Adding Content and Adjusting Layers

Transcription

1 56 The Official Photodex Guide to ProShow Figure 3.10 Slide 3 uses reversed duplicates of one picture on two separate layers to create mirrored sets of frames and candles. (Notice that the Window Display setting now has all layers at full brightness.) Adding Content and Adjusting Layers We are going to make a second version of this slide from scratch and work with ProShow s layer adjustment controls and motion effects. If you already have the show open, close any Slide Option and/or Precision Preview windows. The main Producer window should have the Slide List enabled. If you have not been following along, please have ProShow open with the FrameLayers_01 show loaded and the File List set to display the show s content. The quickest way to duplicate would be to copy and paste slide 3 into the slide 5 position. But that wouldn t let you practice adjusting and manipulating layers, and we are not going to make an exact copy. Instead, let s drag and drop the thumbnail of the picture with the lighted candle and two picture frames into the location for slide 5. Now we need to make a second copy of Layer 1 and reverse it. Left-click on the green button with the plus sign and phrase Add another layer and choose Duplicate Layer from the menu shown in Figure (You could also accomplish the same task by holding down the Control key and dragging a second copy onto slide 5.) We ll be adding some other layers soon, but we ll get the first two arranged before doing that.

2 Chapter 3 Frames, Motion, and the Layered Look 57 Figure 3.11 Adding a second copy of the image using the Duplicate Layer command. Figure 3.12 Using the mouse is the easiest way to quickly position and scale layers within a slide.

3 58 The Official Photodex Guide to ProShow We now have two layers, one on top of the other in the center of the slide. Use your mouse to drag them into place, as shown in Figure In that screenshot the layer on the right side is selected and being moved. We can tell because the layer information in the list is highlighted in gray and the number on the left of the listing is colored in blue. See the hand-shaped cursor? It appears when the left mouse button is held down and indicates that any movement of the mouse will also move the layer. We want the slides to be side by side and the same size. The mouse wheel can be used to change the size of a layer and with it the size of that layer s image. You can also place the mouse cursor over the little boxes in the corners or midpoints of a layer s borders to resize it. When you do, the cursor will change into a line with pointers on each end. Drag the cursor to adjust the size. Another way to enlarge or reduce a layer is to use the Zoom slider in the Layer Settings portion of the window. We can quickly position a layer within a frame using the mouse, and that method works fine when you don t need to be all that precise. Here we want to position the layers so that the candles and frames are vertically centered exactly the same. We can start with the mouse and then fine-tune the settings by pinpointing the placement using X and Y coordinates (yep, numbers). It s not hard to master. Positioning Layers Precisely within the Frame Position is the location of a layer vertically and horizontally relative to the center. A zero value places the image in the middle, on both axes. Move one of the layers with the mouse inside the Preview Area in the Slide Options window with the Layers tab active. This time watch the numbers in the Position entry located in the Layer Settings. The values will change as the layer moves. Move the image to the upper-left corner and the X and Y numbers both will show negative values. Drag the layer to the lower-right corner and they both become positive as the center of the layer passes through the middle of the frame. Figure 3.13 has an overlay showing the X-Y quadrants. Use the mouse to adjust Layers 1 and 2 so that they look similar to the example in the figure, but not too similar. Now we are going to align the candles perfectly on the Y axis (the vertical axis). Choose Layer 1 and place a zero in the right-hand Position data entry box. (The mouse point in Figure 3.13 is just under it.) Now adjust the setting for Layer 2 the same way. With both values set at zero, they are aligned vertically.

4 Chapter 3 Frames, Motion, and the Layered Look 59 Figure 3.13 Using numerical coordinates is the best way to ensure exact layer placement within a slide. It s simple if you understand how the numbers work. Adjusting the Position Coordinates If we use the same values for both images on the X-axis (the horizontal axis), one layer will cover the other. Try it. Change the numbers for the other layer to zero as well. Instead, what we want is for both layers to have the same horizontal offset: the image on the left needs a negative value that exactly matches the positive number used for the one on the right and leaves very little space between them. The easy way to do that is to use the mouse to adjust one layer and then enter the opposite value for the other (either positive or negative depending on which layer you adjusted first). That is what was done in Figure My Position settings are 2397 and 0 for Layer 1 and and 0 for Layer 2. Your settings may vary a bit because I slightly adjusted my Zoom value, our next point of discussion. Adding and Ordering New Layers Right-click in the Preview Area of the Slide Options window and set the menu option to darken the inactive layers. This makes it easier to see and adjust the active layer when there are several to be adjusted in a single slide. Now add four new layers to slide 5, as shown in Figure Hold the Control key and drag the last four images in the Chapter 3 folder onto the slide, one at a time. The filenames all start with the letter z to make it easy to identify them.

5 60 The Official Photodex Guide to ProShow Figure 3.14 Adjusting the order of layers is often the first task after importing new images into a slide. Once you ve imported them, use the up and down arrows to place the layers in the right order. (The up arrow is next to the mouse cursor and has a tooltip visible in Figure 3.14.) Place the image of the bride putting on an earring on Layer 3, the bride in front of the red wall on Layer 4, the bride resting on the hay on Layer 5, and the bride with the bouquet on Layer 6. Layer order becomes important when more than one object uses the same space on a slide, when two objects have to move through the same space, or for special effects involving masking and opacity. The reason the bride with the red wall is on Layer 4 is so she won t hide the image on Layer 3, which is what would happen if their order were reversed. When you add motion, the placement has to work the entire time the slide is displayed. You don t want part of one layer covering another at the wrong time. Adjusting Size and Rotation When you drop an image onto a slide, the new arrival is automatically sized to fit the available space based on the current scaling defaults and is assigned a Zoom value of 100 (percent). Zooming changes the visual magnification of a layer. A layer can be zoomed using the mouse wheel or by setting a percentage in the Zoom box in the Layer Settings section. It can be entered as a number or adjusted using the slider, accessed by left-clicking the marker beneath the number in the box.

6 Chapter 3 Frames, Motion, and the Layered Look 61 Make the number larger than 100 and the image gets larger; a negative number shrinks the layer on the slide. We are going to do both using the mouse. Planning for a Move The four new layers are going to reside underneath the picture frames in Layers 1 and 2. We need to zoom and rotate them into their starting positions. We ll adjust the ending position and create the motion effects after all four are in place. Double-click on the Preview Area in the Slide Options window to open the Precision Preview window, shown in Figure Figure 3.15 Adjusting the zoom and rotation of a layer can be done quickly with the mouse or precisely by entering the coordinate values in the appropriate box. Select Layer 4, the bride in front of the red wall. Use the mouse wheel to zoom her to about 80 percent. See the triangle-shaped device just inside the box located at the middle of each side of the box around the layer in Figure 3.15? That s the handle for rotating a layer. Drag it so that our bride is in the same position as the example in the figure. The outer edge of this layer should be outside the picture frame in the layer above. You may find it easier to set the display to Show Inactive Layers so that all are bright in the preview for this task. Now select the remaining layers and adjust the zoom and rotation so they look like the example in Figure 3.15.

7 62 The Official Photodex Guide to ProShow Tip Consider both source and output resolution when making an extreme zoom. The resolution at the largest zoom factor must still be sufficient to provide a good image at output on the most detailed display device. Fine-Tuning the Design Is an Iterative Process The basic design for the slide is complete. The four brides are framed by the top two layers pictures. But there is still some work to do before we start adding motion effects. Depending on how we crop the brides, part of the red wall in Layer 4 and the gown in Layer 6 will be visible on the edges of the slide. I ve already cropped Layer 5 in Figure 3.15 and left the distracting portion of Layer 6 showing. Use the Crop feature in the Editing tab to adjust your layers. It s a good habit to run a full-screen preview of the preceding slide and transition as well as the slide you are working on once you have finished placing and adjusting the layers. It is easy to overlook something and takes more effort to correct after you add advanced effects like motion. Why bother to look at the preceding slide and transition before moving to the next pair? They set the stage for the next slide. As the preview runs, watch how the contents (subject, placement, color, lines within the images, effects) work with each other. There are two useful concepts and techniques we can borrow from motion picture production when designing our slide shows: continuity and eye carriage. Professional movie sets have one person, a very detail-oriented individual, assigned to maintain continuity between scenes. This person makes sure that between takes all the little things in the picture look exactly the same. If a glass of water was halffull when the camera stopped rolling, that person makes sure it has exactly the same amount of water when the director calls for action again. The same thing is true for the placement of chairs, the direction of lighting on the subjects, and every detail in the actors clothing. The continuity person also makes sure that the actors enter and exit the scene as expected. When we preview our slides, we want to watch for continuity, too. Although our viewers may not expect the same level of continuity found in motion pictures, we do want to ensure that the way one image changes into another is not a distraction or that the change in subject is not jarring unless it s deliberate.

8 Chapter 3 Frames, Motion, and the Layered Look 63 Eye carriage is a term used to refer to the way that a visual design of an image, or a series of images, draws and moves a viewer s eyes into the principal point of interest. Graphic design and artistic composition training programs spend a lot of time developing skills related to continuity and eye carriage. Many instructors start increasing students skills by raising their awareness of what draws or distracts from their own attention and applying it to their work. That s a good habit for ProShow producers to develop, too. Getting Things Moving One of the most effective eye-carriage tools is movement. We see it all the time in movies and commercials. Now we are going to use it to enliven our show. First, a bit of background. Your monitor, a TV set (no matter what kind), and a motion picture all use a similar technique to present information to our eyes. A series of images is presented at a set pace, ranging from about 25 to 60 frames per second. This is called the refresh rate. Consider a word processor while you are typing. Unchanged words already on the page just keep getting redrawn on the monitor. The cursor and any new or changed items are drawn just as soon as the graphics adapter sends the new image to the display device. In TV and movies and yes, ProShow productions the changes between frames produce the illusion of movement. The images are all just still images, and our brains are fooled into seeing them move. The faster the frame rate, the smoother the motion effect. If the frame rate is too slow, or if the image is not precisely aligned between frames, the illusion is lost and the picture will seem to jitter or jump on the screen. Motion effects make use of four possible attributes, which can be combined to produce complex effects. Panning is when we shift the position of a layer within the frame as the slide is shown, adjusting the X and Y coordinates. The objects on the layer appear to move across the field of view. Panning is a technical term from the motion picture industry. It refers to the changing point of view as the camera follows the movement within the scene. Just as with a movie, the display device creates a fixed frame for our show, and the subject appears to move in relation to the boundaries. Each pan has fixed start and end positions that are described within ProShow using X and Y coordinates. Panning creates the illusion of motion, like the images of the airplanes flying in the shows we watched in the first chapter. We can also use it to show detail by slowly panning across a wide scene. Panning does not change the size of a layer.

9 64 The Official Photodex Guide to ProShow Zooming adjusts the magnification ratio of the layer as the slide is being shown. Enlarging an object in size during playback increases its importance and focuses the audience s attention to that part of the image. Pulling back to show a wider area, or reducing the size of objects, adds perspective or diminishes the importance of a subject. For instance, the beginning of a slide might show the face of a single person and then zoom out to show the entire crowd gathered in Times Square for New Year s Eve. Rotation is the third tool. It can be used as a simple design element, like making a caption spin into the frame. It can also be used to create the perception of real action. For example, we might make a propeller turn in front of an airplane or make the wheels turn on a car. Of course, such rotating elements must reside on layers stacked above the stationary parts of the slide. Pace, the speed at which a motion effect occurs, is the fourth variable. In Gold, we are limited to the time the slide is on the screen, since each layer is linked to the display time for the entire slide. Producer lets us set multiple keyframes with their own display times for each layer in a slide and even within layers. With keyframes, we can force an action to happen faster than the total slide time allots. If we wish for an effect to last longer, we must either increase the total slide time or carry the effect to the next slide. (We will work with that technique when we deal with advanced motion effects and keyframing.) Setting and coordinating motion effects attributes with the mouse is easier than describing them. ProShow does most of the work; all a user has to do is adjust a layer s appearance at the beginning and ending points of the display time. Experienced users tend to use the same techniques with adjusting motion as they do with layers. They develop a plan, get things started with the mouse, and then fine-tune the numbers as needed. Beginnings and Ends: Motion Effects Demystified Let s add some motion to slide 5 and explore ProShow s motion tools. Open it in the Slide Options window and choose the Motion tab. Your screen should look similar to the one in Figure 3.16 (or 3.16a, for Gold users). Use the Selected Layer drop-down menu in the upper left-hand corner of the window to make Layer 4 active. Working with the Motion Effects Window The Motion Effects window presents previews of the current slide at both the very beginning and the very end of its display within the show. The difference in the appearance of those two previews reveals the total change due to any motion

10 Chapter 3 Frames, Motion, and the Layered Look 65 Figure 3.16 Panning, zooming, and rotating a layer can all be done quickly using Producer s Motion Effects window and your mouse. Figure 3.16a Gold s Motion Effects window offers the same basic controls as the more elaborate Producer version (shown in Figure 3.16). Notice the single Zoom axis slider and that the Keyframe section is missing. Gold does not support editing keyframes.