THIS VERSION IS SAVE DISABLED (ALL OTHER FEATURES ARE FUNCTIONAL).
What’s new for version 2
1.) Windows version. Presentations created on the Mac can now be shown on your Windows PC (and visa - versa)! All you need is the Windows version of Slide Presenter (and a Windows Computer - see requirements below). Presentations created on either platform can be played without modification on the other platform.
2.) Transitions. A transition selector has been added which gives Slide Presenter users access to over 45 standard transitions! Even more importantly, the transitions are accessed through a simple point and click interface that will allow you to quickly and easily add transitions to your slide shows. This exciting new feature will allow you to create smooth flowing pict shows at a bargain basement price.
3.) Menus. Many of the commands accessed by buttons on versions 1.0 and 1.1 have been moved to standard Mac Menus. This makes them easier to use, and more intuitive in nature.
4.) Memory management. A new memory slide bar has been added to show you when you’re getting low on memory. Also included is a new “Autosave” feature which automatically saves your slide show when memory gets to a user defined level. This will automatically free up memory simply and easily so you can continue adding slides.
5.) Autoplay enhancements. Autoplay was added for version 1.1, however two new twists have been added for 2.0. Through check boxes you can now loop continuously through your slide show, and have the tool pallette and corner arrows hidden at the starting of your show - works great as a pseudo-screensaver.
6.) Custom slide durations. With autoplay mode, and a slide in the slide order selected, a duration box will appear. This box can be changed and represents the length in seconds that slide will display in autoplay mode.
Using Slide Presenter.
System Requirements:
Mac version: Macintosh computer with 13 “ or large monitor, 4 megs free ram, and system 6.0.5. Recommended at least 8 bit color, 8 Megs Free Ram, System 7.1
Windows version: Windows computer with 640x480 screen resolution or greater, 4 megs of ram, Windows 3.1, 386sx25 or faster processor. 256 color VGA or better suggested.
All the files contained in the Slide Presenter folder (or directory) must remain there. These files are called upon by the program and it only looks in that folder. If it’s not there, it will ask you to locate it EVERY time you use it.
What is Slide Presenter?
Slide Presenter is a program created with Macromedia Director 4.0. It allows the user to import PICT files, arrange them, and present them in any order. Additional features allow you to overdraw using a colored chalk tool. This overdraw does not effect the picture below, and can be erased with the press of a button. Slide presentations can be set up, and saved for later use. The primary purpose for this program is for using your Macintosh computer as a replacement for a slide projector. The overdraw feature is very useful for circling, or marking specific points on a slide.
Other uses would be for creating picture portfolios, or cataloging PICT files on your system. Slide Presenter integrates the PICT files you select into itself, allowing you to save all your pictures in one convenient file (however, you cannot extract them back out of that file). That one file is easily portable between computers so you can share your pictures with others without having to juggle several separate files. Slide Presenter can also be used to proof pictures to potential clients. If you are contracted to do a series of 24-bit pictures for someone, you could deliver proofs as an 8-bit Slide Presenter file - this allows your client to quickly and easily thumb through your pictures without actually giving them the files.
Slide Presenter is quicktime compatible so you can show pictures compressed with quicktime compression schemes as long as quicktime is installed on your system.
Creating a presentation:
ADDING SLIDES TO THE SLIDE LIST:
-The Slide List is the list of PICT files you will choose from when making your presentation. Files added to the Slide list become a permanent part of the slide show.
-Start Slide Projector by double clicking on its icon.
-When the “Setup” screen appears (has a “Slide List”, “Slide Order” ... etc field), click on the “Add Slide button” (or choose “Add Slide” from the “Slide” Menu). A standard file dialog box will appear. Only PICT files will be visible, which is the only file type you may import.
-Double Click on the file you want to import - or click once, and choose “open”
-The picture you chose will be added to the “Slide List” box.
NOTE: IF YOU RECEIVE A MESSAGE THAT YOU CANNOT ADD A SLIDE TO THE SLIDE LIST BECAUSE OF AN ERROR (MAY BE OUT OF MEMORY) - then save your presentation and load it back in - as you add the files to the Slide List, they are stored in memory. When you save the file, you transfer them from memory to disk. When you reload them, you will have them available from the disk and you will have freed up the memory to add more. This can be prevented by turning “Autosave Below” on ... this will be discussed later.
ADDING SLIDES TO THE SLIDE ORDER:
-The Slide Order field contains the order in which your pictures will be shown - first at the top to the last at the bottom.
-Click on a Slide name in the “Slide List” field - it will highlight, and the “Add>>” button will appear.
-Click on the “Add>>” button and the highlighted slide will be added to the bottom of the Slide Order.
-Continue this process until all the slides you want to show have been added.
-You can add the same slide more then once, and in any order.
-To add all the slides in the Slide list in the order they appear, click on the top line of the Slide List box. All entries will become highlighted. Click on the “Add>>” button and all of them will be added to the Slide order.
ADDING TRANSITIONS
-Select the slide you wish to add a transition to in the SLIDE ORDER
-A window with “None” will appear below the Transition text
-Click on that window
-A dialog will appear listing the transition choices.
-Click on the transition you want in the scrolling window - a diagram of that transition will appear in the window.
-To adjust the rate of the transition click on the blue “Rate” slider and slide it back and forth. A good starting value is 0. The bigger the number, the slower the transition.
-To adjust the roughness of the transition, do the same thing with the “Roughness” slider. A good starting value is 12. The higher the number, the rougher the transition.
-When you’re done, click the “OK” button, and the transition will be added to the Slide.
-If you change your mind before saying “OK” then you can click on cancel and the old transition will remain in effect.
-The newly selected transition will appear in the box.
-To change it again, just repeat the process.
-Note: transitions area associated with the slide names, not the slide order. If you have more then one occurrence of the same slide in the slide order then they will always have the same transition. Changing one changes all the others with the same name.
CHANGING SLIDE DURATIONS:
-When in Auto Play mode, you can change the length each slide is displayed for to do this, use the following procedure.
-Click on “Auto play” to activate this mode.
-Click on the slide in the “Slide Order” you want to change - a box will appear under the Duration marker.
-Select the text in that box and change it to the duration you want.
-Note: There is a default duration box next to the Autoplay checkbox. When you add a slide to the Slide List (Import the file), that number is automatically tagged to it. If you know you want to have all your slides last 30 seconds, change that number to 30 before you start to import your slides. Once the slide is imported, you can only change the duration by selecting it in the Slide Order and changing it in the “Duration” box.
-Like the transitions, the duration is linked to the slide rather then it’s position in the order. Therefore, all occurrences of a slide in the Slide Order will have the same duration and changing one changes them all.
MOVING SLIDES IN THE SLIDE ORDER:
-Slides in the slide order can be moved around using the cut, copy, and paste functions in the “Edit” menu.
-Select your slide in the “SLIDE ORDER” by clicking on it.
-Select the function you want in the Edit menu
-”Cut” removes the slide from it’s current position and shifts the rest of the slides up to fill it’s space.
-”Copy” copies the slide name into a buffer without removing from the list.
-”Paste” pastes the name of the last slide you Cut or Copied into the space BEFORE the currently selected slide name.
DELETING SLIDES FROM THE SLIDE ORDER
-Click on the slide in the slide order you wish to delete - it will highlight.
-Click on the “Delete” button or (“Delete slide” from the “Slides” Menu.) - the slide will delete, and the list will update to reflect the change.
-To delete all the slides in the Slide Order, either click on the “Delete All” button, or click on the top line of the “Slide Order” field - all the entries will highlight - delete with “DELETE” button or “Delete slide” menu item.
DELETING SLIDES FROM THE SLIDE LIST
-Click on the slide in the Slide List you wish to delete
-Click on the "Delete" button, or choose “Delete Slide” from the “Slides” Menu
-The slide will be deleted, and all occurrences of it in the "Slide Order” will also be removed.
-The Slide List, and Slide Order fields will update to reflect the changes.
-To delete all the slides in the Slide List, click on the top line of the Slide list field. All entries in the field will become highlighted. Then click on the "Delete" button. All the slides in the slide list, and slide order will be deleted.
PREVIEWING SLIDES
-Slides can be previewed in the “Preview Box”
-Click on the “Preview” check box - an “x” will appear in the box.
-When the “x” is in the box, any slide you click on in the “Slide List” or “Slide Order” fields will appear in the preview box.
-Turn the preview off by clicking on the “Preview” check box again - the “x” will disappear from the box.
SAVING YOUR SLIDE SHOW
-Type a name using 31 or fewer characters long in the “Slide Show Title” box.
-This will be the filename of your saved presentation so you’ll have to follow the rules of naming Mac files.
-Choose “Save” from the file menu - Slide Presenter will save the file.
-The “Autosave Below“ feature is used to automatically save and purge from memory the slides you have entered. To use this feature, click in the box and adjust the green slider to the memory level you wish to use. The bar denotes total memory allocated to slide presenter, and the red bar denotes the how much of that memory is free. Adjusting the slider to 1 1MB should be adequate for most applications
-NOTE 1: This is a forced save - if you’re overwriting a file, you will not be asked if you want to replace the copy which is already saved. If you make changes to an existing presentation (one you loaded from disk), we strongly recommend changing the Side Show Title before saving to prevent changing the original.
-NOTE 2: All the pictures that were imported are now part of the file. This has the benefit of portability - no matter where you put the file (transfer from a desktop machine to a portable), the pictures go with it. It does however, have the disadvantage of making the files very large. We therefore recommend the use of 8-bit color. This strikes a happy medium between file size and picture quality.
-NOTE 3: Do not turn “Autosave Below” on if the green slider is in the black zone. This will cause bad things to happen (you’ll be trapped in a loop and be forced to restart your system.)
LOADING A PREVIOUSLY MADE SHOW
-Choose “Open” from the file menu
-A standard file dialog box will appear
-Locate the show you want to load
-Either double click on it, or click on it once and chose “Open”
-The show will load, and the “Slide List”, “Slide Order”, and "Slide Show Title" boxes will be updated appropriately.
PLAYING YOUR SLIDE SHOW
Two modes exist for playing your slides, an "auto mode" and a "manual mode"
To activate the "Auto mode", simply check the "Auto Play" check box just below the "Slide List" box. The "cycle" check box allows the slide show to cycle. When it is checked, the first slide is shown after the last slide, and the entire show plays over. When the "cycle" box is not checked the slide show stops when the last slide is displayed. To time between slide changes is given in seconds and can be set by changing the number in the "Switch slide every" box. The default is every 5 seconds, but it can range from .001 to 999 seconds. In auto mode, the presentation works the same, with the exception that the forward and reverse buttons are not visible in the lower corners. This is done so you can use this as a custom screen saver with your own pictures.
Once a mode is selected,
-Select “Play” from the “Slides” menu (or hit command-P).
-The screen will change, and the first slide in the “Slide Order” will be displayed.
-In the top left is your Tool Pallet, in the lower right corner is a “Forward” button.
-To go through you slides, click on the arrow buttons in the lower corners (You can do so using any tool - pointer, chalk, or hand). On the first slide, the left (back) button disappears, and on the last slide the right (forward) button disappears. You can also go forward or back by using the right and left arrow keys on your keyboard.
-For more control lets examine the tool palette from top to bottom.
“Hide” button - hides the pallet to give a full screen view. To make the pallet reappear, click in the top right corner (where the “Hide” button was). The keyboard equivalent is the SPACE bar.
Pointer button - The default button. Click on the slide to go forward one slide. This tool can be selected by clicking on it, or by pressing the “p” key.
Chalk button - Click on this button, and the cursor becomes colored chalk. The color is defined by the color pallet below the tool pallet. To use it, click on the slide and drag. The slower you drag, the smoother your drawing will appear. The chalk tool can also be selected with the “c” key. Colors are selected by clicking on them in the pallet or with their corresponding keys.
“n” - Black
“w” - White
“b” - Blue
“r” - Red
“g” - Green
TO ERASE what you draw, press the DELETE key on your keyboard.
Hand button - Click on this button, and the cursor becomes a hand. If you click on the current picture and drag - it will move with the mouse. This is convenient for pictures that are too large to be seen on a 13” monitor - or 640 x 480 projection panel. This tool can also be selected with the “h” key.
Play From Disk button - Clicking on this button will bring up the open file dialog box. You can select a PICT file which will temporarily replace the current slide on your screen. This is handy if you forgot a slide, or if someone asks a question, and you have a picture on your disk, but not in the presentation, that would be useful. Clicking on the forward button, will go to the next slide in your presentation, the back to the previous. To return to the slide you replaced with the file from disk, you will need to go forward a slide, and then back, or back one slide and then forward. The keyboard equivalent is “d”.
Return button - click on this button to return to the slide setup screen. You can also use the RETURN or ESC keys on your keyboard.
Skip button - doesn’t do anything yet - future versions will allow you to select any slide in your slide list, and skip directly to it. Keyboard equivalent is “s”.
Color Buttons - see their use in the “Chalk button” description above.
Keyboard Summary:
“p” -selects Pointer tool
“c” -selects Chalk tool
“h” - selects Hand tool
“d” -activates Play From Disk
RETURN or ESC -returns to Slide Show Setup screen
DELETE - clears hand drawing from screen
SPACE -Toggles the tool pallet on and off
“n” -selects Black chalk color
‘b’ -selects Blue chalk color
‘w’ -selects White chalk color
“r” -selects Red chalk color
“g” -selects Green chalk color
LEFT ARROW - Back one slide
RIGHT ARROW -Forward one Slide
<COMMAND> -Quits Slide Presenter
TIPS FOR BEST RESULTS:
-Set your monitor to 8 - bit (256 colors) when using Slide Presenter. Unless you NEED more colors and have lots of RAM. Otherwise, you’ll be saving your files very frequently.
-Import all your PICTs at the color depth you intend to show them. Slide Presenter imports the PICT files at the color depth that your monitor is set at in the monitors control panel. As an example, if you import the pictures in 16-bit mode then two things happen if you later show them on a machine set at a lower bit depth. First, the pictures will look terrible - and that’s no good. Second, all those 16-bit pictures are taking up a ton of disk space unnecessarily. By importing them at the bit depth you intend to show them at, your pictures will look better and only use the space necessary.
*Pictures shown at a higher bit depth then they were imported at (eg.. 8-bit pictures shown on a 16-bit computer) will not show any loss in quality.
-If you plan on using the chalk tool in your presentation, it’s best to use a minimum of 8-bit color depth. Lower bit depths do not contain the colors on the buttons, and the chalk tool will not work properly. If you use less then 8-bit color, then practice using the pen tool ahead of time to memorize which colors produce the desired results.
-Give Slide Presenter as much memory as you can. The number of slides you can import is dependent upon the amount of memory you have allocated to Slide Presenter. The majority of the 4 megs allocated to Slide Presenter is required to run the program, leaving only a small amount for loading a slides. Any extra memory you can give Slide Presenter will be used for storage of your slides.
IF YOU RECEIVE A MESSAGE THAT YOU CANNOT ADD A SLIDE TO THE SLIDE LIST BECAUSE OF AN ERROR (MAY BE OUT OF MEMORY) - then save your presentation and load it back in - as you load the PICT files, they are stored in memory. When you save the file, you transfer them from memory to disk. When you reload them, you will have them available from the disk and you will have freed up the memory to add more.
- Pict files saved from KPT Bryce do not dither well when imported into Slide Presenter in 8-Bit mode. For best results, load your Bryce files into another graphics program like Photoshop and resave them using that PICT format. After the conversion, they will dither properly upon import into Slide Presenter.
Changes for version 1.1
*Addition of an "Auto play" mode. - allows auto switching of slides at a specified time interval. Also, it can be used to create custom screen savers.
Changes for version 2.0
*Addition of transition selector
*Addition of custom slide durations
*Replaced many old buttons with Mac-type menus
*New Memory Management bars
*Quit box confirms you wish to quit
*“Move” button replaced with Cut, Paste, and Copy menu items.
CONDITIONS OF USE
Slide Presenter 2.0 Demo is FREE, feel free to distribute it provided that all the files are present and that none are modified in any way.
To purchase the full version of Slide Presenter 2.0, simply fill out the accompanying order form and send it along with your $35.00 payment to:
North Coast Interactive, Inc.
2057 Fairview Ave.
Cleveland, OH 44106
When we receive your payment, we will send you the latest version of Slide Presenter on a floppy disk.
Additional questions or comments can be sent to NCInteract@aol.com, or can be answered by phone (216) 229-3852.
Warranty:
Thomas J. Blaha and North Coast Interactive, Inc., make no claims to warranty this product. The user claims all responsibility for any and all damages or losses resulting from the use of Slide Presenter.
