SLIDESHOW–DIAPORAMA presentations without scripting

[Marco Klunder]

Hmmm...download errors again
I'll try it from another place tomorrow to continue the work
Marco

[jogad]

Have you tried to use a different download manager?

For me I use "Free Download Manager" and often this allows to load files that fail otherwise with the default download program of the internet explorer (as well as IE of Firefox).

[jogad]

If you don't manage anyway to load the file, I upload it here (with advertising! the actual link is at the bottom of the page)

edit: obsolete link removed

[Marco Klunder]

Hello Jo?l,

I managed it to download the new v2.0 from another place today.
I'll experience some download accelerators later on, I'm not using them indeed and it seems like it has something to do with the default IE downloader.
But that's for later.

Indeed I can now play MP3 files in slideshow, it works
One remark on this point: When the player is started (in my case WMplayer), is it also possible to start in in minimized mode (e.g. by a start parameter)
When you click the the next slide in slideshow, the screen now is "rubished" by a WMplayer window, which first needs to get manually minimized again, to show the correct slide to the audience. (See it as a wish).

But...

I also get some strange results now in slideshow and even Lua_Edu_Tools is producing abnormal displays, when doing certain sequences in using slideshow.

For your information, this is the asterix slideshow I use now for testing:

Code: Select all

-- Asterix
Asterix.jpg 26 -203 191 -1 0 100 0 1 0 1 0 1 1 0
cel://Follow/Sol:Earth/2010-03-29T18:21:06.70920?x=DDmhCK2Os////////////w&y=TJpT3xSjWQ&z=AAGbsxyFEv///////////w&ow=-0.162946&ox=-0.0879083&oy=-0.969369&oz=-0.161384&select=Sol:Earth&fov=34.4703&ts=1&ltd=0&p=0&rf=3725207&lm=2017984640&tsrc=0&ver=3
==
Asterix
# -1 0 37 -239 0 1 100 1 0 1 0 1 0


-- Asterix
Asterix.jpg 26 -203 191 -1 0 100 0 1 0 1 0 1 1 0
cel://Follow/Sol:Earth/2010-03-29T18:21:00.24454?x=DDmhCK2Os////////////w&y=TJpT3xSjWQ&z=AAGbsxyFEv///////////w&ow=-0.162946&ox=-0.0879083&oy=-0.969369&oz=-0.161384&select=Sol:Earth&fov=34.4703&ts=1&ltd=0&p=0&rf=3725207&lm=2017984640&tsrc=0&ver=3
==
Asterix
# -1 0 37 -239 0 1 100 1 0 1 0 1 0
==
De stoere gallische krijger
# 0 0 -596 -277 0 1 100 1 0 1 0 1 0


--bla
bla bla
# 0 0 -592 -429 0 1 100 1 0 1 0 1 0


--nog een nieuwe slide

no.jpg
C:\Celestia Programs\Celestia160\extras\slideshow\asterix\HungUp.mp3
==
iets anders zonder image maar met muziek
# 0 0 -592 -429 0 1 100 1 0 1 0 1 0

1
Slidehow itself works correct, until you reach the last slide, containing the MP3, which is correctly started now.
However, from that moment in time, it is not possible to go to the previous slide or the beginning of the presentation anymore.
The buttons do not work anymore.
The butten for the next sheet still works, but because it is the last slide, I receive the corresponding message.

2
Then shutting down Celestia (leaving WMplayer active on the background), restart Celestia again, activate slideshow, goto design mode and try to change the (still) default slideshow to the asterix slideshow, results in red asterix display, and is refusing to start asterix. This until the previous WMplayer window is also closed, after which the asterix slideshow will show up again.

3
Start the asterix slideshow and move on to the last slide which starts the MP3.
Then minimize WMplayer to the taskbar and goto design mode.
In designmode I clicked the following buttons in sequence: Copy --> Paste --> OK
That imediately results in the following Screen, containing a damaged Lua_Edu_Tools display:

Lua_Edu_Tools.jpg

So far my findings for today...
Marco

[Fenerit]

Hi there! Just FYI, with foobar2000 http://www.foobar2000.org/ I've absolutely no problem in playing sounds. A good way in managing sound files with Slideshow, is to assign as extension to play the playlist file(s). WMP is too critic yet in such aspect; just tried.

[jogad]

Indeed I can now play MP3 files in slideshow, it works
..
But...

Hi there! Just FYI, with foobar2000 http://www.foobar2000.org/ I've absolutely no problem in playing sounds. A good way in managing sound files with Slideshow, is to assign as extension to play the playlist file(s). WMP is too critic yet in such aspect; just tried.

My advice is very similar. My player is VLC and the addon works fine with it.

I think that the problem with Windows Media Player is that it is to big and takes too much time to load. (and moreover it tries to connect internet)
And the plugin is unable to return the control to Celestia in the allowed time.
Your corrupted Lua_Edu_Tool display is very caracteristic of a timeout issue.

It is not possible to define options for the program in the plugin.
The same mechanism is indeed used for files like mp3 or pdf files and the associated program is not the same.

You must choose a program for which you can set the default options.
One of theese option should be that the program reuse the same window when a new sound is launched instead of opening a new windows. (I suppose it is possible even with WMP).

Just to know, have you the same problem with your mp3 file in the directory of the slideshow and defined "HungUp.mp3" instead of "C:\Celestia Programs\Celestia160\extras\slideshow\asterix\HungUp.mp3" ?

A+

[Marco Klunder]

Hi there! Just FYI, with foobar2000 http://www.foobar2000.org/ I've absolutely no problem in playing sounds. A good way in managing sound files with Slideshow, is to assign as extension to play the playlist file(s). WMP is too critic yet in such aspect; just tried.

Well I did install foobar2000, and INDEED, all my mentioned problems above do not occur anymore

Just to know, have you the same problem with your mp3 file in the directory of the slideshow and defined "HungUp.mp3" instead of "C:\Celestia Programs\Celestia160\extras\slideshow\asterix\HungUp.mp3" ?

When playing with WMP, there are still some problems, however I cannot reproduce the Lua_Edu_Tools display mesh-up then.
To go to the previous slide still does'nt work, except when I restart Celestia and start slideshow again, (with WMP still active on the background), there are no problems anymore when the last slide is started with the MP3 and then go to the previous slide.
It indeed seems that it may have something todo with WMP loadtimes

As far as I'm concerned here, everything on v2.0 works fine for me now.
Because I'm (or better: was ) not the only WMP user in this world, you may probably warn in the manual for this kind of behaviour, when using associated programs with huge loadtimes and/or internet connections and advice them to use smaller players like foobar2000 or your own VLC

Unfortunately, this way it looks like there is no v2.1 coming up.

Good luck, Marco

[Fenerit]

Marco, if you like foobar, dowload from here http://www.rarewares.org/mp3-lame-bundle.php the encoders for MP3 and OGG, so you can rip CD's. They works well. Simply place the exe(s) inside the main foo dir.

[jogad]

Hi,

Because I'm (or better: was ) not the only WMP user in this world, you may probably warn in the manual for this kind of behaviour, when using associated programs with huge loadtimes and/or internet connections

I have just downloaded the last version of WMP (v 11 for Windows XP) and I can use it without problem on my system.
Some precautions are recommanded though.

1) Windows Media Settings

Here are my settings :
The goal is to minimize the Internet access when reading a file

IMO the most important is in the "Librairy" tab : uncheck get extra infos from internet.



And the setting for the "Player" tab




2) Avoid timeout issue

This problem arise when WMP is starting.
The workaround is to launch WMP BEFORE launching Celestia.
And NOT closing it before you close Celestia.


3) Keep a clean display

One remark on this point: When the player is started (in my case WMplayer), is it also possible to start in in minimized mode (e.g. by a start parameter)
When you click the the next slide in slideshow, the screen now is "rubished" by a WMplayer window, which first needs to get manually minimized again, to show the correct slide to the audience. (See it as a wish).

As I explained before, SLIDESHOW is unable to do that.
And it seems there is no such option in WMP itself.
- I propose to use the WMP in "compact mode". This way it doesn't take too much place.



I do no bother to iconize it. A simple mouse click on the upper part of the slideshow remote (or anywhere else in Celestia) is enought to hide the WMP behind.

You can choose the less invasive place for the WMP.
You can even virtually hide it by dragging it on the border of the screen like this:




4) Stop the sound from SLIDESHOW (any player, not only WMP)

SLIDESHOW Doesn't know how other applications work. And it doesn't even know what application is launched. So it is unable to stop the player.

but
The current music is stopped when a new one is played!
The immediate consequence of that is that it is enough to launch a music file with no music to stop the sound.

I will join to the package a file which name is silence.mp3 to do this job.

silence.zip

This file provides 0.1 second of silence!

Hope that helps a bit.

[Fenerit]

Yet about external player issues. The convivence amongst audio and video within the same player is the central point. My suggestion is to separate the two devices for the best use of slideshow, and do use of the videoplayer just for video (video+audio) and do use of the audio player for the audio only (MP3, OGG, AIF...). As for the video player, the WMP's settings of the DirectShow video in WRM 9 (or 10,11, depend on DirectX) renderless mode (for subtitles) and for 2D surface texture render together with the DirectSound device for audio output are critical, being Celestia on OpenGl and WMP on DirectX. Some graphic cards doesn't piped well the two engine when in realtime. Such settings arent's easy configurable with WMP (differently from VLC). In such case, the DirectShow for the audio section of the video must no use the DirectSound audio device, but the SystemDefault audio device.

P.S.
Jo?l, is your VLC player set in OpenGL mode as for concern the video renderer?

[Marco Klunder]

Hello there,

I have just downloaded the last version of WMP (v 11 for Windows XP) and I can use it without problem on my system.
Some precautions are recommanded though.

Well, as you can see in the image below, it's not the last version

wmp_version.jpg

But with some French translation and interpretation, I managed to customize some settings according your advice.
And indeed, WMP gives less problems... but I still like foobar

Thanks for introducing the silence.mp3 option. Of course I can ask you for the equivalent "no.mov", "black.avi" and "empty.pdf" versions now
But probebly still one serious point regarding this, and that's about the CEL and CELX options.
Once a script is started from within slideshow and slideshow goes to the next or previous slide (automatically or by hand) the script continues running in Celestia if it was not ended yet (and I'm used to writing long scripts ). That can cause URLs and texts to run through eachother. Pressing the [Esc] key solves the problem, but probably this indeed is an option to manage from within slideshow to terminate the running script when going to another slide.

I promis, this was my last comment regarding the functionality of Slideshow v2.0. It is a very well functioning and valuable add-on. I will be happy to evaluate the v2.1 or v3.0 in the coming future

Jo?l thanks for your efforts and let's have an error free download from the Motherlode (when Ulrich is back again from traveling)

Marco

[jogad]

Hi,

Yet about external player issues.

Humm...
As suggested by the name, external players are out of SLIDESHOW's control and their behaviour depend on the system.
So there is a little experimentation to do to find the perfect configuration in any particular case.

Well, as you can see in the image below, it's not the last version

wmp_version.jpg

But with some French translation and interpretation, I managed to customize some settings according your advice.
And indeed, WMP gives less problems... but I still like foobar

AFAIK Version 11 is the last suitable version for XP.
I just mentioned that it was possible to use it but this is not a recommandation to do so.
Your version is v12 but with Windows 7. Maybe this version is the cause of the problems.

I am probably lucky but I have indeed no special problem even with a brute installation of WMP used without special precaution.

For me the important point is that files load quickly not to cause timeout. I have a system with 3 hard disks (one for the system and the programs, the other for the data (not used here because data are in the same folder than the program), and the last for swap and temp files (and archives). I pay special attention to have also no fragmentation on the disks. So the loading time is correct most of the time.

The loading time is a nightmare with lua scripting because the script must return control to Celestia in a very short time (less than 1 second). This is also true for images and all kind of files that SLIDESHOW has to deal with.
I think that if you have a slow (5400 tr/mn) and fragmented disk you are running to problems.
As a rule, choose always the lightest files you can.

The convivence amongst audio and video within the same player is the central point. My suggestion is to separate the two devices for the best use of slideshow

I have not particularly noticed that and my graphics card accepts easily to run to Open GL programs together with DirectX programs.
To answer Fenerit's PS, I take care to set an Open GL rendering if possible when the program is used with Celestia but it is only a precaution and I am not sure that it is absolutely necessary for my own configuration.
It may be different with other configurations.
Of course I have not tested all possible configurations.

Once again you must find what works best on your system.

The advantage of the present system is that it is flexible and allows to play easily different kind of files but the optimization is left to the user.

Once a script is started from within slideshow and slideshow goes to the next or previous slide (automatically or by hand) the script continues running in Celestia if it was not ended yet (and I'm used to writing long scripts ). That can cause URLs and texts to run through eachother. Pressing the [Esc] key solves the problem, but probably this indeed is an option to manage from within slideshow to terminate the running script when going to another slide.

As you have noticed, [Esc] solves the problem.
A simple solution is always better than tricky (and probably bad) lines of code.

But indeed, I see no problem here.
For me, stopping automatically a script on slide change would be an error.

As you know it is rather difficult to display pictures with cel or celx scripts.
And even texts are not so easy to present with scripts.
The present behaviour lets you run the script and display different slides that illustrate the script while it is running.

Slideshow's pictures and texts do not interfere with an external script. (slideshow texts don't use the celestia:print() method)
Of course it is not advisable in this case to have a slideshow with URLs. But remember that URLs are an option but not an obligation.

You have several ways to terminate a script before the next slide.
in manual mode
- [esc] key. (my favorite)

in automatic mode
- Think of the possibility to ajust individually the running time of each slide. You can even set a decimal number of seconds.

for both modes
- cut your script to run each part with a particular slide. When you start a script, that automatically terminates the previous one.

As a consequence, if you just want to stop a script at the start of a new slide, the absolute weapon is the "noscript.cel" script.
This is the ultimate art of scripting programming and I am proud to reveal its code for the fist time ever.

Code: Select all

{}

Of course, this kind of tricks is difficult to expose in the manual. Some experimentations are sometimes necessary to find the better way to use the features of the program.
Maybe I can use the deleted posts a the beginning of this thead to do a "faq" pointing at posts containing interessant informations on how to do this or that.

I will be happy to evaluate the v2.1 or v3.0 in the coming future

As you see, I do my best to avoid that.

[Fenerit]

The convivence amongst audio and video within the same player is the central point. My suggestion is to separate the two devices for the best use of slideshow

I have not particularly noticed that and my graphics card accepts easily to run to Open GL programs together with DirectX programs.
To answer Fenerit's PS, I take care to set an Open GL rendering if possible when the program is used with Celestia but it is only a precaution and I am not sure that it is absolutely necessary for my own configuration.
It may be different with other configurations.
Of course I have not tested all possible configurations.

FYI, when Celestia or whatelse OpenGL program runs, if I start VLC with the Direct3D video setting, VLC multiply the instances of itself toward infinite. Thus, I don't know whether is a problem of my graphic card or simply of VLC. If for the audio only there are several good programs, for the video I'm still searching a decent small&fast videoplayer. So far I'm using Media Player Classic, that is enough fast and configurable.

[Joe]

I downloaded slideshow_2.0.zip, but cannot unzip it.

Using WinZiip, got error message: End-of-central-directory signature not found. Either this file is not a Zip file, or it constitutes one disk of a multi-part Zip file.

Using WinRAR, got error message: slideshow_2.0.zip: The archive is either in unknown format or damaged

[Marco Klunder]

Joe,

I got the same problems during this thread several times.
I don't know exactly the reason, because a download from another location succeeded very well.
(seems something to do with default IE downloader )

Jogad is uploading the newest release to the Motherlode.
It will be released in a few weeks, when Ulrich is back from travelling.

BUT, at the top op this page, Jogad has also given a separate download address. look for it in the 3rd window of this page.

Marco

[Joe]

Hi, Marco

Thanks for the help but I still have no luck, got the the same problem with the location you've pointed for me.

hello, Celestia/Slideshow-Diaporama fans, can anyone share with me a successful location that holds a unzip-able download?

[Fenerit]

Hi Joe, here you can find the working file as I've downloaded.

REMOVED ******************************************************* REMOVED

I host it momentanely before its ML uploading and just whether Jogad allow this. If I received from him a counteract's message, I will deleted it.

[jogad]

Hi

Joe, you are not alone with this propblem. Hope this will end with a definitive version on the Motherlode sile.

Marco, Massimo, thank you guys for your help here

But there is a little problem with the version posted by Fenerit just above.
As mentionned in the thread, this is not the last version (although same version number) and Marco found some bug in it.
This has been fixed and the links have been updated with a bug free version.

For instance, only the two links that I have given lead to a valid version.

So Massimo, you help is very apreciated and welcome but please update or remove your link.

There will be very minor differences in the definitive version on the ML. (German translation by Ulrich (Adirondack), a very useful silence.mp3 file and little corrections and updates in the manuals.)
But the present version is very usable as is.

[Joe]

Thanks Jogad and Fenerit.

Fenerit, maybe my unzip tools didn't like me, I was thrown into the same problem as before with the download you gave me. I have to wait when it appears in the Motherlode then.

[Fenerit]

Link removed. That was the only version I did get working. I think the PDF and PNG compression be the problem.