*bump*

*bump* also.

Additionally, I can't draw a straight line or smooth curve in this thing to save my life. Some basic drawing tools would also be nice. In particular: Lines, Bezier curves, and Shapes.

Also, a method of import/exporting, copying/pasting or otherwise sharing paths with PIP objects would be excellent so that the path that an object travels could be "drawn" as it is traveled (think "travel by map").

or maybe even a function to draw lines/other stuff between objects and other positions on the screen. I also like the idea of using animated GIF's.


I hope that one day, we will create something like this (or an equivalent)


I do not want to go this far, but I had the idea of using multiple colored lines (like a Rainbow) connecting different objects with each other.

You can load animated gifs but they will not animate....

You can run your gif animation in your favorite viewer and use screen capture to convert it to a video. Most of us use MS Expressions 4......

Vapian, did you go into the top sticky on the first page and look at all those example videos and other posts???? I think what you are looking for is there go look... that's why they are there....


http://forum.cyberlink.com/forum/posts/list/19405.page

__________________________________________
Windows 8 Pro 64 bit

CyberLink PowerDirector 10 Tutorials
PDtoots PowerDirector Tutorials

**NOTICE**
When you are asked to provide a DXDIAG you go the following link and do part "B". Your posted specs are NOT what we are looking for as they tell us nothing. The specs on the box of your computer mean nothing. The DXDIAG shows us how your computer is configured as it runs.

DXDIAG Link

Quote: You can load animated gifs but they will not animate....

You can run your gif animation in your favorite viewer and use screen capture to convert it to a video. Most of us use MS Expressions 4......

The whole point about animated GIF's is that you could make them partially transparant (by erasing a color, like some video games do with purple (rgb = 255,0,255), so, in a way, you would have an animation.

I realize that gif have transparent backgrounds, I have made them for years.... but not all of them have a transparent background...

Then I guess the answer your looking for was no then... __________________________________________
Windows 8 Pro 64 bit

CyberLink PowerDirector 10 Tutorials
PDtoots PowerDirector Tutorials

**NOTICE**
When you are asked to provide a DXDIAG you go the following link and do part "B". Your posted specs are NOT what we are looking for as they tell us nothing. The specs on the box of your computer mean nothing. The DXDIAG shows us how your computer is configured as it runs.

DXDIAG Link

Well, hopefully PD 11 wil have it....

Rather than having PD expanded in a new direction, I think I'd rather use some other program that was designed for the task.

The animation programs that I've used can export mpg. Transparency could be accomplished by turning off shadows in the animation and using a green-screen background. Jerry Schwartz

Hi,
Single frame Gif files can be inserted into PD10. However animated GIF files do not conform to PowerDirector 10 image/video requirements. Bubba offered a very simple solution to an issue which editors often get when wanting to use an animated gif. By drawing around the animated gif with a video screen capture tool, the resulting video may (depends what format the capture is) be usable in PD10. The Chroma key being used to remove the background captured.

I use a gif animation program which captures per frame and treats each individual animated gif frame as a video frame.

For example. A gif is typically limited to a specific number of frames and when placed in an html browser will repeat loop. A 5 frame gif will constant loop in a web browser page display with a start and end point that is not the same but a continuous motion movement.

To calculate the frame length of a gif inserted into an animation program for a conversion to a video file one will need to work out the looping number of frames and calculate how many gif frames are needed to create a "second", then "a minute" and then duplicate the gif frames accordingly. This is very simple to do but an editor needs to get the action correct as this gif video needs to be a looped video.

An animated gif could be used to create a watermark logo or something else. Just make sure it is loop-able.

Bubba's suggestion was good, simple and worth consideration for those who do not have a Gif animation editing conversion to video program.

Just giving info.

Dafydd

a chroma key, huh? I think I'm going to use Flash instead of a GIF. (and then export the animation it to a .avi or .mov and use it within powerdirector)

Hi Jerry,
Avoid mpeg files that do not conform to the mpeg2 and mpeg1 frame size ratios. They really do cause problems in PD. (I haven't tested 10... I stay well clear of mpeg files that are customised.

Dafydd

Quote: Hi Jerry,
Avoid mpeg files that do not conform to the mpeg2 and mpeg1 frame size ratios. They really do cause problems in PD. (I haven't tested 10... I stay well clear of mpeg files that are customised.

Dafydd

I haven't done any of this in a long time, so my memory is hazy. The only animations I could find were an AVI, a MOV, and an SWF -- no mpeg. They all had different aspect rations and resolutions, but I could have controlled that.

I pulled the AVI and the MOV into PD, combined them with the "nature" sample, and was able to produce a 4:3 mpg (attached).

I also attached the SWF, just for giggles. Jerry Schwartz

I think the best way to get your animations is to create them in another package that can export to a PD supported format. The most powerful tool I have seen is Blender (and its free - www.blender.org). Beware, Blender is powerful 3D editor, but it does have a steep learning curve (well worth it in my opinion though). I'm sure you can find other packages to do simple 2D animations. Just make sure you add a layer to the bottom of the render stack or background that you can chroma key when you import it to PD.

Even though it may take you several minutes to record a hand drawing, you can change the length of time the image is drawn by time stretching/shrinking the clip when it is on the timeline. You hold down the CTRL key as you drag the end of the clip in or out. That will change the length of time without truncating the drawing.

You can import the individual frames of an animation with transparency if the individual frames are in TIF, PNG, or GIF format. When saving or exporting the images from the animation program, you need to select the transparency options, which in some cases requires selecting a "32-bit" option.

PowerDirector 10 allows you do specify a duration as short as 1 frame per still image. Gateway DX4380, AMD A8-5500 Quad Core 3.2GHz with ATI Radeon HD 7560D; 16GB RAM; 1 TB SATA 7200 RPM; Windows 8 Pro 64-bit; PDR11, PDVD12.

Quote: Vapian, did you go into the top sticky on the first page and look at all those example videos and other posts???? I think what you are looking for is there go look... that's why they are there....

Thanks, but I've seen it. I do miss a lot, but saw that. Even so, thanks for pointing it out!

The problem is that as demonstrated that method works back from the fact that the Drawing tool provides no Path of its own. That's OK if one has great drawing skills, but for the rest of us it is much easier to draw straight lines and smooth curves with the assistance of Line and Curve/Bezier tools.

Even in that demonstration, getting the PIP object to use an appropriate path didn't work correctly the first time. Imagine how easy it would have been if the drawn animation was a path that was just copied and used as a custom path for the PIP object!