Animated Map

Discuss which third party applications you use to help create your slide shows using ProShow Producer. This is not a forum to promote other slide show software programs.
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Re: Animated Map

Postby dcbyrne » Fri Feb 18, 2011 2:39 am

Hello all,
With Jon's information, I had my map folder working within the program, but I kept searching for the reason I was having a problem in the first place. Now I found the problem installing my maps folder and why I was unable to see it within the program in the beginning. I was using the wrong directory. Instead of placing my map folder in C: Mationstudios, I should have used C:, Programs, Motionstudios. After going to the correct location and adding my USA Map folder everything works as it should. That is C: drive, Programs, Motionstudios, Vasco da Gama 4 HDPro, Maps. I then made a new folder titled USA Maps, added my maps to the folder, and BINGO. Open the program, Project Settings, Map Selection and there in all it's glory is my USA Map Folder with all maps included. If someone has already mentioned this method, I apologize for all the unneeded information. It's close to 3:00 AM and I am off to bed. Good night everyone....

Douglas

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Re: Animated Map

Postby tdew » Fri Feb 18, 2011 3:46 am

I found these to be pretty good maps for my purposes. They are decent sized, have some detail but not so much that it's overwhelming.

http://www.state-maps.org/

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Re: Animated Map

Postby jonP » Fri Feb 18, 2011 6:28 am

Douglas,

I'm glad it's working for you. After all of the great help I've recieved from folks on this fantastic support forum, I'm happy I could contribute something back. I only wish I had more time to spend here.

Jon

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Re: Animated Map

Postby dcbyrne » Fri Feb 18, 2011 11:25 am

I agree Jon. This is a fantastic support forum. I hope everyone has a wonderful weekend.

All my best,
Douglas

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Re: Animated Map

Postby tdew » Sat Feb 19, 2011 4:53 pm

After watching the video tutorials for the program, I wanted to try it out and see how it would turn out.
I'm not happy with the images I placed around the map at different stops, but can't find the ones that are included to see what size and resolution they are.

Here's what I did with a travel route from 2009.

http://vimeo.com/20138470

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Re: Animated Map

Postby dcbyrne » Sat Feb 19, 2011 5:37 pm

I for one, think it's nice. It shows a good example of what can be done with this program. I am not going to criticize it because it did what you wanted it to do. Thanks

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Re: Animated Map

Postby jonP » Wed Feb 23, 2011 8:08 am

tdew,

I too like the video you linked. It uses the Vasco Da Gama software in a way that is very much like what I plan to do.

I've been experimenting with different output formats but unfortunately haven't had nearly enough time to do it especially with all of the options in the software that are not fully explained in their tutorials or docs. However, I wanted to share what I've learned so far so hopefully this is something that may be of use to you and others to get the most out of this program. Linked here is my first test case which I've included in a tutorial format showing how I created the HD video.

http://vimeo.com/20286767

I hope you find it useful. I plan to post additional examples as I get more experience. If you have any questions I'll be happy to reply however it won't be until next week as I'm headed up to Crested Butte for a few days of skiing - they've gotten over 300" of snow so far this season and I just can't miss that. 8)

Good luck
Jon

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Re: Animated Map

Postby tdew » Wed Feb 23, 2011 8:51 am

Wow, that was great! The use of all the points made quite a difference in the route.
It was more clear too because the overall size of the map didn't have to cover the whole country.
Thanks for the added information about settings.

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Re: Animated Map

Postby dcbyrne » Wed Feb 23, 2011 10:22 am

I agree with tdew. Wonderful work, and I thank you for posting this tutorial. :D

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Re: Animated Map

Postby gsmcl0964 » Wed Feb 23, 2011 11:19 am

Thanks to those that posted samples of their work. Jon, I really liked your video with tutorial. It looks as though it is possible to pan and zoom the map, as the route is being traced, so that one could actually use the video as foreground or background or interchangeably as both.

Jon, how long did it take you to create the mapped route in Vasco Da Gama?

Cheers,
Greg

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Re: Animated Map

Postby jonP » Mon Feb 28, 2011 12:26 pm

Greg,

Sorry for the delay, didn't get back from our trip until very late last night.

answers to your questions...

1. pan/zoom control - Yes you can control the panning and zooming but not as easily as one may like. It has a full automatic function which is the default and is demonstrated in their tutorials. I found the auto-mode inadequate but I was able to figure out how to use the manual mode with a little experimentation (because the docs do not adequately explain this). So here is what I learned - First, at the various places you want the zoom or pan to occur, you change the waypoint into a stop point. Next, for each stop point you go into the camera-view screen and either select "manual" (for that stop point) and then manually pan/zoom it to the desired location, or select "centered" which puts that specific stop point in the center of the screen. The software remembers these camera positions for each stop point so during the preview and rendering phases it moves pans & zooms the view accordingly.

2) To actually make that animated map route - two ways to read your question - a) time for full process from start to finish? or b) time to render the map once I set up everything in the software?

For a) It is hard to answer because like every complex software tool, the familiarity and level of experience with it is everything. This one was the result of many hours of experimentation, trial and error, etc. Their tutorial videos are a big help and there is a PDF document included which is not terrible but not great either. It is a translation from German which I'm sure is difficult with tech docs. For me the description of some details seemed a little terse or not adequately explained. However now that I've got a process that works for me, I'd say I could do all the setup in an hour or two depending on how precisely I want everything to look. That may seem long but there are a lot of controls, for example not sure if you are aware but you can tweak most details such as the size and the fade-in/fade-out timings on the vehicle icons, the shadowing you want, if any, and lots of other little nuances such as the precise size and location of any overlay images. This all takes time to fiddle with to get things just right for any given project. So as they say - "your mileage will vary".

For b) The rendering time with this Xvid mpeg4 codec was about 10 mins on my I7-based Dell XPS desktop system with the resulting AVI video being about 400 MB. I tested several other codecs too. Some took much longer to render and/or created massive multi-GB files without any noticeable improvement to the output video. Others simply did not import correctly into to PSP so this Xvid one is what I plan to use for all of my work.

hope this helped,
Jon

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Re: Animated Map

Postby gsmcl0964 » Tue Mar 01, 2011 7:54 am

Wow, thanks for the great answers, Jon!

I was referring to the time you thought it would take you to create the scene, rather than the render time, but I wasn't clear, so thanks for answering both.

I may give this software a try on an upcoming project.

Thanks again for all your posts in this thread!

Greg

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Re: Animated Map

Postby mizdoc » Mon Sep 12, 2011 12:19 pm

A program called Road Trip is good for this.
You can find it at http://www.solrobots.com
I believe the price is $10 for the Standard and $25 for the Pro version.

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Re: Animated Map

Postby des.tom » Sun Oct 09, 2011 7:16 am

Anyone tried the Road Trip program? If so would be interested in feedback.

Des Thomas

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Re: Animated Map

Postby glyn53 » Sun Oct 09, 2011 8:49 am

I have it installed on my computer, but I was not too impressed with it. The file output was quick time and was poor quality. I couldn't save in any other format, unless I'm doing something wrong :roll:

Would like to hear from someone else who has used it. Maybe I can learn something about using it better.

Glyn

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