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Since you stated and understand that selling any part of a software program (i.e. emitters) is a no-go, let me put it this way: Does a painter who uses specific brushes, colors and canvases have a right to sell his work? The answer is pretty obvious – yes 🙂

PI is essentially a very sophisticated set of brushes. Whether you find a buyer for the work you create with it or not, that’s up to you.

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I use .PNG all the time to save PI effects with alpha/transparency channel for video editing/creation.

You need some kind of NLE (video) editing software that is able to recognize and open a sequence of .PNG or whatever other format Dean mentioned. Make sure you have: “Single Frame Only” un-checked and “Alpha Channel’ checked when you export.

For example, I want to use what I make in PI in Sony Vegas 6 and let’s say I have 800 frames that I want to export from my PI-3 project, let’s call it “Stars”:

— As I export from PI, I first create a folder called “Stars,” then name the to-be-exported .PNGs the same. What I get is a folder with 800 single frames. By the way, I always use uncompressed so as to get the best quality.

— I import it into Vegas telling it to read the entire sequence, i.e. Stars001-Stars800. And that’s what I get in my track time line: a moving sequence that acts just like any .AVI, not just one still image.

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Last, a some video tech trivia/info on file formats:

— .AVI is actually just a “closed” container of single frames anyway. You just can’t see it as multiple frames as you can in a folder of .PNG files. If one compares the file size of uncompressed .AVI with that of a sequence of uncompressed .PNGs etc. of the same thing, one sees that it comes out to about the same in Mb or Gb.

Hope this helps.

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This should help.

“Scaling Up for HD”
https://www.shockingtales.com/illusion/tuts/scalingUpForHD.html

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NICE job, Alan (and/or whoever made them) . Not overdone: simple, faithful to original feel, elegant.

This coming from a non-obsessed, but loyal fan of the various better ST shows (and let’s not get into that debate here, it will over-run the board, lol)

I won’t use them for sci-fi tranporter effects but definitely something, somewhere down the line. Though you may not instantly recognize the tweaked versions. (Diz boy likes to get kreative…)

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Do you mean “Recommended” or “Minimum” specs?

A rough rule of thumb for software, especially graphic intensive ones: whatever the box or “minimum requirements” say, double it. Minimum is really never enough because each person’s system is different. With PI, especially PI3 with its layers and so on, that really applies.

Recommended specs is always far more realistic, but some software only give you one set of specs. Those who come up with the minimum requirements seem to be referring to a bare-bones operating system. Stuff like security, anti-virus, etc. apps and services start adding up.

Yes, one can and I do tweak as much as I can to cut out unnecessary background stuff going on, but at some point there is only so much one can do — particularly one has only one system that one uses for everything else besides multimedia creation.

I have a very similar system to whiteviper1 but with only 2 Gb DDRM and it’s fine too. Now that the Duo duals are out, so finding an “old” D should be cheap if budget is a problem. (The Duo came out only a few months after I built my new D system…. Argggghhh 🙂

And, yes, the Duo are better and a bit faster and more energy/heat efficient, but the D are still nothing to sneeze at either. That said, I haven’t looked up a point-by-point comparison of the two because I simply don’t want to know: I’ve got what I got — no point looking at greener pastures I can’t afford to munch on right now 🙂

……………..

All that said, I’m a user, not Wondertouch staff, so let’s see what feedback you get from them.

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Major123,

I am glad things have worked out for you. Have fun and learn 🙂

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Mein Deutsch ist sehr rostig (ich war in der Schweiz geboren aber kein Deutsch in 30 Jahren gesprochen). Also ging ich zu den Google

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I compared the two clips side-by-side, and this is my observation:

— The one on your .htm page looks like the full loop in that there is a “fade out,” if you will: the smoke thins out to nothing, then loops again. That looks like the full animation.

— The .avi version has no “fade out” so those last frames seem to be missing before it loops again.

So first, what this looks like to me is that the number of frames you are exporting in .avi are less than as in your project (I’m assuming you want the full “fade out”). What you have to check is that the number of frames is exactly the same in:

— The frame box in the project’s floating or docked tool bar
— View/Preferences – Frames
— Action/Save Output (in whatever dialog box you get when you export, which differs with formats chosen).

Second, as a precaution (though this has to do with playback format and speed, not number of frames), make sure your frame rate (i.e. 15, 24, 30, whatever you wish) is also the same in:

— View/Preferences – Frame Rate
— View/Project Settings – Frame Rate

I have PI-3 and as far as I understand it, what one sets in Preferences (global settings for any new project created) should default/carry over into any new project on the stage, but check it anyway.

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As far as the looping issue after export:

— That may depend on what editing or encoding software and/or post-render players you use. I use Sony Vegas 6 for video editing. As far as player, I have Windows Media Player 11 set to repeat, so your .avi looped fine.

For Flash formats, most encoders can create infinite loops, some can’t. Your .htm Flash file looped just fine: I tested in in both Firefox 2 and IE 7.

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I hope the above turns out to be helpful. And, indeed, this program is cool and fun — and worth taking the time to learn. The tutorial is one of the best I’ve seen, both as a reference and as a step-by-step guide.

Good luck and happy “magic making” 🙂

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— “Thanks very much, just what I wanted!”

You’re welcome.

— “I’m a bit disappointed with myself for not completing the tutorials before posting with a problem!”

Join the club — we all like to dive in and get it “right now!”

But that’s one thing about this program’s tutorial — it’s one of the best I’ve seen. Readable, yet packed with facts, tips, etc. And so I’m slowly but surely moving through it (and/or going to parts I’m most interested or “when need to know” situations come up).

And of course, I also can’t resist the do-and-learn fiddling around on my own too. Self-instructive fun, light and magic (watch out, George Lucas, I’m closing in on you – lol).

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I have PI-3 and Tutorial (2.0) and tutorial 2 starts with that very subject “curved paths” (also known as working with Bezier curves). Right-clicking on a graph or stage window node or position gives one the “Curved” option.

AND…

If you prefer to work in curves/Bezier as a default mode, you can also set this up in Preferences so PI opens up that way instead of the default straight/angle way. There are two of these “curved” options in Preferences:

a) “Position keys created ‘curved'” and
b) “Data keys created ‘curved.'”

Check the box for either or both according to what you’d like. You may or may not have to close and re-open PI for this global setting to take effect.