Lin Evans

Hi Jeff, Yes, this would be possible I think. Actually I generally do it very much as you described - sometimes its easier to begin with the "end" and work backward. Another "trick" is to rename each object so that it makes sense from a "positional" reference and if there are not a tremendous number of elements you can assure the final position by using Photoshop and then exporting separate levels with each piece on its own level as in the four piece puzzle tutorial via ImageReady which lets you save independent files from multiple layer originals. This, of course, is highly wasteful of memory resources and onliy amenable to smaller overall PNG's such as individual letters. But what it does is position each piece in its proper place assured by the returning all to 100% (or whatever you decided for zoom) at the end of the action... Best regards, Lin

Hi Dom, Nice and smooth as it should be - I just cobbled mine together very quickly to demonstrate that in principle it "could" be done with some trickery. Your version is very nice, much better demo than the one I did and the shadow is a really nice touch! Thanks for posting it! Best regards, Lin

Hi Ron, They are actually two different ways of achieving the effect. bjc used Photoshop to create 68 multiple images with the proper perspective distortion then loaded these images into P2E in the proper manner, used P2E's ability to manipulate the XY axis independently and ran the sequence. Since P2E only allows XY axis manipulation I used it to effect the simulation of turning of pages in the same manner as in the Morgan Dollar Tutorial, with the added steps of creating extended top and bottom on the page to be turned and the use of masking rectangles with their "center" of rotation set to a corner. Two of these pivot at the "book" spine on top and two at the bottom. Multiple additional keypoints were used to obtain the proper linearity of the mask to simulate the increase and decrease in page size as the page appears to turn. The central pivot point is shifted as the turning page squishes to a single line to facilitate the transition to the subsequent page which begins "squished" then expands. An AV tutorial for this would probably not be feasible because of the complexity. The time to actually demonstrate would be very lengthy and the file size huge. Let me think about it and perhaps I can demonstrate a single page turn with the effect only on perhaps the top of the page then the viewer can experiment and extrapolate from that to the other three masks necessary to complete the simulation. Even this will probably be daunting in size. Best regards, Lin

No, you are correct in observing that it indeed has been removed from CS2 - why, only Adobe knows because it works very well with any Photoshop version. You can download if from my site here: http://www.lin-evans.net/p2e/3DTransform.zip Just unzip and put the file in with your other plug-in's in Photoshop Lin

Hi Tom, Yes, the default sizes of AVI will generally be very large because you must remember that the program is capturing a larger number of frames per second. For example, if you use a frame rate of 30 frames per second, a sixty second clip would contain 1800 separate images. If you multiply even a moderate sized image in bytes times 1800 you have a substantial amount of data. So the way you minimize is to cut down on the frame rate. For these tutorials, I've been using 15 frames per second, but even that produces some fairly large AVI files. BJC uses 3 frames per second and gets excellent results, but remember that the lower the frame rate the more "jerky" the movie where movement is concerned. Of course the other side of this coin is the amount of "compression" that the codec places on the files. Compression saves storage space and makes it more convenient to upload/download a file, but has no effect on actual "memory" when the file is actually loaded into memory and run on your computer. Even jpg files which are highly compressed anyway must be expanded in memory when they are actually viewed. Years ago when computers didn't have a lot of memory like they do today, we used to play jokes on fellow photographers by scanning high resolution images at high dpi rates then creating a highly compressed jpg. We would give this jpg to unsuspecting novice computer users who would then lock up their computers when they tried to load the file. An innocent looking jpg with a file size of perhaps 400K bytes might actually be hiding a true memory requirement of 40 megabytes or more. This happened in the days when computers only typically had a few megabytes of RAM. So some codecs seem to have better "compression" algorithms than others, and the DivX Pro codec seems to have some excellent characteristics. If you downloaded Screen Recorder Gold before last night, please uninstall it and download it again. I discovered a bug in the way the program reads codecs as it loads and informed the developer who corrected the problem last night and posted the new version. So download the latest version and go to the "Options" tab the click on "Preferences" then beside "Compressor" use the down arrow to again check whether you may already have the DIV X Pro codec. If you don't have it you can do a quick search on the Web or you can go here to download it: http://www.divx.com/divx/windows/codec/ Best regards, Lin

Hi Jean Pierre, Your creativity is staggering!! Beautiful simulation. Best regards, Lin

Hi bjc, Let me explain. It's definitely "trickery" - LOL. As you correctly stated, there is no way to alter the perspective as the pages flip toward the viewer, and this simulation would not work for all images unless you put a "border" of solid color such as white, etc., around them. In these two particular pages there is either a large area of rather uniform color such as the clouds with the airplane or the blank wall with the corn wreath which lend themselves to the illusion. It's accomplished by extending the top and bottom of the half page on the right side "as you view the screen". Each side which will "flip" is treated to this extension of top and bottom in Photoshop. Each picture which is to "flip" is divided equally into two portions in Photoshop just as you normally see in a book with staples or binding down the center. Next the individual half images are copied, then overlaid on a transparent layer (this part is just window dressing - not really necessary) and the layer tool is used to give a bevel, drop shadow and contour which adds an edge "dimensionality" to the pages. Next the individual half images are saved as PNG files (they could be flattened and saved as jpgs) and the illusion begins. The two half images are placed side by side in P2E with the image having the top and bottom "extended' a half inch or so on the right. The perspective of the page flip is done just as the coin turn by leaving the "Y" axis constant and altering the "X" axis until the page becomes simply a vertical line. The position is adjusted by moving this line to correspond with the "center" of the book, in this case at the two second keypoint. The perspective illusion is accomplished by using a black rectangular jpg to mask off the edges. This rectangle is used in four places - two at the top and two at the bottom. The "center" for the rectangle is moved to a corner to allow rotation of the rectangle around the corner. Two of the rectangles (same rectangle reloaded) are used for the first page flip and two for the second part of the illusion. The second page begins life as a "squished" line compressed completely on the "X" axis and is expanded by the 4 second keypoint to its full XY dimension. As the page "turns" the other two black rectangles pivot at top and bottom via the center move to a corner to provide the proper masking effect. The anchor point for the pivot is at the center top and bottom which divides the right and left side of the "book" (the spine area). As the page reaches the fully "squished" portion, the pivot point mask is raised at the top and lowered at the bottom to provide for the illusion of the transition between old and new page then quickly returned to the pivot point as the new page begins to expand. Numerous additional keypoints at regular intervals are placed and the pivot angle of the rectangle adjusted via the rotate command to keep the edges of the page progressing smoothly. Actually, it's probably not worth the effort it takes to achieve this illusion but it does show that it's "possible" with some thought and by the great versatility afforded us with PicturesToExe to pull off some complex actions. I'll work on this next week a bit and if I can get it into a less complex state will post a pte file. The way this one is more or less "cobbled" together it would make little or no sense at the present point since I have a number of unnecessary keypoint done from an experimental basis. Best regards, Lin

Hi bjc, Yes, you're right, there is only the ability to distort on the XY axis, but I think there is a way to achieve this. Give me a couple days to get a demo together and perhaps we can see it this can be done. Unfortunately I have too much work over the week end to get to it, but perhaps Monday. Best regards, Lin Hi Dom, No, you are correct - there is no direct way to do it, but I think there is a work-around. I will try to do a simulaton by next Monday. Best regards, Lin

Hi bjc, Actually, you do have this ability with P2E but it would take a little "trickery" in designing the event. If you look carefully at the zoom blocks on the Objects and Animations screen, Animations Tab, you will see a tiny "square" which acts as a "switch" to separate the X and Y axis. The default is to have the X and Y axis correlated so that the object or image remains "linear" as you manipulate the zoom. But if you mouse click this little square it separates the two so you can distort the image independently on either axis. That's how I achieved the "flipping" coin effect. You can download the demo at: http://www.lin-evans.net Go to the slideshow demo link and download the small sized zipped executable by clicking on the Morgan Dollar image. Best regards, Lin

Hi bjc, I think the problem with getting the link is that you can't have a space between "Flipping" and "Images". Could you just type out the link without putting in the "http" followed by the "//" and maybe we can figure out how to post the link? Best regards, Lin

Hi Manfred, I don't have a tutorial yet, but perhaps I can explain how the rectangle can be useful. First, the rectangle is a way of grouping objects in a parent/child relationship. If you place objects within a rectangle, they take on a relationship so that what you assign as animations to the rectangle apply also to the objects contained within. As with all objects, the rectangle can be made to become invisible by setting the opacity to zero, so you may achieve the ability to quickly relate an action to all the "objects" within this boundary. Second, you can use the rectangle either as a convenient opaque or "wire frame" object to act as an anchor and permit animations assigned to this to be transmitted to other children. Let's take an example: Create a rectangle with a child rectangle and to the second child attach an object such as a globe or opaque ball. Rotate the parent object clockwise 360 degrees within a 60 second period. Set the child rectangle to rotate counterclockwise 720 degrees during the same time period. Put all three (rectangle one, rectangle two and the ball) in a linear relationship so they form a line with each equidistant from the other and run the animation. What you achieve is an elliptical orbit of the "ball" around the parent rectangle. Now make rectangle one and child rectangle two invisible by setting their opacity to zero at both the start and 60 second finish and run the animation again and you see a ball traveling in an ellipse. So the rectangles have acted as convenient "objects" to facilitate an animation. There are other possibilities such as demonstrated by theDom when he used the rectangles in an artistic way with a European supermodel. Best regards, Lin

Hi Dom, Thanks! I meant to address one of your questions in the Tutorial, but neglected to do so even though I "hinted" about discussing it later. In addition to the StarWars effect obtained with the Text Warp tool, you can also select the result then apply free transform to make the vertical perspective shorter thus make the text appear to "lie back" even more. The reason I omitted this step is that of course you can apply this same effect in P2E by manipulating the zoom independently on the XY axis and that may be even a better way since you may want to make the effect "greater" as the text scrolls upward and gets smaller as if disappearing in the distance. By doing it in Photoshop it would be more or less "fixed" and more difficult to manipulate. I suppose either way will work though and it's certainly possible to get many more variations via the free transform after you have the initial effects. Best regards, Lin

Hi Tom, Yes, interlaced mode is designed for television such as the U.S. 525 line NTSC standard where the images are built by beginning at the top of the TV screen and tracing the first line of image followed by lines 3, 5, 7, 9, 11, etc., until all odd lines have been traced then quickly returning from the bottom of the screen back to the top to trace lines 2. 4. 6, 8, 10, 12, etc. The term "interlace" refers to the fact that this all happens very quickly (30 odd and 30 even lines per second) and the odd and even lines "interlace" so the image is built of intersecting or interlaced lines. The phosphor persistence (the amount of time each triad of red/blue/green continues to shine after being excited by the electron stream) allows minimal flicker, but an interlaced image is less sharp and clean than a "progressive" image where line one is followed by line 2 by line 3, 4, 5, etc., in a "progressive" fashion. So if you are building an image to be displayed on television, especially CRT television, you generally can save time and effort for the processor when the file is created as an interlaced video. You will sometimes note that effects such as the "Page Turn" in P2E when played on a DVD made for interlaced monitors shows the ragged "edge" from the interlace. In short, save your P2E PNG transparencies as "non interlaced" for best image quality. Best regards, Lin

Hi Folks, Part 2 is done which will show you how to make some fancy text effects in Photoshop including the popular "Star Wars" effect where the bottom of the text spreads out and the top compresses in and it appears the text lies down a bit. I'll cover some more in a future tutorial on how to add to this in P2E but this will get you started. About a 35 meg download. http://www.lin-evans.net/p2e/starwars.zip Best regards, Lin P.S. - If I'm taking too much bandwidth and time with this on the forum, let me know and I'll save it all up and post the links in a single post to whatever I do next. Thanks!

Hi Nettleton, Did you actually use your "Browser"? That is like you were getting on the internet. Don't try to "run" the file, just click on Internet Explorer (not Explore) if that it your browser, then click on "File" "Open" then browse to the area where you stored the SWF file and click on it to use Internet Explorer to open the SWF file. The suggestion to use IrfanView won't work in this case because it's a Flash 8 fle and IrfanView only plays Flash 3+ files (up to Flash 5 I think). If this doesn't work for you I'll try to encode it in a lower version of Flash, but if your Flash 8 player was installed (try booting up the computer again to be sure that it's recognized by the system) you "should" be able to play it with no trouble using your Internet Explorer browser off-line. Best regards, Lin

Hi Derek, I may produce them in both AVI and Flash, but will not abandon AVI. If you can't play the Flash version I posted - here again for convenience: http://www.lin-evans.net/p2e/makingpngtextflash.zip you can enable your system to read it by going to the MacroMedia site (Microsoft) here: http://www.adobe.com/products/flashplayer/ It only takes a few seconds - literally - to download and install the Flash player. I think Flash Player 9 is the latest. Just install it then download my zip and unzip it to reveal the swf file. Next, open your browser like you are going on the web but use "File" "Open" then browse to the folder where you find the SWF file and open it. The browser will work off-line just as if you were using it on-line to play a Flash SWF file but much quicker. The flash player will be automatically enabled by the browser and you can see and hear the show just as well as you could with MediaPlayer or other AVI player. Best regards, Lin

Hi bjc, I think you're right - as long as you don't try to do any previews in p2e, etc., where the movement would be highly constrained. Even with 30 fps the hardware acceleration greatly affects the movement so I've about decided to use only the manual advance to demo animation effects. This new codec (DivX Pro) really cuts down on the file size while still allowing relatively smooth movement of cursor movements, etc., I'm working out the best compromise with my encoding equipment - hopefully it will be right soon. Best regards, Lin

Hi Nettleton, Yes, that's the problem with AVI - there are actually two codecs used with AVI - one for the video and another for the sound. In order to hear and see you must have both the sound codec and video codec to "decompress" the AVI resident on your computer. Check your version of DivX by clicking on "Run" then type in "dxdiag" and click on "O.K" - the diagnostic will run and tell you which version of DirectX you have. If you don't have the latest version (Direct X 9.0c) then if you download it from the Microsoft site I "think" you will get the DVX-Pro codec automatically installed. Let me know if this doesn't work and I'll try to make a Flash version for you. Do you have the Flash 8 player installed? Best regards, Lin Hi Nettleton, In case you have Flash 8 (if not, you can download and install it from the MacroMedia site in just seconds!) you can use this link to download a zipped Flash 8 version. Just unzip it and use your browser off-line to play once you have Flash 8. http://www.lin-evans.net/p2e/makingpngtextflash.zip Lin

Hi Folks, Sorry about the double post - seems to be a problem with trying to use "Full Edit" and with my connection. For Ron W - The StarWars effect is coming in the 2nd tutorial later today.... Thanks! Actually it's really easy to just select the text after applying the effects and change the color though the layer method works well too. It seemsmost can read the DivX Pro AVI so I'll stay with that one.... For Dom - actually there is an easier way as Ron explained - that will be in the 2nd part of the tutorial later today. Go ahead and post links - that works and I have lots of room on my site but future tutorials will be much smaller in code than the original which zipped to 63 meg. For Ronnie - yes I hope to have a few more soon.... I'll try 15 frames later today rather than the 30fps used on this one. It also facilitates making SWF since if the tutorial goes over 8 minutes the converter at 30 fps will crash with the absolute limit of 16,000 frames in SWF. I may just stick with smaller AVI's rather than converting any to Flash. Best regards, Lin

Hi Guys, I actually used the "Full Edit" feature, and I ended up with a 2nd post - probably not what was supposed to happen so I'll delete the first one... Lin

Hi folks, Obviously, most of you probably already know how to do this, but it's part one (the longest part) of a two part AV tutorial which will eventually teach the reader how to not only make PNG Text files in Photoshop, but how to apply contour, bevel, drop shadow, etc., as well as how to make the "perspective look" or so called StarWars text where the bottom is wider than the top of the letters and they appear to "lay down" in a backward direction. The second part will be forthcoming tomorrow pending how well you can read this AVI. I know most already know how to make the PNG text, but perhaps not all know how to apply fancy effects so we crawl before we run - LOL... The AVI link is to about a 35 meg zipped AVI file. I used the new DIVX Pro 5.2.0 codec which provides really nice and smooth action with tremendous compression. This tutorial is created at 30 frames per second which is way overkill, but I wanted to make a worst case scenario first before I begin to experiment with dropping the frame rate, etc. For those interested, please let me know if you have any problems reading the AVI file. I'm not sure but I "think" that the DIVX Pro codec is included with the later DivX iterations so hopefully everyone will be able to read it. Otherwise I'll have to convert to Flash. http://www.lin-evans.net/p2e/makingpngtextavi.zip Best regards, Lin

Hi folks, see second post - wrong link here.... Lin

I don't think it's possible without using video or props. The essence is that we have the ability to rotate only on a single plane so we can "simulate" three dimensions, but we really can't turn an object in space without actually rotating it on a turntable and making multiple photographs to be played sequentially such as with 360 VR (Virtual Reality) demos. Doing this, of course in p2e is feasible because we can indeed display video simulation speeds with still images - that's essentially what we do when showing the "lake" or "ripple" effect when the software used to create the 30 or so primary images takes a single image, makes a mirror image beneath adding a lake effect then makes sequential images which we can easily duplicate into the thousands in PicturesToExe with no real memory hit over the first 30 jpgs. I actually created one sequence using over 10,000 images with P2E which can run eleven minutes in P2E flawlessly as a single slide animation. Having said this, I'm not ruling out the possibility of actually simulating a six sided cube but I see no way at present to achieve this without actually doing the photography, but I've not given up thinking about it - LOL.. Best regards, Lin

Hi Bill, Thanks! I hadn't tried CamStudio, but I've downloaded it and have it up and running. It's a super bargain, that's for sure. I'm still vacillating over codec issues, compression amounts and which works better. I've found one $50 program which has absolutely the best image quality I've seen with a variety of codecs including a DivX one which seems to be fantastic in terms of image quality versus compression. I don't know how they do it, but I'm concerned that using it may create a file not that compatible with that many peoples systems. I think I will do a test and post a brief AVI file on the forum small enough that many can download to test. The program doesn't have fancy cursors (actually just the one on your computer) nor does it have lots of bells and whistles, but it works flawlessly. I'll get back to testing tonight and perhaps tomorrow will have a test made which we can evaluate. The one thing I've discovered it that the AV tutorials can't really use the preview or such but are pretty much limited to using the blue arrow to run through things manually. Though they will display the pans and zooms with the preview, it's always very jerky because ot the hardware acceleration. Even with 30 frames per second there is no smooth pan or zoom - not even worth trying actually. That really isn't a big limitation for tutorials since anything we see in preview or play can be simulated manually by dragging the blue arrow on the timeline and that works very smoothly. best regards, Lin