Uber-newbie help

[CVIII]

Hi,
I've been using G-Force on Media Center 10 & 11. They will run on one machine. I suppose they would run at the same time but I can't think of why anyone would want to. Anyway, I wander.
I've noticed that there are occasionally pictures that come up in among the transformations.
Now to a wild assumption:
After reading some of the documentation and looking at files and file names in G-Force, I assume that pictures, among many other things, are map files.
Now to carry on as if the wild assumption was true:
I would like to add my own pictures to the mix. How can I transform a picture file (jpg, bmp, whatever) into a map file? I assume also that all you would really need to do at that point would be to add the resulting map to a directory???
I'm sure this all seems elementary to a lot of you but we all have to start somewhere, eh?
Also, if my basic assumption is incorrect, straighten me out, please.
CVIII

[JayPro]

Welcome aboard.

Well....

The "maps" are actually shortened terms for ColorMaps, whose role in the visual aspect of the program speaks for itself.

Actually, all you need to do is drop your pics in the "Sprites" folder, and that's it (sprites, as is the case in computer terminology, are nothing more than images which, in this case, you can import into G-Force). They should then show up randomly as the app does its thing. Fact, you don't even hafta change the extension tags, as practically every image file type is supported. Just drop 'em in "Sprites" and you should be in business.

Word of warning, tho: the program's processor has an issue with large pix above certain H x W dimensions that I honestly don't recall.

Each of the component parts of G-Force (FlowFields, ColorMaps, WaveShapes, Sprites) have their own folders containing a variety of examples within each directory (I guess you can call it a directory; IIRC that's a PC term. I'm an iMac user; so unfortunately, my Windoze expertise is sorely limited; and I'm lucky to be able to get it running on my crappy copy of Virtual PC 6).

I hope this helps. Feel free to ask more ?'s as you go along.

JwP.

[CVIII]

Yes, thank you.
I'll do a little experimentation on sizes and see what happens.
CVIII

[djdanmatthews]

Hey I have a question, I understand you put the pics into the sprites folder. How do you call up the pictures by a key or is there some sort of toggle key to go through the pictures quickly? Also the G-Force Prefs file you are supposed to find and make changes to to get the sprites to change quicker then is preset, but I cannot find where to do it in my prefs posted below? Thanks again from a newbie
Dan

WMor="5 + rnd( 15 )"
PNum=260
WInt="15 + rnd( 20 )"
FWin=0
SInt="200 + rnd( 240 )"
FNum=155
PInt="40 + rnd( 120 )"
FMap="1.2 * atan( .00005 * x ^ 1.7 )"
FMor="5 + rnd( 8 )"
TDur=14
CMor="3 + rnd( 14 )"
FS_D=32
SDur="20 + rnd( 20 )"
FInt="20 + rnd( 30 )"
wTop=288
FS_M=-1
PDur="10 + rnd( 26 )"
PSmo=.008999
CInt="15 + rnd( 30 )"
FS_X=1024
FS_Y=768
FPS=32
ArtX=220
ArtY=220
MBlt=0
FSmo=.009999
UpCk=7
FRge=1
CCal=.079999
TTxt=1
MaxX=10000
MaxY=768
WTrn="i^1.6"
FFde=.2
TSze=18
FSrt=8
Flow=1
UnPr="1/6"
FTrn="i^1.3"
CTrn="i^1.5"
NoBo=0
A_in=0
SScl=1
RScl=1
PScl=1
wLft=436
Vers=270
wBot=900
LBst=1
TFnt="MS Shell Dlg"
wRgt=1418
PDbl=0

[brightblack]

I too want to get my pics as backgrounds to GForce (in my case for a friend's birthday on Saturday - the man's haircut hasn't changed since he was 5 by the look of it) but I can't seem to figure it out despite the documentation.

I've saved JPGs in all of the sprites folder - not too big (300*200 as test), but after watching for about 15 mins, nothing. Even before I tried, I rarely saw the default pics. I was hoping for a new pic every 4 or 5 minutes to show his non-hairstyle through the decades.

All help appreciated - I showed off GForce when they said they had a projector for his birthday, and I knew it *could* do this, just not *how*. Duh!

Running: GF 2.7 Gold
Mac OS X: 10.3.5
Played through: iTunes

Let me know what info you need to help.

[brightblack]

I've been playing with this value in boot.txt:
PREF_SPRITE_INTERVAL

Am I on the right lines?

[brightblack]

Ok, I've gone to maybe where I should've gone to start with - to the scripts folder - and I've been playing in there, and roughly get it now. However, I'm still having problems calling images/sprites - I can call any of the existing ones OK, but none of my own - I noticed that some of my pics ,which, even though they're 300*200px , have a resolution of 300dpi (they came from scans) crash the standalone app, which I'm using since that's probably what I'll use on Saturday. When I put them down to 72dpi, they just don't show at all (at least it doesn't crash). I'm wondering if Graphic Converter (5.2.2) is doing something odd to them. Going to try from Photoshop Elements 2 (or whatever came with my scanner..)

[brightblack]

Well, I noticed that 'Machina' is also 300dpi, so that's that theory out of the window, but I'm still thinking that my image format is the issue. Hmm. Everything else seems OK, just these images. Hmm. I wonder if there's a shinto god for image conversion....

[brightblack]

OK, in sheer desperation, I reinstalled the whole thing, and it works fine now...shame on me, and only 2.5 hours down the road. OK, now to write some cool scripts...

[andy55]

I've been playing with this value in boot.txt:
PREF_SPRITE_INTERVAL

Am I on the right lines?

Yep. In general, here's the path to success in getting your pics to show up in G-Force at an interval of your choice:

0) Exit G-Force.

1) Drop your images in the "(Auto Backgrounds)" folder (located inside the "Sprites" folder. At the same time, chuck any pics that come w/ G-Force that you don't like, etc. Also, make sure the pics that you're putting in are a well behaved format (a "good" jpg), otherwise, install quicktime. The basis here is that if you don't have QT installed, GF uses its own image decompressor which is no where near as robust and tolerant as QuickTime. QT also supports newer formats that GF doesn't (png, jpeg2000).

2) Find and open your "G-Force Prefs" file (make sure you're editing the right one--check the date--delete it, run and exit GF, and it will reappear if you have the right one). Read the "customizing' section of the docs, and find the PREF_SPRITE_INTERVAL and read about it in the docs and then proceed to find and edit that pref in the prefs file. For example, if you wanted a pic to appear every two mins with a variance of 30 secs, you'd use "90 + rnd( 60 )"

3) Run G-Force and kick it.



andy

[Toby]

Hi Guys,

I just thought I would add my two-bits worth into this stream. I am a picture-freak. I have something over 2,000 of them sitting in my Sprites\(Auto Background) folder, and I really enjoy having them pop up into G-Force. They run the gamut from photos of Ground Zero and the Matterhorn to the Mona Lisa and prehistoric cave paintings, and just about everything in between.

There are some guidlines for pictures somewhere inthe G-Force documentation, but I can't remember where, so I will give you mine. You might want to make a few adjustments to size, depending on how large of a window you run. I normally run G-Force in about a 700x800 pixel window at about 150 dpi.

I convert all color pics into fairly high contrast gray-scale JPEG files. I have found that higher contrast pics come out better after G-Force is done colorizing, posterizing, and whatever else it might decide to do, which is at least partially dependent on what ColorMap happens to be in place and what FlowField is running. WaveShapes don't seem to make much difference; they just block out the picture, but so do the FlowFields. After you have adjusted contrast on a few pics and looked at them in G-Force, you will have a better idea of what I am talking about. It does depend on the content of the picture, but I have found that you should adjust contrast until the gray-scale almost looks cartoonish, but not quite... lots of contrast. Try it, and you will see what I mean.

I normally resample all pics to 150 dpi and set the longer dimension to 600 pixels, letting the shorter dimension float to whatever it needs to stay proportional. This is regardless of whether the longer dimension is vertical or horizontal.

After that, just throw the pics into the Sprites\(Auto Backgrounds) subdirectory and either restart G-Force or press Shift-U to force it to rescan all directories and reinitialize, and you should start seeing your pics occasionally pop up. Unless you change your prefs file default (now that there is one), don't expect it to happen too often; I timed things, and one pops up about every 5 minutes under default conditions. If you have G-Force 2.7, you can force the issue by pressing Shift-Y to start a new picture.

I apologize if I've left out anything major. Feel free to ask questions here, and I will be glad to try to provide an answer.

[brightblack]

Just to prove that I didn't just post and run off...I'm back!

Just to report that the evening went well, and all the pics went OK, as did many of the configs I chose. I learned a whole lot in the process (S-video output settings was one I hadn't counted on...) and I've decided to write a little 'How To'. Not wanting to tread on any toes, as it's mainly to aid my own failing memory, but I'll post the address when v1 is ready, and invite everyone to add/subtract as required.

Also, people who mailed me -thanks - I should have replied by now. Really, the last 7 days have been crazy (Cisco issues at work whilst look for a new apartment and organising a wedding...fun (add to that all the typhoons here lately)).

Of course, thanks to Andy and everyone who posts.

[brightblack]

Add on the beta of my page is here:
http://www.brightblack.net/tech/gforcehowto1.html

Feedback here appreciated. I need to really flesh out some bits...

[JayPro]

I took a quick gander; *Excellent* beginning. Feel free to contact me for questions or ideas.

[brightblack]

I'm going to put another beta up later this week. I've added a few more bits to it, and some usage tips for live stuff. I'm going to split that into a Part 2 though. I'll post when I get round to uploading it.