Usability Features Missing

I would like to agree with the need for second monitor support.

*George*

Posted by: @ronb

В ProShow, я мог воспроизвести на моем втором мониторе ...

To support the second monitor, you need a second program window, as it was in the producer. The main window and the slide options window in which we edit the slides. There is no such possibility in the director/creator, all editing takes place in the main program window.

Paul

Posted by: @ronb

Can't copy settings like: Vignette, cropping...

Most settings can still be copied between keyframes, layers, or slides. To do this, right-click on any of the input values ​​and select "Copy ....... to other keyframes" in the context menu.

P.S. The vignette parameter is poorly implemented in the director, compared to the producer. This gap can largely replace the outline, for which there are great opportunities. Including copying values ​​to other layers and slides.

One small feature is using the space bar as a toggle to start and stop the slide show. In Photopia Director the space bar, on my system, only starts to play the show from the beginning. If I hit the space bar again, it stops. If I hit the space bar again, nothing happens. Have to click on the play icon. It's a bit cumbersome to have to keep doing that.

@n-nychka

The issue you've described, where the Spacebar can fail to resume show playback, appears to be a bug.  We'll get this over to our QA team to sort out the details and send something along to the developers so they can get things cleaned up.  Thank you for the report.

I would like to suggest a refresh or reload button in the add photo or video layer picker dialog box. When I have a show open and I am editing it and download a new image, that image does not appear until I close the entire program and open it back up again and open the add photo or video layer dialog box.

Thanks.

@travis-childs

We'll make sure this request gets logged for consideration.  Thank you.

With ProShow, it was possible to cut and separate audio tracks so they could be synced with video as wanted.  Can't do this with Director.  Big problem when you want to create quiet space.  Do not want to use a fade.

Also, can't believe you cannot use a second monitor.  This really is a bother, particularly when looking through asset files.

@robert-watkins

There is an "Offset" option in Photopia, to create overlaps and quiet space between tracks.  It's located in the "Soundtrack" tab, which is present when an audio track is selected form the "Show" tab.  Note that the current build may not display waveforms properly for some trimmed audio tracks.  This should be fixed in the next update, which I expect to see released soon.

It sounds like you want to use a second monitor to display things like the file browser.  We can certainly look into adding that feature.

thanks for the reply, @joshua, but your suggestions do not address  the problem.  ProShow had a "cut" function, which enabled you to create two (or more) tracks out of one.  This enabled you to adjust sound segments to the slide track with much precision.   I know you can adjust the slide track to the audio, but that is a very different thing and not what I need to do.   I can accomplish what I want by cutting the audio track in Ableton Live, then exporting the clips to create separate audio files.  Really can be a pain to get it right.  ProShow was much more efficient.

As for second monitor, I do like to use it for the file browser, but it really was great for working with the LightBox panel.  However, I see that Director does not allow you to undock the panel, which ProShow did.  Again, a blow to an efficient work flow. 

@robert-watkins

It sounds like you're looking for the "Trim" button in Photopia, located in the "Soundtrack" tab within the Options Panel under the "Track Settings" section (while an audio track is selected).  This feature allows a track to be trimmed down to the desired portion.  If this is not what you're looking for, please reach out through the Contact Us form and we'll get things figured out.

@joshua

Rereading posts, perhaps I should have been more explicit.   I am aware of the "Trim" function in Director. I miss the "Split Track Here" function that Producer has.  It allows you to "cut" a track, with no audio loss on either side of the cut.  I do use fades, but there are also situations where a clear and definite cut is required.  I recently finished a project that required 8 cuts (NOT fades - of which probably 20 were done).  I am working on a music video now that will require 14 cuts.  I probably will do it in Producer, since exporting in and out of Ableton is much easier.  (I tried the  " Edit Track in an External Editor" function  in Director - it's just a link, not a tool).  Audio is an area where Director could use improvement

Also, the "Lightbox" really is nowhere near an adequate tool.

and again, thanks for the replies

@robert-watkins

I see what you're talking about now.  We can certainly look at adding this 'split track' feature, in addition to a few other related options.  In the meantime, you may find that duplicating the track in question and manually trimming each instance to have the desired (Start / End) trim values servers as a viable workaround.  There are certainly more steps involved in this method but the results should be the same.  We'll also take a closer look at that Lightbox feature.