisit the idea of supplying the show file instead - thanks for reminding me, Dale 8)

See you back in the Producer section!

TTFN
Iris

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