Tools For ProShow

When I first released Tools For ProShow a couple of years ago, there were only 9 tools in it. Today, there are 25 (19 main tools and seven that are a part of the Findings tool). Tools For ProShow gives you access to ProShow capability that Photodex has not given you directly. The tools give you the capability to do things that are otherwise impossible, difficult to achieve, time consuming to do, or labor intensive. This is all to provide you as wide a variety of means to display your images as possible. All you need is the imagination, inventiveness, and drive to go beyond simply what Photodex has provided.

Over the time since the first release of these tools, I’ve learned quite a bit about ProShow too. I knew there had to be a way to do certain things and I found out how to do it. Some people work differently and try different things. . . so they engender ideas about how to present images. Sometimes it’s simply frustration that the program doesn’t provide what you want that leads to change. Well, to avoid reinventing the wheel, so-to-speak, I put those ideas into the Tools. Some get used frequently. Some rarely. It’s nice to have the tool available when you need it though.

As of this posting, version 10.17f1 is the most current release.

OVERVIEW
The tools in this section provide the information needed for use within ProShow. When the data or information is supplied, the results of calculations are provided. The following are included:

1.    Cropping Tool. Obtain cropping dimensions for a layer for a specific aspect. This is a significant enhancement over what ProShow provides. This tool is very flexible and very sophisticated to help you crop your layer to a specific aspect. PSG/PSP.
2.    Distances. Move a layer along the line of an angle of rotation for a specified distance or along a line perpendicular to that angle of rotation. PSG/PSP.
3.    Find Halfway Point. Find the slide location point located halfway between two layers given their Starting and Ending locations (X-Axis and Y-Axis). PSG/PSP.
4.    Findings. Exploits the relationships between pan, zoom, and rotate center, layer width and height. PSG/PSP. Note that PSG zoom values are always the same for each axis.
a.    Align Here. Position a layer’s side, corner, or center to a specific screen location.
b.    Calculated Settings. Pan, Zoom, and Rotate Center functions are interrelated. So, when two function values are known, deriving the missing function’s value is possible. This section calculates the value of the unknown function.
c.    Cover Layer During Rotation. Sometimes you will want to rotate a layer over the top of another, completely obscuring it from view. This tool provides information to do just that.
d.    Layer Width and Height. ProShow provides no layer width or height information. This section provides this information. If no values are provided in the ProShow Settings tool, layer width and height is provided for a layer at 100% zoom by default.
e.    Largest Width During Rotation. Sometimes you need to know what the largest width of a layer is for the given zoom setting during rotation. This tool provides that information.
f.    Locations. This gives the screen location of a layer, its side, or its corner. This information is provided for a given Rotation on some portion of the layer.
g.    ProShow Settings. Layer values from ProShow layer settings.
5.    Layer Information. This provides the slideshow’s layer information. There are three layers provided in this section. The section provides each of the three ProsShow Layers with dimensions (to identify the layer’s aspect) and associated scale. This tool’s information is also used by other tools: Findings, Cropping, Width & Height, Distances, Proportional Sizing and Placement: Layer 4, Layer: Outlines and Frames, Slide Information. PSG/PSP.
6.    Layer: Outlines/Frames. This tool gives settings required of a layer to give another layer the appearance of an outline. An outline typically has an equal size on each side of the layer. It also gives settings for an outline that creates the look of a Polaroid Photo (a larger outline section either at the layer top or bottom than on the other two sides). The tool provides zoom and modifier settings for creating a size change via the zoom feature versus changing the layer’s zoom directly. There is also a section that gives settings that allow a layer size change via cropping, a graphic editor, or the ProShow create Layer (Solid/Gradient) feature. This feature allows the creation of an outline in ProShow Gold. PSG/PSP. PSG compliant only for zoom settings that are the same for each axis. Cropping of an existing layer or creating a graphic of a specific aspect may be required to achieve results possible from within PSP.
7.    Modifier Rotation Calculation. Find the rotation value in terms of degrees, phase change, or modifier value. Modifiers make rotation changes in terms of a percent of a rotation. This tool makes choosing the appropriate rotation amount easy. PSP
8.    Modifier Zoom. This tool calculates the missing value when given two of three values: Starting Zoom, Ending Zoom, and Modifier. Zoom modifiers were found to be a bit more complex than once assumed. Ver 10.17 of these tools provided quick and easy access to accurate size changes to a layer via a modifier. It turned out that when zoom for each axis was different, the calculation of the modifier for the other axis changed from how it was calculated when both axes zoom was the same. When tilt was being used (horizontal or vertical), the zoom modifier calculation changed drastically.
9.    Position a Rotated Layer. Given a starting and final location, this tool gives the distance a layer has moved. When Desired Final Position is provided (for a layer that has been tilted — either vertical or horizontal) or rotated, the layer’s pan settings to position the layer at that desired location are provided. PSG/PSP.
10.    Proportional Sizing and Placement: Layer 4. This tool is useful for creating a layer that is proportional in size and location to another layer. PSG/PSP.
11.    Quadratic/Linear Function. This section provides answers for the ProShow modifier functions of Quadratic Curve and Linear Ramp. The quadratic curve uses an equation that defines a parabola. The ProShow factors define a region of that curve to position a layer. When the Quadratic Curve’s first factor (the quadratic factor) is set to zero, the effective equation defines the Linear Ramp. A linear equation defines a sloped line (which can also be defined as “ramp”). PSP.
12.    Slide Information. This provides the slideshow’s Frame Aspect and the Safe Zone size. This information is used by other Tools For ProShow tools: Layer Information, Findings, Width & Height, Distances, Proportional Sizing and Placement: Layer 4, Layer: Outlines and Frames. PSG/PSP.
13.    Time: Frequency. Determine the frequency for a given number of changes over a specific amount of time. Or find the number of changes that occur over a given amount of time and at a particular frequency. Then too, you could find the amount of time required for a specific number of changes at a given frequency. PSP
14.    Time: Show/Slide/Keyframe. Giving a Starting time (minutes and seconds) and a Final (or ending) time, a difference in time is calculated. Some modifier functions have the ability to start at the following three locations: Show, Slide, or Keyframe. As it can be important to know the actual start time at any given location because of the function used and it’s value at that time can be calculated. PSG/PSP. Usefulness within PSG is very limited.
15.    Text Box Aspect. Select a specific aspect for the Text Box. Sometimes you want to provide additional contrast between the background and the transparent background of the caption or text on a text layer. That graphic or ProShow layer may have a specific aspect you want to box to maintain. Sure, eyeballing it works too. However, sometimes you need specific information about the text box.
16.    Text Box Findings. The locations for each of the text box’s sides are provided. Since the text box changes physical location when the text alignment is changed, it also provides settings that can place the text box in its original location. Information from the Text Position tool (see below) is used as starting point information. Supplemental to that information, user provides the Text Box’s width and height.Note that the position information for this tool comes from the Text Position tool. If the position is such that the text box becomes clipped by the screen or layer edge, a warning is provided about the clipping and provides information as to what parts of the text box are clipped.
17.    Text Position. Captions use a different positioning system than Layers do. Text starts its zero point at the screen’s upper left corner. The lower right corner is the 100% of the screen location. Text layers are layers on which captions have been placed. As such, they have the benefits and characteristics of both Layers and Captions. A text layer’s text is positioned on the layer using caption positioning. The text layer is positioned as a normal layer. Therefore, the actual position of that text might need some calculation. This tool translates the positioning information between these two different measurement systems to provides TEXT POSITION (positioning of the caption or text layer text) or SCREEN POSITION (the apparent location of the text within the slide frame). To get text position, the Layer Pan value and the desired Screen location are needed. To get the screen position, the Layer Pan and the Text Position information is needed. PSP.
18.    USER Calculations. This section allows you to make calculations or use the contents of results found within the worksheet to create other calculations you can use for a variety of purposes. PSG/PSP.
19.    Width & Height.  This tool asks for the following information: frame aspect, layer aspect, and layer scale.  If the zoom is provided, the tool calculates the width and/or height. If the width and/or height is provided, the associated zoom value is provided. Width and Height of a layer can be important when you’re building an effect to present your image(s). ProShow provides none of this information. The Width and Height tool allows you to ask directly for a layer’s required zoom for a particular width or height for a given scale. Great time saver.PSG/PSP.

The calculations used to calculate relationships between pan, zoom, and rotate center were improved. They are now more concise and execute faster than previously. A few bug fixes were also included.

Here’s a link to the overview: Tools for ProShow Overview

Dale
161216-1507

 

 

 

FPVP Tools (Updated)

THEY’RE HERE! A few months back, I was asked if there was a way to reset the FPVP Layers values from the one’s entered. At the time, all settings changes depended on whatever values were entered. To set them all to a zero value was done manually. Also, a reset function would have required the use of a macro, a feature I hadn’t used for many years. But, I looked into it and one thing led to another. In the end, I made over 60 changes or tweaks to the existing program. I improved the functionality of the OpenOffice version which then were made compatible with LibreOffice (another freeware version of an alternative to Microsoft Excel). I enhanced the features of the Cropping Tool, Equal Size Changes, and Modifier Rotation Calculation.  I also added a tool that made it easier to figure out where a text layer’s text was on-screen. A text layer’s text is movable independent of the layer’s position. So, I created the tool to give me control I didn’t have previously. I let the tool tell me the screen pan values of the text given the text layer’s position and the position of the text on that layer. But it works both ways too. The position of the text on the text layer is given when you tell it where on the screen you want that text for a given position of the text layer.

This update (v10.11d) contains many changes and tweaks to the originally released version. Below are the main changes to FPVP Tools.

Cropping Tool. The aspect to which you want to crop a layer is now either manually entered or selected from a dropdown list of defined aspects. Also, a Zoom% feature was added. This is useful for cases where you are cropping a defined region of a layer within ProShow and you want to define it as a percent of the full sized image. Alternatively, if you create a crop region within ProShow, this zoom setting can be changed until one of the axis reports a size similar to what you have in ProShow. This will then give you the proper crop values for each axis that give the desired Aspect. Likewise you could keep the zoom at 1000% and enter the ProShow crop region’s values to obtain the crop values for the desired aspect. What is provided now are additional options that, hopefully, make the task of cropping your ProShow layer easier and more informative.

Equal Size Changes. Previously, the X and Y axes were required to have the same zoom setting. Now, they may have different values of zoom. You can now select the exact amount of change you want on all sides (scaled to the layer’s aspect). This change may be as small or as large as you want. Previously, the amount of change was made by entering a percent of change from the layer’s existing zoom value or as a specific value of zoom. These changes work for any size of zoom on any axis or scale of the layer.  The effective aspect of the layer before and after any changes is now displayed. This could be useful information for some situations. More useful information is the layer’s width and height before and after any changes. Further, the amount of change on each side (normalized to the frame aspect) is displayed.  This shows how large the change is on each side of the layer. The actual change on each side is also displayed for reference purposes as is the total change in width and height.

Note that this tool was specifically created to address the limitations in ProShow’s layer’s outlining and shadowing features. Add to that the fact that a 10% change in zoom size of a layer that is NOT square can result in a visual change that is larger in one axis than another. Visually, this is can result in some glaring disparities.

Modifier Rotation Calculation. This tool was modified to allow finding a layer’s amount of rotation, change of phase, and/or amount of rotation. An cell was added to provide the “Master” layer’s rotation amount. Also, a checkbox was added to have the tool calculate the amount of rotation required for a layer to obtain the desired rotation angle. There’s also an option now to have the tool calculate the difference in rotation.

For instance, if the existing rotation (Layer) is set to 120, Rotation (Additional) is -360. The tool reports that the Change of Phase is -1.00, Value of Modifier is -100.00, and a Rotation (Final) is -240.  If a “Master” Layer (a layer that another layer will “follow” the rotation of) has an existing rotation of 45, with the Layer’s values as given, the layer’s final rotation will be a rotation value of 525 degrees (when the modifier of 100 is added to the Layer AND the layer is also following the rotation of the “Master” layer).

At the very least, this approach can show you what the final rotation value is given the Master layer’s rotation and the follower layer’s rotation value for a given offset rotation amount. The basis for each result is given to the right of each of the three different lines the user can use as rotation input information (in degrees, change of phase amount, or a modifier value).

Text Layer Text Positioning. (NEW!) This new tool compensates for the fact that a text layer is a caption layer contained in a normal layer. The caption is positioned in a different positioning method than a layer’s position is. A caption is positioned where the 0,0 location is the upper left corner of the screen and 100,100 is the lower right corner of the screen. Further, the center point of a caption is located according to the alignment setting for that caption (left or right). The top to bottom center point is still roughly the halfway point from the top of the first line of caption to the bottom of the last line of caption, adjusted by the amount of leading associated with the typeface of the caption. So, the position of the text of a text layer is determined by the text’s selected alignment type (left, right, center) and the top-to-bottom center point of the caption. This tool helps to simplify figuring out exactly what the normal screen coordinates are for that text when the caption text is NOT the default 50,50 position. Likewise,  if you desire to know how to place of layer’s caption at a specific place on the screen for a specific layer positioning, this tool can calculate that for you too.

MACROS. Macros were also added to this new version of FPVP Tools. These macros allow you to reset the Layer Aspect in the Layer Information and within the FINDINGS section: reset the ProShow Settings, Highlights in the Calculated Settings section, and the dropdown list selections in Locations and Align Here. Specific graphics provide the ability to reset all of them at once (The graphic associated with each layer under the Layer Information section) or separately (in the Findings section). Previously, when the language was changed, the dropdown list selection displayed remained displayed in the original language. You had to manually change each dropdown list selection. That no longer is the case. Select a different language and the dropdown list is refreshed to display the the default selection in the language selected.

OPEN OFFICE 4.1.1 and LIBRE OFFICE 5.3. The ODS worksheet works substantially the same as the EXCEL Version. The previous OpenOffice release version had some problems which have all been addressed. Libre Office did not properly import the ODS worksheet previously released and this has been fixed as well. OpenOffice and Libre Office are free spreadsheet programs that provide substantially the same capabilities as Microsoft Excel. If you don’t have Excel and don’t have the money to spring for it, OO and LO provide excellent alternatives that do NOT break the pocketbook.

SUMMARY. FPVP Tools provides the ProShow user a means to access ProShow’s power without becoming an expert on how ProShow performs its magic. It provides a means to do things that are otherwise impossible, extremely difficult, or very time consuming to do. If you have an inquiring and open mind as to ProShow’s capabilities, FPVP Tools is a way to save you time and effort to effectively display your images.

If you want to make effective use of ProShow’s rotate center feature, for instance, FPVP Tools is the only way to do it. FPVP Tools allows you to define a specific point around which to rotate or tilt a layer. Many layers may then use the same rotation point. At this time, ProShow does not provide the means to effectively use the Rotate Center function.

Effective placement of a layer, when precision is necessary is significantly enhanced using FPVP Tools. This is far superior to eyeballing placement of a layer and its support components, whether you use some form of “motion” or a static presentation (that is, when using the features of pan, rotation, zoom, or tilt).

FPVP Tools for ProShow

I couldn’t let the darned thing go.Things were missing from the initial release that I thought should be included. So, even though I wanted (and needed) to do other things, I ended up making the changes. In the process, I made the worksheet less prone to really wide columns when a language other than English were used. Different people have different ways of describing the same thing. That goes for languages. So, I added a 4th language option: YOURS. When you select this option you may edit the text in the YOUR LANGUAGE column to a language other than English if that’s what you need.

The ability to locate a layer’s actual position after it has been rotated is pretty novel. I don’t know of anyone who offers that feature (aside from me). But, this ability, which was previously only available to rotated layers (in the previous release), is now afforded to layers that are also tilted (vertical or horizontal). The other nice feature is that if you rotate (or tilt) a layer on a Rotate Center, you can now find it’s actual screen position as well. Nobody else even comes close to this capability.

The bottom line of that capability is the ability to do things that might otherwise require the use of modifiers. Imagination is your only real limitation. The power of ProShow that you probably didn’t even know existed is provided with these tools. They offer access to things even most ProShow experts aren’t even aware of.

All of the tools are compatible with ProShow Producer. ProShow Gold is able to take advantage of all of the tools except EQUAL SIZE CHANGES (Gold doesn’t allow different values of zoom for the X- and Y-Axes) nor the MODIFIER ROTATION CALCULATIONS (Gold doesn’t support modifiers).

Check out the Introduction to the Tools or go to my site’s webpage.

Dale

ProShow Unleashed: Beyond the Manual

The FPVP book is now available:

http://fenimorephotovideos.com/BeyondTheManual.html

The book has gone through a slight name change from when I first announced it and there’s even more content too. The 97 page book is in PDF format.

Useful for both Novice and Expert users, there is something in this book for everyone. I hope you find it useful. The link above takes you to the webpage with the updated table of contents (no page numbers though). This is the first book of its kind for ProShow users.

Dale

 

TUTORIAL: Advanced Outlines and Shadows in ProShow Producer

I recently wrote an article about creating layer outlines in ProShow. Photodex published a synopisis of it: http://www.slideshowblog.com/2013/09/using-layer-outlines-in-proshow-5/. YOu can find the full article here (Photodex thought the consideration of manually created outlines was way too advanced).

The impetus for the article was actually to deal with ProShow’s woefully inadequate outline function. What we are left with is manually creating our own outlines. I added the shadow tutorial (listed below) to deal with the ProShow’s inadequate native shadow function, even in Producer (where you might expect more control).

I followed the Layer Outlines article with a video tutorial dealing with an introduction to outlines. That was followed by another video tutorial dealing with an introduction to shadows.

The following video tutorial, however, deals with the combination of manually created outlines and manually created shadows to create more sophisticated looking “frames” for your images. I go from the very simple to the more complex by combining a number of simple techniques the tutorial introduces.

http://fenimorephotovideos.com/fpvp_documents/tutorials/Advanced_OutlinesShadows_FPVP/Advanced_OutlinesShadows_FPVP.html