Nuance ScanSoft Kai's Power Show Instruction Manual

User Guide

for Windows® and Macintosh

Trademarks

ScanSoft and the ScanSoft logo are trademarks of ScanSoft, Inc. Kai’s Power SHOW is a trademark and QUICKSHOW! is a registered trademark of ScanSoft, Inc.

Pentium is a registered trademark of Intel Corporation. Macintosh is a registered trademark of Apple Computer, Incorporated. Windows and PowerPoint are registered trademarks of Microsoft Corporation. Sound Ideas is a trademark of Sound Ideas (A Division of the Brian Nimens Corporation Limited). Outside In Viewer Technology  1992–1999 Inso Corporation. All rights reserved. All other product names mentioned in the manual and other documentation are used for identiﬁcation purposes only and may be trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective companies. Registered and unregistered trademarks used herein are the exclusive property of their respective holders. ScanSoft,

Inc. makes no claim to any such marks, nor willingly or knowingly misused or misapplied such marks.

This manual, as well as the software described in it, is furnished under license and may only be used or copied in accordance with the terms of such license. Program ©1998–1999 ScanSoft, Inc., including the look and feel of the product. Kai’s Power SHOW User Guide ©1998–1999 ScanSoft, Inc. No part of this guide may be reproduced in any form or by any means without the prior written permission of ScanSoft, Inc.

Notice

Before using this software or reading this user guide, make sure you have read, understood and agreed to the software license agreement displayed on screen during the software installation process.

The sound clips used in Kai’s Power SHOW are part of Sound Ideas’ General 6000 Series. For more information on The General or Sound Ideas’ prominent family of additional products, please contact Sound Ideas at (905) 886-5000, or on the Web at www.sound-ideas.com. Sound Ideas is a Division of the Brian Nimens Corporation Limited.

9 Centennial Drive Peabody, MA 01960

SuperGOO User Guide

Table of Contents

Welcome to SHOW . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . v

Key Features . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . v

About This User Guide . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . v

Conventions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . v

Technical Support . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .vi

Technical Tips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .vi

Video Drivers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . vi

Chapter 1 Installation

Installing Kai’s Power SHOW . . . . . . . . . . . 8

Windows Installation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8

System Requirements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8

Installation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8

Macintosh Installation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8

System Requirements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8

Installation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8

Installation Tips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8

Chapter 2 Kai’s Power SHOW Basics

How SHOW Works . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10

Launching SHOW . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10

Creating a New Show . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10

Opening a Show . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11

Working in a Room . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11

Displaying Controls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11

Using Memory Dots . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12

Moving Between Rooms . . . . . . . . . . 13

. . . . 10

Working with Show Content . . . . . . . . . . 13

Selecting Thumbnails . . . . . . . . . . . . 13

Viewing File Names . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14

Arranging Content . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14

Arranging Content on the Desktop . 14 Arranging Content in the

Sequencer and Nano Sequencer . . . . 14

Undoing Operations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15

Redoing Operations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15

Playing a Show . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16

Quitting SHOW . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16

Chapter 3 Kai’s Power SHOW Tutorial

Welcome . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17

Getting Started . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17

Lesson 1: Importing Files in the

IN Room . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17

Creating a QUICKSHOW! . . . . . . . . . . . . 18

Lesson 1: Creating a

QUICKSHOW! . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18

Lesson 2: Editing a

QUICKSHOW! . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19

Sorting Images in the SORT Room . . . . . 20

Lesson 1: Sorting Pictures on the

Desktop . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20

Lesson 2: Loading files into the

Sequencer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22

. . . 17

Enhancing Slides in the EDIT Room . . . . 24

Lesson 1: Choosing a Slide to

Enhance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24

Lesson 2: Special Effect

Transitions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25

Lesson 3: Setting Up Transition

Presets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26

Working with Text . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26

Lesson 1: Adding Text . . . . . . . . . . . . 27

Lesson 2: Editing Text . . . . . . . . . . . . 27

Lesson 3: Changing Text Attributes . 27

Lesson 4: Adding a Background . . . . 28

Lesson 5: Adding Text Effects . . . . . . 28

Using Sound Clips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29

Lesson 1: Attaching Sound Clips . . . 29

Playing Shows . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30

Lesson 1: Using the Projector Icon . 30

Saving Your Show . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30

Lesson 1: Saving Shows . . . . . . . . . . . 31

Distributing Your Show . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31

Lesson 1: Preparing a Show for

Distribution . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31

Lesson 2: Distributing a Show . . . . . 32

Lesson 2: Saving SHOW Slides . . . . . 33

Printing a Show . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34

Lesson 1: Setting Up a Page . . . . . . . 34

Contents

iii

Chapter 4 The IN Room

How the IN Room Works . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35

Thumbnails, Icons, and Piles . . . . . . . . . . . 35

Working in the IN Room . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36

The QUICKSHOW! Feature . . . . . . . 36

Importing Show Content . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37

Importing Photos and Pictures . . . . . 37

Importing Video Clips . . . . . . . . . . . . 38

Importing PowerPoint Slides . . . . . . 38

Importing SHOW Slides . . . . . . . . . . 39

Loading Content from Digital

Input Devices . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39

Capturing Content Using Plug-ins . . 39

Adding Shows . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40

Deleting Thumbnails from the

IN Room Desktop . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35

Chapter 5 The SORT Room

How the SORT Room Works . . . . . . . . . . 41

Sorting Content . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41

Selecting Content . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41

Working in the SORT Room . . . . . . . . . . . 42

Sort Control . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42

Select Control . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42

Sequencer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42

Nano Sequencer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43

Sorting Content . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43

Working with Thumbnails . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43

Arranging Thumbnails . . . . . . . . . . . . 43

Saving Thumbnail Positions . . . . . . . 44

Selecting Thumbnails . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41

Deleting Thumbnails from the SORT

Room Desktop . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45

Setting Thumbnail Size . . . . . . . . . . . 45

Adding Content to a Show . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46

Using the Sequence Floatoid . . . . . . . 46

Using the Sequence Cursor . . . . . . . . 46

Sequencing Content in a Show . . . . . . . . . 47

Using the Sequencer Menu . . . . . . . . 48

Using the Nano Sequencer . . . . . . . . 48

Playing a Show . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48

Chapter 6 The EDIT Room

How the EDIT Room Works . . . . . . . . . . . 50

What Are Transitions? . . . . . . . . . . . . 50

Working in the EDIT Room . . . . . . . . . . . 50

Current Frame Window . . . . . . . . . . 51

In and Out Transition Windows . . . 51

Working with Frames . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51

Selecting Frames to Edit . . . . . . . . . . 51

Copying-and-Pasting Slides . . . . . . . 52

Flipping Frames . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52

Adding a Slide Display Time to a

Show . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52

Adding Transitions to a Show . . . . . . . . . . 53

Using the Transition Dialogs . . . . . . 53

Applying transitions to multiple

frames . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54

Using Transition Presets . . . . . . . . . . 54

Working with Text . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54

Adding Text . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55

Editing Text . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55

Adding Backgrounds to Slides . . . . . 57

Animating Text . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50

Text fx Presets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58

Adding Sound . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59

Loading Sound Clips into SHOW . . 60

Using Sound Fx Presets . . . . . . . . . . . 60

Playing Soundtracks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60

Playing a Show in the EDIT Room . . . . . . 61

Chapter 7 The OUT Room

Outputting Your Show . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62

Selecting Slides for Output . . . . . . . . 62

Saving a Show . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62

Save Show vs. Save Project . . . . . . . . 63

Saving a SHOW Project . . . . . . . . . . 63

Saving a Finished Show File . . . . . . . 64

Distributing a Show . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64

The SHOW Player Software . . . . . . . 65

Distributing the SHOW Player

Software . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65

Macintosh and Windows SHOW

Players . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65

Saving a SHOW Slide . . . . . . . . . . . . 66

Saving as HTML Pages . . . . . . . . . . . 66

Recording Shows to Videotape . . . . . 67

AVI or QuickTime Output . . . . . . . . 67

Printing a Show . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67

Setting Up a Page . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67

Printing a Single Slide . . . . . . . . . . . . 67

Printing a Show as Individual

Slides . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68

Congratulations! . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62

Chapter 8 Keyboard Shortcuts

. . . . . . . . . . . 69

Kai’s Power SHOW

Welcome to SHOW

Key Features

About This User Guide

Welcome to Kai’s Power SHOW™ by ScanSoft, Inc. SHOW is the perfect photo and presentation player for creative home consumers, as well as business professionals. It allows users of all skill levels to sequence and share digital photos, business slides, pictures, and video clips with a new level of simplicity and sophistication.

Incorporating special effect transitions and real-time text animators, SHOW offers an easy, fast, and fun way to create, enhance, and share a presentation using the included SHOW Player software, a computer monitor, a projector, a printer, or the Web.

Your Kai’s Power SHOW package includes:

• The SHOW CD-ROM

• The SHOW Quick Reference Card

• Your SHOW Serial Number

If you are missing any of these items, please contact your SHOW dealer or distributor, or contact ScanSoft, Inc. at www.scansoft.com.

Kai’s Power SHOW offers the following powerful, basic features:

• Innovative interface and efﬁcient workﬂow

• QUICKSHOW!’s “Simple Sentence Control”

• Versatile import ﬁle format support

• Works great with cameras and scanners

• Video and sound clip import

• PC PowerPoint slide import

• Sophisticated sequencing controls

• Powerful special effect transitions

• TV-like text effects

• Extensive sound effect library

• Extensive slide background presets

• Included SHOW Player software

• Flexible output options including: computer monitor, projector, printer, and the Web

• Works great with other popular products

This User Guide provides the information you need to use SHOW effectively. It will help you learn the application and serve as a reference as you attempt more sophisticated procedures.

This User Guide assumes you are already familiar with basic Windows or Macintosh concepts—menus, dialogs, and mouse operations such as clicking-and-dragging. If you need more information on these subjects, or on the Windows Desktop, or Macintosh Finder, please refer to the Microsoft Windows User’s Guide or the Macintosh User’s Manual, respectively.

Conventions

This user guide is for both Windows and Macintosh users. By convention, Macintosh commands precede Windows commands in the text. For example, Command/Ctrl+I is equivalent to the Macintosh Command-I and the Windows Ctrl+I. For simplicity, the term folder refers to directories as well as folders. The SHOW interface for both platforms is identical, unless otherwise speciﬁed.

Welcome

Video Drivers

Technical Support

You will ﬁnd the answers to most of your questions within the pages of this user guide.

If you need further assistance, contact ScanSoft Customer Support on the World Wide Web at:

www.scansoft.com

Note: ScanSoft reserves the right to change its support policies at any time.

Technical Tips

SHOW can perform truly wonderful real-time special effect transitions, text effects, and previews. To perform at this peak level, SHOW requires an adequate amount of computer power to look its best. If you notice that transitions or animations look “jerky,” if the colors look strange, or if you simply want to ensure that you are getting the most from the application, then this section is for you.

Even more than computer performance, our tests indicate that setting up your video card properly can have the most positive impact on SHOW performance. This section talks about two important setup factors and how you might enhance them to ensure efﬁciency.

It is very important to obtain the latest video drivers from your manufacturer.

Upgrading drivers is usually free, and generally provides a speed boost and bug ﬁxes as well.

Video Settings

Modern video cards give you a “color depth” choice. This color depth is the number of bits to use for each screen pixel.

Generally, the more bits per pixel, the better the quality, and the slower the speed. However, that's not always the case, and the only way to ﬁnd out for sure is to test the available options. To perform a test, make one of the following changes after closing SHOW. Then reopen SHOW and use the same transition each time. Choose the video setting that makes the transitions look the most ﬂuid.

vi Kai’s Power SHOW

On the PC:

Right-click on the desktop, choose “Properties,” then click the “Settings” tab.

On the Macintosh:

Choose “Control

Panels - Monitors.”

SHOW does not operate well in modes where only 256 colors display. At 256 colors, graphics look poor and performance generally suffers as well.

On many machines, the best performance is achieved at 16-bit color (thousands of colors). This mode allows faster drawing to the screen, and reasonably good quality.

On the newest machines, or for those who want very good quality, 24-bit color (millions of colors) is the best choice. However, on older hardware that wasn't built to be efﬁcient in this mode, you may notice a signiﬁcant slowdown.

Choosing the display resolution will not affect your performance signiﬁcantly. However, running presentations at a lower resolution makes the show larger and more visually appealing.

Color Depth

8-bit: 256 colors

16-bit: thousands

24-bit: millions of colors

Quality Speed

Poor Poor

Good Excellent

Excellent Good to

Excellent

Welcome

vii

Installation

Installing Kai’s Power SHOW

This chapter covers the installation of your Kai’s Power SHOW software.

Instructions are provided for both Windows and Macintosh. Follow the instructions appropriate to your system.

Windows Installation

System Requirements

• Pentium Processor

• Windows 95/NT 4

• 16 MB Free RAM

• 16- or 24-Bit Video

• 45 MB Free Hard Drive Space

• CD-ROM Drive

• Audio Card (Optional)

To install Kai’s Power SHOW:

If necessary, launch Windows (95 or NT 4).

SHOW will not install in Windows NT 3.5.1 or Windows 3.X.

Insert the SHOW CD-ROM into your CD-ROM drive.

The installer and all related files reside in the root directory of the SHOW CD-ROM.

If you’re using Windows NT 4 or Windows 95, choose

Run

Type the letter corresponding to your CD-ROM drive, followed by (for example, type the D drive) and click the OK button.

Follow the displayed prompts.

Start menu>

d:\setup

if using

:\setup

Macintosh Installation

System Requirements

• Power Macintosh

• MacOS 7.5.5 or Later

• 16 MB Free RAM

• 16- or 24-Bit Video

• 50 MB Free Hard Drive Space

• CD-ROM Drive

Installation

To install Kai’s Power SHOW:

Insert the SHOW CD-ROM into your CD-ROM drive.

Double-click the SHOW CD-ROM icon on the desktop.

Double-click the SHOW Installer icon to begin installation.

8 Kai’s Power SHOW

The installation dialog displays an important ReadMe. Click “Continue” after reading the complete ReadMe.

In the main install window, click “Install.”

Installation Tips

• On a PC, set your system display to

high color (16-bit, thousands of colors) or greater. On a Macintosh, set your monitor to 16-bit (thousands of colors) or greater.

• On a PC, disable or close all

applications running in the background including: anti-virus, crash monitors, and system diagnostic software.

• On a Macintosh, if you receive an

error message while attempting to launch SHOW which states, “the application SHOW could not be opened because axiom could not be found,” it means that your Macintosh did not have enough memory left (after launching SHOW) to load the necessary “axiom” extension.

If this happens, try quitting other applications or allocating LESS memory to SHOW to give the System extra breathing space. To reduce SHOW’s memory, select the application icon, choose

Get Info

RAM in “Preferred Size.”

• On a Macintosh, allocating more available RAM to SHOW allows it to run faster and handle larger ﬁles more efﬁciently.

If you must use relatively large files, increase the RAM available to SHOW. To increase the available RAM, select the application icon, choose

menu> Get Info

RAM in “Preferred Size.”

and allocate slightly less

, and allocate more

File menu>

File

Installation

Kai’s Power SHOW Basics

How SHOW Works

Before diving into SHOW, here are a few basic procedures you should know.

Creating a New Show

Kai’s Power SHOW is an easy-to-use home/personal photo and business presentation player. SHOW provides all the tools you need to produce photo shows and enhance business presentations.

In most applications, tools are accessed through menus, dialogs, and palettes. In SHOW, functions and tools are organized logically into four “rooms”. SHOW’s rooms are: the IN Room, the SORT Room, the EDIT Room, and the OUT Room. They are designed to let you ﬂow from step to step, easily and logically.

To create a presentation in SHOW, use the IN Room ﬁrst, to import your digital content; the SORT Room to sort, select, and sequence it; the EDIT Room to edit your content order and add transitions, text effects, and sound clips; and the OUT Room to save, play, or print your show. Each room in SHOW contains all the tools you need to complete a speciﬁc task and create a dynamic multimedia show.

Launching SHOW

You’ll notice when you launch SHOW, that it takes over your entire screen, even hiding the Windows or Macintosh menu bar. You can access the menu bar while in SHOW by moving the cursor to the top-right or top-left corner of a room.

To display the system menu:

✤

Move the cursor to the top-right or top-left corner of the room.

To use Keyboard Shortcuts:

✤

Many actions can be performed using keyboard shortcuts. Refer to

“Keyboard Shortcuts” on page 69

for a listing of Kai’s Power SHOW keyboard shortcuts.

There are two ways of creating a new presentation in SHOW. You can use the QUICKSHOW! automated feature or you can create a show from scratch.

If you use QUICKSHOW!, creating a new show is as simple as choosing from statement presets that identify ﬁles, determine slide sequence, pick which transitions to apply, and even decide what audio to play. Simple sentence controls help you quickly create a custom show. Refer to

on page 36

You can tweak your “quick” show or create more complex presentations using the controls in SHOW’s SORT and EDIT Rooms. There, you sequence content and add transitions, animated text, and sound to each frame. The process of creating a show is a matter of sorting and selecting ﬁles into the Sequencer; assigning transitions, text, and sound effects; then saving, sharing, or printing your show.

“The QUICKSHOW! Feature”

for more on using this feature.

10 Kai’s Power SHOW

To create a new show:

In the IN Room, import, capture, or scan the digital photos or business slides you want to use.

In the SORT Room, sort and select the speciﬁc ﬁles you want to use in your show.

Add ﬁles to the Sequencer in the order you desire using SHOW’s custom Sequence cursor or the Sequence Floatoid.

In the EDIT Room, add transitions between frames with SHOW’s "Five Favorites" (a set of ﬁve user-deﬁnable presets), or choose from a list of SHOW transitions. Add animated text and sound clips to your frames.

Play the show using the Projector icon in the SORT or EDIT Rooms.

In the OUT Room, save your show, or output it in a number of ways.

• The

When you open a project or show, SHOW gathers all the content in the show and places it in the Sequencer and Nano Sequencer where it is ready for immediate edit or playback.

Save Project

a show in-progress. Save Project creates a project ﬁle (.shw) and a folder. These contain information about where ﬁles are located on your hard drive, about transitions, and even about presets. Save Project does not copy ﬁles or prepare your show for distribution.

Save Show

and share your ﬁnished show. It collects and optimizes all ﬁles in your show, then copies them into a folder that you can move or share. Save Show creates a show ﬁle (.sas) containing information about how to reconstruct the show.

option lets you save

In the dialog that appears, locate the ﬁle you want and open it.

Working in a Room

There are several basic operations that are common to all rooms. The following sections provide procedures for basic operations in any SHOW room.

Displaying Controls

To keep the main working area of a room uncluttered, many of SHOW’s controls fade or minimize in size when not in use.

Faded controls re-appear when you move the cursor over them, and then slowly fade away when the cursor moves away.

Opening a Show

A show created in Kai’s Power SHOW can be saved in the OUT Room as a project ﬁle or as a ﬁnished show ﬁle. Unﬁnished shows are typically saved as project ﬁles.

To open a previously saved project or show:

Make sure you’re in the IN Room.

Move the cursor over the Open Show label, then click the Open an Existing Show button.

The seven main buttons in the IN Room are examples of fading controls.

Kai’s Power SHOW Basics

Minimized controls expand when you click them. They remain expanded until you click them again.

The Sort and Select controls in the SORT Room ﬁrst appear minimized and can be expanded by clicking on them.

To display faded controls:

✤

Move the cursor over an area of the room where a control is located. Faded buttons are generally marked by text labels on the desktop.

To expand minimized controls:

Click the control to expand it. Click

✤

the control again to minimize it.

The Global Menu

You can access several SHOW shortcuts, such as New, Open, and Save commands, Printer Settings, Undo, and Quit, from the Global menu. This menu appears in all four rooms.

Use the Global menu to access several shortcut features.

To display the Global menu:

Click the Kai’s Power SHOW label in the top-left corner of each room, or Control-click or right-click anywhere on the screen.

Using Memory Dots

Several of the controls in SHOW contain memory dots. Memory dots store user-deﬁnable presets and control settings, so that you can quickly and easily use those settings at a later time.

Memory dots are saved with SHOW project or show ﬁles, so your settings are available the next time you open the project or show. Most memory dots come preloaded.

Use memory dots to set and activate: Simple Sentence Control scripts in the IN Room, thumbnail positions on the desktop in the SORT Room, and “Five Favorites” effect options in the EDIT Room. These dots serve different purposes in different procedures, but they all behave the same.

Use memory dots to preset and control settings.

To activate a saved setting:

✤

Click a full memory dot.

12 Kai’s Power SHOW

To clear a memory dot:

✤

Option/Alt-click a full dot.

To store settings in a memory dot:

✤

Clear the memory dot of any existing preset value.

Select or highlight your desired preset.

✤

Click an empty memory dot to set it.

Moving Between Rooms

Although the linear order of SHOW’s four rooms presents an efﬁcient workﬂow, you can move to any room, at any time. Simply click a room name (located at the top of each room) to enter that room. The current room name appears in white.

Click the room names to move between rooms.

Working with Show Content

A show is made up of a series of frames that can be digital photos, pictures, business slides, or video clips. Here are basic procedures to use when working with content.

Selecting Thumbnails

The content you import into SHOW appears as thumbnails on the IN Room and SORT Room desktops. When you move between the IN and SORT Rooms, thumbnail icons remain on the desktop.

Import a single ﬁle and it appears as a single thumbnail. A folder of ﬁles displays as a pile of thumbnails.

You can select thumbnails individually or in groups in the SORT Room. Once selected, thumbnails can be moved, sequenced, or deleted.

A selected thumbnail has a highlight around it.

When a thumbnail is selected, a highlight appears around it.

To select a thumbnail:

✤

Click the thumbnail.

To select a group of thumbnails:

✤

Drag an area around the ﬁles you want to select or hold down the Shift key and click each ﬁle you want to include in the selection.

To move between rooms:

Click the desired room name in the

✤

menu at the top of the screen.

To add to a selection:

✤

Hold down the Shift key and click the ﬁle you want to add to the selection.

Kai’s Power SHOW Basics

To remove a thumbnail from a selection:

✤

Hold down the Shift key and click a selected item. The highlight around the item disappears.

To deselect a group of thumbnails:

✤

Click outside the selection, or click on the desktop of the room.

You can also select and deselect thumbnails in the SORT Room using SHOW’s custom cursors found in the Select control. Refer to

Thumbnails” on page 44

“Selecting

for more

information.

Viewing File Names

As you move the cursor over a thumbnail and pause, its ﬁle name appears. You can disable this feature by selecting “Hide File Names” in the Global menu.

To hide ﬁle names on thumbnails:

✤

Go to the Global menu or Control-click or right-click anywhere on the screen. Choose Hide File Names.

Arranging Content

Content can be arranged differently depending on which room you are in. When you’re in the SORT Room, content is arranged by dragging thumbnails on the desktop.

In the SORT and EDIT Rooms, content within the Sequencer can be arranged by dragging a frame within the Sequencer. This changes the show’s frame order.

Arranging Content on the Desktop

Just as you would with a stack of photos in the real world, you can arrange thumbnails into logical piles on SHOW’s desktop. You can have all the photos of people in one pile, all the photos of landscapes in another pile, and so on.

Arranging Content in the Sequencer and Nano Sequencer

The Sequencer and Nano Sequencer, which appear at the bottom of the SORT and EDIT rooms, display all the content (frames) currently in your show.

You can use these “ﬁlmstrip” controls to keep track of the items in your show and to re-arrange the order of your show contents.

Use the Sequencer and Nano Sequencer to keep track of all the frames in your show.

Items are added to the Sequencer in the SORT Room. Once an item is in the Sequencer, it also appears in the Nano Sequencer. Refer to

Show” on page 46

Once an item appears as a frame in the show, you change its position in the show by clicking-and-dragging its frame to a different location in either sequencer.

The best method of sequencing the frames in your show is to select them in the proper order when first adding them to the Sequencer, using the Sequence Floatoid or the Select control’s Sequence cursor in the SORT

“Adding Content to a

for more information.

14 Kai’s Power SHOW

Room. Use click-and-drag to “tweak” your sequence later if necessary.

Refer to

Show” on page 46

“Adding Content to a

for more on using the Sequence cursor to add content to the Sequencer.

To scroll the Sequencer:

✤

Click the scroll arrow on the left or right end of the Sequencer, or keep dragging a frame to access a destination not currently displayed.

To undo the last operation:

✤

Select Undo in the Global menu or Control-click or right-click and choose Undo from the pop-up menu.

Press Command/Ctrl-Z.

To arrange items in the Sequencer:

Click-hold the frame you want to

✤

move and drag it to a new position in the Sequencer. When the frame is in the desired position, release the mouse button.

An insertion point appears as you drag to help you see where the frame will be inserted in the show (the border between the before and after frame highlights).

If you scroll off the sides of the Sequencer, it automatically scrolls in the direction you’re dragging.

Click the arrows on the right end of the Sequencer to scroll forward through the show, or the left arrow to scroll backward.

You can also access frames not

✤

currently displayed in the Sequencer by clicking-and-dragging the Nano Sequencer’s blue Current Frame Indicator. This tool also determines the current frame in your show or a new frame insertion point.

Undoing Operations

SHOW’s undo feature lets you reverse the last action you performed. You can undo an operation by using the Global menu, or by pressing Command/Ctrl-Z.

Redoing Operations

You can reverse your last undo using the Redo command. When you undo a command, the pop-up menu indicates which action was undone. For example, if you used undo to reverse a deletion, the Redo text reads “Redo Delete.”

To redo an operation:

✤

Select Redo in the Global menu or Control-click or right-click and choose Redo from the pop-up menu.

Kai’s Power SHOW Basics

Playing a Show

The Projector icon, which appears in the SORT and EDIT Rooms, lets you play the frames currently in the Sequencer. If no transitions have been applied, the default transition “Dissolve” is used.

Use the Projector icon to play your show in the SORT or EDIT Rooms.

When a show is playing, slides appear on a black background that covers your entire screen.

To play a show:

✤

Click the Projector icon located in the top-right corner of the Sequencer.

To pause and resume a show:

✤

Press the Spacebar.

To stop and exit a show:

✤

Press ESC.

Quitting SHOW

You can close SHOW from any of the four rooms using the Global or pop-up menu.

To close SHOW:

Select Quit SHOW in the Global menu.

Control-click or right-click and choose Quit SHOW from the pop-up menu.

If you have any changes you want to save, click Yes, otherwise click No.

There are also several options for saving projects and shows. Saving operations are done in the OUT Room. Refer to

a Show” on page 62

for more

information.

“Saving

16 Kai’s Power SHOW

Kai’s Power SHOW Tutorial

Welcome

Welcome to the Kai’s Power SHOW Tutorial. The main goal of this tutorial is to familiarize you with SHOW’s main features and functions, and to teach you how to use them to create a dynamic presentation.

This tutorial will also introduce you to SHOW’s room structure and its related workﬂow advantages.

To help you follow along, each set of lessons begins with a section called The Story So Far. This section tells you what you’ve learned in the previous sections, and prepares you for what’s next.

Getting Started

The ﬁrst thing you need to do to start the tutorial is to launch SHOW and import some images.

To launch SHOW:

Double-click the SHOW icon on the

✤

desktop, or select it from among the programs in the Start menu.

The IN Room appears. This is where you begin creating your show.

Lesson 1: Importing Files in the IN Room

This lesson walks you through the process of importing your photos, pictures, business slides, and video clips into SHOW.

Each of the seven IN Room labels: Open Show, File, Folder, QUICKSHOW!, TWAIN, Capture, and Add Show identiﬁes a different SHOW input option.

The IN Room is where you can import source ﬁles you’ll use to create a show.

As you move the cursor over each label, a

button appears that describes each input option in greater detail. As you move the cursor to the next label, the last button gently fades away.

Kai’s Power SHOW Tutorial

To import a folder of photos:

1. Move the cursor over the Folder label, then click on the Add a Folder of Files button.

As you move the cursor over the labels in the IN Room, buttons appear.

The Open dialog appears.

2. Select the contents of the folder Kai’s Power SHOW:Extras: Photos & Movies: Travel Photos on the SHOW

CD-ROM.

3. Click the Select “Travel Photos” button (Mac) or click OK (PC) to open the Travel Photos folder. The contents of the Travel Photos folder appear as a pile of thumbnails on the desktop.

Each thumbnail represents an individual file. Each folder added forms a pile of thumbnails.

Now that you have some source photos, you can create a show.

Files imported into SHOW appear as thumbnails on the desktop.

Creating a QUICKSHOW!

The lessons in this section will teach you how to create a quick show in a few easy steps using the photos you imported in the IN Room and the Create a QUICKSHOW! dialog.

The Story So Far

So far in this tutorial, you’ve learned how to import photos into SHOW. The folder of photos you imported will be used to create a show. To ﬁnd out more about QUICKSHOW!, refer to “The QUICKSHOW! Feature” on page 36.

Lesson 1: Creating a QUICKSHOW!

To help you create presentations quickly and easily, SHOW provides a powerful feature called QUICKSHOW!, which uses a Simple Sentence Control system to automate the show-creation process.

When you move the cursor over the QUICKSHOW! label, the Create A QUICKSHOW! button appears. Click it and a dialog appears that displays several basic statements. These describe how a new show will be created. To change how the show is created, simply change one of the statements.

To create a QUICKSHOW!:

1. Move the cursor over the QUICKSHOW! label in the IN Room, then click the “Create a QUICKSHOW!” button.

Use the Create a QUICKSHOW! button to open the QUICKSHOW! dialog.

18 Kai’s Power SHOW

The Create a QUICKSHOW! dialog appears.

Use SHOW’s Simple Sentence Control to set how your show is created.

2. Click on the ﬁrst statement, then click

with all ﬁles from the list that appears. With all ﬁles becomes the ﬁrst line in

the sentence.

3. Click the second statement, then click sequence them randomly.

4. Click the third statement, then click and use random transitions.

5. Click the fourth statement, then click add a short delay.

6. Click the ﬁfth statement, then click play CD track #1.

Select play no sound if you don’t have an audio CD available.

7. Click the sixth statement, then click

and enter the SORT Room after playing.

This is how your ﬁnished sentences read.

Now that you’ve set up your Simple Sentence Control (SSC) script, you can save it for later use with different source ﬁles.

To save an SSC Script:

✤ Click on an empty memory dot in the

lower-left corner of the Create a QUICKSHOW! dialog.

Click a memory dot to save an SSC script for later use.

You’re now ready to execute your SSC script.

To execute an SSC Script:

1. Click the “Do It!” button. SHOW automatically executes the script and immediately plays your custom show.

Click the Do It! button to execute your script.

You can cancel out of the Create a QUICKSHOW! dialog without executing it. Just click outside the dialog.

Lesson 2: Editing a QUICKSHOW!

Since the last statement in your SSC script was and enter the SORT Room after playing, the SORT Room appears when the show ﬁnishes playing. The SORT Room lets you rearrange the sequence of slides in your quick show, or if you’re creating a presentation from scratch without QUICKSHOW!, the SORT Room is where you’ll initially sort, select, and sequence your IN Room content.

Kai’s Power SHOW Tutorial 19

Notice that the photos you added in the IN Room also appear in the same desktop location in the SORT Room.

To edit a “quick” show sequence:

Click-hold the cursor over Frame 1 in the Sequencer and drag it to the Frame 5 position.

When the border between Frame 5 and 6 is highlighted, release the mouse button.

Move the slide from the Frame 1 position to the Frame 5 position using click-and-drag.

The frame is positioned between the current fifth and sixth frame when released.

The frames shift to fill the gap left by the frame you moved.

The frames in the Sequencer shift to ﬁll gaps made while repositioning frames.

Sorting Images in the SORT Room

The SORT Room helps you to sort, select, and sequence the content you imported in the IN Room. The SORT Room provides two main controls: the Sort control and the Select control.

The Sort control allows you to quickly sort your thumbnails using several basic criteria. The Select control provides the ability to select, deselect, group, or add content on the desktop to your show using simple mouse clicks and custom cursors.

The Story So Far

So far in this tutorial, you’ve learned how to import photos and pictures into SHOW using the IN Room, and how to quickly create shows using the QUICKSHOW! feature. In this section you’ll use the Sort control to sort the folder of photos you imported in the IN Room. Refer to

page 42 page 43

and for more on these controls.

“Sort Control” on

“Sorting Content” on

Lesson 1: Sorting Pictures on the Desktop

In this lesson, you’ll sort through the Travel Photos you imported in the IN Room.

This is what the SORT Room looks like when you ﬁrst enter.

Before you begin your work in the SORT Room, ﬁrst empty the Sequencer “ﬁlmstrip” of the QUICKSHOW! frames.

To empty the Sequencer:

Click the Sequencer menu in the top-left corner of the Sequencer.

Choose:

Click the Sequencer menu again.

This time, choose:

Select > All Frames

Select > Delete

20 Kai’s Power SHOW

The Sequencer and Nano Sequencer have now been cleared.

Next, you’ll resize the thumbnails on the desktop so you can more clearly see all the photos you imported.

2. Click on the largest “eye icon,” which now appears in the lower-left corner of the SORT Room, just above the Sequencer. This is the Size control.

The Sort control appears.

The Sort control in its minimized state.

To resize thumbnails:

1. Drag a selection box around all of the thumbnails on the desktop to highlight them.

The Sequence Floatoid appears when you select one or more thumbnails.

A green button called the Sequence Floatoid appears next to the selected thumbnail pile. Do not click it.

Use the Size control to set the size of thumbnails on the desktop.

Click twice more on this icon to increase thumbnail size many times (or on the smallest to do the opposite). The middle size control returns the thumbnails to their default size.

Now you can better see thumbnail details to sort and select speciﬁc photos for your show.

To sort thumbnail icons:

1. With all the thumbnails highlighted, move the cursor over the Sort label in the upper-left corner.

2. Click the Sort control to display the six Sort buttons.

The Sort buttons let you perform sorts using different criteria.

3. Click the Width button.

Kai’s Power SHOW Tutorial 21

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