3D-Album Home

oldsoul · Posted: Wed Nov 05, 2003 10:59 pm Post subject:

Thank you. And the other question:

"You also said, "We have revised the "HeadLine#3, PageCurl#4 and PhotoTrain#2 for some of the other issues that we have found. They have been uploaded onto our web site." I do not see anyhting on the styles page that has a revision date later than when I originally downloaded all the styles in October -- can you clarify or point me in the right direction?"

Styler · Posted: Thu Nov 06, 2003 9:12 am Post subject:

See http://www.3d-album.com/newstyles.html for the information about the style revision. Press F5 key to refresh the web page. Our web pages are changed constantly. The contents you see may come from the local cache.

oldsoul · Posted: Thu Nov 06, 2003 3:02 pm Post subject:

I'm still not getting good results, not with GIFs anyway -- better luck with JPGs -- I've tried only Photo Train 2 (will try the other revised styles in the next couple days, they use JPGs) -- let me explain (this is all run from my hard drive, not a CD):

I downloaded the revised styles, rebuilt the Photo Train 2 presentation and still had the problem (the pole, rope and next (GIF) picture do not appear until until the previous section is past the halfway point of the screen (which is actually more than before).

So I deleted my presentation, recreated it, rebuilt it and still there are gaps.

Then I removed 3D-Album from my computer and installed it all over again, downloded the revised styles, built the presentation -- same problem.

Finally, I removed 3D-Album from my computer and installed it all over again, downloded the revised styles, recreated the graphics (GIFs) (with dimensions of 300x512, sizes 5k, 9k anf 23k) I'm using in this presentation, slowed the speed down to 1 (there is no interval on this one), built the presentation from scratch in another folder (c:/My-3D-Album/Album3) -- and still have the gaps -- and a new problem somewhere in this process, when the next "section" finally does appear, the rope and pole do not touch when the set of photos start at the beginning -- I get:

picture1
picture2
picture3
emptiness (no post, rope or picture)
*pole, rope and picture1 with previous rope not touching the new pole
emptiness
pole, rope and picture2
emptiness
pole, rope and picture3
emptiness
repeat from * indefinitely

So I wondered if I missed something about the use of GIFs and tried it with some JPGs (512x339, 25k-46k in size) -- works much better, no "emptiness" (but the rope does not touch the post when the pictures start all over again)

Is my problem with the use of GIFs or the size (in K) of the images? I don't recall seeing anything that indicated GIFs couldn't be used.

Organizer · Posted: Thu Nov 06, 2003 3:10 pm Post subject:

Before you download the new style, delete all temparary internet files. You can do this by click Tools>Internet Options... menu in your IE.

If you do not delete the temparary internet files, the IE may give you the one stored in the cache, which is actually the same one that you downloaded the first time.

oldsoul · Posted: Fri Nov 07, 2003 9:05 am Post subject:

Okay, I deleted the temporoary files and cookies, downloaded the revised styles, rebuilt the presentations and still get the same results with both GIFs and JPGs as described in my previous post.

oldsoul · Posted: Fri Nov 07, 2003 9:19 am Post subject:

I discovered another thing about Photo Train 2 -- the gaps appear after the 3rd photo -- I thought it was when it cycled back around to the beginning image (I originally used 3 images) but when I added images, the gap and pattern described above) still appeared after the 3rd one.

Also, when I converted the GIFs to JPGs, there was no difference in the results.

Styler · Posted: Fri Nov 07, 2003 10:31 am Post subject:

Check the date of your TransPortrait.vexe file, see if it is dated on 10/31/2003. This is the date of the final revision of the PhtoTrain#2 style.

I tried the presentation that you send to me on CD and use your images with the revised version of the PhtoTrain#2 style. In fact, what I do is just replace your old TransPortrait.vexe with the new version of the start.vexe in 3D-Album's Presentation/PhotoTrain_2 folder. I did not find any problem. No gaps.

oldsoul · Posted: Fri Nov 07, 2003 12:13 pm Post subject:

8/21/2003 -- Okay, I can see this is a problem. The only thing that gets downloaded when I click on the download link is phototrain2.exe. FramePresent/PhotoTrain_2/photottrain2.exe has a date of 11/6/03. All the vexe files, however have a date of 8/21/03.

Remember, I went so far as to delete all temp inet files and cookies, removed 3D-Album from my computer, installed it again then downloaded the new style. So the question is, how do I download the current versions of the vexe files (or whatever it is I'm missing)?

Styler · Posted: Fri Nov 07, 2003 1:58 pm Post subject:

If you saved the file you downloaded for the style upgrade, you have to run the .exe file to upgrade all related files in your 3D-Album.

Or you can choose to run the file directly after you download without saving.

oldsoul · Posted: Fri Nov 07, 2003 2:10 pm Post subject:

I am embarrassed! I should know this. The page that lists the styles does state at the top 'To start the installation, click the "Open" or "Run From Present Location" button in the dialogue.' Somehow, I missed this. I would like to suggest you use a larger font for those instructions at the top of the page.

I did as instructed and everything is working fine now -- beautifully! Thank you so much for your responsiveness and sticking with this until we figured it out -- you are terrific!

pscully · Posted: Sat Nov 08, 2003 9:44 am Post subject: Missing the floor

Ok don't laugh at this... :)
I'm fairly new at using the product and I wanted to change the floor in gateway #2 (there are 3 choices) but when I click ok - regardless of the choice I make my floor stays black.

Also, in gateway #4 I picked a style that includes lights but the lights, when on, create a black box over my photo. Should I guess that its the vid driver or am I missing something?

One last one - for flipping in portrait mode is there a suggested size for photos - some turn out squat and some look like I pulled them to stretch...

Thanks

oldsoul · Posted: Sat Nov 08, 2003 10:25 am Post subject:

(Don't worry about being laughed at -- people with this company and on this board seem to be very nice and helpful -- this kind of software is new to most of us and we're all learning.)

The video card (OpenGL capability) does seem to be a critical thing -- look through the other posts for info for more info.

It was suggested for pictures that "you can get the best performance if you keep one dimension (width or height) in 512 or 1024 pixels" and "do not save the image in progressive mode" (the image appears gradually as it downloads -- I don't think this has anything to do with shape, but it is very important so I want to mention it). If you notice, some of the styles create a square display (of the pictures) and in some, the pictures are presented as rectangular. Most seem adapt to the size of the picture. You may need to experiment with different styles and/or crop pictures if you want to use a specific style.

I hope this helps -- this is info I've learned over the last couple weeks as I've asked my (numerous) questions.