Feather Dancers

Post a link to your shows created with ProShow Producer and get feedback from others. Please include a short description or title for each show link along with the approximate running time. If you don't want to chance getting criticism, please don't post your show.
.
User avatar
Posts: 9321
Joined: Thu Sep 20, 2007 12:37 pm
Location: E. Greenbush, NY

Feather Dancers

Postby BarbaraC » Sat Oct 06, 2007 10:53 am

Nope, not what you think. The feathers are what's dancing.

When I got Producer about a month ago, I was daunted by all the controls and options, particularly key frames, so I decided to just plunge into the deep end--the heck with dabbling a toe in the water--and came up with a scheme that would force me to either learn key frames or drown.

The idea came about by accident when I was listening to some very old favorites in music and I happened upon "Flute Thing" by The Blues Project. The flutes reminded me of the feathers I collect, and I was off and running.

Anyone familiar with "Flute Thing" might notice a missing section in it. I cut out the drum solo because, first of all, it's not so great, and second of all because it's very unfeathery.

Tell me what you think, good or bad, and if you have any suggestions for improvement, please say so.

http://www.photodex.com/sharing/viewshow.html?fl=2882551&alb=0

Barbara

lostdutchman

Postby lostdutchman » Sat Oct 06, 2007 11:25 am

Barbara,

Thoroughly enjoyable.

You have gone deep into keyframing--and surfaced still breathing.

The only problem is that I couldn't stop sneezing while watching!

Forest Gump would have been proud.
Ken

.
User avatar
Posts: 9321
Joined: Thu Sep 20, 2007 12:37 pm
Location: E. Greenbush, NY

Postby BarbaraC » Sat Oct 06, 2007 11:37 am

lostdutchman wrote:The only problem is that I couldn't stop sneezing while watching!


Well, darn it all, Ken! You can't sneeze with your eyes open.

My husband also commented about Forest Gump, and then instead of sneezing, I couldn't stop thinking about chocolate.

Barbara

.
User avatar
Posts: 7501
Joined: Wed Nov 29, 2006 6:35 pm
Location: Kirkland,Wash, USA, Earth

Postby gpsmikey » Sat Oct 06, 2007 12:00 pm

Cute show -- you do things the same way I do -- some sort of short show just
trying to get one thing under control. After watching all the feathers though
I wasn't sure if you started with the wine or ended with the wine :D
(or if I should be drinking the wine ... )

mikey
You can't have too many gadgets or too much disk space !!
mikey (PSP6, Photoshop CS6, Vegas Pro 14, Acid 7, BluffTitler, Nikon D300s, D810)
Lots of PIC and Arduino microprocessor stuff too !!

.
User avatar
Posts: 9321
Joined: Thu Sep 20, 2007 12:37 pm
Location: E. Greenbush, NY

Postby BarbaraC » Sat Oct 06, 2007 12:32 pm

Right, Mikey, control's the thing. You have no idea how many times I totally lost control. I ended up having to make a check list with "1-2, 2-3, 3-4...etc." so that when I was done, say, with key frame 2-3 for layer 4, I wouldn't forget what I was editing by the time I got to layer 5. And then the phone would ring and when I got off the phone, I couldn't remember if I'd checked off the last thing I was working on before Blabber-puss called.

The one thing I really don't like in the show is the fact that there's too much blank space in between the slides. I didn't realize this until I was nearly done, and then I just knew it would require far more work than I was willing to do to remedy the situation. Next time...next time I'll remember to not have so much blank space.

Barbara

.
User avatar
Posts: 4553
Joined: Sat Jul 15, 2006 10:07 am
Location: Israel

Re: Feather Dancers

Postby cherub » Sat Oct 06, 2007 1:32 pm

BarbaraC wrote:....particularly key frames, so I decided to just plunge into the deep end--the heck with dabbling a toe in the water--and came up with a scheme that would force me to either learn key frames or drown.
Tell me what you think, good or bad, and if you have any suggestions for improvement, please say so.
Barbara


Barbara, well, what can I say? you certainly seem to have mastered the keyframes without drowning. I don't know if you used Mikey's idea of drinking wine
while studying this painful subject, but you have become very good at it. Good for you !

Now about the show itself:
Compared to all your other shows that you've shown us, this one didn't raise to the expectations, in my opinion.
It did not keep my interest for the whole duration, and I found it too long for its purpose. In fact, it looked like a keyframes exercise to me.
The pictures of the birds appeared for very short durations on the screen, and in the most bizarre locations, so the connection between the birds
and the feathers was not really there. The pictures of the birds were not so good, with the exception of the blue one. I mean, how they appeared
in the show and on screen (not the real pictures which I haven't seen, of course).
Apart from the too long black transitions (which you mentioned) the show ran well, and in rhythm with the music. I haven't heard that music
before, buy I enjoyed it very much.
Barbara, I'm missing the "idea", which was so well defined in all your other shows.
Hope you won't be angry with me for my comments, but I took your word for it, and commented to the "good or bad.... please say so".

.
User avatar
Posts: 7501
Joined: Wed Nov 29, 2006 6:35 pm
Location: Kirkland,Wash, USA, Earth

Postby gpsmikey » Sat Oct 06, 2007 1:56 pm

Well, if you read her introduction, :) it WAS all about keyframes - that was it's purpose
in life as an excercise in making keyframes do "things". Not supposed to be a
story etc - just turned out as a fun show to watch. I do the same thing to experiment
with some feature or another (I do the same thing writing software - a quick little
thing that tests some "feature").

mikey
You can't have too many gadgets or too much disk space !!
mikey (PSP6, Photoshop CS6, Vegas Pro 14, Acid 7, BluffTitler, Nikon D300s, D810)
Lots of PIC and Arduino microprocessor stuff too !!

.
User avatar
Posts: 1950
Joined: Thu Apr 13, 2006 9:31 am
Location: Beautiful Virginia Beach, Virginia StarlightPPS.com

Postby alcain » Sat Oct 06, 2007 3:15 pm

Tickled me pink! ~al
Using Producer V4, PS CS5, and the Nikon D80, D90 & D7000 for all of my professional work.
BFA with a major in Communication Design, Texas State University, 1978
And now abideth faith, hope and love, these three; but the greatest of these is love.

.
User avatar
Posts: 9321
Joined: Thu Sep 20, 2007 12:37 pm
Location: E. Greenbush, NY

Postby BarbaraC » Sat Oct 06, 2007 3:33 pm

gpsmikey wrote:Well, if you read her introduction, :) it WAS all about keyframes - that was it's purpose
in life as an excercise in making keyframes do "things".mikey


Ah, my hero! But it's okay, Mikey. Really.

Cherub, Mikey's right. That's what it was all about--key frames. All the other shows you've seen were done in ProShow Gold where key frames don't exist, so I was floored by Producer because I've never worked with video. My son had to explain to me what the devil key frames even were. Nevertheless, your opinion of the other aspects certainly counts. The only one I'd quibble with you on is the short duration of the bird photos. It was about feathers, not birds, and so they were more the shadowy figures behind the feathers, a little reminder of the creatures that produce such beautiful plumage.

Al, you're Happy, Ken is Sneezy, and Cherub is Grumpy. We can add me in as Dopey. Three more dwarves to go, hi-ho!

Barbara

P.S. Cherub, I just took another look at the show and realized why the bird locations might look strange to you, and it's because you wouldn't be familiar with them. I chose the locations partly because of how the specific birds are normally seen, and I'll bet the strangest of all to you was the one in the center with its head pointing straight down. It's a nuthatch which walks down trees head first, and the photo was taken of one of them doing just that. Adorable little birds who say, "Urp!"

.
User avatar
Posts: 7501
Joined: Wed Nov 29, 2006 6:35 pm
Location: Kirkland,Wash, USA, Earth

Postby gpsmikey » Sat Oct 06, 2007 4:19 pm

Hah - you want to throw people off showing birds in their "normal" position,
try a dipper !! :D Those critters work their way along the rocks in a river
looking for little bugs ... and when it suites them, they simply walk along the
bottom of the river - not diving, just walking under water for a bit. I do love
the nuthatches and chickadees though (we get quite a few in the feeder).
Then there is always the bushtits - they travel in a bunch of 15 or 20 and
just sort of "arrive" at the feeder for a bit then go somewhere else. I just
have the feeling when I see them it is a case of "hey guys -- lets go over
here for a while" or "birds afternoon out" or something like that.

mikey
You can't have too many gadgets or too much disk space !!
mikey (PSP6, Photoshop CS6, Vegas Pro 14, Acid 7, BluffTitler, Nikon D300s, D810)
Lots of PIC and Arduino microprocessor stuff too !!

ProShow Hall of Fame
User avatar
Posts: 1057
Joined: Tue Mar 28, 2006 11:57 pm
Location: Canada

Postby Brenda » Sat Oct 06, 2007 8:26 pm

Al, you're Happy, Ken is Sneezy, and Cherub is Grumpy. We can add me in as Dopey.


As your tenacity and perseverance learning keyframes paid off, you should rename yourself
the 'Happy' dwarf.

I enjoyed your keyframe exercise it flowed well and smoothly and, as you said, danced.

Brenda

.
User avatar
Posts: 469
Joined: Mon Apr 09, 2007 11:00 pm
Location: Olympia, Washington

Postby dcbyrne » Sat Oct 06, 2007 9:45 pm

Hello Barbara,
Very good show, I enjoyed it. The music was wonderful and to me went with the show very nicely.

Douglas

.
User avatar
Posts: 703
Joined: Thu Sep 13, 2007 2:18 pm
Location: San Diego

Postby rkligman » Sat Oct 06, 2007 10:20 pm

Haaachooo. Sorry, allergies kicking in. Not sure why keyframes are stumping so many people but you certainly have overcome your fears with this one. It certainly was a great thought to make such a presentation as your introduction to the new material. The fact that it was so stark, really brought out the main characters nicely.
Rick Insane Diego...

.
User avatar
Posts: 9321
Joined: Thu Sep 20, 2007 12:37 pm
Location: E. Greenbush, NY

Postby BarbaraC » Sun Oct 07, 2007 7:49 am

To all: Thanks for taking a look at it. If any of you can give me a clue about using the smoothness slider, I'd appreciate it. It seems as if it's good for motions that have arcs in them but may cause more jerkiness when the path is straight, particularly when it's a straight diagonal. Is this real or is it just a function of the particular things I was trying to do?

Brenda, I can't be Happy until I've mastered every nuance of the software along with the art of cooking without getting up from my chair.

Douglas, I'm pleased you liked the music because it was the source of the idea and because it's one of my favorite pieces...except for the rotten drum solo that I excised from it. Long live sound editing programs!

Rick, I'm glad you don't seem opposed to the starkness because I naturally tend toward that in my regular photography. Some friends call me a "minimalist." You are trying to move in on the Sneezy position, but it's already taken. Only Doc, Sleepy, and Bashful are left.

And last but not least, Mikey: So you're an observer of bird behavior too. I'm not about to go traipsing over field and wood with binoculars, but I feed the birds (and other critters) in my back yard, often laughing out loud all by myself at their antics. Currently, the chickadees are hanging upside-down on the sunflowers that died weeks ago, plucking out the little seeds and swaying and bobbing as they hang on, occasionally losing their grip and crash landing. Much fluttering and tweeting.

Barbara

.
User avatar
Posts: 4274
Joined: Sat Apr 15, 2006 7:03 am
Location: Cedar, British Columbia

Postby nannybear » Sun Oct 07, 2007 10:09 am

that was just fabulous!!! You are becoming an expert at keyframes and have way more patience than I do! Hugs Jan
http://www.janstephens.com or http://www.oilswithjananddonna.com/
Graphic Design, Essential Oils, Click and Grow gardening, Cooking and Merge Dragons - PSP latest - Adobe Creative Cloud Suite
You can find me on Facebook, come visit!!

Next

Return to PSP - Sample Shows & Feedback

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 31 guests