OUR VACATION

[Lina Profile Private message]

HI!

I have been visiting your forum for quite a while and I really like it; it gives many ideas and advices which helped me a lot.
But it's the first time I post something on it and would like your advice on my first POSTED SHOW; you will find it at this address.

http://www.photodex.com/sharing/viewsho ... 2061&alb=0

I am awaiting your comments and thank you in advance.

Lina

[gpsmikey Profile Private message]

In general, very nice. It started off very unimpressive with just
the slides and no music ... until I discovered my headphones had
come unplugged

Couple of minor (and they are minor! ) comments on things that I noticed:
1) if you are going to watch this on a computer, you are OK, but if
you are going to do it on a DVD, I think you are going to have problems
with the "safe zones" (TV's trim some unspecified amount off around
the edges - hence the "title safe" zones).

2) You may (TV again) have an issue with some of the smaller
text being difficult to read on a tv (TV's often also have a problem with
serif fonts )

3) In general, I liked your music and limited use of different
transitions, but there were a couple of places where there was
a "cut" type transition where I would not have expected it (a sudden jump).

4) I have gotten in the habbit (or at least I am working on it .. ) of using
a black outline and drop shaddow on my text and finding that it makes it
much more readable in general.

5) One caption that said "A visit of the city" would probably read better
as "A visit to the city".

All in all, very nice and makes me want to go back (I was there in
the early '80s). Ah, that 82 degree water, the direct sun overhead that
can peel your skin right off if you're not careful and all those beautiful
little shops down in St. Thomas.

mikey

[Jerry Cole Profile Private message]

Lina,
Excellent! You really did pay attention to other shows and the advise that has been provided by other reviews. A really good lesson for newbies on how valuable this board can be.

I agree with Mikey's comments .... Especially on the "safe zones" ..... and those prepositions can be tricky ... almost lost me with the "on" vs "to" usage.

Good pace, the music works well ... although you used a lot of transitions, they were not distracting for me.
Needless to say, I liked it.

Thanks for posting,
Jerry

[Lina Profile Private message]

Thank you for watching and also thank you for your comments. It's a good idea to outline the "text" As you said it will be more readable.
I do have a problem with the "Safe Zone" - Do you mean that I should write my text more in the middle than on the side?
Yes of course "A visit to the City" instead of A visity of the City" SORRY for the MISTAKE! probably due that English is not my first language.

Comments really help to improve ourselves.

Lina

[gpsmikey Profile Private message]

Definitely NOT a problem that English is not your native language -- you
do very well with it !!.

Yes, as far as the "safe zones", they do talk about it in the users
manual and it usually shows as a sort of grey thick border around
when you are looking at a slide in the captioning window for example.
TV's tend to trim off about the outside 10% and putting text too close
to the edge often results in several letters being "missing" when
viewed on a TV (but it looked fine on my computer !! ). Somewhere
in the show options, you can even set what the precentage of
"safe zone" is, but I have never changed it. Just one of those things
to be aware of. If you do a search in the online help, it is briefly
mentioned, but not defined, but if you look in the manual, they
describe it as (this is from an earlier version of the ver 3 Gold
manual on page 48 under "Show Options" (if you don't have a copy,
you can download a pdf copy of the manual from the Photodex site).

Safe Zone for Television Display
The Safe Zone is the area around the edges of
your show that may not be visible when the
show is viewed on some televisions. Even
modern televisions clip off small amounts of the
edges of the images displayed so that the entire
screen is filled. If you place important show
content too close to the edges of the screen it
may be clipped off. There is no way to predict
how much will be clipped. Every television is
different. The Safe Zone percentages in ProShow
Gold have no effect on your output except for
objects that are scaled to Fit to Safe Zone. The
shaded area is only there to help ensure that your
content stays on the screen during TV playback.
• Safe Zone specifies the percentage of the
screen width and height to be shaded to serve
as the safe zone.

Hope that helps -- it is something that catches a lot of
people by surprise when the discover a TV chops things
off !

mikey

[Lina Profile Private message]

Thank you GPSSmikey for anwering so fast; you explain very well.

Lina

[gpsmikey Profile Private message]

I cheated -- the section was a copy and paste from the
users manual. Figured they said it fairly well as it was.
Just another one of those little things that will get you !
Nothing like going to show someone your new show and find
all sorts of things cut off on the edges - kind of ruins the show

mikey

[gpsmikey Profile Private message]

Quick followup -- I was just snooping around the Photodex site and came
across this page that also describes the issue and provides some additional
information you may find useful (I was checking to see if they had a new
version out yet ):

http://www.photodex.com/support/resources/t765392.html

mikey

[Kay Gundlach Profile Private message]

Lina, I enjoyed it very much. It left me feeling very tranquil. It could be a promo ad for the cruise company. Which font did you use. I liked it.
gringa

[Ann Coulter]

You can tell you spent a lot of time thinking about what transitions to use to go with your music ( which was very appropriate) and your pics. That is not easy. This show must have taken some time to put together. As A novice myself, I loved your show. Technical help comes from posting and listening to comments. Great job, and when are "WE" all going on another vacation? Can't wait to see more. Ann

[Lina Profile Private message]

Thank you GPSMikey for the Photodex link; I never thought to look the "Documentation section" "I should have......
It's a great help.

Also a big thank to Kay for the appreciation. The font I used is: "Worstveld Sling Extra" that you can find on

http://www.dafont.com/fr/

To Ann: Yes, I did spend sometimes finding the appropriate transitions but the most difficult was to choose which photos should I put as I had taken at least 300 pictures. Thank you for your comments and I am glad you enjoyed it.

Lina

[Lavina Molnar Profile Private message]

I enjoyed watching what must have been a superb cruise, new places, new sights; (Can I come the next time?!!!! ) and with about the right number of 'people shots', all tied together with nice sound track. Felt there had been thought given for the transitions used and I felt in a very relaxed mood while viewing.
The business of the safe zone has been well covered already, but it is worth keeping in mind when preparing a show that will be viewed on T.V. - I know! I was well and truly deflated first time I put a show on to DVD! But that was years ago and I soon learned from my mistake!

Lavina
P.S. I did like that pretty font you used as well.

[lostdutchman]

Lina,

Nice job.Hopefully St. Thomas will be spared from Hurricane Dean tonight. We have friends on Dominica and Martinique. They took quite a pounding. Haven't heard from any of them as of yet.

Photographing in the bright light of the tropics can be a challenge. You have some great memories now preserved.

Ken

[Lina Profile Private message]

Thank you Lavina and Ken for your appreciation.
Of course, it's always nicer to take photographies when the sun shines at it's maximum

Lina