Scrolling Credits question

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Scrolling Credits question

Postby bbqdad » Wed Dec 11, 2013 8:29 am

Have a list of peoples names. They belong to two different cities and those two city names are at the top of each group of people. All of this in one list.
I would like the city name font to be larger, but am unable to adjust it, without it affecting all of the rest of the text.

Is there a work around? Ideally, would like the scrolling to look as it does not, just have the City names in a larger font.

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Re: Scrolling Credits question

Postby debngar » Wed Dec 11, 2013 9:42 am

As you've discovered, ProShow caption layers can't have more than one different font or size appear in an individual caption layer. For them to be different requires an additional layer, be it another caption layer or turn the caption into an image layer. That can be done with the screen capture feature in Proshow if the list isn't too long or use a photo editor.

So, make a list of the names as an image, insert it as an image layer. Then position it and put it to motion so it scrolls up and mask it to disappear at a certain point, below the two city names at the top which can be a simple caption layer positioned as needed above your name columns. Both image layer caption (names) and regular caption (city titles) would be keyframed to appear and disappear as needed.

It seems to me the city titles would ideally appear on the screen above the names the entire time, so maybe it's best to scroll the names as an image layer so they can be masked to avoid the area of the city names above them.

As an alternative, if the list of names isn't that long and can fit on the screen without scrolling, then just have them fade in and out. If it's longer, break up the list into two slides appearing one after the other and have them fade in and out. It's easier for the viewer to read than having to keep up with a scrolling/moving caption.

Hope that makes sense.
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Re: Scrolling Credits question

Postby BarbaraC » Thu Dec 12, 2013 7:25 am

To expand on Debbie's answer: I suspect you're creating the list by typing a line, hitting the Enter key, typing the next line, hitting the Enter key, and so on. As Debbie indicates, you have to create the city caption separately from the list of names. Because you can have only one font/size/color etc. per caption, it limits you, but the moment you add a second caption, you can change all the caption's attributes. Thus, if you were to type in the city name in the size you want, then add a second caption with as many lines as you want, you can change the attributes of the second caption, making it different from the city name.

However, pay attention to what Debbie has said about scrolling captions. Have more than just a few, and people's eyes quickly tire.

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Re: Scrolling Credits question

Postby Serf4 » Thu Dec 12, 2013 9:29 am

How about trying this (it might work as PRODUCER can read PNG files) if you have Illustrator or Photoshop or an app that can save a PNG with transparency.

1. In a PLAIN text editor create your list. COPY to clipboard (CTRL-C)

2. Paste (CTRL-V) into your APP. then do your TEXT formatting to your taste.
NOTE: when first creating this file make sure it matches or exceeds the pixel width size of your planned PRODUCER output (i.e. 1280 x 720 HD 16:9)

3. Save the file (Save for Web) as a .png file with Transparency checked. If you did this in Photoshop then make sure you first created a document with a Transparent Background or just rename the 'background' layer to anything but 'background'
NOTE: Don't use BLACK text if your SLIDE background is BLACK.

4. Power up PRODUCER. Create a show. Insert a Title or Blank slide.

5. Drag and Drop the PNG file into the slide.

6. Do your adjustments in terms of motion and slide length.

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Re: Scrolling Credits question

Postby bbqdad » Thu Dec 12, 2013 9:58 am

Barbara,

The list of employees names were emailed and I had copied and paste into Producer.

Originally, the customer saw the list with an exe file I sent him, with both city groups scrolling up. He then asked if the city names could be made larger and shaded another color to have it standout.
I believe I tried what you suggested, but the city name scrolled from bottom to top, before the employees names then begin to scroll. Was too long of time between the two vs. when they were the same size.

I ended up creating a slide with the city name that faded in then out, then the scroll slide with the names, then the next city name as slide and the next slide scroll the 2nd group of names. Not exactly what he wanted, but had a deadline to get this out.

Was there a way I could have started the scroll of names, overlapping the first slide and had them scroll together in sync?

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Re: Scrolling Credits question

Postby BarbaraC » Thu Dec 12, 2013 11:05 am

bbqdad wrote:Was there a way I could have started the scroll of names, overlapping the first slide and had them scroll together in sync?

Short answer: Yes. Longer answer: You would have had to play some "tricks" with fonts. If you had the city in a regular caption that didn't scroll, and then just beneath it, you used the letter "n" in the Wingding font, making it large and set at the top of the screen, you could then add the names, having them scroll up. As they scrolled, they go beneath the Wingding.

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Re: Scrolling Credits question

Postby im42n8 » Thu Dec 12, 2013 11:09 am

This is a workaround. I'll give you the idea for one of the city's and it's list of people. The key is getting the captions to both have the same height. Yes, each caption MUST have the same typeface and font size for all of its content ... so that requires a different caption for each set of characters that require something different (typeface, size, color, etc).

I'll provide 2 methods ... they're both related but one may work better for you depending on how you view things.

METHOD 1 Create your city name caption with the font size desired. Add a carriage return and add a character for the number of people in that city.
Create your people list ... first line is the city name followed by each line with the people's name at the desired size.

Arrange the lists to be on top of each other and aligned at the top.

Now, select the city list and change the line width to change the height of that caption to match that of the people's list.

Once the heights of both captions are effectively the same, remove the characters in the lines representing the people's names (keep blank line tho ... don't delete it)
Next, remove the characters representing the city name on the first line of the "people's" list.

Now, supposing that the captions will scroll from bottom to top of the screen:

Set the city caption position such that its top is JUST off-screen at the bottom to the frame. For Keyframe 1, set the people's caption to be just below the city caption. If you need to change the screen zoom amount (the number beside the "magnifying glass" at the bottom of the slide options). Now, for Keyframe 2, move the people's caption so that it's bottom is just off-screen. Now subtract the top position from the bottom position to get the total distance traveled. If the people's caption at screen bottom was 122 and at the top it was -15, then the distance traveled was 122 - (-15) = 137. That's the total distance traveled. The city name caption has to travel the same distance. Or you can not the difference in position at the bottom of the screen and use that difference instead. Say the City caption was placed at 120 and the name's were at 122. Since the names at kf2 were placed at -15, then the city name would be placed at -17 at kf2.

At any rate, the two captions are traveling the same amount of distance. Note that it's not the captions themselves that you are worried about, it's actually the center of the caption that you're concerned with, since that is what ProShow uses for the caption position.

METHOD 2. Just create your captions with the font size you want. Now, resize the screen as described above. Place the city names just off the bottom to the screen frame. Next, place the top of the city names to a position just below the city name at a distance you like for keyframe 1. Next, position the tallest caption for keyframe 2 as described above. Now, you can position all of the other captions accordingly. The only caveat is they must all travel the same distance, start to finish... such that the relative position of each caption at start is the same at the last keyframe.

So, let's say that the city name caption (14pt Arial) is placed at 105 and the people caption (10 pt arial) are placed at 125 for kf1. Now, at kf2, the people caption is placed at -15. The city caption would have to be placed at -35. Note that 125 - (-15) is 140. So, 140 -105 = 35 (the final position of the caption at the top of the screen). When panned, they pan together as one unit.

========================

One option is more work than the other but they both do the same thing: helping ensure the captions all travel the same distance over the same length of time. If you have them scrolling side by side or one atop the other, the concept is still going to be the same ... use the caption that is going to travel the farthest distance as your reference distance that all captions need to travel from kf1 to kf2.

Anyway, hope that made sense.

There are multiple ways of doing this...

Dale

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