Human interface for modifiers

[BarbaraC Profile Private messageWebsite]

Things get a little "off" over here too at this time of day. First thing in the early morning, it's as if I have the internet all to myself, and so that's when I try to do the really large uploads to my site.

Barbara

[trulytango Profile Private message]

Ladies! You got me thinking about other uses and now I'm up to my pointy hat in bats, pumpkins and other such stuff But I'll have to pop my teeth back in and leave the cauldron to simmer now... it's our 6th wedding anniversary today and we're off out shortly to celebrate!

TTFN

[GabBill Profile Private messageWebsite]

Happy Aniversary, Iris. Many more.

Bill

[trulytango Profile Private message]

Thank you, Bill

I did have a very nice weekend!

Iris

[bellzerr Profile Private message]

Expose the mystery. Harness the power. Take the Photodex online classes for modifiers. No, I'm not a Photodex employee, but I have taken both of the classes below - worth every penny. I'm not sure much more can or needs to be done for a GUI interface once you understand more about how they work.

Understanding Modifiers
This class introduces the modifiers feature of ProShow Producer 4. You can create motion and effects that would otherwise be incredibly difficult with ease using this powerful feature. Learn how to create and customize your own modifiers, what they allow you to do to enhance your slide shows, and how to take full advantage of the feature.

Advanced Modifiers
Are you ready for more practical uses for modifiers in ProShow Producer? Look no further than Advanced Modifiers. This course will take you through four examples that will give you great starting points for your own effects. You will also learn how to copy modifiers and work with them in-depth, using multiple modifiers as part of a single layer to save time and achieve great results.

[cherub Profile Private messageWebsite]

Expose the mystery. Harness the power. Take the Photodex online classes for modifiers. No, I'm not a Photodex employee, but I have taken both of the classes below - worth every penny. I'm not sure much more can or needs to be done for a GUI interface once you understand more about how they work.

For your information, I did take the courses, in the hope that a Photodex expert will teach us more than what we discovered by ourselves, here in this forum, before any kind of guidance was available to us.
The courses do help in understanding what kind of effects can be achieved with modifiers, and they surely offer quite a lot of inspiration for similar/different effects. They also put order into one's thoughts. But no more than this.

The courses don't change the fact that one cannot see the effect of the modifiers unless he plays the whole slide, nor the fact that applying modifiers on the pan values is a matter of guess work.
Try to play with modifiers on objects that are not rectangular, and not at 50% pan, and then tell me what you think of modifiers.

[bellzerr Profile Private message]

I meant to sound playful, not harsh, but a re-read does appear to sound a bit flippant if you didn't know me. Mia culpa.

[trulytango Profile Private message]

Hi bellzerr

I have considered taking the classes, especially since they are bringing them down in price, but having read poor feedback a while ago - on a topic less involved than modifiers, I worry that it would be money down the drain... and money is something that's in short supply this end. I also wonder if my Internet connection/PC set up could handle the demand of a live, interactive session.

So, I have been playing around, taking notes (many pages), creating little samples etc... and I'm slowly getting there - mostly by way of having what I call 'happy accidents'

TTFN
Iris

[BarbaraC Profile Private messageWebsite]

Iris, I'll wait until you've done all the work of becoming an expert, and then you can teach me.

Barbara

[bellzerr Profile Private message]

Iris,
After attending a class, you can download a movie recording of the entire session, so not that big a deal if your PC struggles with online connections. Note that the chat-typed questions asked by participants in the last 1/2 hour are NOT part of the final movie, but you'll hear the instructor "read" the question and give an audio answer supported by screen demo if needed.

If you've been using Proshow for awhile, much of the material may indeed be review, but the tips and new material made it worth it for me - at least for 10 bucks a class. $25 for the single class price is still reasonable, but since I was planning on three of the advanced classes, it was an easy choice to go for another 25 bucks for the 10-class package.

Remember something else, Photodex support is always available by email or phone for whatever questions you have. Where else these days do you get free 7-day support from 8am to 8pm? I love these guys!

[Mac Profile Private message]

Hi Bellzerr,

I appreciate the fact that one can take (pay for) a course and learn how to do something. Time and money being what it is however . . .

The point still remains that the modifier section is quite different than the rest of the program. The calculations involved in panning, rotating, or blurring are done by the program, not the user.

[lynn1102 Profile Private message]

I can't watch about 75% of the shows. They go thru what appears to be loading for a short time, then I get a buffering message at starts and stays at 1%, but the time counts up instead of down. I quit when it gets to 2 or 3 minutes.
Others load and play within a few seconds. I'm using Firefox.

Lynn

[Robert Barnett]

I took the modifiers online classes when Photodex was offering them. I found them very helpful. Since they are no longer offering the classes I will contact their PR person on Tuesday and see if I can get permission to post them on my site. I will let you all know.

Robert

[Ron Profile Private messageWebsite]

Hi All
I would have to agree that they need to be more user friendly.
Iris great job, the eyes look great. Bet it took a lot of trial & error.
I made a candle flicker, it drove me crazy, finally got it but I lost some hair in the process.
Photodex is just teasing us!
Ron

[im42n8 Profile Private messageWebsite]

It's definitely in the realm of advanced users use right now because it's one of the least documented features. Also, while they're very powerful, it takes a good knowledge of how ProShow does certain tasks before you can get really good at handling them productively. They can let you do things that are otherwise impossible or extremely difficult to do another way.

My guess is that because of the rarified atmosphere of who's actually using them at this time (since they're so new) that they (Photodex) a're trying to build up some base of expertise out there in user land before they revisit them and try to figure out how to improve them, what improvements to make, and how to adjust the user interface appropriately, etc.

When they sprung these modifiers on us initially, it was just a case of some of us taking the bull by the horns, so to speak, and trying to figure out what to do with them. They haven't been around all that long, really. It's probably another year or two before they may address these things in any additional detail. At least the manual now addresses them in better detail than when they were introduced (there was NO information then!).

Meanwhile, for some of the simpler tasks, they sure are a labor saver even now! A big plus when you have many layers doing similar things at the same time.

Dale