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bobd441@adelphia.net

Hello again! Sad

Well, after dedicating MANY hours of concerted effort on both my and my computer's time and $$$, I have come to the conclusion that 3D-Album shows are TERRIFIC when they run on MY computer, but when burned on a CD and run on other comps or even copied over a LAN to another comp and run that way, the timing, sound and even colors are off far-enough that I won't "settle" for it that way.

A multi-show compiled in the latest version of VAC with MIDI music files does not play any music when run after compilation. I tried using MIDIs to save time and space. The average MIDI is maybe 50kb, and the average MP3 can be 5,000kb.

Many times the colors of the images AND the backgrounds are WAAAY off their proper settings in the compiled show when run on another comp.

EVERY show I've mixed and tried on a different comp, whether compiled with VAC or not, has its timing FAR off the mark. ...and I'm not talking a teensy tweak in the original, but several seconds off, and very herky-jerky in some cases, where the images blink off and on, or freeze onscreen for several seconds then disappear suddenly.

Try as I might, I CANNOT reconcile my spending even MORE time or money for this (seemingly) terrific program!

It is BEAUTIFUL and FUN and EASY TO USE within the program, and many of the styles are interesting and look GREAT within the program, but that's where it seems to end for me.

As I had stated in a previous post, my main interest is to make a slideshow to be viewed online. That has not been even remotely possible thus far. I also want to present slideshows to others by sending mini-CD's and credit-card CD's, but obviously won't be able to do that due to the limits of other people's comps.

I can't get things to run well after I build a show, so I will NOT be using it any further, I'm VERY SAD to say. Sad

Thanks to all the folks who have contacted me with ideas and help. They all seemed to help out some.

Happy New Year to all. Best of luck in 2004! Laughing

Warmest regards,

Bob

bobd441@adelphia.net · Posted: Tue Dec 30, 2003 7:49 pm Post subject:

FYI...

I JUST posted this and the date shows Tue., Dec. 30 2003 at 7:45pm

It is currently Wed., Dec. 31, 2003 6:45am.

dhoward · Posted: Tue Dec 30, 2003 9:57 pm Post subject:

Although I really like CS my biggest problem with it is the change in timing when rendering a presentation with VAC. I go thru many iterations in CS to ensure the last picture ends with the music. When VAC is finished it changes that timing and I have to go back and re-setup for VAC variations. As you know VAC can take quite awhile to render for DVD and if I have to repeat the rendering several times it can be verrry time consuming. I would like to use this in a small business venture but I need better correlation between CS and VAC. Supposedlly the CS 3.1 upgrade will take care of this problem, but I will have to wait and see.

nan · Posted: Tue Dec 30, 2003 11:33 pm Post subject:

We all know that the speed of the animation in a presentation varies in different computers because of the performance of the graphic card. If the computer does not have the power to run a complicated 3D stuff or support some of the special effects, the result will be certainly way off their original settings. It is impposible to have a perfect match of the animation with the music for a real-time animation in both the slow and the fast computers. If you have a slow compter, your game will run slow. That's all we know. If your major concern is to distribute your slideshows to those who do not have new computers, convert them to movies.

According to Styler, the CS 3.1 will solve the speed issue. Animations will keep the same speed in different computers as well as in the VAC movie capture. I don't know how this can be implemented, but if it is true, it's amazing!

I can't wait to see how the timeline works. Can I dispense photos on the entire song simply by clicking a button? Can I place the photo while listening to the music on the track?

Bob, you know that VAC does not support MIDI input. This is stated in the start page of the help menu. MIDI files are usually not supported in video editing software. You need to have special program to convert MIDI into other wave format or MP3. Again, other computer may play MIDIs way off different than your computer.

fortemac · Posted: Wed Dec 31, 2003 12:29 am Post subject:

I have 512MB of RAM, but I always reboot (not just shutting the computer down, but unplugging it from the wall as well) before I run the VAC movie capture. If I don't, my timings will all be off or at least different than the way I rehearsed them. If you are worried about the length of time it takes, do shorter sections with fewer photos as it is very easy to put the sections together in a video editor. I use ULEAD's VideoStudio 7, but I'm sure there are several brands of software that could work as well. Also, you could then add your music at this time as most video editors have a music timeline.

I know one can be frustrated after working a long time on a project. It doesn't seem fair to blame the product, however, because of the limits of other people's computers. I've tried my CD shows in the computers at my job. They don't work at all. They don't have decent video cards or even enough memory, but that's not the software's fault. If you want to reach the masses, DVDs seem to be the way to go. During shopping for Christmas I noticed that the aisles of DVDs seemed to have tripled from last year, while videos comprise only about the percentage of shelves that DVDs did when they first came out. I've tried my DVDs in a few machines, and they always look good, even on my parent's 20 year old television.

Don't give up. Theis is a great product with many possibilities. You just have to find the right media to reach the masses.
Best Wishes,
Cyndy

dhoward · Posted: Wed Dec 31, 2003 1:34 am Post subject:

I agree that from computer to computer the timing can and will vary. That is why I am staying with DVD's. However, taking that into account there should not be that much variation in a *.vexe file and the rendered version created by VAC, but there is. 3D-Album apparently seems to agree as they are touting the "Timeline" feature in the 3.1 version. If this indeeds fixes the problem then I for one will be very happy. I have created quite a few DVDs so far and even though the timing can be quite annoying I still like the product. However, for using the software in a commercial mode it has to be better.

bobd441@adelphia.net · Posted: Wed Dec 31, 2003 3:09 am Post subject:

Hello to all who replied to my post!

Yes, I heartily agree that 3D-Album is certainly the NEATEST, COOLEST, MOST STYLISH of ALL the slide show programs I've seen to date BY FAR!

Yes, I agree, the timing (with music) problem is a prohibitive concern as I try using certain crescendos and certain soft, quiet moments of music to highlite certain images in my shows.

My first slideshow (using a different, simpler program with just several simple fades) took me over 6 MONTHS of many hours of daily work to put images and music together with precise accuracy! That was several years ago (before mp3's were readily available), and I actually put the midi files into an expensive program (name eludes me at the moment) and tweaked them with my keyboard and comp, adjusting timing, instruments, time line, etc. to get "perfect" results. ...and the resluts were VERY satisfying! ...and NO Evil or Very Mad

the show didn't run well on slower comps.

The original show had 3 separate shows stitched together, and the toughest thing was to have the music change with the different shows. I had to create a unique midi file containing all three songs, timing the transitions exactly to time with the images. This alone took me about 2 weeks of effort!

For those of you who are interested in viewing these shows, please understand I broke them up into 3 individual shows for download-time purposes back in the days of 56k modems:
http://www.image-brokers.com/IB/quechee-show/

Question

Now, I'm wondering if the 3.01 version of CS will fix much of the current stated problems, so that it will be worth the $149.50 expense (ending today, I guess)...and is THIS version the new upgrade to 3.01, or will there be a FURTHER expense to upgrade to that as well?

...and my biggest question is if I do buy the CS version today, and it does not meet my needs (within a reasonable trial period) will I be able to get a refund?

Happy New Year!

Bob