Opacity Question

[TiredPuppy Profile Private message]

Okay, I know I'm being dense with this problem, but I have only two days remaining on my 15 day trial. I want to have a slide showing a sign on a beach. The next layer is a picture of the beach itself. I want the slide to start with just the sign showing, and then change the opacity gradually so the sign begins to fade and the beach begins to appear until at the end, only the beach picture is visible. No matter what I try, the initial view is of the sign with the beach picture already showing through. I can get it to fade to just the beach, but I want the first thing you see to be the sign - no beach showing through. Any suggestions would be appreciated. If I can get this to work, I will probably take the plunge and upgrade to Producer.

Ken

[Barbara_K Profile Private message]

I don't have Producer but I would do what you want with two slides. First slide would be the sign. Second slide-beach. Set the timing for the first slide to 0. Use a crossfade transition set to about 10 sec. The first slide will fade and only the second will show at the end. The 0 slide time and long transition time allows both images to be on screen at the same time.

Barbara

[briancbb Profile Private message]

Agree with Barbara.

There are complex ways to do things in Producer in one slide, that are easier to do in two or more slides. Probably it is having come up through the Gold 2.5 and 2.6 etc to PSP that these methods using several slides stand out as being the easiest way of achieving an effect.

Adding time to the first slide (Barbara's 0) will give the sign image full opacity before it begins the 10 sec fade to the beach.

Brian

[TiredPuppy Profile Private message]

Thanks Barbara and Brian. I can certainly use the two slide method if it's more appropriate. I'm just having trouble understanding layers. I thought if one layer was on top of another and opacity was set to 100%, the bottom layer would not be visible at all. In my situation, the bottom picture is showing up, even at this setting. As I said, as opacity is reduced, the top picture gradually disappears as expected. Oh well, back to the drawing board. Thanks again,

Ken

[rufone419 Profile Private messageWebsite]

Ken:

As I understand it you would need to have two layers. One layer with the beach that want to come in and a layer with the sign. On the effects tab you will need to be on the beach layer and then add a key frame. On the first key frame have the opacity on 0 on both ends. On the second key frame have your first at 0 and the ending at 100%.

Hope that makes sence

Dave

[gpsmikey Profile Private message]

That is what is puzzling -- he said that even with opacity set to 100% he
could see the layer below. I have not played with that so I'm not sure
although I thought in the past when I experimented along those lines that
100% opacity blocked what was below. Maybe time to run some tests

mikey

[gpsmikey Profile Private message]

OK, now I'm more puzzled -- I just put together a quick test (modified one of
my other "test shows" for an opacity test -- the last slide of this show has 2 layers
and I used keyframes to transition from 100% on layer 1 to 0% opacity for layer 1.
It acted as I expected. See what you think.
http://www.photodex.com/sharing/viewsho ... 9531&alb=0

mikey

[briancbb Profile Private message]

OK Guys I think I have found it, maybe

Ken is it when you look in Slide Options>Effects to change the opacity you can see both layer 1 and layer 2 in the windows?

If this is the case it is because 'Darken Inactive Layers' is selected. To change this select 'Hide Inactive Layers'. To do this right click on one of the preview images to bring up the menu. Hope this is the solution.

If this is the case, irrespective of which is ticked, when you render the opacities will be correct as per Mikey's demo.

Brian

[TiredPuppy Profile Private message]

Mikey, your effect is exactly what I'm trying to do. Brian, I changed my settings as you suggested but as soon as I add keyframes with diminishing %, the second slide (beach) starts showing through (even at the beginning). Even the slide on the slide list begins to show the second layer. I'll play with this some more after while. I've got mowing to do before the afternoon heat makes it too miserable.

Mikey, I hate to be a pest but could you give me the settings you used on both layers? Thanks again to both of you for taking time to help with my problem.

Ken

[gpsmikey Profile Private message]

No problem -- for the bottom layer, I didn't make any changes
to the opacity setting. for the top layer, I have 4 keyframes
spaced approximately equally across the time line with the
following settings for the opacity 100, 100, 0, 0. Make sure
when you do that the "auto/manual" buttons (auto=green, manual=red)
are red otherwise it will sort of average it across for lack of a better term.
I you want to send me a valid email address, I will send you an
even shorter version with just a couple of slides in it that is
the psh file as well as the slides so you can play with it if you want
(and my description above doesn't help).
mr.gadget2 at comcast.net if you want to use it ...

mikey

[TiredPuppy Profile Private message]

Success! Thanks a million for sending me your sample show Mikey. You had one extra key frame than I did. The first two begin and end with 100% opacity, the third starts with 100% and ends with 0%. The fourth, of course, was 0% for both. Once I added the extra key frame at 100% begin and end, it worked perfectly.

The funny thing is, on the bottom, where it shows all the slides in the show, mine is showing the second layer (the beach) but shows the file name for the first layer's picture. Previously, it was showing both layers, as if there was about 50% opacity on the top layer. At this point, I don't care why it's doing that, as long as the show displays properly.

Thanks to everyone who made suggestions. And thanks again, Mikey, for the time you've spent helping me out with this. I'm going to experiment with more features now before my trial period expires (tick, tick, tick).

Ken

[gpsmikey Profile Private message]

Glad it worked for you -- sometimes it is one of those things that when
you actually see it, it makes sense

mikey