Welcome using CommonPhotoStar. Now you downloaded a Trial version, which could give you 3650 days free trial period.
As one of the earliest Sightline Media products, CommonPhotoStar is a dynamical visual presentation tool well known in the world.
The newest v4.6.6.0 mainly supports Windows XP and 32 bits Windows 7.
Now let's learn about how to use this software.
1. Install, Startup, Import picture files
1) First you should install it. Default path is recommended. Take care to delete the previous versions of Sightline Media products if there is any. Delete them through Control Panel. After that, you can delete CommonPhotoStar folder manually if there is such a folder.
2) Since the software is programmed with C++ language, with very effective low-level code, the installation process is very fast, could complete in an instant.
3) To start running the program, you can double click the CPS icon on the desk top, or choose Start -> All Programs -> CommonPhotoStar.
4) After starting up, click Find Album Left (the third tool button from right),the 0 folder of the default album will be opened.
5) Now by clicking the right button of the mouse in the left list box, a context menu will pop up.
6) Choose in the context menu Snap Window command, the interface of the software will be minimized and a flickering box occurs. Now you can move the mouse to choose your required window for clipping. On selected your window just click the left button, the software interface will appear again, and the image of the window you chose is displayed in the list box area of folder 0 (you got a file named 0.bmp in the folder). Congratulations!
7) By choosing in the context menu Snap Region command, the software interface will be minimized, and the mouse cursor is shown as a cross shape, now press down the left button of your mouse, keeping pressed and moving the mouse to draw a box on the area you want to snap image from. Release the button and the software interface appears again, now the image of the area you chose appears in the left list box area of folder 0 (you got a second file named 1.bmp in the folder). Congratulations again!
8) Besides the snapping way described above for getting image files, you can also use the existing BMP/JPG/PNG image files in your computer.
9) Now let's click the subfolder 1 of the album in the left navigation tree. There are no files yet in the folder.
10) Click the "+" on the left side of the C: disk or D: disk from the right navigation tree, the sub folders in your local machine disk are expended. Here we suppose expended D: disk.
11) Choose by name your required folder, which contain picture files, e.g., D:\Pics, now all the thumbnails in the Pics folder are displayed in the right list box.
12) You can copy or drag the image files required to the left list box for your album. While copying, use the right button context menu Copy command for a single picture, or use the right button context menu Files -> Copy command for multiple selected image files, for pasting you move the mouse to the left list box and choose from the right button context menu Paste File From Clipboard command.
13) It's also possible getting image files by cropping image pixels, e.g., via other programs such as MS Paint, opening an image file, choosing an area of the image by drawing a selection box and copying into the clipboard; then paste into the left list box of your album at CommonPhotoStar by choosing from the right button context menu Paste Image From Clipboard command, thus generated a new image file in the album subfolder.
14) You can also import local machine picture files by Open Files dialog box. To do that just choose from the right button context menu Import Pictures command, the Open Files dialog will be shown, then you can locate via the dialog the folders containing image files in your PC and import an image file or import multiple BMP/JPG/PNG files.
15) Through the above learning process, you have already understood the basic operations of getting images. Now you have got quite a lot of image files in your album subfolders named 0/1/2... I believe.
2. Filtering, Viewing, Recording, Generating flash files
1) The files currently imported are in various sizes and formats, the worst thing is that some of the image files have huge sizes, for example 10MB for a single image file, frequently you can encounter images which are 4 times bigger than your PC screen. This is resulted by the designers who requires high resolution or by none professional photographers. It is very wasteful storing such large image files for ordinary image viewing purpose. It will cause slow execution of any program.
2) Now that we had pasted the files into our own album subfolders 0/1/2..., we can control the sizes of the files, making the dimension of any picture less than the dimension of the PC screen. It appears that we need a Size Filer.
3) Click the second tool button from the right end of the tool bar, i.e., the Start Album Viewer button (which people say like a targeting icon). The filtering process started. It's a powerful filter in function. After completion of filtering we suggest you take your mouse and playing about the super power image album viewer, which provides rich dynamical viewing/recording/replaying functions. The most important thing is that you can enter into a Teaching Mode by double clicking the left button of the mouse, then learning about the special operations of Sightline Media following the textual guidance. You can exit the Teaching Mode by double clicking again, then exit the Album Viewer by choosing in the right button context menu Exit command. Now have a look in your album subfolders, they were filtered into BMP files, and sequentially named 0.bmp, 1.bmp, 2.bmp...
4) Now let's click in the left list box on a thumbnail, it will cause the image be displayed in real actual pixel dimensions. Click again on the zoomed actual size image, now the image will be displayed in full screen (Note you can switch pictures by turning the middle wheel after either click). Now continue click on the full screen image, we entered into dynamical state (movie Creator)(You can also directly enter into the Creator from the list box interface by choosing the Play command in the right button context menu).
5) Within the dynamical displaying state we have the core functions of CommonPhotoStar software. By pressing down the right button of the mouse, the context menu occur, here you can find key functions such as Record and toFlash.
6) Now press down the right button of the mouse (keeping pressed), and moving the mouse cursor onto the Record menu item, then release the right button, thus we entered into picture recording state. Note: the actual recording has not started yet! This provided opportunities for users choosing a starting position of the record by shifting the positions of the mouse. Meanwhile in this state you can also adjust the initial zooming setting of the "lens". Practice please.
7) The real recording starts when pressing down the left button of the mouse. Keeping pressed and move the mouse on the zoomed picture, you got the feeling of lens photographing; Just don't release the left button, meanwhile keeping moving the mouse and turning the middle wheel of the mouse with your middle finger to adjust the zooming rate of the lens. Take time completing the recording process since the Trial version of this software only allows 5 seconds of recording time (registered standard version could record 50 seconds). On timing out it will automatically enter the replaying state. You can also decide terminating recording before timing out by releasing the left button. Don't worry about saving what you recorded, because the software will automatically save it.
8) The actual results of recording are determined by many factors. First of all, the size of your picture should better be large enough, e.g., the same size as PC screen. According to our experience common images of 800*600 could also give us good result. Even tiny images of 320*240 could also gives good effects at full screen replaying if, the viewers stand off the PC screen at a long enough distance. It's the same reason why you shouldn't watch TV screen nearby. For 320*240 small images after recording and replaying at full screen state he who stands 2 meters away will not feel mosaic. Besides, you may decide take what you recorded onto web pages (shown as Flash), then you can record for smaller images in order to transmit with fast speed, meanwhile keeping good qualities.
9) For understanding the recording process described above, it is easy comparing with what shall be described bellow - on the considerations concerning the image width/height ratio.
10) For those common big-width-and-small-height wide pictures (Horizon), it is very easy to make good recording (since PC display is Horizon),just zooming the pictures, making it bigger than the screen, then moving the mouse in a controlled way, preventing occurring black edges, so that when replaying people could not see the edges of the pictures, in his imagination it's endless natural scenes without end edges (he should not know it's only a picture!).
11) However, photographers frequently turn their cameras 90 degrees during taking pictures. Thus in actual fact we could have small-width-and-big-height tall pictures (Portrait), how to record for such pictures? Well, before really starting to record, let's use mouse wheel to zoom in the picture, making the sides of the picture expanding, till exceeding the screen width! Then while recording pay attention prefer taking vertical scenes.
12) Now it's time for us entering into the most important part of learning --- outputting flash. After recording, while it's in auto replaying mode, just pressing down the right button of the mouse, and moving mouse cursor onto the toFlash menu item, then releasing, wait for a minute, a Sightline Media Flash dialog box will occur, it shows your recording result in original flash dimensions which is just the picture dimensions (Note you may have Filtered).
13) At this moment, you can close the Sightline Media Flash dialog box by clicking the left button of the mouse, and then recording for other pictures; however, if you clicked the right button on the Sightline Media Flash dialog box, you will be entering into Flash File Player interface (Note either clicking the left or the right buttons will cause the generated flash going into the list box of the Flash File Player).
14) Another way entering into the Flash File Player interface is by directly clicking the 5th tool button (Flash File Player) in the tool bar. Note clicking the second time of this tool bar button will enter into Full Screen state, in which clicking the left button of the mouse can pause, clicking once more shall resume playing. Exit the Full Screen state by clicking the right button of the mouse.
15) Using the methods described above, you can record many pictures into flash movies, then in the Flash File Player watch the movies in full screen by right clicking the playing area, whilst wheeling the middle wheel of the mouse quickly switching to different flashes. Under the full Screen state if you double click the lift button of the mouse, you can get 4 windows playing simultaneously 4 different flashes. Another way of getting 4 windows is by clicking the white blank area of the list box in the Flash File Player, whether 4 windows could occur or not is determined by the current playing position in the list box, to allowing 4 windows you should not be playing the last 3 flash files.
16) Click the right button of the mouse at the blanking area of the list box of the Flash File Player, you may choose from the context menu Auto Playing command, this will enable auto playing mode, flash files in the list box will be automatically played one by one. Here in the context menu there is also a Full Screen command, it's another way of switching into Full Screen state.
17) Now you have already learned how to record movies and outputting flash files (wait, we have yet something to mention). For horizon pictures after recording just output via toFlash menu, it's all so easy to handle. For portrait pictures we have already described how to record, and of cause can also output via toFlash command, getting vertical flash the same width and height as the portrait picture, which could be embedded into web pages. However, quite often, you need to get a horizon flash from recorded movies of a portrait picture. It is important to know you should not use the toFlash command any more. Instead you should use Portrait command. Since during recording you have zoomed the picture, making it bigger than the PC screen, that making both sides have no black edges, and nobody will know it's recorded with a portrait picture, thinking it's taken from real no-boundary natural scenes.
18) We have yet other good functions to mention. One of the recorded flash is so perfect, that we want to set as screen saver, replacing the rolling illusory transitional lines or the fish tank too beautiful to enjoy watching for ever.
Do we have the way turning a flash into screen saver? Yes indeed. While in Flash playing state, just click on the flash file you like most in the list box, choose from the context menu Set As Screen Saver command, and confirm to the pop up dialog box. To watch the screen saver you must minimize or exit CommonPhotoStar, the screen saver will occur one minute later. However, sometimes when it's the first time using the function, maybe you need to restart the computer.
19) Well, we can continue learning the next topic.
3. Movies management, Movies Modifier, MultiPicSWF Generation
1) As the result of the above recording operations, movies were produced. The movies recorded the real-time mouse movements and zoom rates for the pictures. Now let's have a look on these movies.
2) Click the Picture Movies button, which is the 4th toolbar button. Now you can find all the movies you previously recorded in dynamical displaying state. In fact, no matter whether you produced flash files or not, or no matter whether you recorded or not, as long as in the previous operations you have got a picture into dynamical displaying state and then exit (you may use Esc for exit), a movie will be produced there for the picture, thus for a single picture there may be different movies.
3) Here we could also click once to watch original picture, click twice to watch the picture in full screen, and click the third time to watch the picture dynamically.
4) Here in all the three states you can wheel to switch the target pictures being watched.
5) Here what you see is the results of your previous recording operations. You can record again for individual pictures here, modifying to get better recording results. That's why here this dynamical window is called movies "Modifier".
6) The purpose of keeping the recorded movies here is for generating multiple-picture-flash. How?
7) By clicking the right button of the mouse on the blank area, a context menu occurs, choose the MultiPicSWF command from the menu, a Notice for MultiPicSWF dialog will pop up, it says the width and height of the first picture is very important, it determines the width and height of the resulting flash SWF file.
8) For the time being let's click No button canceling the dialog. Click the first picture to judge whether the original dimension of the picture is what we desired. It might be possible you want a web page flash, a flash banner, or just want to output a multiple picture flash and then turn it into a screen saver; so dimensions will be deferent according to the actual purpose. Here we suppose that the dimension of the first picture is not what we want, so we need to choose another picture to replace it after recording.
9) Of cause you can do that. Movies are arranged sequentially according to the recording operation sequence. Thus usually newly recorded movie shall be arranged as the last one in the Picture Moves interface. Now that we want a newly generated movie goes to the front end, we should click the right button of the mouse on the first movie picture, and choose from the context menu Insert Before or Replaceable command.
10) Then click the Double Middle toolbar button (the 2nd). Here you should prepare a picture with satisfactory dimension by using the Snap Region menu command or other commands, and then doing the recording routines. Now the movie you recorded will go to the front end according to your settings made in the last step. It will replace the first movie if you previously had chosen Replaceable command, or goes into the position in front of the first movie if you previously had chosen Insert Before command.
11) Well, now we can output multiple picture flash. Click the Picture Movies tool button. Check and make sure the first movie picture indeed the correct dimension. Click the right button of the mouse on the blank area, and choose in the context menu MultiPicSWF command and click the Yes button on the pop up dialog.
12) Wait for a little while, ... the software is processing the conversion, please don't disturb... well, eventually the Sightline Media Flash dialog window occurred again. It's now a multi-picture flash, playing multiple pictures one by one. It should be quite easy to set it as a screen saver. There are other relevant operations such as saving movies into the storage, enabling embed codes etc., we won't discuss them in detail now, otherwise the instruction file will become too large to read. We guess, however, the clever users could learn about it without teaching.
Thank you for choosing Sightline Media software. Welcome users actively participating the various activities initiated by us.
Sightline Media Technology
2012.9.2