Tutorial: Smoothing

Please post your tutorials here for ProShow Producer only. Provide a lnk 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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Tutorial: Smoothing

Postby rkligman » Wed Oct 10, 2007 1:22 pm

The next tutorial is ready for viewing and deals with Smoothing. Hmm, wonder what that's about?

I've chosen not to put it inside Proshow Presenter because the presenter is not optimal for viewing tutorials.
Because it's not in Presenter, you need to click here to view it on my MyCityPhotoGuide site.
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Postby BarbaraC » Wed Oct 10, 2007 1:36 pm

Rick, keep the tutorials coming, please. You're doing an excellent job, knowing enough to keep it simple, not trying to dazzle but instead to teach.

The smoothing option can be very misleading when you're brand-new to ProShow because the term doesn't make it immediately apparent what it actually does. Smoothing, one asks oneself...is it an "anti-jerk" devise? Does it keep things from starting with a lurch and stopping on a dime? It took me a while to realize that smoothing was a creation of arcs, but until this realization, I simply thought it was an option that either didn't work or that created troubled waters.

Again, keep them coming.

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Postby hardsoftware » Wed Oct 10, 2007 2:39 pm

Does it keep things from starting with a lurch and stopping on a dime?


I control sudden starts and stops by using the default "Smooth" selection in the acceleration style for Zooming or Panning. Using "Linear" will cause sudden starts and stops at the beginning and end to photo movement. This is particular effective is you want to "Bounce" photos off the side of the viewer kinda like the game "Pong" from the 1970's.

Smoothing controls how much arc there is in the motion path of the photo from beginning to end depending on how many keyframes are there just like the tutorial shows. You would have to set smoothing for each keyframe you have if thats what you need. Good example in the tutorial using the latest version of Producer, and for those of you still using an older version of Producer this tutorial matches the tutorial that Vidqueen put up about 6 months ago. http://www.photodex.com/sharing/viewsho ... alb=124704 and it also covers a little bit of the auto/manual settings. Its a pretty big file though at 110mb.

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Postby BarbaraC » Wed Oct 10, 2007 2:49 pm

Ben, that's what I used through the feather show I did when I was learning key frames--I used 100% smoothing so the feathers would curl and drift. By seeing what smoothing did there, I got a much better handle on when NOT to use it.

Those jerky movements, though, now that seems to be a (mal)function of ProShow. It's as if a frame or two is periodically dropped out of a video.

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Postby hardsoftware » Wed Oct 10, 2007 2:56 pm

Barbara,

I also have a problem sometime with Jerky movements but only when I do rotation. No matter what selection I use, it is wobbly to me, not the way it should be. However zooming in and out or panning is ok as long as I use the Smooth selection, instead of the Linear selection. I do use Linear when needed but not very often.

Jerky also comes into play if using many layers and seems to happen at transition times or during transitions probably due to so much going on or with very large photos in motion at the same time.

Ben
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Postby BarbaraC » Wed Oct 10, 2007 3:23 pm

Ben, I had the same problems when using Gold and where there were no layers. After working with a cartooning program and discovering that I specifically had to choose the highest quality rendering to keep out all jerkiness, I rendered to JPEG images to see what was going on. Sure enough, unless high quality was used, frames were dropped out. I assume ProShow works the same way, creating the "betweens" just the way cartoon programs do, and this is what makes me suspect dropped frames.

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Smooth!

Postby SandyB » Wed Oct 10, 2007 4:37 pm

Rick,
Thanks for the tutorial! It helped me to go from "sort of" knowing how smoothing works to understanding the details.
Gratefully,
Sandy
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Postby rkligman » Wed Oct 10, 2007 7:42 pm

hardsoftware wrote:
Does it keep things from starting with a lurch and stopping on a dime?


I control sudden starts and stops by using the default "Smooth" selection in the acceleration style for Zooming or Panning. Using "Linear" will cause sudden starts and stops at the beginning and end to photo movement.

Ben


Actually you have it sort of backwards. The "Smooth" Motion Style in Pan moves the layer slowly at first, speeds up in the middle, and slows down at the end of the motion. Linear moves the specified layer at a constant speed for the duration of the motion. That's why in my Matching Movement I had to use Linear to get the slides to completely sync. So any actual jerkiness might be, as Barbara said, caused by PS dropping frames or so, but not by what it's trying to do.
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Postby hardsoftware » Thu Oct 11, 2007 9:36 am

The "Smooth" Motion Style in Pan moves the layer slowly at first, speeds up in the middle, and slows down at the end of the motion.


Well it will certainly be that way if your slidetime is short. I tend to use longer slidetimes. This allows a nice slow acceleration from a dead stop(smooth) and a nice slow deceleration to a stop. It is just a personal thing of mine but I do not like sudden accelerations from a dead stop and immediate sudden stops when zooming or panning. It reminds me of when I used to use Roxio to do my slide shows. I'd make them within Roxio's video editor which had panning and zooming controls for still photos. Roxio only moved photos in Linear fashion and man they would take off like a rocket then stop on a dime. I found that a bit disturbing.

I do see your point for using Linear though. In the example you used in your tutorial it was necessary to use Linear to accomplish your match even though you were using different photos with transitions between them. I only use matching if there are NO transitions between slides and the photos are the same.

Good job on the tutorial I must say, especially since you are using the latest version of Producer to illustrate the proper sequence of events. Can't wait until I get my broadband back as it takes forever to download these things. Still unemployed so that may be awhile.

Ben
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Lee Ann

Postby Lee Ann » Wed Oct 24, 2007 12:39 am

Great tutorial. After all this time of using Producer, I finally know what smoothing means. It explains alot.

vciro

Excellent!

Postby vciro » Wed Oct 24, 2007 4:32 am

Rick,
I just viewed all your Tutorials and they are absolutley outstanding. I just wanted to say "Thank You" very much for taking the time to put these together and for sharing them with us. I highly recommend them to all.

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