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Author Topic: Tutorials and Useful Hints  (Read 29762 times)
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JudyB
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« on: December 05, 2010, 03:42:00 AM »

This thread is intended to be a place where we can list or summarize the various hints and shortcuts that show up in the other threads in this section, and also write instructions for doing various things like screenshots or slideshows.  The second post will be an index, and for the moment I'm locking the thread and suggesting that any questions, comments or suggestions be made in the Forum Tips, Tricks and General Discussion thread.

It's possible that once we see how this works, we may combine the two threads and rely on the index to keep track of the actually tips and tutorials - as you all know, we're all learning as we go.
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JudyB
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« Reply #1 on: December 05, 2010, 03:42:16 AM »

Reserved for index
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JudyB
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« Reply #2 on: December 05, 2010, 03:42:56 AM »

One Way to Make a Slideshow using PhotoBucket

This assumes that you already have an account with PhotoBucket and are fairly comfortable using it; I have a Pro account which may give me additional options that aren't available with free accounts - I'll try to avoid using any of those, but it's not always obvious which is which.

First, choose your pictures and upload them as usual.  I often either make a "title page" the same size as my pictures, giving the name of the cam and the date, or else make a copy of the final picture, and put "The End" in large letters across it.  The standard slideshows keep cycling through the pictures, and especially if you have a fairly long slideshow, it's not always easy for viewers to be sure they've seen all the slides.  This makes it clear people have seen all the pictures.

The good folks at PhotoBucket keep moving things around, but at the moment, if you go to the album where your pictures are and click the Tools tab at the top of the page, "Make Slideshow" is in the upper right of the next screen, with a cutesy "try it now" button.  Click that.

I find the next screen a bit distracting because there's a sample slideshow running initially, then your slideshow starts to run as you build it - but it does let you see what you're doing.  There are three panels.  First, in the left panel, click your pictures in the order you'd like them to be in the slide show.  If you hold your mouse on them, you should be able to see their names (which helps if you named them in order).

Next, at the bottom of the right panel, pick a size.  The pics I'm using while I write this were saved to 480x360 - so I'm choosing medium (which is 480x360.  You don't need to resize your pictures - the slideshow maker will resize them down to fit in the slideshow size you choose.  It won't make them larger - if you choose a size bigger than your pics, it will add a border.  And it's fine to use the large size slideshow for large pics - the link you include in your post will be thumbnail size so won't cause scrolling.

Also on the right panel, you can pick from an overwhelming number of styles - I use Fade (currently in the first column, fourth row).  It's fun to see some of the others in the display window, but I think a lot of them tend to distract from the eagles or whatever is in the slideshow, so while it's a personal style thing - for our purposes on the forum, I think less fancy is generally better.

If you look at the slideshow images below the three panels, you'll see that each has an "add title" place.  (To back track - if you gave the pictures titles when you uploaded them, those titles will be there by default; I didn't do that this time, but there should be a button to remove all titles if you want to remove the original titles from the slideshow and either leave them blank or add captions.)  If your pictures are the same size as you've chosen for the slideshow, the captions will be on the pictures (as in my sample); if you choose a larger size slideshow so there's a border, the captions will be in the border.

Save the slideshow - I generally include the date in the title as it helps me keep them sorted, but that's also a style thing.  That will bring you to another window with your slideshow running on the left, and a box titled "Share this Slideshow" on the right.  As far as I can tell, you can click either IMG code or IMG thumb - either will copy the code you need to insert a thumbnail link to your slideshow - like the one below!

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Judy
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« Reply #3 on: December 07, 2010, 05:13:54 AM »

Photobucket Slideshow Instructions

Here is another way of doing a slideshow that Sherri suggested and that I find very easy.  It opens the slideshow in a new window and frames it with a large black border that makes the photos stand out.  I have a pro photobucket account and I am not sure how the slideshow will appear with standard accounts.

You do not have to resize the photos! :-)
The original size of my photos were large, 4500 x 3300, so it resizes nicely.
 
1.  Click "Upload now"
 
2.  Name your album
 
3.  Then click "create new album"
You can add as a new album as a sub-album if you have a pro account or keep it as a new and separate album if a standard or pro account.
 
4.  Click "select photos and videos" or use "bulk uploader".  Look on the right for the bulk uploader and click "try it now".  I think the bulk uploader is much better and it shows a small image of the photos.
Choose your photos and then click "upload".
 
5. This step can be skipped if you are not adding text.  If you want text, place your cursor over each photo and  "click to add title" will appear.  Type title and be sure to click "ok".  It is easy to forget clicking "ok".  The title will appear as text below your photo.
If you prefer to have text on the photo, place your cursor over each photo and click "edit".  On the edit page click "decorate" and then click "text".  On the right side of the page a text options box appears.
You can check "transparent background" so that all you see is the text, otherwise the text will be in a white box. You can change the font style by hitting the down arrow next to Cretino.  Moving the text placement seems to work better if you click the left allign under Cretino.  You can change the size of the text by changing the size of the text box.  When finished click "apply" and then click "replace original".
 
6.  "click view as slideshow"
 
At the end of the slideshow it will have the link or you can copy the link from the address box of your browser.
Here is a short slideshow I did with the different ways of adding text.
 
http://s110.photobucket.com/albums/n88/klbak/Dec052010slideshow/?albumview=slideshow
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JudyB
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« Reply #4 on: December 07, 2010, 07:59:34 PM »

Three Ways to Make a Title Page

1.  Take a s'cap of a text document.  Open Word or whatever program you use for normal typing.  Pick an interesting font, maybe a color, choose a size that will keep the text about the same size as the cam you're doing the title page for.  In the interest of keeping this post a reasonable size, I'm using the small version of the Maine cam, which is 360 pixels wide and 270 pixels tall.  Don't worry about being perfect - assuming you're making a slideshow in PhotoBucket, it will resize the title page if it's a bit too big.  Once you've got what you want, take a s'cap of it the same as you would the cam window, and crop it if necessary with your standard photo editing software.  Hints - make sure you've turned off "show formatting" and add a couple of returns to get the cursor out of the picture.  Example:


2.  Use one of the pictures.  Most photo-editing programs have a basic text tool, so you can save a copy of one of your pictures, and add some text.  I borrowed a s'cap that PatsyCat took on December 5 for these examples - and the dark colors gave me room to add some information - but you can almost always just add a copy of your last picture with the words "the end" on it.


3.  Create the equivalent of a template.  This is what I did for the slideshow I posted above.  I use Paint Shop Pro, which is a fairly elaborate photo editing program (and which I sadly think has outgrown its niche and is becoming a poor imitation of PhotoShop, rather than a cool alternative...but I digress), and you can create a blank canvas any size you want, so I start with that - in this case 360x270 pixels.  Then you can pick a color and a texture, and use the paint bucket tool to pour it in.  I considered providing more details, but all paint programs are different - and hopefully this will provide an outline that will work for at least some of them.  Once I have the background, I use the text tool to add the things that don't change - generally the name of the camera and who's sponsoring/hosting it - and leave a blank area for the date or whatever.  Then I save the page in the folder where I keep the pictures from that cam, and anytime I do a slideshow, I open it and do a save-as to make a copy, then add the date or other relevant information. 


It does take a bit of extra time - but unlike the method Judy described, the one I use makes a continuously looping slideshow - so I think it's worth the extra effort to let people know when they've reached the end or are back at the beginning. 

I really like using slideshows when I have more than a couple of pictures for a nest - it's actually faster to make a slide show than to post all the pictures one by one, and I can post a couple of the highlights for those who are in a hurry, while having the whole story in one little clickable link for those who have the time to sit back and savor.
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Laurad
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« Reply #5 on: May 06, 2012, 03:51:51 PM »

Uploading and then linking/embedding images from Photobucket

These are very fast instructions for JoAnn which can be perfected in time. Smiley

Capture an image using the PrtScr button on your keyboard.
Paste it down into a photo editing program such as Photoshop, PaintShopPro or Paint.
Crop it to the shape and size you wish.. usually around 400 x 300 (rough guide).
Create a Photobucket account in your name.
Upload the image to your Album
Once uploaded you will be given the opportunity to automatically copy the image link by hovering the mouse over the area under the saved image. It will pop up saying "Image Code" and the link will begin with [img ]http://.... [/ img] (without spaces.
Copy this code into a post. Preview it firs to make sure it works.
Hey presto, you've posted an image.

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JudyB
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« Reply #6 on: November 17, 2013, 09:47:17 AM »

Another way to Adjust Sound on Cams

Most cams with sound have an icon somewhere that you can use to increase or decrease the sound, or mute it - which may be useful if you have a cam open at work, or if eagle cries spook your cats!  But I know at least one cam that has the sound embedded in the stream, so it can only be adjusted by the person controlling the cam.  With thanks to Wolphie from the Northeast Florida Eagle Cam Chat - here's a work-around, though it does require you to use a different browser for the cam you want to adjust:

Wolphie: If you are on Vista/Win7 you can adjust the volume for internet explorer or Firefox separately from windows other apps
JudyB-Maine: Thanks, Wolphie - I normally use SeaMonkey (similar to Firefox) for viewing cams - will see if I can do that.
Wolphie: under the sound icon [in the task bar at the bottom of the screen], click on the 'mixer' to see separate per application
JudyB-Maine: I never knew that - that's wonderful!  I do use different browsers for different tasks, so this is perfect!




It looks as if I actually have to mute one of the instances of Adobe Flash, not SeaMonkey itself - but I'll do a bit of trial and error - and not all computers are the same.

Some people are also able to adjust the sound for the NE Florida cam by right-clicking on the window where the image is, then choosing Settings, then clicking the Microphone icon:



I'm not sure that works for me - will have to try when there's a bit more sound on the nest, but at this point I don't think it affects what goes to my speakers.
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Laurad
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« Reply #7 on: November 17, 2013, 06:05:14 PM »

What a great tip Wolphie and Judyb, thank you.
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Laurad
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« Reply #8 on: March 17, 2014, 02:08:50 AM »

Some helpful notes on stopping ads in Internet Explorer from Willpat:

I was searching for ways to block ads for IE7, Windows 7 but could not understand their directions...until just now. It's a little involved but cam 1 is open and so far no ads.

If someone wants to try it here is the method.

1. Hit Start, then type Run in the box at the bottom  > Enter
2. Type c:\windows\system32\drivers\etc\hosts  >  Press OK
3. Note:(This task will be created with administrative privileges.)
4. A drop down menu should appear and from it choose Note Pad. Note Pad will open with a list of items in it.
5. Click File, then SaveAs. Your list will save somewhere with a name "List", I think.
6. After it is saved, close NotePad and IE.
7. Open BrookFieldMaine Cam 1 and there should be no ads.

I have got no ads so far.

This url is not the exact one I used but is close.
http://www.ehow.co.uk/how_8320839_block-ads-ustream.html

This one is for general information.
http://www.ehow.com/how_5842736_block-ads-internet-explorer.html


Willpatt kindly posted these instructions, but they have not been tested or tried other than by himself, so far. Thank you Will.
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