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Recent Posts by Adam Edwards
Posted: Friday, 07/16/2004 -- by Adam Edwards. Subject: Scala Wipes
Glenn,
All you have to do is click the button under the Wipes column in the main menu and you will get to select from hundreds of smooth transitions. Hope this helps.
- Adam
Posted: Thursday, 03/18/2004 -- by Adam Edwards. Subject: Another case study released
Hotel Selects Five-Star Solution for MATV Station.
http://www.scala.com/studies/hotel.html
Posted: Thursday, 03/18/2004 -- by Adam Edwards. Subject: Audio Version
Lamar,
Unless you can read through the book aloud in about 70 minutes, you will not have enough room for true CD Audio (to play in a standard CD player). However, if you plan to encode it to mp3 to play back on a PC, that should be enough. It depends on the bitrate you use to encode, but my guess is you could easily fit about 600 minutes (10 hours) of audio clips.
Regards,
Adam
Posted: Monday, 02/16/2004 -- by Adam Edwards. Subject: Yes
Please contact Paul Heimbach in our Netherlands office for more details. You can reach him via this link:
http://www.scala.com/asp/send.asp?ap=202
Cheers,
Adam
Posted: Monday, 02/16/2004 -- by Adam Edwards. Subject: Exporting in ICD1 and ICD3
Fred,
I have Designer 3 Release 6b, and exporting text for me. Don't forget you have to select the actual element before picking export from the edit menu. If you are still having problems, please let us know.
Lamar,
I do not have Designer 1 on this system so I'm not sure I can help you right now. Although I would try deselecting everything and then trying export. In Designer 3 at least, it allows you to export the background, the entire page (what I think you want), or the palette... whereas if you start selecting elements, it will change to either exporting the clip or plain text.
Regards,
Adam
Posted: Monday, 02/16/2004 -- by Adam Edwards. Subject: End time, wait, and duration
If you click on the video and select the Video tab, you can set the End Time to be 10 seconds afterwards. You may also want to check your settings for pause or duration of certain clips, transitions, and pages, as well as unchecking (Wait?).
Posted: Monday, 02/16/2004 -- by Adam Edwards. Subject: InfoChannel 3 Network
Lamar,
We do not sell ICD3 dongles individually, but the best method for setting up a network in the way you mention is the following:
1 Designer 3
1 InfoChannel Network Manager 3 (for up to 10 Players)
4 Player 3
InfoChannel Player 3 is designed to run on a network with updates scheduled by the single Designer 3 and administered by the Network Manager 3. If you tried to do this with four Designer 3s, it would be a hassle because you would have to manually update everything and worry about reboots, etc. Player 3 runs automatically on restart whereas with Designer 3, you are left at a Windows screen. Not very professional for the world's largest geothermal facility! I think the little extra you would spend on the network would be well worth it so you would not have to update each one individually every time.
I also do not think you would need Excel if you can program updates to the database in VBScript through our Windows Script Host functionality. However it might be worth talking to an authorized Scala VAR about this application.
Cheers,
Adam
Posted: Monday, 02/16/2004 -- by Adam Edwards. Subject: Resolution
Lamar,
You could try increasing the script's resolution, which should only be limited by your video card. However to be compatible with the most number of systems, you may not want to distribute the high-res script on the CD. It is usually better to stick to 800x600 or 1024x768, but for an image export you can create another script at 1600x1200 for example.
Just note that Scala software does not manage dpi (dots per inch) information, so you would have to edit this in Photoshop or a graphics editing program. You could simply scale the image in Word but I do not think it would come out very smooth.
Regards,
Adam
Posted: Monday, 02/16/2004 -- by Adam Edwards. Subject: Playing published files
Hi Sanjay,
You can only play back published scripts (.scb files) with Scala software: Designer 1 or 3, Player 3, or iplay. Which product you use depends on the software you used to make the script in the first place. The only way you could play back our content in Windows Media Player would be if you used InfoChannel Designer 3 and its publish to video option.
Regards,
Adam
Posted: Monday, 02/02/2004 -- by Adam Edwards. Subject: Newer Original Disc
Cees,
What was the release of your original ICD3 disc? Installing the Update CDs will not help because your installation folder does not get changed. This is a problem that we fixed in either Release 4 or 4a (I forget which). Anyway, you need an ICD3 Release 4 or 4a CD to do this properly; the Update disc does not help in this case. Contact your Scala reseller and they should be able to help you.
Regards,
Adam
Posted: Friday, 01/30/2004 -- by Adam Edwards. Subject: We're listening
Hi Michael and Mikael,
I can't promise the inclusion of such a feature but we do indeed keep a "wishlist" and will inform our product management team of your request!
Cheers,
Adam
Posted: Monday, 01/26/2004 -- by Adam Edwards. Subject: Transparency?
I thought 32-bit referred to opacity. 32-bit graphics, for instance, fade to transparent whereas 24-bit are only one layer and must have a matte background. Therefore with 32-bit images, you can get a much softer look with clips. You would not be able to tell the difference of 32-bit backgrounds, however, since there would be nothing behind them.
Posted: Tuesday, 12/30/2003 -- by Adam Edwards. Subject: Video
Lamar,
I'm not sure entirely sure what RSS is. I think you mean something else but I've seen the same acronym listed on some old music and games for Roland Sound Space as an alternative to Dolby Surround (virtual surround from only two speakers).
The videos on the website are in MPEG-1 format, which are viewable in a number of players including our own software.
Regards,
Adam
Posted: Tuesday, 12/16/2003 -- by Adam Edwards. Subject: RS-232 Devices
Rob,
I believe the first Scala PC product to support RS-232 devices was IC200, which is no longer available, so yes, you would need to get IC3. You can see some of the devices controllable here:
http://www.scala.com/products/extension.html
Regards,
Adam Edwards
Marketing Coordinator
Scala, Inc.
Posted: Tuesday, 12/16/2003 -- by Adam Edwards. Subject: ScalaScript
Flemming,
Yes, we do have a manual for scripting in IC200. It's available from the last page of the downloads sequence on our website. Please keep in mind that it hasn't been updated since 1997, so some things may have changed since then.
http://www.scala.com/files/ScalaSCR.pdf
Regards,
Adam Edwards
Marketing Coordinator
Scala, Inc.
Posted: Tuesday, 12/16/2003 -- by Adam Edwards. Subject: Text File
Tadek,
If you have linked in a text file (via Linked Content or the TextFile EX), I believe you should only need to send the text file itself and not the script.
Regards,
Adam Edwards
Marketing Coordinator
Scala, Inc.
Posted: Tuesday, 12/16/2003 -- by Adam Edwards. Subject: Live video
What version of InfoChannel are you using? If you have IC200 or IC3, we have the TV-Input EX and TV Tuner EX respectively. I believe the ATI TV Wonder works with both; just be sure you use a dedicated card (no combo video cards such as the All-in-Wonder). Your Scala VAR should be able to assist you with this.
http://www.scala.com/contact
Regards,
Adam Edwards
Marketing Coordinator
Scala, Inc.
Posted: Tuesday, 12/16/2003 -- by Adam Edwards. Subject: Coming from Amiga
Johan,
Our European headquarters is just outside of Maastricht, so if you use our long contact form, I'm sure Alain and the guys at Scala Computer Television BV would be happy to put you in touch with a local reseller.
http://www.scala.com/contact
The most recent product line is InfoChannel 3 which has a huge list of features. We still support genlocks such as the CORIOgen.
Regards,
Adam Edwards
Marketing Coordinator
Scala, Inc.
Posted: Tuesday, 12/16/2003 -- by Adam Edwards. Subject: Consider CD-Rs
Lamar,
Gone are the days of waiting for 1000+ batches to do silver discs. So do not worry about minimum orders to do duplication. CD-Rs are now generally good enough for most uses, and do not have the overhead you would have to worry about with a normal print run. You could also consider buying a duplicator/printer and doing it yourself. I believe Primera makes a few (a spin-off of Fargo).
http://www.primera.com
Regards,
Adam Edwards
Marketing Coordinator
Scala, Inc.
Posted: Tuesday, 12/16/2003 -- by Adam Edwards. Subject: InfoChannel Designer 3
Soumi,
Publish to Video is a feature of our latest authoring package, Designer 3.
http://www.scala.com/products/designer.html
Although the final cost will be substantially higher than your initial purchase of MM200, you can follow an upgrade path to the new product. You also will get a host of other new features in the 6+ years of development we've undertaken since then.
Regards,
Adam Edwards
Marketing Coordinator
Scala, Inc.
Posted: Tuesday, 11/04/2003 -- by Adam Edwards. Subject: PC Mall
PC Mall is not an authorized IC3 reseller and we have no record of selling IC Designer 3 to them. Scala sells our IC 3 product line in the US only through our authorized Scala reseller partners. PC Mall contacted us late last month to validate that the product they have in inventory is IC Designer 3, and we explained to them how they could confirm it - the product would be serialized and have a hardware key (dongle). Based on the manufacturer number they provided to Scala, there is a possibility that their product may be Designer 1, or they could have sourced the product from a third party. If you decide to purchase IC3 products from a company other than an authorized Scala reseller, you may be disappointed or get incomplete product. If you need to be put in touch with an authorized reseller in your area, please provide us your contact information and we'll be happy to help.
Posted: Friday, 10/03/2003 -- by Adam Edwards. Subject: Gentle interrupt
I believe this is a feature that has been discussed but not yet implemented. Sorry, that is all I can tell you right now!
Posted: Friday, 10/03/2003 -- by Adam Edwards. Subject: Other possibilities
Mikael is right in that Reporter is really the only way to update an actual *ScalaScript*. However, you can change other content and real-time data display via Windows Script Host, TextFile EX, or the Linked Content feature.
Depending on what you're trying to do, other feasible solutions may include third-party products such as CastNET and DialAlert, which can be seen on our developers page:
http://www.scala.com/partners/developers.html
Posted: Wednesday, 09/24/2003 -- by Adam Edwards. Subject: Animation
Lamar,
If you mean GIF animation, you can also try AnimShop by JASC Software. I think it's included in Paint Shop Pro. I've personally found it much easier to use than ImageReady or Fireworks.
Posted: Wednesday, 09/24/2003 -- by Adam Edwards. Subject: Postscript
Samad,
I don't believe so. InfoChannel only supports TrueType and ScalaType fonts. If you absolutely have to use a particular typeset, I would suggest getting a program like Macromedia Fontographer or FontLab to convert them to TrueType.
Posted: Thursday, 09/11/2003 -- by Adam Edwards. Subject: Overlay
"Master" page overlays such as PageMaker and the headers or footers in Microsoft Word are not yet features in our product. However, starting with Release 6, you can have global text crawls that are persistent for multiple pages. If you are interested in planting a logo and/or the time in the corner of the screen, for example, you can simply copy and paste that item in each page since ICD3 remembers its location.
You could emulate this effect if you were to use a Vine Micros' CORIOgen genlock overlay and our corresponding EX but I don't think that is a very ideal situation.
If you plan to do this kind of thing a lot, an easier method would be to use InfoChannel Reporter for templates.
Posted: Thursday, 09/11/2003 -- by Adam Edwards. Subject: Release 6
Scott,
Releases of IC3 are only available to users who are up-to-date on their service plan, since we are continually developing new functionality... not just service packs and bug patches. This has made long-requested features such as global text crawl and Flash clips become a reality. You can only receive these on CD; they are not on the website. If you would like to renew your subscription, please contact your VAR.
Thanks,
Adam
P.S. The SP4 link you see is for ICD1, not ICD3.
Posted: Tuesday, 09/02/2003 -- by Adam Edwards. Subject: Plasma Screen
Was supposed to be an LED Billboard, fixed now. Still impressive though... 85 feet by 6 feet. Thanks for the catch.
Posted: Wednesday, 08/27/2003 -- by Adam Edwards. Subject: Audio
Veenu,
Although InfoChannel can handle unlimited layering of audio (add as much co-existing music and sound effects as you want), it is not as good at syncing. I think once the samples are playing, you can no longer separate them. If this is taking place in a movie, I would suggest editing the sound clips in another package first before importing them into ICD3.
I also do not think InfoChannel can handle 5.1 audio directly. Your best option here would be to launch an external event in another jukebox program or perhaps use an external device controlled via serial port.
Sorry but those are the best options I know of at this moment.
Posted: Tuesday, 08/26/2003 -- by Adam Edwards. Subject: Chroma-keyed video
Momir,
You do know that in Designer 3, you can set a color to chroma key out and apply transparency fades, right? It's a pretty neat effect although it does require some beefy hardware. You should get much better performance with R6 though. I use it a lot to show off the included flame or water videos on top of a background.
It is not actually full 32-bit animation as you mention, but pretty good in the meantime.
Posted: Tuesday, 08/26/2003 -- by Adam Edwards. Subject: Tools
Gosh, if everyone is using sans-serif now, can't anyone be different? :) At least Windows is beginning to handle anti-aliasing a bit better these days. But all comments are appreciated and taken into account. You'll be seeing a few more tweaks as the days go on.
I have to say that the site and the forum is all thanks to Mike's self-built tools. We do use some XML/XSLT transformations and JS menus, but he has made it very easy for me to design and manage the new site.
Posted: Tuesday, 08/26/2003 -- by Adam Edwards. Subject: Clarification
When you buy either Designer 3 or Player 3, you get a license of WinDVD for its software MPEG-2 playback capability. Buying WinDVD from InterVideo does *not* get you either Designer 3 or Player 3.
And yes, the latest update of IC3 does include Flash import.
Posted: Tuesday, 08/26/2003 -- by Adam Edwards. Subject: Starting out
If you haven't been to these links, perhaps they will help:
http://www.scala.com/tutorials
http://www.scala.com/infochannel-designer-faq/
http://www.scala.com/infochannel-designer-3-faq/
Our Malaysian reseller, ClickGrafix, has also done two really cool animated tutorials:
http://www.clickgrafix.com/tutorials/cgx2002_tut_scala.htm
Posted: Tuesday, 08/26/2003 -- by Adam Edwards. Subject: Two out of three so far
1. InfoChannel Reporter 3 does layout templates.
2. Surprise, the latest version of Designer 3 (R6) imports Flash animations.
3. Paths have been talked about; I don't know where we are with it at this time.
As for Flash *output*, I don't think this is as easy since Scala is primarily a bitmap-centric program and Flash is vector-based. Showing Flash clips are one thing but converting is quite a different beast.
If you have any suggestions for new areas of the website, I am all ears!
Posted: Friday, 08/22/2003 -- by Adam Edwards. Subject: IC Player 3
Frédéric,
InfoChannel Player 3 is a different program that updates its contents created in Designer 3 via another product, InfoChannel Network Manager 3. They are all part of the IC3 suite and function together in a network, but are purchased separately.
You might want to take a look at some of these pages for a better explanation:
http://www.scala.com/nmtutorial
http://www.scala.com/products
http://www.scala.com/press/literature.html
Hope that helps explain things!
Cheers,
Adam
Posted: Friday, 08/22/2003 -- by Adam Edwards. Subject: Business Model
Steve,
What you described earlier is actually the focus of our flagship product line, InfoChannel 3. Yes, it is significantly more expensive than iplay studio or ICD, but you get many more features to handle the needs of a 24/7 operation with remote administration, logging, and scheduling. I would check out http://www.scala.com/products if you haven't already!
Cheers,
Adam
Posted: Friday, 08/22/2003 -- by Adam Edwards. Subject: Thanks!
Glad you like it. I am anxious to hear everyone else's comments too.
Not a fan of the purple, hmm... ok I'll keep that in mind!
Regards,
Adam
Posted: Thursday, 06/19/2003 -- by Adam Edwards. Subject: Moving between scripts
Jim, what version of Scala software are you using? It seems to me you could do something with setting counters and using a few if statements.
Posted: Thursday, 06/19/2003 -- by Adam Edwards. Subject: XP
Lamar,
I use XP Home on my laptop and still use ICD once in a while to publish CDs and haven't had any problems. Just make sure you have the latest service pack from www.scala.com/downloads. If you ever decide to upgrade to IC3, however, XP Pro is definitely better because of the way it handles networking.
Regards,
Adam
Posted: Monday, 12/23/2002 -- by Adam Edwards. Subject: Stopping sound
You should be able to add a special event and set Sample: Stop as one of the attributes (similar to how you added a Sample: Play at first). I believe you can even set the fade out time, although that might depend on which software you are using. I hope that helps.
Posted: Monday, 12/23/2002 -- by Adam Edwards. Subject: InfoChannel 3
InfoChannel does not currently support directly importing either Flash movies or PowerPoint presentations.
You can however launch a webpage that would display if your computer has a Flash plug-in. If you created a non-interactive animation, the easiest thing would be to create a movie file.
For PowerPoint, you can export to JPEG which creates a series of images that you can bring into InfoChannel Designer.
If you would like to import a live video feed, you would need our TV Tuner EX plug-in that is available from your local Scala reseller. Hope that helps.
Posted: Saturday, 07/27/2002 -- by Adam Edwards. Subject: ICNM / ICBS Demos
Marco,
We have a tour of Network Manager 3 available on our download page:
http://www.scala.com/downloads
It is not fully functional, but instead offers you a browseable version of screenshots to give you an idea of how it works. There has not been a similar demo or tour developed for Broadcast Server 3. The best way to see these in action is to contact your local Scala VAR.
- Adam
Posted: Wednesday, 06/19/2002 -- by Adam Edwards. Subject: Typing
I was not at the Users Conference, so I didn't get to see this particular script, but I imagine you can get a similar effect by splitting words up into individual letters and giving them each a different wipe.
Posted: Wednesday, 06/19/2002 -- by Adam Edwards. Subject: Scala City
If you have seen the Scala City demo, it sort of achieves this effect by using the push wipes. It may give you a few ideas; I think you can open it up and see how it works. I know what you are saying though, it would certainly be nice.
ICD3 has "through" wipes that never stop pushing or flying on, but I think it only works for clips, not full pages.
Posted: Wednesday, 06/19/2002 -- by Adam Edwards. Subject: Script-specific?
If other scripts run fine, perhaps it is something specific to the one that isn't working. Is there anything special you are trying to do with it that you don't elsewhere?
Sincerely,
Adam Edwards
Scala, Inc.
Posted: Wednesday, 06/19/2002 -- by Adam Edwards. Subject: SP2
I believe this was fixed with SP2 (and if not, I am fairly sure it is with SP3 which is coming soon). Did you receive the new Scala Service Program CD in the mail or from your VAR?
Sincerely,
Adam Edwards
Scala, Inc.
Posted: Wednesday, 06/19/2002 -- by Adam Edwards. Subject: Many reasons
Unfortunately we just don't have the marketing budget to go up against Microsoft, even with a better product. In fact, admist our awards for iplay studio, we also received some criticism. Believe it or not, it was for providing too much functionality at that price. Entry-level users were confused by everything that you could do! Plus most people get PowerPoint "for free" in Office, so that is some pretty tough competition.
So we are focusing on what we do best, InfoChannel networks. We in a much better position to lead the B2B digital signage industry than the presentation market.
Sincerely,
Adam Edwards
Scala, Inc.
Posted: Thursday, 04/04/2002 -- by Adam Edwards. Subject: InfoChannel 3
http://www.scala.com/products/designer.html
If you have already found a solution, this might not be of much help, but you could of course alternatively upgrade to IC Designer 3 which has output to video built-in, among many other new features.
- Adam
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