SlideShowPro News

05.29.09  |  SlideShowPro for Flash 1.9.6 released

The 1.9.6 version of SlideShowPro for Flash is now available for download through the account center. As announced yesterday, this release includes pan and zoom (a.k.a. “Ken Burns”) for slowly scaling / moving photos in your slideshows.

If you are a SlideShowPro Director user, and intend to use pan and zoom, you should update to the Director 1.3.6 version that was also released today. It includes enhanced functionality when loading slideshow content that has focal points assigned to them when using pan and zoom.

If you haven’t updated component instances in Flash before, we recommend viewing this updating video which demonstrates how.

Also, if you are a “Standalone” user of SlideShowPro, we have now made that version a separate download from the Flash Extension. Too many people were confused by the presence of the Standalone files in the same archive, so we made it separate. It’s now linked separately on the SlideShowPro for Flash product download page in the account center.

The Lightroom version of SlideShowPro will be updated to this release early next week. SlideShowPro Director Hosting subscribers can also expect their accounts to be updated to the latest version of Director soon.

05.29.09  |  SlideShowPro Director 1.3.6, DirectorPHP 1.1.4 released

A new point update for SlideShowPro Director is now available for download in the account center. This release, version 1.3.6, includes updated focal point functionality to support the new pan and zoom effect added to SlideShowPro for Flash 1.9.6 (also coming out today).

Outside of focal point, SlideShowPro Director 1.3.6 also includes a new UI theme named “Platinum.” It’s a middle-ground of sorts between the default Director theme and the extra “White” theme. See screenshot below.

For a full list of the changes, see the Director version history. This update is free for all SlideShowPro Director self-install users and can be downloaded through the account center. Then see the upgrading instructions for assistance, if necessary.

We’ve also updated the DirectorPHP class to 1.1.4, fixing a few bugs that have popped up recently. It can be downloaded from the Director extras page.

05.29.09  |  Say hello (again) to Tim

Today we’re pleased to announce that Tim McFadden, someone who’s historically been quite active in our community forums, will now be helping us (and you) with product support on a daily basis. Tim will be focusing mainly on SlideShowPro for Lightroom as well as the Lightroom to Director plugin.

We still plan on acquiring an additional hand to provide support for SlideShowPro for Flash and SlideShowPro Director, and hope to have someone filling that role soon.

05.27.09  |  Pan and zoom in SlideShowPro

Pan and zoom, also known as the “Ken Burns” effect, is something that a number of SlideShowPro users have requested over time. Today we’re pleased to announce that the next point update (1.9.6) will include support for it. Below is a preview.

Pan and zoom is independent of transitions, and actually works with all transition styles (with the exception of “Push”). You’ll be able to control the direction (“In”, “Out”, “In and Out” and “Random”), whether the panning/zooming completes before moving on to the next piece of content (while in auto-playback), and the minimum and maximum zoom scale that should be used when zooming in and/or out.

If you are loading content from SlideShowPro Director, there’s an extra bonus. Focal points (see left) assigned to images will be adhered to while panning/zooming. For example, if a subject in a photo is at the far left of the frame, and a focal point has been applied to the subject in Director, SlideShowPro will pan/zoom in a manner that will ensure that area stays in view. That way, your pan/zoom doesn’t focus on an empty area of the image and zoom the subject out of the frame.

These focal points will also be respected in full screen mode, so regardless of whether you view the slideshow in the HTML document or in full screen mode, the pan/zoom effect will always look good.

We’re now testing out a few more things, and should be able to release the SlideShowPro for Flash update tomorrow. More news then!

05.22.09  |  SlideShowPro ThumbGrid 1.2.4 released

A new point update for SlideShowPro ThumbGrid is now available for download. This release adds more options to the existing Thumb Zoom Overflow parameter for additional control over where thumbnails can extend when upscaled. You were previously limited to “Top and Bottom” or “Left and Right”, but you can now choose just one of those sides, or a combination of the two (“Top and Right”, for example). This should give ThumbGrid users much more flexibility with where they position the component on the Stage.

Also new is a “clickThumb” event, which is similar to the existing “currentThumb” event, except it only broadcasts when a thumbnail has actually been clicked with the mouse (as opposed to being selected through other means).

SlideShowPro ThumbGrid users can download this update through the account center.

05.20.09  |  Top 10 user examples for May 2009

Every month loads of SlideShowPro users share their creations with us. From those submissions we pick the ten most creative, beautiful, and/or unique examples and include them in our monthly newsletter. Whichever site from those 10 stands out just a little more is crowned “Site of the Month”, which not only gives the site’s designer bragging rights, but also awards them with a free SlideShowPro t-shirt as our small way of saying ‘thank you’ for making us look so good.

SITE OF THE MONTH:

Gene Smirnov
http://www.genesmirnov.com/

Gene Smirnov’s web site is the total package. Rich typography, a simple layout, and a portfolio of work that’s overflowing with amazing photography. Smirnov is based in Philadelphia, and has shot photos for many music publications (Spin, Rolling Stone, URB, etc), record labels, and other corporate clients. Much of that work is presented using SlideShowPro for Flash for viewing and navigating between content, as well as SlideShowPro ThumbGrid which is layered (invisibly) above and accessed by clicking the center of each photo. Smirnov is also using the “Line” Preloader Appearance, which is positioned at the bottom of the content area, and a “Push” Transition Style that uses a very low setting for Transition Length; allowing content to quickly “pop” into view. Congratulations to Smirnov for a job well done.

THE REMAINING TOP 9 (ALL FANTASTIC – DIVE IN!):

http://www.WillKeeler.com/
http://www.lakitchen.es/
http://nkurence.com/
http://www.chrislearyweddings.com/
http://www.doodlebread.com/
http://www.monicalavandera.com/
http://visceralindustry.com/
http://www.cooperstudios.net/
http://seanmcginty.com/flash/

Note: To respect the privacy of our users, only those sites shared directly with us are considered and included. If you’d like us to consider your site for next month, please submit your site by sending an email or posting to the Show & Tell Forum.

05.18.09  |  22 new product videos

If you’re like us, chances are you’d rather watch a video to learn how software works rather than dig through written documentation. And while we’ve produced a handful of product videos in the past, we’ve never focused on “just the basics” to better explain what our products are and how they’re used. So we stepped back and produced over 20 new videos geared towards people who’ve never seen or used SlideShowPro, as well as those looking for clarification on how certain features work. We’ve also included a few tutorial videos demonstrating common tasks like updating component instances in Flash and merging slideshows published from Lightroom.

Check them out!

05.18.09  |  We’re hiring! Need another support specialist.

Need some extra work? We’re looking to hire another support specialist to provide basic to intermediate product assistance in the forums, via email, and other community support / troubleshooting tasks. Candidates should be fairly well versed in SlideShowPro as well as SlideShowPro Director, and be available during regular business hours (in the United States or a neighboring country).

If interested, please contact us for more information. We look forward to hearing from you!

05.18.09  |  SlideShowPro Director Hosting updated to 1.3.5

All subscribers to our SlideShowPro Director Hosting service received an update to version 1.3.5 this past Friday night (that actually coincided with a back-end infrastructure update as well). Everything is working fine for the vast majority of users, though we have heard some reports from a few subscribers of broken images in Director’s administrative UI, which we’re now looking into. If you sign in to your account and see anything unusual, please let us know.

In case you missed our previous news post about 1.3.5, read this to see what’s new. And if you’d like to be instantly notified about hosting subscription updates in the future, bookmark our status site, or follow us on Twitter.

05.14.09  |  SlideShowPro Director survey, in the mail

If you use SlideShowPro Director, sometime today you will receive an email from us asking you to participate in an online user survey.

Why, you ask? Well, we’ve found that in almost every internal conversation we’ve had about Director, we’ve made assumptions about how the product is used, what people use it for, etc. But we don’t have any raw, quantifiable data to back those assumptions up with.

So with your help, we’ll not only get a clearer picture about who you are and how you use Director, but your input will also help shape the future direction of our products.

To say thanks, once the survey is over we’ll randomly pick 10 submissions and offer either a free SlideShowPro t-shirt, or tack-on 6 months to your SlideShowPro Director Hosting subscription (if you have one). Your choice! We greatly appreciate your time and feedback.

Note: If you don’t see an email sometime today, check your SPAM folder to see if it landed there.