Support & Updates

You can decrease the amount of time Pixie 2 needs to create movies.

One option to reduce the amount of time required is to save your movie using the Flash export format. Unlike the QuickTime and AVI options, Flash transitions do not have to be rendered.

If you prefer to create an AVI or QuickTime movie, you can reduce the export time and the size of the exported video file by changing the Transition type to None.

When a student clicks the Print button on the toolbar, the document is sent to the computer's default printer. If you prefer to have the student select a printer, open the Pixie preferences, click the General category, and uncheck the Print to Default Printer check box.

The Show feature in Pixie 1 made it easy to view a folder of pictures as a slide show.

This feature was renamed Picture Viewer in Pixie 2. Go to the File menu and choose Open Picture Viewer to access this feature in Pixie 2.

There are a number of features in Pixie 2 you can customize. To learn about all of the settings and features you can adjust, refer to the Pixie 2 Administrator's Guide.

When running at 800x600, it is possible for older versions of Pixie 1 to stop responding. You can resolve this issue by updating to Pixie 1.2.

Graphics - BMP, JPG, PNG, GIF, IBF, TWI, WMF

Sounds - MP3, WAV, AIFF

Export Graphics - BMP, GIF, JPG, PNG

Export Movies - AVI, DV, GIF (animated gif, no sound), MOV, SWF
* OS X additional export formats - 3GP, M4V, MP4
**Linux export is only SWF for movie files.

To reduce the amount of time and the file size for exported movies, reduce the number of transitions and text effects in your animation.

You may also want to consider exporting your finished animation as a QuickTime movie. The export time for QuickTime is generally less than the time required for AVI.

Music purchased from the iTunes music store is protected using Digital Rights Management. These files will display as part of your iTunes library but you will not be able to add them to a Frames animation.

You may find that some frames in your animation are not properly aligned, especially if you do not use a tripod while taking pictures for your animation.

Check the Onion Skin check box below the Frame List in Frames to enable this feature. Onion Skin allows you to see both the selected frame and the previous frame in your animation, making it very easy to align the frames. See the Frames online help system to learn more about using the Onion Skin feature.

The audio files on a music CD must be converted before they can be used in Frames or other applications. There are many applications available, including iTunes and Windows Media Player, that allow you to convert audio CD tracks into digital music files (such as MP3) that you can use with Frames.

You can add the content from one Frames animation to another Frames document. Open the document you want to add to and click the last frame in the Frame List.

Go to the Frame menu, choose Add Frame From File, and select the Frames document you want to add to the current animation.

Graphics - BMP, JPG, PNG, GIF, TWI, IBF, PXI
 

Sounds - MP3, WAV, AIFF, MIDI,
 

Export Movies - AVI, DV, GIF (animated gif, no sound), MOV, SWF
* OS X additional export formats - 3GP, M4V, MP4
**Linux export is only SWF for movie files.

Export Frames as Images - BMP, GIF, JPG, PNG

Prior to WebBlender 2.1, podcast episodes in WebBlender only allowed file types supported by iTunes (MP3, MOV, PDF, etc.). WebBlender 2.1 will allow you to add any file to a podcast. The iTunes subscription link will automatically be removed from any prodcast object containing episodes that are not iTunes-compatible.

If WebBlender times out while publishing to FTP, you may need to change the connection mode.

If you have not already done so, create a favorite for your FTP server. Click the Advanced tab in the FTP Site Manager dialog and change the Mode setting from Passive (PASV) to Active or vice-versa.

Refer to the WebBlender help system to learn more about creating FTP favorites.

Web pages created in WebBlender automatically scale to fit in the browser window. This feature means you do not have to design your site to fit in a specific browser window size.

If you want your site to be displayed without scaling, go to the Options menu in WebBlender 2, choose Site Preferences, and click the Site Style category. Use the HTML Page Scaling setting to choose how the site will scale to fit the browser window.

Graphics - BMP, JPG, PNG, GIF, IBF, PXI, TWI

Sounds (page sounds) - MP3, WAV, AIFF

Podcast Media - MOV, MP3, MP4, M4A, PDF

*Other Podcast files - AVI, WMV, WMA,
*these will create an RSS feed and the podcast 'subscribe' button will be removed.

Other Files - Other file types can be linked using the 'link to file' feature. These files will be copied to your site Media folder when published. When a user clicks a link the file will open in a new window or be downloaded to the viewer's computer.

Export pages as Image - BMP, PNG, GIF, JPG

By default, applying the Cool Word effect deletes the layer below the selected text layer and uses its contents for the text fill.

If you do not want the fill layer to be deleted when when you create Cool Words, uncheck the "Erase image layer after applying Cool Words" option on the General tab of the ImageBlender preferences.

Use the Batch Converter in ImageBlender to change the resolution of a folder of images at one time. Go to the File menu in ImageBlender and choose Open Batch Converter.

The batch converter will allow you to easily resize images and convert them from one format to another. See the ImageBlender online help system for more information on batch converting images.

When running at 800x600, it is possible for older versions of ImageBlender to stop responding. You can resolve this issue by updating to ImageBlender 3.2.

Graphics - BMP, JPG, PNG, GIF, TIF, PXI, TWI

Sounds (slideshow mode) - MP3, WAV, AIFF

Export - BMP, GIF, JPG, PICT, PNG, TIF

MediaBlender (versions 2.7 through 3.04) have the ability to import HyperStudio stacks. Please review the HyperStudio Import Specification PDF to learn which HyperStudio features can be imported. MediaBlender will not support importing HyperStudio 5 stacks.

There are a number of ways to share your MediaBlender projects with people who do not have MediaBlender.

You can share your projects online, either as HTML or Web-Ready Projects. See the MediaBlender help system to learn more about these options. You can also distribute the royalty-free MediaBlender Player with your projects for use on both Macintosh and Windows.

If you are showing a project as a presentation or as a kiosk, you can use Presentation Mode to hide the menu bar and MediaBlender tools.

Open the project you want to show, then press Ctrl-U (Windows) or Command-U (Macintosh) to enter Presentation Mode. When you are finished, just press Ctrl/Command-U again to exit Presentation Mode.

Boost is the object-oriented scripting language built into MediaBlender.

You can use Boost to make projects even more interactive, ensure that actions happen in just the order you want them to, and even read and write information to text files. Boost also makes it easy to learn object-oriented BASIC in a friendly environment. See the Boost reference manual to learn more about how to use Boost to make your MediaBlender projects unique!

Graphics - JPG, PNG, GIF, PCT, IBF, PXI, TWI

Movies - MOV, AVI, MPEG4

Sounds - MP3, WAV, AIFF

Export - BMP (pages as images), HTML, PRJ

If you find that the node handles in Twist are hard to target with your cursor, you can increase the size of the handles.

Open the Twist preferences, click the General tab, and use the Handle size slider to increase the size of the handles in Twist. This is especially helpful if you are using Twist on an interactive whiteboard or with a drawing tablet.

You may find it easier, especially when you are first learning Twist, to trace over an existing image. You can use the Canvas settings to do this.

Click the Canvas button on the Twist toolbar. Click the Fill pull-down menu, select File or Pattern, and click the Use File button. Choose the file you want to use, and adjust how it fills the canvas using the orange handles.

Once you are finished with your illustration, change the Fill back to a solid color and amaze your friends with your vector illustration talent!

You may discover after creating a shape that you need another node.

Rather than recreating the shape, just add another node to it. Click the shape you want to change, hold down the Alt (Windows) or Option (Macintosh) key, and move the cursor over the edge of the shape. When the cursor changes to a pen with a + symbol, click to add a new node.

Graphics - BMP, JPG, PNG, GIF, TIF

Export - BMP, GIF, JPG, PICT, PNG, SVG, TIFF