Fourfingers | 10 years ago | 10 comments | 2 likes | 2.4K views
Good day Michiel.
Here is the clock I was referring to, including an additional screen shot.
And who was the original creator of this beautiful effect?
Thanks Michiel.
No Michiel. This one is not the same. It's the one I sent you. It was a popular effect early this year. If I could remember the name of the guy who did this effect, I wouldn't have to go through so much trouble. Does anyone else remember this clock effect and the name of the creator? Also, I can't send you another screen shot thumbnail. Does it allow only one thumbnail or you can add more?
Fourfingers, 10 years ago
Hi four fingers - thanks for your request. Show reposted.
Dave
DaveH, 10 years ago
Hello Dave. Thanks for reposting this great show. I am surprised that I have sent you a thank you comment and it has disappeared from this post. Hope you'll get this one.
Fourfingers, 10 years ago
Having trouble with placing photos (textures) in some of the place holders of the New Years Clock. I have most of the clock populated with images and I'm finding that sometimes the "replace texture" function doesn't replace the image, instead the BIX image disappears and the new image cannot be seen, just a white circle in it's place. I'm mystified. This problem isn't consistent with any single month, it seems to move around Does anyone have a suggestion on how to overcome this issue?
With Thanks;
Stephen
maxste, 10 years ago
Dear maxste.
Allow me to help you on this subject, step by step to the best of my knowledge.
To begin, the photos are usually wider or not square. You have to first crop them using a program like Microsoft Office 2010 or something that can crop the photos. Begin with a selection of photos to be added to the clock, then spend some time cropping all of them to exact square size. Open a photo you like to put in the clock, then right-click and select Open with... and a list of programs for photos appear. Select Microsoft Office 2010 or 2013 (depending of what you have that crops photos. I have 2010). Next, find and click the 'Edit Pictures...' Tab. A pane on the right of screen appears. Select 'Crop'. Another pane appears with black angles and dashes around the corners of the photo. To crop the photo all you have to do is place the cursor on one of the photo's corners symbol 'L' and drag it to the desired location, making sure you keep an eye on the Picture Dimension on the right pane (Original, and below - New). In the New dimensions (New) you have to make sure that both measurements are matched, e.g. 800x800 or 1200x1200, etc. You have to make sure both the length and width are exactly the same. You can select both left or right, top or bottom corner 'L' symbols to crop either the left side of a photo or the right side to put the subject in the photo in the centre of the disc on the clock. The centre dashes are hardly used. Remember to do this cropping on a copy of the actual photo because if you make a mistake you will not return to the original photo. So, whatever you do with photos, always copy them to another folder first and then you can work safely, knowing that if you made a mistake you can always go back to the original folder make a new copy and paste it to the clock folder, then from there you begin cropping it again.
Now. To put the photos in the clock, you have to first put the photos in order for the clock. I did a subject based on a Year's seasonal photography.
Once done you start with opening the BluffTitler clock and set it to 16.9 if you want it to be seen on widescreen. If you don't know how to do this I will mention it later. The clock effect starts automatically. Stop it and grab the video bar selector below the counter to manually play the clock. When the clock reached the first dial (January), slowly let it spin to the first Bix image (after the month of January). For better results, make sure that the dial (also called a disc) is absolutely flat on the screen and not angled or rotated. Then place the cursor on the Bix Image and double click on it.
On the editing window below you will see a field with the words: 'Layer 42 : Photo-January-2 +'. If you happen to see the words: 'Layer 43 : Photo-January-3 +', don't worry, it could be because the hour disc (dial) is not squarely and flat, so when you double-click on it you get another side of the disc. If this annoys you, then you can select it manually by clicking on the field's drop-down box in the editing window and select the correct layer. If you look in the drop-down box you'll see that some dials have 1 photo disc (one Bix image), others have more. Each has it's own layer.
So, in the January, dial there are 4 layers, one for the January name itself, the second is for your first photo, however at the moment it is just a Bix image, the third disk is for you to put another photo, and this too has a Bix image. The 4th layer is to put a choice of numeric options, such as Roman numbers, etc. You can use any beautiful text for the word January and so on. To do this, you have to prepare 24 pages, 12 for months names and 12 for clock numbers respectively. For photos, it's a little different.
Continued...
Fourfingers, 10 years ago
To begin, you use the pre-sized (Your month/number) page to write all the months names and numbers for clock. Then right-click on the page and select 'Open with > Paint. In Paint you select a Font size, say 48 or 72 , select a text colour that is easy to distinguish on the clock dials. Practice by aligning the text in the centre of the page to make it look centrally on the clock. Then save the work.
If it is not correct, you can always return it on Paint and make a new text or select the text with the Rectangular select tool, then select the text You'll see a square box with a broken line expanding all around the text as you drag the mouse. Then place the cursor in the selected box and it changes to a 4 arrows cursor. Click and hold the left mouse button and drag the broken line square anywhere within the page; you will see the text moving with it. Centre the text where you think it's the centre of the clock's dial, then save it and it should be in the clock folder. Repeat the process of adding the month or clock number to the clock by pressing F9 and doing the same as if you're adding photos. Remember that layers that start with a number '1' is the first layer of that month, e.g. Layer 41 : Photo-January-1 +, Layer 45 : Photo-Feb-1 +, Layer 50 : Photo-March-1 +'. and so on; whereas the layers for the clock numbers are always the last layers of that particular month.
Now, to add photos to the January dial, start BluffTitler and run the clock. The clock always starts running automatically but for the purpose of adding photos you have to stop it, then you click and hold on the video slider in the editing window and slowly drag the slider until the January dial comes closer and is facing the screen flat. Then slowly slide the slider further to make the dial rotate and reveal the Bix image. Stop once the dial is flat on the screen. Here you have two options, you either double-click on the Bix image to reveal the layer number in the editing window field (above the Stop-Start buttons, or you can simply click on the field's drop-down box to reveal all the layers and other effects. Since this is about January and you want to add photos here, we will start with 'Layer 42 : Photo-January-2 +'. So, to begin, first you make sure that you have the right layer to add the photo.
You now know that you revolved the clock's disc once and that a Bix image appeared. You also know that you have selected 'Layer 42 : Photo-January-2 +' either manually or double-clicked on the Bix image; now it's time to put a photo on the disc instead of a Bix image. To do this, you press the F9 key and a window with the title 'BluffTitler Change Texture and Effect' appears. Here, on the '1st Texture above left of this window you click on the 'Select Texture' button. Another window pops up, which is the Clock folder where all the pages with months, photos and clock numbers. Here you select the first photo for the January disc show. So, select a photo and click on the 'Open' button below right, then click the OK button on the 'BluffTitler Change Texture and Effect' window and the photo should be on the disc. Sometimes the photo is reversed for unexplained reasons. All you have to do is to go to the clock folder, select the photo by right-clicking on it and choose 'Open with > Microsoft Office 2010 (or whichever program you wish to open it with, as long as it is able to crop a photo). In 'Microsoft Office', click on the 'Edit Pictures' tab then click on 'Rotate and Flip' and then 'Flip horizontal' and finally Save. Then again, you have to press F9 and repeat the same procedures as above. Hopefully the picture orientation is now corrected. But not all the picture layers cause this inverted problem. Next, you would want to add another photo to a second disc. To do this, click and hold on the video slider button and slowly drag the January disc to another Bix image and do the same as you did with the first operation, remembering to keep an eye on the layers
Fourfingers, 10 years ago
Fourfingers;
Thank you for this fantastic explanation of the process required for populating the clock. Following your advice everything works as it should. Images are reversed in October, November and May. The issue I encountered with a "blank disc" after changing the texture I presume was because I didn't have the disc oriented correctly to the screen (not straight). All is good thanks to your advice. Hop[ing you enjoy all the best of this Holiday Season, Merry Christmas!
Stephen
maxste, 10 years ago
Hi maxste.
No problem, Stephen, you're welcome any time. The credit for this fantastic clock goes to DaveH.
Anyway, Merry Christmas to you and family too. I hope you have a Happy New Year of 2015. Take care.
Michael
Fourfingers, 10 years ago