Copyright: Copyright© 1997 PictureWorks Technology Rev 1.0
Citation: Copyright© 1997 PictureWorks Technology Rev 1.0


Spin PhotoObject Readme Contents

How to use this ReadMe

Tips

Recommendations

Rev 1.0


How to Use this ReadMe

This ReadMe provides up-to-date information about your Spin software and is located in the Spin directory on your hard drive. To access the ReadMe subsequent to the initial install, navigate to the Spin directory and double-click the "Readme.hlp" file (Windows) or "Readme" (Mac).


Tips

Sample Images

Sample images, movies, and animations can be found in the "Sample PhotoObject" folder on your Spin CD. Simply copy the images to your hard drive or import them into Spin from the CD. Use these sample images to practice making different kinds of photo objects.

Keyboard Shortcuts

•	The arrow keys can be used to nudge and align your images vertically and horizontally.

•	The “Page Up” and “Page Down” keys can be used to move to the next and previous frames, respectively.

•	The “Home” key can be used to return to the first frame.

Consistent Lighting

•	If indoors, cover the window(s) with a curtain or other material to filter the light and reduce shadowing. For dramatic effects, you can use different colors of material as a filter to create unique lighting.

•	Be sure the camera or photographer does not cast an unwanted shadow on the object.

•	If using direct sunlight without a filter, be sure the shadows are not too harsh. Many cameras with automatic exposure may not be able to capture details in heavily shadowed areas of a photo object

•	Flash photography generally creates inconsistent lighting for photo objects and is rarely effective for close-up work such as capturing a small photo object. However, a level of success can be achieved if the flash can be bounced or significantly softened.

Batch Sizing, Naming and File Conversion

Spin PhotoObject's unique alignment, crop and creation features also provide a quick and easy way top create a collection of images that are all the same size, file type, and have a naming convention that is recognizable and sequential. For example:

Let's say you have 20 downloaded JPEG images of your vacation. The default name for those images are "image01.jpg" through "image20.jpg". You can use Spin PhotoObject to change the size, file type and rename the images in one batch operation by using the following procedure:

1.	Load the 20 images in Spin PhotoObject.

2.	Use Spin PhotoObject's Crop feature to make the size of all the images uniform.

3.	Change the file type of the images and enhance the naming convention by saving the images as "vacation01.bmp" through "vacation20.bmp".


Recommendations

Image Sizing

For best performance and to keep the size of movies and GIFs small, we recommend using images 640 X 480 or smaller. We also recommend that all images comprising a photo object be the same size.

Sharing QuickTime files

If you wish to share your QuickTime VR or QuickTime files with others, the recipients must have the QuickTime VR and QuickTime components installed on their systems. Please advise them they can visit the Apple QuickTime site for free software at:

http://quickTime.apple.com

Viewing and Sharing Animated GIF files

Drag your GIF89a animation file into your web browser for quick and easy viewing. If your computer is configured to open GIF files in an application that does not support animated GIFs, you may only see a single frame of the animation. Web browsers such as Netscape Navigator and Microsoft Internet Explorer can open and view your GIF animations.

Aligning Frames

Use the center point of the grid as the common point of reference to align frames. If you attempt to align frames based on a location other than the center point of the grid, the Crop feature may eliminate part of the object.

Photo Slide Show

When creating a photo slide show, we recommend that all the pictures be either landscape or portrait and saved to the QuickTime (MOV) format for optimal cross platform viewing.

Mapping to Network Drives

When saving to a network drive, it is strongly recommended that the drive be mapped in order for Spin to determine the disk space requirements for the drive. If the network drive is not mapped and the disk contains less space than required, an error will occur.

Viewing JPEG, BMP and PICT Files

JPEG, BMP and PICT files generated by Spin PhotoObject can be viewed with any compatible application.