Tutorial Notification

[Lin Evans]

Hi folks,

A recent discussion and a question about how we might have a work-around for a desired feature led me to make an AVI tutorial on how to use text with a background colored block or "rectangle." There are times when having text to identify a person or feature in a slide is difficult to see because of the nature of the individual slide. The question was raised about offering a feature to have a background on which text could lie which could be faded in and out simultaneously with the text and would greatly enhance the visibility especially when the slide was "busy" with lots of color or data which tends to hide the text. The problem with simply making text a child of a rectangle is that opacity is not an "inherited" attribute, so this must be done with a mask or it means multiple keyframes (one for the rectangle and an identical one for the text) to effect the fade-in and fade-out. It's not difficult to use a mask, whereby one simply fades out the mask container, but there are some shortcuts which I cover in the tutorial that will make it very quick and simple should one have the need for this.

I think having the "background for text" would be a very nice optional feature and quite easy to program, but until we have such, the work-around involves putting your text on a rectangle, preferably made in PixBuilder or PhotoShop, although one "can" use a PTE "rectangle." There are additional issues if we choose a PTE rectangle, because if we distort the rectangle to make it other than "square" then the child "text" also gets distorted and one would then have to hold the shift key and "drag" the text back to simulate a "normal" appearance. So it's best to use a rectangle made outside PTE.

Here's a link to the zipped AVI tutorial for anyone interested - about a 70 meg download and it now resides along with my other tutorials on the Frequently Asked Questions sub forum "Tutorials and Articles."

http://www.lin-evans...undtutorial.zip

And here are PC and Mac Links to another topic of discussion demonstration of the use of several PTE features for manual control. If there is interest I'll be glad to make a brief tutorial on how this is done for anyone who doesn't already know.

http://www.learntoma...e/examplepc.zip (less than 3 meg download for PC)

http://www.learntoma.../examplemac.zip (less than 3 meg download for MacIntosh)

Best regards,

Lin

[fh1805]

Lin,

Why not put the PTE Rectangle and PTE Text both as children of a PTE Frame and place that frame in the PTE Mask Container? The size of the rectangle could then be adjusted independently of the size of the text. The Mask Container would still control both.

Peter

[Lin Evans]

Hi Peter,

Thanks! That solves the issue of text and rectangle having independent adjustment characteristics but adds complexity for the uninitiated. My idea was to keep the overall appearance of the construct as simple as possible to make it less susceptible to error when choosing the components for manipulation. Along with the improved appearance of the background component (which could be manipulated with Photoshop) having an external PNG rectangular background allows for a nice "button" appearance rather than a sharp edged rectangle. Come to think of it, a PTE "button" could be used as well.

Though it would be "cleaner" from a programming perspective to liberally use frames for parent/child controlling, the more components inside the mask, the more room for error and confusion for the novice user. Once the user is thoroughly familiar with the process, I think your idea would be the best approach in the event we don't have the text background feature added by Igor.

Good idea,

Lin

Lin,

Why not put the PTE Rectangle and PTE Text both as children of a PTE Frame and place that frame in the PTE Mask Container? The size of the rectangle could then be adjusted independently of the size of the text. The Mask Container would still control both.

Peter

[Lin Evans]

You would like a tutorial on how to click on an object and have text appear or instant navigation to another image? If so, I can make a tutorial for that.

Best regards,

LIn

Oh! yes Lin, I would like to learn to do this.

Little Red Riding Hood

[Lin Evans]

O.K. "hoodie" I'll make one for you later today.

Best regards,

Lin

Thanks Lin, I would like a tutorial about how to click on an object and have text appear.

The navigation to another image is easy: O&A -> Common -> action on mouse click.

LRRH

[Lin Evans]

Hi LRRH,

Here's your tutorial: It's a zipped AVI video and it's also now linked on my tutorials list in the Tutorials and Articles sub section of "Frequently Asked Questions and How To"

Link To Popup Text Tutorial

Please let me know if you have any questions.

Best regards,

Lin

Thanks Lin, I would like a tutorial about how to click on an object and have text appear.

The navigation to another image is easy: O&A -> Common -> action on mouse click.

LRRH

[sospan]

Hi Lin,

Nice examples of what can be acheived with PTE using masks. The .exe example worked well on my laptop but slight problems on my Mac.

On the Mac, clicking on the youngster opened the text message, then clicking on the text, nothing happened, expected individual picture as per the PC example.

This is just my observation which I'm sure you will want to know. Thank you for the tutorial.

Regards,

Ray.

[Lin Evans]

Hi Hoodie,

You're very welcome - glad it can help with your project,

Best regards,

Lin

Lin, thank you very much for the tutorial and for taking the time to help.

This option is very interesting, now the picture of the students in my class will have the names of all students. And also I will review the previous courses.

[Lin Evans]

Hi Ray,

Thanks for trying that. I've confirmed with another friend who has the Lion OS on his Mac that neither clicking on the text nor clicking on the upper left corner works with his Mac. I'll turn the project files over to Igor and let them ring it out. The upper left corner is a "frame object" and the text is a "window object" so for whatever reason those two objects are not being recognized by the Mac OS. It's definitely something we need to fix.

Best regards,

Lin

Hi Lin,

Nice examples of what can be acheived with PTE using masks. The .exe example worked well on my laptop but slight problems on my Mac.

On the Mac, clicking on the youngster opened the text message, then clicking on the text, nothing happened, expected individual picture as per the PC example.

This is just my observation which I'm sure you will want to know. Thank you for the tutorial.

Regards,

Ray.