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Post your tips & tricks here for creating slide shows with ProShow Gold. This could include suggestions for style and content in addition to working with the software itself
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Help - Creating fluid movement

Sat Oct 08, 2011 5:01 am

Hi everyone!
Just starting to get my head around PSG. I am trying to create the action of pulling a lever. I have taken still images of the lever in 5 positions and would like to produce fluid motion through the length of the pull. I am displaying each slide for 0.1 secs and a 0.1 sec Cross fade blend (linear) as the transition. It works but pretty jerky. I appreciate I could take a lot more images of the lever in different positions to smoothen it but the it probably become a video!! Is there a better solution? Your help will be much appreciated.

Re: Help - Creating fluid movement

Sat Oct 08, 2011 6:09 am

This thread might help.

viewtopic.php?f=10&t=18896

Tony

Re: Help - Creating fluid movement

Sat Oct 08, 2011 1:33 pm

The best way is to create a PNG transparency of your lever and then you can use your PSG Slide Options window's Motion Adjustment tool to move the lever exactly like you want in one fluid motion. I use the free Paint.Net program to create my PNG image and then add this image file into my shows project folder where I select it as a new layer to make the special effect movement that I want. That said, it is often difficult to get the exact motion you are looking for but the results are non-the-less acceptable most of the time.

When you do this you also have to remove the object, in your case the lever, from the original picture so you will not see a double image as the lever moves. Again, I use Paint.Net to "clone out" the object image I am manipulating but you can use PhotoShop, The Gimp or any other image manipulation program you would like to perform these functions.

You can download Paint.Net and The Gimp for free from these links:

Paint.Net: http://www.getpaint.net/
The Gimp: http://www.gimp.org/

Here are some PNG transparency examples from one of my slideshow projects where you can see my PNG airplane transparency image moving over a cross-country map in my Adventures In Saudi show: http://www.photodex.com/share/pilotdan/awmb9mg4

Good luck :wink:

Dan
Last edited by pilotdan63 on Fri Oct 14, 2011 1:16 pm, edited 2 times in total.

Re: Help - Creating fluid movement

Sat Oct 08, 2011 2:13 pm

Dan's idea to use a png file is an excellent one. If you're retaining the original image to layer it behind the lever with the lever area cloned, don't crop any of the files else you'll never get them positioned normally. In other words, erase everything around the lever and retain all the blank transparent area so that the lever is in the same exact position as the original image then save the cut out lever as a png.

I don't know if PSG has ability to change the position of the rotation center like Producer has but that's going to be the key for you do get the motion you want. That may take a little trial and error to get the numbers right so the rotation center is where you want it.

Re: Help - Creating fluid movement

Sat Oct 08, 2011 3:28 pm

Nope, you can rotate but not change the center. But you should be able to get pretty close with a little movement of the object along with the rotation.
Dick

Re: Help - Creating fluid movement

Sat Oct 08, 2011 4:52 pm

DickK wrote:Nope, you can rotate but not change the center. But you should be able to get pretty close with a little movement of the object along with the rotation.
Dick


Oh, that's too bad. That makes it a bit harder but imagine it's still doable, as you say. :)

Re: Help - Creating fluid movement

Sat Oct 08, 2011 6:33 pm

If you make the canvas large enough, or the lever small enough, you can move it around until the spot you want it to rotate on lines up with the center of the canvas.

In this sample the crosshairs are the center of the canvas and the center of the red piece is centered on the crosshairs.

Image

Then you can use keyframes to animate the movement. Whatever part of the lever is under the crosshairs will be the anchor point for the rotation.

Joe

Re: Help - Creating fluid movement

Sun Oct 09, 2011 7:31 am

This works perfectly for Gold & Producer and is an excellent option and idea. However, the keyframes idea will have to remain in the Producer realm as Gold only has the start and end keyframes (effectively).

In Producer, if you know how to do it (yes, it can be deceptively difficult to use effectively), you can select the appropriate pan settings and associated rotation center changes to select a spot on a layer (effectively a screen location) around which rotation will occur. This is helpful for those occasions where editing the graphic itself to reposition the object (to position it so that the layer center is the rotation point) is not an option (for instance, you've built a bird or butterfly and you want the wings to flap... all graphics are built to fit tightly together when you import them into Producer -- just put them all in the same exact location.). In Gold, you don't have this option. You must manipulate the graphic itself to fit the way Gold works.

Dale

Re: Help - Creating fluid movement

Sun Oct 09, 2011 10:38 am

im42n8 wrote:This works perfectly for Gold & Producer and is an excellent option and idea. However, the keyframes idea will have to remain in the Producer realm as Gold only has the start and end keyframes (effectively).

Dale


I didn't know that about Gold. Would it be possible to have a bunch of slides where the end keyframe of one is the start keyframe of the next slide and then alternate back and forth? The OP is already doing multiple pictures of the lever in different positions.

Re: Help - Creating fluid movement

Sun Oct 09, 2011 1:24 pm

Would it be possible to have a bunch of slides where the end keyframe of one is the start keyframe of the next slide and then alternate back and forth?

Yes, it most certainly would. Before I graduated to Producer, I used to do precisely that to get the appearance of video-style motion.

Barbara

Re: Help - Creating fluid movement

Fri Oct 14, 2011 7:56 am

Many thanks to you all for responding. There are plenty of ideas for me to try, probably need to hone up my Photoshop skills I think!
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