Carmen Ferrara’s Weblog 2.0

I’ve gotten some questions lately on whether Presio supports PowerPoint animations. So I wanted to address that here. Presio supports PowerPoint animations to an extent. The visual aspect of the animation is not supported. For example, an  “Entrance->Fly In” animation will not “Fly In” so to speak. Instead, Presio detects that an animation has occurred and captures an image of the slide at that point. The image is captured once the animation effect has completed.  This allows the content of the animation (text, shape, image,etc) to be recorded and synchronized properly with the corresponding audio/video.  

To see how it works, and hear my brief explanation I created a quick Presio presentation demonstrating a simple slide with 4 PowerPoint animations. This will give you an idea of how it works, and what the output looks like for slides that contain animations.

http://ipresent.net/support/tutorials/ppt_anims/index.html

We just pushed out a new release of Presio. This latest release now includes more support for MPEG-4 audio/video files. This allows you to import m4a, m4b, and m4v files into Presio. Once imported you can synchronize these files with PowerPoint slides or images just as you would any other Presio project. Better MPEG-4 support is a great feature as virtually all the video content on the iTunes Music store is in this format.

I’ve also created a screencast showing how to use Presio to embed MPEG-4 videos downloaded from iTunes into PowerPoint. Normally, any video content downloaded from iTunes could not be embedded within PowerPoint, but this tutorial walks through the steps of importing a m4v podcast, and then exporting the clip to a Windows Media file. Then I embed the video in a PowerPoint presentation and play it back in slideshow mode.

http://ipresent.net/support/tutorials/import-mpeg4/index.html

As I describe in the screencast, one of Presio’s primary design goals was to work well with other applications. By supporting the import of so many different multimedia foramts, and allowing you to export to AVI, Windows Media, or Quicktime - Presio becomes just another tool in your multimedia content authoring toolbox.

In future tutorials, I’ll show you how to use Audacity to clean up your audio files and then import back into Presio.

Well, there have been 2 more releases of Presio since my last post, and I’m very pleased with the rate of new updates we’ve been able to achieve. One new feature I wanted to highlight with the latest release is Presio’s new “Microsoft Producer Import Wizard”.

I’ve long thought that Microsoft’s move to no longer support and/or update Microsoft Producer (last release was 2003) meant there was some opportunity for an alternative rich media presentation tool. Well, with the latest release of Presio I hope we’ve made the migration from Producer a bit easier.

We’ve a taken a simple, but I believe useful approach towards allowing existing Microsoft Producer users a way to import their projects and presentations into Presio. Essentially, Presio just needs 2 files - the original PowerPoint presentation used to create a Producer project, and a published Windows Media file.

Now, for very complex Producer projects (multiple PowerPoint files mixed with images) or where there were custom template changes, the Import Wizard will most likely not work. But, for a majority of the cases this will certainly automate the process. Running a Producer project through this tool converts it into a Presio project file. This allows users to take advantage of some of Presio’s benefits (not available in Producer) such as publishing to Flash, Quicktime, or MP4 formats, thereby solving some of Producer’s long-standing problems with operating system and browser compatibility. Presio presentations run on Windows and Mac as well as browsers not supported by Producer including Safari and Firefox.

I’ve created a quick screen cast tutorial on how to use the new Import Wizard: http://ipresent.net/support/tutorials/import_producer/index.html

Also, here are the latest release notes. We’ve added or improved quite a few things so check it out. http://ipresent.net/support/presio-rel-notes.php

I’m very pleased to announce the release of Presio 1.0. The new site went live several days ago and the first official release is now available for download and/or purchase. The first available release is tagged 1.1.110 (release notes below - lot’s of fixes and some new features too).

I think the new site looks great and there is now lot’s of good information on using Presio as well as some example applications. I plan on adding more “how to” tutorials to the support section of the site and will also begin posting tips on the blog.

Presio 1.1.110 (Released Feb 26, 2008)
Fixed: Windows Media templates thumbnail,TOC highlighting issue
Fixed: Slide synching issue with Flash templates
Fixed: Slide title renaming issue on Slides tab
Fixed: New Presio updates retain presenters, logos, recent project list
Fixed: Slide capture issue with certain PPT presentation font sizes
Fixed: Editing slide titles issue on Slides tab
Fixed: Remove clip from Media Tab issue - which caused inaccurate clip duration values on the Review Tab
Fixed: Synch Tab “Synch Next Slide button” - no longer skipping ahead a slide upon first load
New Feature: Import MP4 video files (for Synch w/ Slides Projects)
New Feature: Export all slides from the Slides tab
New Feature: Full screen PowerPoint support allows you to record presentation while in Slideshow Mode
New Feature: Ability to replace existing clip on Review Tab and leave slide timings in tact
New Feature: Support for Image Editing in post-production (Review Tab)
New Feature: Better support for capturing PPT animations

As part of my push to a final 1.0 of Presio, I’m creating a lot of “how to” screencast tutorials covering key features. I thought I’d share some here. These will all be posted as part of the new site redesign as well.

In this brief video, I demonstrate how to use the new Presio Image Editor tool, and specifically how to annotate (or draw) text directly on to a slide.

http://ipresent.net/support/tutorials/image-editor-text-tool/index.html

Duration: 2 minutes 3 seconds

I’m happy to announce the availability of Presio 1.0 Beta. This is the first official 1.0 release. However, I’m still tagging this release with the Beta moniker as I’m finalizing user documentation and a new website. Presio is now feature complete and stable enough to warrant a 1.0 release. A final release, along with the ability to purchase licenses is around the corner. You can download the latest version from the Beta page: http://www.ipresent.net/products/presio_beta.html

Release notes for Presio 1.0.110 (Released Feb 6, 2008):

• Many minor bug fixes and performance improvements
• New Image Editor Tool for annotating/drawing on slides
• New Copy Slide feature
• Drag/drop/reorder slides feature
• Windows Vista support
• Office/PowerPoint 2007 support
• Critical fix to allow MOV (MPEG-4) files to import properly
• New FLV import support for Synch with slides presentations

A few weeks ago there was a discussion over at Tony Karrer’s great eLearning Technology blog regarding a new “debate” surrounding “Rapid eLearning Tools”. A panel discussion on the topic, at the recently held eLearning Guild conference, seemed to spark some question as to whom these tools were intended for - subject matter experts, instructional designers, or other.

Additionally, much of the discussion seemed to focus on the definition of what a “rapid eLearning tool” was, let alone whom the intended user should be. My take was that ultimately, the content author needs to determine the best way to convey their message to their audience. It may require a a sophisticated simulation or simply a PPT w/ audio. It all comes down to using the right tool for the job. There are a variety of ways to create and distribute training and presentation materials over the web, but understanding your audience’s needs should help to decide on the right tool.

The term “Rapid eLearning” seems to have crystallized into a “category” that the likes of Forrester deems worthy of coverage. That’s good news for tools like iPresent Presio. However, I don’t think Presio would fit into this “category”. Presio is certainly about “rapid”, but it is much more of a “rapid communications” tool as opposed to an eLearning tool.

It’s nice to interact with others on these types of issues.  Doing so helps to better your understanding of your own product and where it fits (or doesn’t fit) into a given market.

I came across this very comprehensive blog/post today on all things screencasting: Screencasting Primer - For NTC Screencasting Panel. This is a great resource to bookmark the next time you’re looking for tips, tools, and best practices for creating a screencast. Beth does a great job at breaking down the concept and entire workflow of creating a screencast as well as providing many, many useful links. Great job!

I am pleased to announce the release of iPresent Presio Beta 2. This is a rather substantial update to the previous beta. I have decided to release a second version of the beta and hold off on an actual product release for now. I want to ensure my initial design goals are met before releasing the final product. I have received some great feedback from initial beta users and this release directly incorporates that feedback. Please keep the comments, questions and suggestions coming.

Below, I’ve listed the key updates/features contained within this release. I also want to point out that the single biggest feature that has been added is the ability to import existing media files and synchronize them with slides to create a final presentation. This was something I had always planned on incorporating at some point in a later release, but it became evident that it needed to be in there for v1. So here it is. I’ll be doing some tutorials explaining some of the new features as well as going through the software more in depth in the coming weeks. So stay tuned.

Release Notes for iPresent Presio Beta 2 - (Version 0.9.141)
Released: 1/31/2007

• Support for importing pre-recorded media files (audio or video files) and synchronizing with slides
• Ability to specify custom Windows Media Profiles for publishing output
• Better Flash output support including a new Flash slideshow template
• Table of contents now highlights which slide and thumbnail a user is currently viewing
• Ability to export project slides
• Ability for presenter to view slide notes while presenting
• Presentation output supports IE7
• Support for importing and synchronizing PowerPoint 2007 presentations
• Many minor bug fixes

Download iPresent Presio Beta 2

It’s been several weeks since I released the first public beta of Presio and I’ve been getting some great feedback so far. I was hoping to get an update released before the new year, but it looks like the next update will be coming in the next 2 weeks or so.

Based on feedback thus far, I’ve decided to add a rather significant new feature - Synchronizing existing media files to a set of slides. This feature had originally been planned for a minor point release, but based on user feedback I’ve decided it is something I need to get in before the final v1 release. Also included in this update release will be:

• Tracking the current slide during presentation playback
• Fixed intermittent presentation pausing bug (windows Media)
• Several minor enhancements and bug fixes

Merry Christmas.