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Snagit Cursor Capture

The interface in the 2018 version of Snagit has been updated. A notable change is we found the cursor capture to be on by default. Even if the setting was turned off before Snagit was updated, it was turned on after updating. After a little investigation, we found that the setting is even easier to find and control now… if you know where to look.

It only takes two steps to keep the cursor from being captured in your images.

Right click the Snagit icon in the lower right Windows Task Bar and Open Capture Window.

Cursor Capture 1

Simply turn off the Capture Cursor setting and close (X) the dialog box.

Cursor Capture 2

It’s as easy as that!

By |2018-04-04T11:02:39-07:00April 9th, 2018|Resource/Misc|

Hightail Spaces Proofing Tools

Hightail’s newest feature, Spaces, offers lots of online proofing and collaboration tools (see previous post for review of using Spaces video proofing). In addition, Spaces is able to upload and review a variety of different file formats.

hightail_10

Video files (.mp4, .wmv, .mov, etc.):

Allows you to view the video directly in the Spaces browser window (not necessary to download), comments can be placed on specific frames throughout the video as well.

1 Spaces Proofing

PowerPoint (.ppt, .pptx):

Allows you to view previews of the slides but the preview is a static rendering of each slide – no animation/transitions/videos (like a PDF proof).

2 Spaces Proofing

Photoshop (.psd), Illustrator (.ai), Image (.png, .jpg, etc.), and PDF:

All show a preview image of the file, which is fantastic to preview the editable files, but only on the viewable layers when the files were saved.

3 Spaces Proofing

Word (.doc, .docx):

Only shows a preview of the file – again like a static PDF proof; however, you can use the comment feature to highlight changes needed.

4 Spaces Proofing

Overall, the features offered by Spaces are very useful to anyone reviewing and collaborating on a project of any kind.  The only real drawback is the limitation with previewing PowerPoint files directly in the browser (which is a big deal to us!). Other than that, proofing is very simple and worthwhile to ensure a smooth collaboration process.

 

-Troy @ TLC

By |2016-08-10T08:20:48-07:00April 25th, 2016|Resource/Misc|

Hightail Spaces Video Proofing

Hightail, formally YouSendit, has introduced a new tool, Hightail Spaces. So in addition to the file sharing services, they have added an online tool for video and image feedback.

hightail spaces 10

Using Hightail Spaces for client file review is pretty straight forward and similar to Wipster (see previous post). Here is a quick walk through of the collaborative process:

1. Log in (or sign up) to your account, and click on the Spaces tab.

2 Hightail Spaces

2. If it is your first time accessing, click Get Started, and Accept.

3 Hightail Spaces

4 Hightail Spaces

4. All of your Spaces show up, which makes it easy to have separate folders/Spaces for each client or project.

5 Hightail Spaces

5. Hover over a Space and click to View any files, get a share link, or delete that Space.

6 Hightail Spaces

6. Spaces can be personalized to a project or client with a: (1) custom name and (2) description. The (3) chart icon shows the analytics of that Space.

7 Hightail Spaces

7. When viewing a space, use the Share button to invite clients to securely view any files in there.

11 Hightail Spaces

8. To add a video for review, either Drag and drop or click the plus icon (which also allows files to be uploaded from other services: Dropbox, Google Drive or Microsoft OneDrive).

8 Hightail Spaces

9. Once uploaded, every file is displayed with a preview thumbnail.

9 Hightail Spaces

10. To review, your client just clicks on the thumbnail which opens the video preview and the comments side panel. To add a comment, drag a marque directly on the video and type any comment, then click Post.  The comment pane lists all of the comments and replies. A really great feature is that the video playback has a red dot for each comment.

10 Hightail Spaces

10. Spaces allows multiple versions. The current version is displayed at the top of the page. Previous versions are viewable by clicking on the version number in the list.

12. Access and share links are controlled by the overall Space and the individual files. (1) Access can be public or private (2) Copy a link to send in an email, text or IM. (3) Access options include edit, comment, download, and (4) Share directly on Slack (if you use that).

Note: Download options are only available with a paid subscription.

12 Hightail Spaces

Hightail Spaces is another client review option to check out. There are both free and paid options.

 

-Troy @ TLC

By |2016-08-10T08:21:07-07:00April 22nd, 2016|Resource/Misc|

Introduction to AudioBlocks

AudioBlocks.com is a great resource that TLC Creative Services uses often we’re looking for sound to put in a presentation. Audioblocks is a sister company/service to Videoblocks which we reviewed in the previous post.

audioblocks-1

 

AudioBlocks is a subscription service (i.e. Annual fee) and you get unlimited downloads. The entire audio library is royalty-free so you can legally download and use sounds in both commercial and personal projects, without having to pay any additional fees. The library has over 100,000 sound effects, loops and music and adds new clips continuously.

Clips are available in MP3 and WAV file formats.

audioblocks-3

A really good option is that the Search feature can be filtered by keyword or style. Searches can be filtered by music, SFX or loops. My favorite search option is by duration to further focus the results.  Additional search filters are by Music category, genre, mood, and even instruments. Daetona did a sample search for polka music and found 21 results (that’s a lot of Polka!). The duration of clips ranged from 00:11 seconds to 03:23, and if I needed just a short clip, the duration filter would even further focus the results.

audioblocks-2

TLC Creative has been using AudioBlocks’ online subscription since it launched a few years ago. We were even a customer of their CD-ROM collections before that. The lowest price I have found for an annual subscription is currently $99/year. A less valuable monthly subscription is also available for $79.

 

-Troy @ TLC

By |2016-08-10T08:34:44-07:00March 9th, 2016|Resource/Misc|

Introduction to VideoBlocks

Presentations often feature videos. But where can designers get quality videos? VideoBlocks.com is a subscription-based site with unlimited downloads from a library of professional stock video footage. TLC Creative Services has used VideoBlocks for several years, going back to purchasing DVDs from their pre-online business.

VideoBlocks Photo 1

VideoBlocks has an in-depth library with over 115,000 studio-quality videos, motion backgrounds and after effects clips. Additional videos are added every month. VideoBlocks members have two download options – videos included in the subscription (great value) or videos from an a la carte Global Marketplace where professional videos are uploaded and sold individually (average $49 per video).

In addition to variety (more on that in a moment), quality and value, one thing that distinguishes VideoBlocks from their competitors is their royalty free permissions on all videos (at least those in the subscription library). Videos are pretty much permitted to be used for any project, with any level of distribution and they include global usage rights. Other VideoBlocks customers include big companies like ABC, MTV, and even National Geographic, so we are in good company!

For variety, my sample search for puppies gave me over 27K results! That broke down to 65 videos in the free Unlimited Library and 27,000 in the a la carte Marketplace. Sixty-five puppy videos is a good result AND I found the perfect one for my presentation.

VideoBlocks Photo 2

The search can be filtered only to show videos included in the subscription library or to include those available in the Global Marketplace. It can also be filtered by category or resolution (more on this in a moment). In addition, VideoBlocks has 15 preset categories that range from Business and Professions to Holidays and Celebrations. All in all, the TLC Creative Design Team has little trouble using the search options to find a video clip suitable for their presentations.

MP4 and MOV file formats are available for all video clips. Resolution sizes vary from SD 480p to full HD 1080p but almost all videos are 1080p. You can also look under the “Red Camera” category for a good selection of 4K resolution videos.

 

VideoBlocks Photo 3

After a quick search on the site, I found that a one-year subscription is currently $149. The subscription price is a huge value and something TLC Creative has renewed annually for several years so we always have a video resource for our projects. They also have specials a few times per year that drop the price to $99. And you will be locked in at that special rate for renewals. I asked and received a referral link that will get anyone a $50 discount. Click here to bring the current price down to $99 a year!

 

-Troy @ TLC

By |2016-08-10T08:35:12-07:00March 7th, 2016|Resource/Misc|

FreeEncoding.com Online Video Conversion

Transcoding is the process of changing a video from one format to another. For example, converting a .wmv to .mp4, or .avi to .wmv. Transcoding is done with video editing software, which is typically installed on a computer. But there are a number of online apps starting to show up. FreeEncoding.com is a free tool for easily converting videos online. It has a number of encoding options and makes things easy for presentation designers.

Go to www.freeencoding.com and click SELECT FILE to get started.

Select the video you to convert and click Open.

With the video selected, click the drop-down menu next to Output Format and select the format you want to convert your video to. For this instance, we will select AVI as our output format.

Next, select the Conversion Quality from the next drop-down menu.

You can click on Show Advanced Options to enter specific formatting options, such as resolution, FPS, video or audio bitrate and more. Once all desired formatting options have been selected, click the green Start Free Encoding Now button.

Enter your email address on the next screen (or you can choose to login using Facebook) and click Encode Now to have Free Encoding email you a notification when your video has been converted. An uploading status bar will appear at the bottom of the screen.

For your first time uploading, the below screen will appear, instructing you to activate your account to access your completed encodings.

Visit your email, and click on the activation link to access your converted video. Once activation is complete, you will see your video under Your Encodings. There are many actions and options available at this point.

To simply see the File Information you can hover over the link under Original File Name or hover over the pen icon under Actions to see Encoding Information.

Under Actions, you can also delete the video with the trash icon or report an issue you experienced with the encoding using the exclamation point icon. Also, if you have a Dropbox account, you can choose Save to Dropbox under Options. Otherwise, you are ready to download your encoded video.

To do so, click on the arrow icon under Actions and save your file to the location of your choice.
Note: You can only download two videos before the oldest will be deleted. The remaining videos you can download appear when hovering over the arrow icon.

– Troy @ TLC

By |2016-08-10T09:42:56-07:00May 14th, 2014|Tutorial|

It Takes A Lot to Develop A “Real” PowerPoint Template – This Is The Best Resource Available To Know How To Do It!

“Building PowerPoint Templates – step by step with the experts” is one of the best resources available for anyone that creates PowerPoint templates (based on PPT 2007/2010). Outside of a small group of professional designers, and some of the developers at Microsoft, it would be difficult to find this information condensed into a single place. The authors are good friends, Microsoft MVPs for PowerPoint and two designers that I trust to know the real how-to’s, and why, of developing PowerPoint templates.

It can be found here at Amazon.com.

– Troy @ TLC

By |2016-08-16T08:50:35-07:00January 7th, 2013|Resource/Misc|

Classic TV Commercials for Your Presentation – Free!

Integrating videos into a presentation is now a reality with the upgrades to computers and the better multimedia handling of PPT 2010. Using a nostalgic (ie. old) television commercial is a fun and unique video element. The Internet Archive has a collection of over 300 classic TV commercials and public service announcements to download for free.

Click here to search for a commercial.

– Troy @ TLC

By |2016-08-16T10:00:44-07:00August 3rd, 2011|Resource/Misc|

My IP Address Shows What?

This is a pretty amazing use of technology. An IP address (Internet Protocol Address) is unique to every web enabled device. When you log onto the internet, you provide some details about yourself, such as the country and region you are in. But this website overlays that information on a Google map and shows where you are!

Click here to go to IP-Address.cc to see where you are with the IP address lookup.

– Troy @ TLC

By |2016-08-16T10:01:33-07:00August 1st, 2011|Software/Add-Ins|

Best Travel Site for Flights – Hipmonk.com

Completely off topic, but I have been using the hipmonk website for the past few months and it is GREAT for all of the travel planning I do.

Clean and streamlined interface, instant results, and results that are functional! If you are planning a trip with airline flights, check this out – and no I am not a spokesperson for it, just really happy to find things that make my life easier.

Troy @ TLC

By |2016-08-16T10:01:51-07:00July 24th, 2011|Personal, Resource/Misc|
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