| dcsmart |
| (Novice) |
| 12/15/04 06:43 AM |
Show is displaying wrong pictures
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I just started using ESSC (on OS-X) by creating 6 slide shows in the demo mode, then registered your software, opened each show and resaved each to remove the watermark. Now, some of the shows cannot find their pictures while others are showing the wrong pictures. Any ideas?
I may have changed some file paths to the image source files between the creation and resaving of the slideshows. If that is the problem, can you display the path that ESSC is looking for to find its pictures? That way I could be sure that my paths are correct.
Any help on this would be greatly appreciated. I am trying to get a CD out to family before Christmas. Thanks
| Brad |
| (Addict) |
| 12/15/04 07:59 AM |
Re: Show is displaying wrong pictures
|
Hi,
Yes, changing the paths would cause this problem. You can update the path to the updated files by clicking the little folder button under "File Info" found towards the bottom left of the interface.
| dcsmart |
| (Novice) |
| 12/15/04 03:08 PM |
Re: Show is displaying wrong pictures
|
Hi Brad, Thanks for the quick reply.
As my luck would have it, nothing is quite as simple as it seems. I checked the paths as you recommended and find them to be correct. And yet, the pictures displayed are wrong.
You may find this hard to believe, but I have checked it several times, the pictures displayed appear to be semi-random. That is, as I click successive slides in the ESSC dialog (say 1 to 10) I note the series of wrong slides displayed. Then, when I do the same thing agin I see a different sequence of the same wrong slides. (This odd situation makes me wonder if my copy of ESSC has a problem).
The path that you show when I "hover" over your File Info box shows a path truncated in the middle. But, the part that you display is correct for the current location of the image files.
I have a lot of time in the very manual process of getting about 400 slides in order spread over 6 slide shows. I hope that there is a simple solution to this problem.
Thanks again for your work. Regards,
| Brad |
| (Addict) |
| 12/16/04 07:51 AM |
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Re: Show is displaying wrong pictures
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Hi,
One thing to double check is to make sure the "pictures random" checkbox is unchecked. After that, it's possible that some of the image files contain errors and cannot be displayed, which would affect the overall ordering of the show. You could determine one of the pictures that is not displaying and email it to support@programmingart.com and I will check it out and see if there are any problems with the file.
| dcsmart |
| (Novice) |
| 12/16/04 10:05 AM |
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Re: Show is displaying wrong pictures
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Hi Brad, Thanks for the reply.
The random box is not checked (and has never been).
I resaved the show and now it cannot find any pictures (the random display has stopped). But still the ESSC path displays are consistent with the actual positions of the image files. You only display the beginning and end of the path string with elipses in between so there may be path differences that I cannot check. (I could easily have changed the name of a folder upstream).
Is there a way to display the full path that ESSC is using for its images?
Since I created this situation without knowing it, I want to be sure that I never do it again. What are the limitations on path changes? (Do you use relative or absolute paths?) In other words, if I save the .sld files in the same folder with their image files (before identifying the images in ESSC) will ESSC always find them-- even if I move that folder?
Or, do I need to set up my images with a path that never changes, say with a different username or partition? And, then must the image files always stay on the same volume?
Thanks again,
| dcsmart |
| (Novice) |
| 12/16/04 10:16 AM |
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Re: Show is displaying wrong pictures
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Brad,
I ran another check. I opened the slideshow in ESSC and selected the first slide. Then I updated the path for that slide as you suggested in your first reply. Now that slide, and that slide only, is found by ESSC. I close and reopen the same slide show and the same updated slide is found and no others.
But, the parts of the path that you display are the same before and after the updated image reference.
Hope this helps.
| dcsmart |
| (Novice) |
| 12/16/04 10:23 AM |
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Re: Show is displaying wrong pictures
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Could ESSC use a much smaller font in the help box so that it would show more of the path?
| dcsmart |
| (Novice) |
| 12/16/04 03:41 PM |
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Re: Show is displaying wrong pictures
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Hi Brad,
With respect to whether you use absolute or relative paths for images I think that I answered my own question---absolute paths.
I ran a little test. Created a folder on the desktop with image files in it. Then created a slideshow using those images and saved its .sld file within that folder. When I moved the folder inside of another folder the slide show would no longer play (ESSC could not find the images). But when I moved it back to the desktop it played just fine.
Since this absolute path is so important to maintain, I would hope that you could display the entire path. That way, if a whole slide show will not play because the containing folder has been moved, the user can fix the situation. That is, the user can rename and create folders until they have recreated the path that ESSC expects.
Do you think that displaying the whole path would be difficult?
Thanks and best regards,
Programmingart
|
| (Member) |
| 12/19/04 05:12 PM |
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Re: Show is displaying wrong pictures
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Hi,
Thanks for the ideas. Maybe the best way to do this would be to pop up an alert box with the entire path in it if you CTRL+click the File Info button or something along those lines. Even with a smaller font, I'm sure there are lots of paths that would not fit. I'll make a post once we have an update with this feature. It will probably be shortly after the new year. Thanks--
| dcsmart |
| (Novice) |
| 12/20/04 10:34 AM |
Re: Show is displaying wrong pictures
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Hi,
Thanks, the change should at least help others. If there is a way to make the help part of the dialog show the whole path (with 2 lines of small font or something) it might eliminate the need to communicate with confused users the need to control-click. (Or, not display the path at all in the help line but have the help line tell you to control-click to see the path).
I had to get my CD out for Christmas. So, my solutions had to use your software "as it is". I relocated my images so that the path is short enough to be completely displayed by your program. And then I updated the path for each slide (over 400) with your program, manually-- about a 3 hour job. (I was really glad that I had first created the slideshows with iPhoto and could check my ESSC sequences when finished.)
| vince |
| (Novice) |
| 01/15/05 11:39 AM |
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Re: Show is displaying wrong pictures
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Hi:
I have just read all replies in this topic. I guess there is something that I don't understand. Once a file (group of photos) is entered into ESSC and everything is working properly, can I delete these photos from my data base and only leave them in ESSC ? ? If not, then how would someone on another computer view them without my data base if I copied ESSC to a CD. I guess that this "path" thing is what I don't understand.
Thanks
Vince
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Programmingart
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| (Member) |
| 01/17/05 01:06 PM |
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Re: Show is displaying wrong pictures
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Hi Vince,
I'm not sure exactly what you mean by database, but I'll try to provide a summary of what happens. When you create a slide show file (sld), the full paths to the files you use are stored in this file. For example, maybe you add a picture to your slide show located at C:\pictures\mypic.jpg. ESSC does not make a copy of this file, it just remembers where it lives. When you create a portable slide show (either the zip or CD options from the File menu), the picture would be copied to a special prepared folder that you designate. After you have prepared your show and burnt it to CD, there will be copies of your picture and music files on the CD itself. So, when you send that CD to someone else, the show will play with copies of the files that are on the CD. The original files are still on your hard drive. If you delete the originals from your hard drive, you will no longer be able to make changes to your show and save them in the sld file because the pictures would be missing. Hope that helps!
| vince |
| (Novice) |
| 01/18/05 09:56 AM |
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Re: Show is displaying wrong pictures
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Thanks for the reply.
That is what I kind of figured out after I posted my question as I moved a few photos to another folder and they dissapered from my slide show. Oh well, we live to learn.
Thanks again
Vince