Hot off the press: QDVDAuthor version 1.10.0

I just released version 1.10.0 of QDVDAuthor, codename :

TrIcon

The CHANGELOG holds all the yummy details but here are the highlights of this release.

1. Added transition between menus and SubMenus or Videos


2. Added simple Drag’n Drop support for videos to the SourceToolbar from anywhere.


3. Added icons to the structure elements


4. Combine Structure Toolbar and Sources toolbar into one.


5. Added capability to store temp images of a render animated menu as jpegs instead of a pngs

I added the new icon schemata into the structure control, and while at it removed the separate toolbar. The interface looks now much cleaner and less cluttered. I should have done this probably 4 years ago. But oh well, better late then never. I also enhanced the ButtonTransition to allow the user to specify his own transition file. So if you feel creative …

Enjoy,

Varol

Ahhh vacation time … over :(

So what do you know vacation time is over for now. I enjoyed the beach but it was interesting that I had to visit a Panera once every day to get access to the great free wifi they offer.

I think I am an internet junkie. Must read e-mails, must read message boards, must read news, must respond, and oh yeah I did also some real work through the magic of VPN.

So now I am back and getting back into the rythm of programming and releasing. It seems though that every time I create a release I get this realy cool idea for a new feature which would add so much to the application.

Take for example the ButtonTransitions. I got feedback from a user to add the possibility of using your own transition video instead of the Alpha fade transition. This is a cool new featuire because it uses the new infrastructure and requires very little overhead to add.

Then continuing down that path I was thinking about adding different types of transitions which are currently not available in any other authoring suite. Like a CoverFlow typish transition or a rotating cube transition or … you get the idea.

These transitions require more of an artist/designer than a programmer, so I don’t know if I will ever get to add those. But man would that be cool

Ahhhh, vacation …

gives you lots of new ideas.

Transitioning to bugfixing before the next release.

So the ButtonTransitions seem to be in working order. Of course I can’t tell 100% as I have only limited time to test this complex new feature.

The integration into the main dvdauthor.xml engine is extensive and takes time to polish up. But for now it should work in most cases.

The usage is straight forward ( I hope ) as shown in the video below.

I also added the capability to store the temp images for animated menus as jpeg’s instead of png’s. This will decrease the requirement for empty disc space when creating the DVD.

Currently each png created is about 1Meg, so a 200second DVDMenu will require about 6Gigs of free space ( plus the other temp space required for videos and the final dvd ).

If you use jpeg’s instead the required disc space shrinks to about 12% of that, such that the same duration only requires about 740MBytes. The quality of the resulting DVDMenu stays about the same.

This leaves me with a few minor bug fixes before the next release.

So stay tuned

… no … no … uh … nooo …

So the Carpet cleaner came and left some huge fans in the basement. They said we need it to get the carpet dry but I think they simply put it there to annoy us so much that we would not question the HUGE amount of $$$ it’ll cost us.

Lets just say I would have much rather bought myself two new dual core Laptops, or maybe three nice netbooks to give to family and friends instead of blowing it all on the carpets in the basement.

But honestly, ever since the easing of my headaches due to massive advil-application and the traumatic realization that it is not a good idea to listen to bad news while standing on the top of the stairs, I am okay with it.

You will be able to find me now standing downtown DC with a can in front of me ad a sign that reads :
“Need money, Water damage ”

But I guess this is what home ownership is all about. Hard work, pain and suffering.

What a way to start the week.

So I get this call from my wife at work and it goes like this : “Hey, I know you are busy and stuff but can you come home and buy a mob, the whole basement is flooded and …”

Oh my, there went the nex four hours of my life doing hard labor instead of work family or hobby. I hope the carpet cleaner will not send me in a traumatic shock tomorrow but I somehow get the feeling this is going to hurt …

Ouch. So now that I have had time to eat dinner it is back to work, to finish up something I have promised to solve today.

I don’t think I’ll do any work what so ever on QDVDAuthor today

Transitioning into the week.

So the ButtonTransition thingy has me still occupied 100% but then at least I am now at the 123 list. A what list … let me explain.

A 123 list is a ordered todo list which will get me to the finalization of the feature or release I am working at. Put this in contrast to my normal todo list, which looks more like a collection of thoughts in no particular order. Actually the order is determined by the chronological determination of missing pieces.

Anyhow, my 123 list tells me that I have another 6 things to do in order to finish up the ButtonTransition feature. It will work already in most cases but I have yet to cover two more corner cases. So if you want to give it a whirl be my guest and let me know when you run into trouble.

Oh did I mention that I also solved the crashing bug which kept me from loading my project file ? So now you know this one has been exterminated and won’t bother me or you any more.

Disaster struck …

Well, sorta kinda …

So I am happily integrating the ButtonTransition logic into the overall application when I found that my project file crashes QDVDAuthor.

So I spent this morning debugging this issue and finally caved in and ate breakfast and went to work. More work for me … Grrreeeaaat …

Anyhow, since this is repeatable it should be fixable

But let’s talk about the ButtonTransition for a bit. It actually is a simple way ( simple for the user that is ) to create a transition between the menu ( which holds the button ) and another menu, or the target video.

So in other words you can now blend over from one menu to another. The feature requires a bit more work for the dvdauthor.xml file to work properly.

For example if you have multiple buttons to a single video, and some of them have a transition set and some don’t it becomes apparent that it can get complex in generating the xml structure for dvdauthor.

I do also want to consider the case where a button transition is made to a chapter of the video rather then the beginning. I know that this feature will probably be used by 0.1% of all users but I figure that if that 0.1% includes myself it is time well spent

Just released: QDVDAuthor version 1.9.0

Codename : Regional-wobbly

This was a short but intense release. I added a good junk full of new features to the application while at the same time killing off some bugs.

This release will add Regional codes so you can restrict your audience according to their DVD player regional code.

Another important new feature is the new rendering scheme for subtitles such that you can now also render basic html tags, such as <b>, <u> etc.

Then I spent a good chunk of my time on the auto detection of audio / subtitle tracks for elementary streams, This feature should make those folks happy who are more professional inclined yet want to avoid unnecessary steps.

… and the final new feature will make me happy as I no longer have to specify audio tracks for every single slideshow I create

And of course the bugfixes which came along. For a complete list of changes please check the CHANGELOG file.

Enjoy …

Slideshow default values

… so I am about to get ready for the next release and only wanted to test out some feaures and I realized that there is one thing that annoys me quite a lot.

If you create a slideshow through the FewClickWizard or by clicking the [Add / Organize Images ..] button you end up with a slideshow that has no audio files and uses black as the default background color.

What I found myself doing more often than not is to edit each slideshow and add those parameters manually. This is nice if you have the time and/or interest to personalize every slideshow.

However in most cases I use the same audio and the same background settings and thus find myself going through the same steps over and over again.

So why not simply provide a set of default parameters for the slideshow generation such that if you create a bunch of slideshows you get a randomized audio track and background settings. The filters are also confined to the ones you specify instead of always enabling all of them.

So in short you get to define the default values for a slideshow when it is created to make your life a bit easier.

You can define the default parameters by going to [ Tools -> Setup ... -> Slideshow ]

Wobbly Water

I added a new animted Menu template to the download section.

I filmed the reflection of some trees in a lake nearby. It would be great to get some templates which I can include from other users.