[Don Kimball]

Thanks John for the kind reply. Looks like I dont have that ability since I am using photoshop elements 4.0. The white areas look fine on my television screen but if my documentary made it to broadcast television could there be a problem? Thanks and since I am pretty new to this I am learning a great deal!

Don

[Don Kimball]

Hi Mike and John:

Thanks for your constructive comments! I toyed around with the colors for the map and decided on a yellow/tan color. What do you think?
Mike thanks for letting me know that according to a breathalyzer my whites are over the limit. Sorry a bit of New Years humor. Seriously Mike I really dont know what I am checking for? Can you tell me where I can find those figures/levels that let me know if my color is over the limit for Vegas or not?

Thanks very much and here is my adjusted map. (Oddly I seemed to have lost some of the 3D effect in the beveled edge but it may have originally been a hybrid using the bump map feature and Photoshops beveled edge tool that I created unwittingly. Thanks again!

Don

[Don Kimball]

Many Thanks to John and Mike for help and encouragement. Can I say enough thank you’s for the advice I get here. I am very appreciative.

Guys what I had done by stumbling around in Photoshop is find a tool feature that allows for a beveled edge. I think it worked pretty nice overall. One major major thing I fell off the wagon with was showing you guys how these maps will be used. The maps are used to show the home range in Australia of each parrot species in the footage.

I had never used the 2D feature in Vegas before so I turned it on to a setting to make it quite mild but I think it worked quite well. I tried the bump feature and although I liked it I think I like the beveled edge I created in photoshop a bit better. This gives the map a hopefully attractive look but its low key and doesnt take away from the beauty of the Cockatoo in the footage. I am a ripe newbee in many areas so would love your imput. Please remember that the map is small but once viewed on television it hopefully gives the viewer the information they need. What do you guys think?

Thanks very much!

Don Kimball

[Don Kimball]

Great suggestion Jeremy. Went ahead and did that.

Thanks very much!

Don

[Don Kimball]

Hi Pete:

Would this involve getting copyright permission from the map book company? By the way I did a similar thing with a map of Africa when I was working on a project about my adventures in East Africa. It worked really well but I have been trying to learn how the pros do it.

Thanks for some excellent suggestions and am still trying to figure out copyright issues.

Cheers!

Don

[Don Kimball]

I created this mock-up using some tools in microsoft word etc for expediency and decided to give folks an idea of what I had envisioned based on the feedback I received. I changed the font for example to impact as per suggestions. One major thing I did was to simply make the bottom third accentuate the bird species title rather than create a more of a powerful bottom 3rd. The reason for this is that I wanted to avoid the television news show look which is great for announcing lets say a flood in Burma but not so great for conveying information about our natural world subtley but effectively.

One thing I have no clue how to do is take the small map of Australia and impregnate it into the bottom third or (in my case a makeshift one)I am thinking this is a new lesson in pancrop?

Many thanks to Mike et al for their kind suggestions. As you can probably tell I am keen but have tons to learn. If you are kind enough to do so I would love screenies on how to impregnate the small map and not have a large white square etc. Thanks very much!

Don

[Don Kimball]

This could be a bit puzzling trying to figure out.

1. I could get creative in the free Google earth but have to wait up to one month and hopefully get copyright permission to use Google maps to highlight the geographic area I want to.

2. Purchase the Google Pro version at about $400

Definitely food for thought. Always open to hearing how other folks do this. I am sure lots of folks create documentaries and or short films where pointing to specific locations are needed to make the film tell the story well.

[Don Kimball]

Hi Mike and John:

To quote Mike: “Don, I thought we’d get a few days rest before this question came up :-)”. Pretty focused here and keen to learn (as if you couldnt tell) grin…

John your suggestion worked perfectly and I went from a little over 24 hours ago not even knowing how to do practically anything in DVD Arch to being happy with my new DVD Menu complete with activated play button set just the way I wanted with the graphics I want. Fantastic!

Okay I promise to give everybody at least 8 hours before my next flurry of questions ( A guys gotta sleep sometime… even me..)

Cheers and many thanks!

Don

PS: I have no clue how I would be able to accomplish the tasks I need to without Creative Cow. One helpful place!

[Don Kimball]

Hi John:

Many thanks for the tips. Just trying to find my way around DVD Arch and at this point it doesnt seem super intuitive. However familiarity with repetion I guess. The great news is that I did indeed accomplish what I was trying to do thanks to your kind instructions. The only issue remaining is that the button image turns nicotaine yellow instead of the true colors when I play it in the preview. Here are some screenies to show you what the story is.

Here it looks great and the button functions great when you click on the image of the Cockatoo (aka Peacock..)

Now when you click Preview the movie plays great etc but before the movie begins the Cockatoo image turns nicotene yellow. Is there any way for it to remain its true color?

Thanks again for all the great help I receive here!

Don

[Don Kimball]

Hi Scott:

Respectfully stated but on the zillions of televisions accross the nation most people are not going to have a tv that is calibrated or adjusted properly. But nonetheless this will be my audience and I have noticed consistently that my finished projects show plenty of saturation on almost all of the standard TVs I have seen it on. I simply want to make my footage user friendly and to shine on tv’s that are simply basic ordinary ones. Thanks for the tip on the adjustment. Very greatful for all the great feedback here.

Cheers!

Don