3D-Album Home

[Frogprintz]

Over the past several years, I have received many personal emails from users that have expressed frustration after buying 3D Album. While I have posted numerous messages on this forum regarding some of their issues, this may summarize the key points:

3D Album is a very complicated software application because the process and program coding required to apply 3D video styles as an overlay to still photographs, is very difficult to do. This is the primary reason you do not see competitive products being offered in the marketplace. One of the biggest challenges to the developers, is making it simple to use while at the same time making it full featured. This is further complicated by the fact that due to it's universal appeal, this type of software attracts users that range from novice to highly experienced video graphics producers. Everybody wants new and unique ways to express their creativity, communication, and sentimental thoughts.

Novices, whether to computers in general, or specifically to video production, are going to initially find 3D Album a bit overwhelming. If you are a novice, take a deep breath and start simply. As your familiarity grows, you will be able to use advanced features. If you start with a large and complicated project before you are fully familiar with 3D's capabilities, you are going to become even more frustrated and disappointed. Fade in's and outs, adding perfectly timed music, using transparencies (PNG format), building or adding your own backgrounds, etc., are advanced features. Walk before you run!

3D Album's user base is international in scope. As you might imagine, language barriers and limited hardware platforms in many countries outside the United States, have also had an impact on global ease of use. As a result, finding the right compromise requires sacrificing some features for the good of the many. Unfortunately, some of these decisions are economic based. As a business, the management team has to make feature/service/support decisions based on a return-on-investment. Simply stated, this means 3D Album cannot be all things to all people.

With that said, most of the problems users have are hardware related. Video, especially "special effects video," requires a high performance PC. The PC requirements specified by 3D album for successful use, are the MINIMUM requirements. Based on this specification, many users assume their 2-3 year old, minimally configured system should support their efforts. In most cases it does. But quite often you will see users that want to build and capture productions that are an hour or more long. Or, blend a combination of video, special effects, and still photos into a high quality DVD. A minimally configured system will not easily support this kind of output.

On the other hand, users that think they have a high performance system, also have problems. Just having a high performance processor (i.e. 2.8 - 3.2 MHz), is not sufficient. The key to hardware configuration is BALANCED RESOURCES. This means a minimum of 1 GB of RAM. 2 GB is better. 4 GB is best.

A high performance VIDEO GRAPHICS CARD is also needed. This should be a separate card. Not one where the graphics is built onto the motherboard. Many PC's being sold today, come with onboard graphics rather than a separate card with it's own memory. This is done so the public can choose between a $500 PC vs. a $1500 - $2000 PC. A good video graphics card alone, will cost from $175 to $600. A good video graphics card for speedy and high quality VIDEO PRODUCTION (as opposed to just Graphics Production), should have a minimum of 256 MB on board memory, with 512 MB + being even better.

Make sure you have the latest DRIVERS for your graphics card. Drivers change monthly. This is because new software and hardware is constantly being developed and graphics card manufacturers are constantly playing catch-up. Unexpected glitches that were not caught during Beta, may have subsequently surfaced. MAKE SURE you update your drivers regularly by visiting the manufacturers support website. MAKE SURE your card is configured properly. Read your instruction booklet, or the on-line help guides. Setting the anti-aliasing, number of colors, resolution, and quality output, properly, is important. Just because your monitor displays colors, text and graphics well, this doesn't mean your VIDEO is going to display equally well. Video settings are different. Even the capture process (not just playback), can be effected by improper settings. When 3D Album (or 3D Time), releases a new version or style, this may be built upon the latest driver release, and an outdated video card driver may cause unexpected problems. By ensuring you have the latest driver, you are also ensuring this new style or version will work as intended.

If you plan on producing a lot of video, get a separate, or secondary harddrive, dedicated specifically to video. With the cost of high capacity HD's being at an all-time low, this should be an inexpensive upgrade. Setting it up properly is important. Get your hardware technician to help you if you don't understand the mechanics of doing this.

The final key is, PRACTICE, PRACTICE, PRACTICE. I know this sounds trite. But 3D Album is simply not intuitive. Many new buyers expect it to be. It is not. This isn't necessarily a design flaw. As I stated at the beginning of this subject, "video production is complicated." The processes used to accomplish it are also complicated. This sometimes means that certain multi-tasked type commands cannot be carried out with a one-click menu selection. There is a tremendous number of very intricate procedures going on in the background. It is truly amazing that these very intricate procedures can be accessed and shrunk into a few menu screens and mouse clicks. Time and experience will improve the software as it continues to evolve. Like all good software applications, practice and experience will improve user satisfaction as well. There is no better way to accomplish this.

We live in an age when most people want instant gratification. This expectation extends across many areas of our daily lives. It is especially noticeable when it comes to high technology. As a society, we have grown to expect high technology results to be as simple as pressing a button (or mouse click). Nobody thinks about work or study anymore. After all, others have done (or should have done), this for us, and is the reason we pay large amounts of money for these products.

I believe this is a mistake. Two time worn cliches come to mind that drive this point home: "Nothing ventured, nothing gained." And ... "Garbage in, garbage out." To my way of thinking, this means those who take the time to study, practice, and apply new skills are going to be the ones who benefit most. It also means, these will be the ones who have the least amount of trouble adopting new technology products as they enter the marketplace. They have "ventured and gained" by their study and practice. As a result, they have acquired the ability to create a beautiful video production (rather than "garbage"), to be shared with family and friends.

3D Album is a great product. 3D Time has laborously created wonderful styles that integrate beautifully with 3D Album. They have priced their styles very fairly. When you consider the amount of thought and work required to do this, it is a genuine bargain. Every 3D Album user should start building their library of these styles. The versatility and artistry they provide will amaze your intended audience.

3D Album would be even better if it had a "Video Editing" and "DVD Authoring" feature built in. However, it is very costly to do this, whether starting from scratch, or cross-licensing another developers product. Perhaps in time, this will happen. For now, a good video editor and DVD authoring package should be on your "must have" list. Both these application tools will make your final result easier to accomplish and more polished looking.

I hope I have been of help to you with this information.

Michael Young
_________________
Michael Young
FrogPrintz Productions
Authorized Resellers of 3D Album

[Frogprintz]

Let me give you one more bit of advice that may help you improve your learning curve.

Before starting a new project, take a few minutes to outline your project on paper. I keep a journal of all my past projects. This has helped me immensely over the years. By putting your project to pen and paper before you begin, you can proceed in a structured manner. For example: Choose your music and photographs beforehand. Come up with a theme that tells your story through the pictures and music. Stick to this theme.

Make sure your photographs are properly sized, numbered in sequence, and share the same file format. Place them all together in a separate directory.

Determine the length of your music (i.e. 3 minutes and 57 seconds). If you are going to use just one music selection, then consider how many photographs can be comfortably viewed during this short time. Don't rely on just the timeline to do this for you. (i.e. if your music is 3 Minutes and 57 seconds, or, 237 seconds; and each photograph needs 12 seconds for proper viewing with 3D effects; then 237 seconds divided by 8 equals 20 pictures). Don't exceed this limitation. If you can't tell your story with 20 pictures, then re-think what or how you are trying to tell it. Better to be conservative than not. Less is more. Choose only the most poignant pictures and avoid repetition. Some stories can be very emotional with just a few key pictures accompanied by the right music. Strive for this.

If you are using music and want to tell a story that is longer than one song length, then build short chapters rather than one lengthy production. Short chapters capture easier, do not consume all your system resources, can be edited later if you want to make changes, and hold your audiences attention better. For example: Suppose you are telling a story about a particular family's history. Chapter one could be the "early years" (childhood). If there is more than one child, give each child their own chapter. Chapter two might be "college." Chapter three, "marriage." Chapter four, "birth of babies." Chapter five, "retirement or grandchildren." etc., etc.. give each chapter it's own set of photographs and songs. This will personalize your video story and make it more meaningful.

Use narration whenever possible. This is always effective because it surprises and pleases your viewing listeners. Don't worry about the quality of your voice. Your family and friends have grown accustomed to your voice and will recognize it. Your voice, especially if it is filled with emotion as you tell your story, will also help personalize your production. This can be very helpful when you don't have enough, or the right kind of personal photographs to completely or properly tell your story.

Buy high quality blank DVD's for your final burn. It is better to spend a few pennies more on high quality consumables, than waste hours of frustration if something goes wrong.

There are many other simple tips that can help you produce high quality and entertaining video. I believe the best tip of all though, is "plan your work, then work your plan." When you combine this with a properly configured PC, and practice, practice, practice, you will avoid many of the problems that others have suffered.

Set aside time to read all of the topics on this forum. Pay special attention to the "tips and tutorials" section. Bill Smith has done a great job in authoring many of these. His efforts are well appreciated. Reading these may take several weeks to accomplish, but the effort will reward you many times over. Use the "search" function to focus on specific problems you may be encountering.

Please give thanks to all the contributors whose selfless efforts have made 3D Album a better product, and one we can all enjoy.

Good video to all.

Michael Young
_________________
Michael Young
FrogPrintz Productions
Authorized Resellers of 3D Album

[KatN]

Great advice Michael! - I found printing and keeping a notebook of some of the tips and tutorials, video card info, etc. to be helpful as well. Articles that I'm sure I'll want to go back to a second time. It's not always convenient to switch back and forth from the program to the forum.

[steveo white]

Another good idea michael is to click on the LAYOUT TAB and print out a contact sheet.This always helps me in picking the order of my pictures.From there you can add a number to the side of the picture then go to the ORGANIZE TAB to set them in order.

[Bill Smith]

For those that don't mind spending $10, I have created a tutorial (which is over 30 pages long) that covers my two basic tutorials (creating your first album and burning it to DVD) as well as many other topics found on the forum. This tutorial comes as a PDF file that can be loaded to your PC. This allows you to refer to it (or search it) without having to go onto the internet. Many people like to have the tutorial pdf open in one window while they have 3D-Album running in a second window.

On a "non sales" note, here are the links to the 2 user forum tutorials which I wrote, along with one by Oldsoul on music:

How to Create Your First Album: http://www.3d-album.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=567

How to Burn/Create DVD: http://www.3d-album.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=549

Music in Presentations: http://www.3d-album.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=629
(Music tutorial courtesy of Oldsoul.)
_________________
Bill

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