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May 31, 2007

Ppted.com is the New Wildform Premium Partner

We now offer over $2000 worth of amazing free bonus downloads as part of any WildPresenter Pro purchase.

We're thrilled to announce that PPTed.com is the new Wildform Premium Partner and is providing free PowerPoint templates to Wildform's premium partners. Ppted is a great site where you can buy all sorts of PowerPoint related stuff including backgrounds, textures, templates, add-ins, books, tutors/CBTs, companion programs and more.

The Wildform Premium Partner program makes your purchase of WildPresenter Pro an extraordinary deal. Every WildPresenter Pro customer is automatically enrolled in the premium partner program and eligible for over $2000 worth of free downloads.

Visit our premium partners page to view all the great premiums you get free with your license of WildPresenter Pro.

FunnyOrDie.com

FunnyOrDie.com is a new comedy site created by comedian Will Ferrell and Adam McKay’s company, Gary Sanchez Productions and Sequoia Capital.

Laura Holson at the New York Times wrote a story about them today - Comedy Business Turns to the Web (Requires free registration).

May 30, 2007

"Your software can't be beat"

We got a great new customer testimonial the other day...

"Your software can't be beat. The ease, quality and price should make you the best selling presentation software out there." -- Dean Fischer

Thanks, Dean!

Scrolling Menu

This has always been popular on our site, so I thought I'd share it here.

This mini tutorial shows you how to construct a scrolling menu with scrolling background in Flash MX.




STEP ONE

Set the frame properties Size: 420 X 90 pixels. Frame Rate: 25 Fps.

STEP TWO

Import a background picture. I made the background picture in photoshop, size 700 X 85.

STEP THREE

Select the background picture and convert it to a movie clip. Give name bg_static.

STEP FOUR

Give this an instance name of bg.

STEP FIVE

Create the menu movieclip. size 1045 X 40.

STEP SIX

Give this an instance name of menu.

STEP SEVEN

Select the first frame and give action:

xm = 0;
//function to set the xpos of the movieclip
function xpos(bar_length,mul)
{
hpos = 0;
scroll_length = 420;
incr = bar_length/scroll_length;
xm = _xmouse;
if(_xmouse <= 10){xm = 10;}
if(_xmouse >= 400){xm = 400;}
scroll_x = hpos - xm;
scroll_x = scroll_x * mul;
x_pos = scroll_x * incr;
x_pos = x_pos + hpos;
return x_pos;
}

_root.onEnterFrame = function ()
{
// call function xpos
x_pos = xpos(700,.20);
with (bg)
{
_x += (x_pos - _x)*.4;
}
// call function xpos
x_pos = xpos(950,.75);
with (menu)
{
_x += (x_pos - _x)*.4;
}
}

STEP EIGHT

Test the movie.

This article was first published by www.internetcross.com.

May 23, 2007

Wildform helps make ordinary Web sites dance | Chicago Tribune

WildPresenter recently received a fantastic review from James Coates of the Chicago Tribune. We're thrilled.

You can read the entire review here. (Requires free registration.)

Here are more quotes from the review:

"Did you ever wonder how almost overnight the whole universe of Web sites suddenly started blinking and burping with animations, flashing and flipping with banner advertisements, and filling every blank spot of screen space with interactive animations?

Where did all of the slick computer programmers, artists, writers and animation choreographers come from to suddenly create and post online what may be millions of these sophisticated Web page add-ons?

If you've ever taken a stab at setting up a Web page or establishing a blog from Yahoo/Google/My Space/etc. you know that nothing you can do even begins to match the verve and vigor or the animated elements that grace the Web sites of well-heeled outfits.

We know vaguely that these bells and whistles are mostly created by trained people using expensive software from Adobe Systems Inc. and a few other players in the high-end graphics world. Folks tend to call them Flash animations or SWFs (Shockwave Flash) or FLVs (Flash Video Files).

But how does a small business, not to mention just an ordinary Web player, even approach this stuff that Internet users take for granted and come to expect?

For that matter how can you hope that your own PowerPoint pitches will have any street cred when it's so lame compared to the stuff your audience sees every time they hop onto YouTube.com?

With thoughts like these gnawing away somewhere behind my eye sockets, I was a sucker in waiting when the geniuses behind a moderately costly ($299) program called Wildform WildPresenter Pro, at Wildform.com, came calling with a review sample."

"I agreed to take on a review of this program. Several weeks later I can tell you that it works absolute wonders..."

"...if you're willing to spend a couple of hours daily for a few days, you will get the hang of this powerhouse and you will no longer wonder how the big guys work their Web magic. You'll work your own wonders. WildPresenter Pro will let you come very close to the big guys with far less cost and far less learning time.

The basic idea behind the software is to let users import just about any type of graphics file to be had into a single program that will then mix it with other files and then slice and dice the lot of them for output as a new file in the Internet standard SWF or FLV formats.

Way high up in the bragging rights is that Wildform can take presentations put together in Microsoft PowerPoint and convert them into SWFs or FLVs for use everywhere, from Web sites and blogs to corporate boardrooms.

I'm betting that there are a lot of high-powered executive types and scholars who would find $299 a cheap price to pay for turning their carefully cobbled PowerPoints into the SWF format that is used by storied Adobe's Shockwave and Macromedia suite of programs that fill the Web with moving graphics.

Furthermore, the PowerPoints can then be combined with other files that PowerPoint can't handle, like Apple's QuickTime movies and other SWF and FLVs and combined into a single production.

These mongrelized menageries of files are imported into a workspace that looks a lot like Microsoft's PowerPoint display with individual slides listed down a skinny column to the left and a big work space to the right.

I wish I could tell you there was a magic wand to create the miracles without human intervention, but the reality is a user must manage a fairly large number of tools to handle the issues involved in turning a pile of multimedia marble into a programmer's Pieta.

The heavy lifting starts with using WildPresenter's own set of tools for text, shapes, titles and such to handle the continuity chores so the mixed up stuff that you import makes sense when exported.

Other big issues are associated with things like frame rates and the bit rates for sound quality that must be reconciled to produce a unified whole. The software is powerful in these areas, letting you hone down frame by frame, sound bit by sound bit in a timeline display familiar to all computer movie hobbyists."

"... I loved working with it, and if I ever need a job writing Web sites, Wildform Presenter Pro will be my ace in the hole."


You can solve all the world's pollution problems in a garden

Here's an interesting article by Sarah Rich on WorldChanging.com about an extraordinarily successful greening of the Jordanian desert project led by permaculture designer, Geoff Lawton.

May 14, 2007

Spam Checker

Sending out a newsletter? Worried it might get blocked by SPAM filters?

The Programmers Heaven SPAM analysis tool runs your message through SPAM checkers to see if they might detect it as SPAM.


How to convert animated GIF files into Flash with WildPresenter

This tutorial will show you how to convert animated GIF files into Flash with WildPresenter. The default WildPresenter image importer imports GIF files (and other image files) as a single frame.

This tutorial applies to WildPresenter Pro 3+

GETTING STARTED

To begin, open WildPresenter Pro and name your project.

CONVERTING THE ANIMATED GIF

To import the GIF click the Shortcuts button and select Convert Video, Audio, Image to Flash, or select this option using the View Menu. (Note: if you drag the animated GIF file into WildPresenter or use File>Import, the GIF will open in the default image importer which does not convert animated GIF files, so you need to use the video, audio, image converter.)

The Import Video/Audio/Images window will open.

Click Browse to select the GIF file. Select a VP6 SWF preset in the Preset dropdown list. When you are done click Encode & Insert.

The complete animated GIF will be placed on the stage and on the timeline.

Note: If you used the image importer to import the GIF file the object would only occupy a single frame on the timeline.

If you want to increase the quality of the imported animated GIF then use a higher preset or increase the “Maximum streaming bitrate” in the Vid/Aud tab.

If you want to match your source file’s dimensions, then select the “Use source dimensions” option in the Vid/Aud tab (you may also select any dimensions you wish).


ADDITIONAL OPTIONS

To loop the animated GIF open the Project Settings window. In the Flash SWF tab go to the End of Movie Options section and select the Loop movie button.

To export your project click File>Export File.

CONCLUSION

This tutorial is meant to show you how to convert animated GIF files into Flash with WildPresenter. WildPresenter provides a rich array of features and options, and you will no doubt wish to explore these in greater depth. All of Presenter’s features are explained in the help file.

How to edit or re-do elements of your WildPresenter projects

This tutorial shows how to easily edit, or re-do these elements which you can create in WildPresenter:

* video
* audio
* images
* quizzes
* text effects
* players & preloaders
* screen recordings

(This tutorial applies to WildPresenter Pro 3+)

VIDEO AND AUDIO

To edit or modify video & audio files that were created in WildPresenter you can either double-click on the video or audio on the stage, or you can right-click on it and select Edit Object.

Next, the Video/Audio/Image Importer window will open.

You can re-encode the video or audio using any of the options available including selecting a new preset, editing, cropping, or changing any of the encoding settings – you can even select an entirely new video or audio file to encode. Once you have made your settings changes, just click “Encode and Replace”.

For more help on using the video, audio, image importer view this tutorial.

IMAGES

To edit or modify image files that were created in WildPresenter you can either double-click on the image on the stage, or you can right-click on it and select Edit Object.

The image will open in the image importer where you can change any of the settings, such as quality or dimensions, and re-encode. Once you have made your settings changes, just click “Save and Replace”.

QUIZZES
To edit or modify quizzes that were created in WildPresenter you can either double-click on the quiz on the stage, or you can right-click on it and select Edit Object.

The quiz will open in the quiz creator where you can change any element of the quiz, such as the layout, questions, answers, etc. Once you have made your changes, just click “Save and Replace”.

For more information on how to use the Quiz Creator in WildPresenter, see this tutorial.

TEXT EFFECTS

To edit or modify text effects that were created in WildPresenter using the Text Animator utility you can either double-click on the text effect on the stage, or you can right-click on it and select Edit Object.

The Text Animator window will open.and you can then change any element of the text animation, such as the font, the color, the effect, etc. Once you have made your changes, just click “Save and Replace”.

For more information on how to use the Text Animator in WildPresenter, see this tutorial.

SCREEN RECORDINGS AND NARRATIONS
While you cannot edit or modify an existing screen recording or recorded narration created with WildPresenter’s recording utility, you can automatically retrieve the capture settings you used to create the file, adjust those settings to your liking and then re-create the file.

To retrieve the WildPresenter capture settings you used, right-click on the recording and select Retrieve Capture Settings.

The Recording Utility window will open.and you can then change any of those settings including presets, window, audio and video quality, etc. Once you have made your changes, re-record your screen recording or narration. You will still need to delete the old recording from your project.

For more information on how to use the Recording Utility, see this tutorial.

PLAYERS AND PRELOADERS

You can add a player and/or a preloader to any SWF or FLV file whether it was imported into or created in WildPresenter (typically players and preloaders are applied to videos, audio files, and screen recordings).

To add a player or preloader right click the SWF or FLV and select Add Player/Preloader.

The Edit Player window will open.

Select a Player from the list (you can preview it by clicking the View skin button). To add a preloader check the Preload box. When finished click the Create Now button.

Once you have added a player and/or a preloader to a SWF or FLV file, you can change the settings you used by right-clicking on it, selecting “Add player/preloader” and then using the “Browse” button to find the original file (the file without a player and/or a preloader) in the Source Files folder of your Project folder. You need to go back to the original, because otherwise you will just add another player and/or preloader to the file which already has one. The “Edit Object” right-click option will also be available for files that were generated in WildPresenter, but if you use that option, you will re-encode the original file.

For more information on how to use the Add player/preloader feature check out these tutorials:

http://wildform.com/support/tutorials/AddingplayersSWFandFLV/

http://wildform.com/support/tutorials/AddingpreloadersSWFandFLV/

CONCLUSION
You can of course also easily edit any text, shapes, flowcharts or other objects you create in WildPresenter by selecting them on the stage and editing them as you desire (just as you created them in the first place).

We have now covered how to edit existing elements of your WildPresenter projects. You can do much more with WildPresenter. Other tutorials will cover these subjects. The WildPresenter help file also addresses these topics.

May 09, 2007

The Encyclopedia of Life is launched

I received an email from TED about this exciting news -- EO Wilson's The Encyclopedia of Life is launched.

From their site:

"Comprehensive, collaborative, ever-growing, and personalized, the Encyclopedia of Life is an ecosystem of websites that makes all key information about life on Earth accessible to anyone, anywhere in the world. Our goal is to create a constantly evolving encyclopedia that lives on the Internet, with contributions from scientists and amateurs alike. To transform the science of biology, and inspire a new generation of scientists, by aggregating all known data about every living species. And ultimately, to increase our collective understanding of life on Earth, and safeguard the richest possible spectrum of biodiversity."

Here's their press release: "A Leap for All Life: World’s Leading Scientists Announce Creation of “Encyclopedia of Life”

Go here to watch EO Wilson's speech at TED.

Continuous Scroller

This mini tutorial shows you how to construct a continuous image scroller in Flash MX.



STEP ONE

This is a common scroller to display images, which works on the movie clips position. Movie clip(mc1) scrolls by jumping to a new position. At some particular position the clip jumps to the starting position where it began and the scrolling continues.

First, import the images into separate movie clips (mc1, mc2, mc3, ....)

STEP TWO

Place all the movie clips in a new movie clip(imgMC) one after the other.

STEP THREE

Type this script on all the movie clips instances:

onClipEvent(enterFrame) { // movie clip enterframe event
_x=_x+2; // change position for each enterframe event
if(_x>=540){ // condition
_x=-360; // if condition true movie clip jumps to starting postion.
}
}

FINAL NOTE

Please note:

* movie clips should have same width
* "if(_x>=540)" value depends on the no. of movie clips.

This article was first published by www.internetcross.com.

May 08, 2007

Adding preloaders to SWF and FLV files

This tutorial shows you how to add preloaders to SWF and FLV files in WildPresenter. (The tutorial that applies to WildPresenter Pro 2+). You can read the tutorial here or keep scrolling.

INTRODUCTION

WildPresenter has a very useful preloader feature that enables you to add a preloader to your entire Flash SWF output or to any individual SWF or FLV file within your project.

This tutorial explains how to add a preloader to SWF and FLV files in WildPresenter.
The Preload option allows you to program an automatic preloader into your WildPresenter output. This is for web streaming purposes only. Preloaders will not work on WildPresenter Flash SWFs or FLVs played locally from a hard drive or CD.

The purpose of preloaders is to ensure smooth playback of larger Flash SWF and FLV files for users on slower connections. In this way, users on slower speed connections (e.g., dial up modems) can view larger Flash SWF/FLV files without buffering or the Flash SWF/FLV stopping and starting.

For instance, if someone on a 56k connection tries to view a Flash SWF/FLV that was created to stream to a broadband, 256k connection, the Flash SWF/FLV is still going to play, but the amount of information contained in the Flash SWF/FLV will be much larger than it would be for a Flash SWF/FLV specifically created for a 56k connection. This will cause an inconsistent and choppy playback experience for the 56k user. The preloaders ensure that enough of the Flash SWF/FLV has loaded so that there will be no interruption once the Flash SWF/FLV begins to play. While there is a delay while the user waits for the Flash SWF/FLV to begin playback, if you preload enough of the file, once it starts to play, it will continue to play uninterrupted until it finishes.

ADDING A PRELOADERTO YOUR ENTIRE FLASH SWF OUTPUT FILE

To add a preloader to the entire Flash SWF output file use the Flash SWF tab of the Project Settings window.

This will add a preloader to the output Flash SWF file generated by WildPresenter. This method will not work to add a preloader to FLV files. Using WildPresenter it is also possible to add preloaders to any SWF or FLV within a project using the "Add Player/Preloader" feature. For more on that see below.

ADDING A PRELOADER TO AN INDIVIDUAL SWF OR FLV IN YOUR PROJECT

To begin click File>Import File and select a SWF of FLV file.

(Note: You can also import a video or audio file and encode it into Flash SWF or FLV using the video, audio and image importer.)

Right click the SWF/FLV and select Add Player/Preloader

The Edit Player box will open.

In the Settings section check the Preload box.

There are two preload options:

* Fixed: When selected this causes the Flash Player to preload a specified percentage of your WildPresenter output prior to beginning playback. You specify the percent of the movie to load (from 1% - 100%) in the box directly to the right. The Fixed preloader works with any Flash player version 4 and higher.
* Adaptive: An adaptive preloader is an "intelligent" preloader that will preload a variable amount of your Flash SWF based on the size of the Flash SWF and the viewer's internet connection speed so that the viewer can watch the Flash SWF without stops and starts - no matter what speed they are connected to the internet at. The adaptive preloader determines the user's connection speed and based on that figure and the size of the Flash SWF file you are preloading, it preloads precisely the amount of the Flash SWF required to enable the Flash SWF to begin playing as soon as it possibly can and still not stop at any point until it is done. In this way, the preload process is optimized so the amount of time taken for a Flash SWF to preload is minimized as much as possible. The Adaptive preloader works with any Flash player version 5 and higher.

If you're not sure which preloader to use, we recommend that you use the adaptive preloader with the default buffer factor.

To show users the percentage (0-100%) that has been loaded check the Include Preloader Text box. To edit the font or font size click the Font button.

To change the text color click the color picker.

To add a preloader you must use one of the player options provided. If you want to add a preloader without adding a player (with play controls) you can use the "Blank" player.

To finish click the Create Now button.

NOTES

When adding a preloader to a SWF within your project WildPresenter will incorporate the Flash SWF and the player with preloader into a single file. The original file will still be saved in your Source files folder within your project directory.

When adding a preloader to an FLV within your project WildPresenter will generate a separate player SWF that will load the FLV file (FLV files must be loaded in order to play - this is the way the format has been designed). The FLV file will remain in the Load External Files folder in your project directory.

Files set to the Preload play mode will preload 100% before playing and adding a preloader will not affect them. The preloaders will only affect Flash SWF files that have been set to play using the Stream play mode or FLV files that have been set to the Load External Files play mode.

CONCLUSION

We have now covered everything necessary to add a preloader to SWF and FLV files in WildPresenter. You can do much more with WildPresenter; other tutorials will cover these subjects. The WildPresenter help file also addresses these topics.

May 04, 2007

A Greener Apple wins a Webby and response from Steve Jobs

From CNet:

"Webby winners you probably missed"
"Environmental group Greenpeace won the activism Webby for its site, A Greener Apple. The site, which mimics Apple's Web site, is a plea to Apple to clean up its act when it comes to the toxic waste its products create. Greenpeace encourages readers to join its campaign asking Apple to remove toxic chemicals from its Macs and iPods. Recycling programs, they say, aren't enough to curb the growing amount of toxic chemicals piling up in landfills. Rather, Apple and other electronics manufacturers, they insist, need to focus on producing gadgets that don't contain the chemicals to begin with.

On Wednesday, Apple CEO Steve Jobs posted an open letter online outlining the efforts his company plans to make to reduce the number of toxic chemicals in its products.

Credit: Greenpeace"

May 03, 2007

Crop Your Flash Files and Replace a Hyperlink

This tutorial shows you how to crop your SWF Flash files and replace a hyperlink with WildPresenter. (The tutorial that applies to WildPresenter Pro 2+ and WildPresenter Lite 2+). You can read the tutorial here or keep scrolling.

Crop Your SWF Flash Files and Replace a Hyperlink with WildPresenter

INTRODUCTION

WildPresenter lets you easily combine, edit and manipulate any Flash (SWF) file so you can create amazing Flash files without knowing Flash. With WildPresenter you can import (or drag and drop) any type of Flash SWF file, and edit, crop, and change the properties of your SWF, in addition to combining it with other SWFs.

This makes WildPresenter a great tool for making changes to your pre-existing SWFs. This basic tutorial will show you how to import a Flash SWF file into WildPresenter, crop it and then create a new hyperlink.


To this:




GETTING STARTED

Open WildPresenter and at the start screen click "Create New Project." We will label this project, "Sale Banner".

Your WildPresenter program will now open.

You are ready to begin creating your slideshow.

IMPORTING YOUR SWF FILE INTO WILDPRESENTER

There are several ways you can import a file into WildPresenter. You can use the import wizard, you can simply drag and drop your file into the program, or you can use the import menu. For this tutorial we are going to use the import menu.

Select File then Import File. (Note: you may also use the shortcut CTRL+I)

Select the existing SWF that you want to edit.

The banner ad will now appear onscreen.

CROPPING YOUR FILE IN WILDPRESENTER

There are two ways we can crop the SWF. We can right-click on the SWF file in our project and manually adjust the crop markers, or we can use the Object Settings window.

Cropping SWFs in the Object Settings Window
In the Object Settings window, click on the Appearance tab and check the crop box within the Cropping Options section. We will enter the number of pixels we want cropped from our project.

We now see that we cropped the bottom of our project. The 'Ends Friday' is now removed from our ad.

EDITING THE STAGE

We want the dimensions of our final banner to match those of the file we just cropped. To change the dimensions of our project, we will open the Project Settings window and click the Output tab. Enter in the Dimensions {W x H} that match our existing banner.

When completed the banner should be completely covering the stage

REPLACING MY ORIGINAL SWF FILE'S HYPERLINK WITH A NEW LINK

Our original banner ad had a hyperlink that we now want to replace. To accomplish that we will need to create a transparent SWF with the new hyperlink.

Before we create a transparent SWF we should get our current project dimensions. Open the Object Settings window and note the dimension in the Cropping Options section (Note: Our current dimensions are 350 x 110). We will use these dimensions to shape our transparent SWF.

Click the Save Project button (remember to save often).

Creating & Overlaying a Transparent SWF

Right click on layer one and select "Insert layer".
Notice that we now have two layers in the timeline. Now select the first frame on the new layer and right-click on it and select "Insert Transparent Object".

Open the Object Settings window and change the dimensions of the transparent object to 350x110 to match the banner ad.

Position the new second layer directly on top of the sales banner it should be completely covered.

Assigning a link

Click on the Mouse Events tab. Place a checkmark in the Add on Click box and select Open HTML page. Insert a URL for the banner.

PREVIEWING THE PROJECT

Before we save and export our finished banner ad we should preview it and make any adjustments if needed. Click on the play button.

There are 3 play buttons that provide slightly different play options. For this situation select "Play Project" which is the button all the way to the right.

Click on the banner ad to verify that the hyperlink works correctly.

Click Save.

EXPORT YOUR SWF

Now that we have created our new banner ad we are ready to export our finished product.

Click File and then Export File. In the Export File box name our new ad 'New Banner' and click save.

CONCLUSION

We have now covered everything necessary to crop and replace a hyperlink in your existing SFW Flash files. You can do much more with WildPresenter including adding images, audio, and even video. Other tutorials will cover these subjects. The WildPresenter help file also addresses these topics.

May 02, 2007

See the sunrise around the world

Google's Sunrise Earth

Rodrigo y Gabriela

The Mexican acoustic guitar duo sensation Rodrigo y Gabriela put fast fingers to strings for a performance that is well worth a listen.