What's New in 2013r1

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Feb 12, 2014

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Sep 14, 2013

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What's New in 2013r1

Here are some highlights of the main new features added in ProSelect software version 2013r1.

More details can also be found:

On the What's New page on our web site
In the ProSelect_Readme.htm delivered with the downloadable installer
The What's New section in the back of the easy reading ProSelect Reference Manual (with direct links to the relevant pages)

Note: The latest important updates to this release will be shown below.

What's New in Version 2013r1

September 1, 2013

Important Notes:

To find out if you are eligible for a free upgrade to this new version, please see the article ProSelect 2013r1 release.

This new version is focussed on changes to the slideshow area with the addition of the some major new features. Most of the functions associated with slideshows are now under a new Slideshow Menu rather than the Preferences as in previous versions.

This version and newer will not run on the Mac PowerPC (last produced in 2006). You can check if your Mac has a "PowerPC" processor, in Mac's Finder --> choose "About This Mac" from the Apple menu. Look at the Processor line to see which kind of processor is in your Mac.

Requirements

This version requires that you have Apple's Quicktime installed on your computer in order to play music and videos within ProSelect. ProSelect will warn you if Quicktime is not installed on your computer and provide a link to the page on Apple's web site from where it can be downloaded.
By default, playing a slideshow now uses using OpenGL (2.0 or newer) to access your computers graphics chipset for better performance. OpenGL drivers are automatically installed on most modern Mac and Windows computers. You can select not to use OpenGL when playing the slideshow by unchecking Use OpenGL in Preferences -> Slideshow & Music -> Slideshow settings however the slideshow will play much less efficiently and the Ken Burns effect will not be available.

Some of the new features and enhancements include:

Music

Music Groups. You can setup one or more Music Groups each of which can have an unlimited number of tracks. This allows you to prepare different types of music for different types of clients. e.g. wedding, family, seniors etc. All music tracks are now stored in the ProSelect Resources folder and thus can be shared between different machines running ProSelect.
When upgrading from a previous version of ProSelect, a default music group is automatically created from your previous preferences setting from either a music file, folder or iTunes playlist.
In the Setup Music window (under the Slideshow menu), you can add music to an existing or new group from a file or your Music Resources folder by dragging and dropping music files into the selected group's list box. Alternatively you can create a new music group directly from a selected Music folder or iTunes playlist.
Playing music. Slideshows can be automatically synced to your selected music tracks by specifying a minimum and maximum acceptable time (on either side of your "ideal" times) for slide and transition time that you set up in the Slideshow Style. In this case, if possible, ProSelect will automatically adjust the slide & transition times so that the music ends perfectly at the conclusion of the slideshow. If syncing is not possible, your "ideal" slide & transition times with be used and the music will fade out at the end for the slideshow.
Slideshow music can be set to cross-fade between tracks when playing (this is selected in the Slideshow Style) and will always loop to the beginning of a music group after playing the last track in the group.
By default, any silence at the end of any imported music file is automatically "trimmed" so the music alignment and changing to the next track are without any prolonged silent periods. You can turn this off by unchecking the box "Trim End Silence" in the Setup Music window.
The installer now includes a free (subject to licence conditions) music track from Triple Scoop Music which is automatically added to ProSelect's Music groups during a new install, when upgrading from an earlier version or if no music groups are present. If this occurs a Triple Scoop Music Credit title slide is added at the same time.

Slideshow Styles

You can set up an unlimited number of slideshow styles in which you can control:

(a) The associated Music Group to play with this style
(b) Music cross-fading and syncing options
(c) Slide timing
(d) Transition type and timing
(e) Background color or image
(f) Image border size and color
(g) Aspect ratio (defaults to full screen)
(h) Edge space (the inset space around the items in the slideshow)
(i) Whether name labels are shown and their size
(j) Three different Ken Burns effects (Pro version only - see below)
(k) Adding drop shadows
(l) Square Screen format
(m) Start and End pausing
Ken Burns Effect (Pro Only). This Slideshow Style option will display images slowly randomly panning and/or zooming during your slideshow. You can select one of three Ken Burns effects while playing the slideshow. These are:

(a) Full images (No Cropping) - the entire image is moved/zoomed in/out within the bounds of the screen space less the selected Edge Space.
(b) Cropped to fill screen - Images are zoomed in so they fill the entire screen space (less any set edge space). You can set a Focal Point (the point which you want to be shown close to the center of the screen such as a person's face) in Focal Point View (see below).
(c) Random. A random mix of the above two.
A random key is generated for each slideshow in each album and saved with the album. This ensure that the slideshow will play and export exactly the same way each time. You can reset the random key used when playing Ken Burns effect movies by holding down both the Shift AND Alt-Click keys when clicking on the SlideShow icon.
If you have "Sync Slide Show to Music" selected both the Slide Time and Slide Transition time sliders will show extra slider "pointers" below the bottom of the slider. These can be dragged up or down to set the minimum and maximum change in the slide time that you will allow when syncing to your slideshow to the music in the selected music group. You can also drag the middle pointer while holding down the Alt/Option key to drag all three pointers at once.
You can get a indication of how your current settings effect the range of slides that the selected Music group will sync to (assuming that it starts using the first track in the music group) by watching the values of "Music will sync with 30-80, 56-150,92-249 slides" at the bottom of the window. The first range of values (30-80) is based on only playing the first track, the second range of values (56-150) is based on playing the first two tracks and so on

Notes on Aspect ratio: This defaults to full screen however you can force it into a fixed aspect ratio space on your screen. If screen is a different aspect ratio, then the slideshow will be "letterboxed". This is useful if you are including videos in the slideshow and want to keep the overall shape of the slideshow presentation matching that of the video content (e.g. HD 16:9 format).

Ambient Music (ProSelect Pro only)

This feature allow you to play background music during your sales session.
By default, ProSelect will use using your topmost music group (in the Setup Music window) and 25% of maximum volume.
When you start playing a slideshow, any ambient music will automatically fade down as the slideshow starts then back up after the slideshow ends.
Ambient music is controlled from the icon near left-hand side of working with bar and under Album Menu. Click to start/pause. Alt/Option-click this icon to open Ambient Music Setup window or choose this under the Album Menu.
You can use Keyboard shortcuts:

Increase volume: Control-+ (PC) or Command-+ (Mac)
Decrease volume: Control-- (PC) or Command-- (Mac)Q (- = minus)

Note: Changes to the volume level using the above keys do not adjust the ambient music level saved in the album file. You see to adjust this in the Ambient Music Setup window.

Playing a Slideshow

Playing a slideshow when NOT is Working with SlideShows is now referred to as "Quick Slideshow". By default, your topmost Slideshow Style is used for these, however you can assign and save a different "Quick Slideshow" style (and associated Music Group) to each album under the Album menu. Quick Slideshows only play the currently selected Set and Tab and always start from the first item in the set unless you choose otherwise (see below).
You can start a slideshow by clicking on the slideshow icon or choosing Start from the slideshow menu. Other options (in the menu or by right-clicking the icon) include and "Start Paused", "Play from Location" and "Play Looped". Shortcuts: Shift+click slideshow icon (Play from location), Alt/Option+click slideshow icon (Start Paused).
The following Keyboard commands can be used during the slideshow:

Right Arrow: Skip to next slide
Left Arrow: Skip to previous slide
Shift-Right Arrow: Skip to next set, title slide or video.
Shift-Left Arrow: Skip to previous set, title slide or video.
Space Bar: Pause/Continue slideshow
Escape: Stop the slideshow
Downarrow: Move selected item to set (if selected in the Preferences)

When pausing a slideshow the music also stop so the music will still sync after continuing. When skipping the music will also skip to keep it in sync with the slideshow.
When playing a slideshow in Mirror Display Area mode, the progress of the slideshow along with the currently displayed image is shown on the "operator's screen".

Working With Slideshows

The new Working with Slideshows module allows you to setup customised slideshows containing any mix (in any order) of images, layouts, room images, and book pages, title slides and short video clips. You add images, layouts and room images to a Slideshow by dragging them from the Image List.
You can add book pages, title slides and video clips by dragging them from the album and library resources section at the bottom of the screen. Adding and playing of videos is only available in ProSelect Pro.
You can set up up to five different slideshows sets in Working with Slideshows in ProSelect Pro whereas ProSelect (basic) is limited to one slideshow set per album.
Each slideshow can be assigned its own Slideshow Style (see below) with an associated music group so you can setup different Styles for difference clients and/or Movie Exports.
Slideshows can optionally include one or more "Album sets" which link to the album's current image sets & tabs, layout sets, room view sets, books, ordered images and ordered layouts. This allows any changes made in other areas of ProSelect to be automatically incorporated into a slideshow. For example, you can pre-setup a slideshow that will just play the ordered items in a few seconds.
Album Sets can be optionally converted to individual slide items using "Convert Selected Sets to Slides" under Slideshow menu. You can choose to re-order the slide while doing this by either by current album order, name or randomly. Each of these items (like any individually added images, layout, rooms etc) are linked back to original item so any changes make to the original item will also be reflected in the slideshow.
Any Working With Slideshow sets can be exported as fully rendered .mp4 movies in a range of different sizes as a saleable product or for uploading to blogs, facebook, you-tube etc. (see below).
Slides can be re-arranged in Thumbnail view and you can preview each fully rendered slide (as it will appear when playing the slideshow) in the Show Slide View (eyeball). Use the arrow keys to step through each slide.
Focal Point View allows you to set the point around which an Ken Burns effect are centered.
A new Slideshow Preference controls the amount of hardware scaling used when playing a slideshow using OpenGL. This can adjusted between 0 and 50% and defaults to 20%. The lower the value the higher the quality of displayed images during the slideshow. The higher the value the higher performance of the slideshow (less load on the CPU for slower machines and/or hi-res displays).
When playing a video segment in a slide show:

(a) if the video doesn't have a sound track the selected slideshow music will play through the video.

(b) if the video has a music track you can select to either play it while the video is playing instead of the selected slideshow music or use the slideshow music instead. Set this by selecting the video in the slideshow and using the "Set Video Sound On" or "Set Video Sound Off" in the right-hand tool bar.

(c) if playing video's sound, Video sound and slideshow music will smoothly cross-fade when the slideshow is playing This selected by checking "Cross fade Audio into Videos" under Music drop-down menu while Working with Slideshows.

(d) if your slideshow starts and/or end with a video with a sound track then you can select to sync the music (if possible) so that the slideshow music starts AFTER the first video and ends before the last video. This is selected by checking "Align Audio Between Videos" under Music popup menu while Working with Slideshows. Changing this may result in a determining whether you music will sync or not because the the music length will be adjusted to fit between the videos rather than over the entire slideshow time.

(e) You can use the Preference --> SlideShows Video Sound: Turn off to control video sound when adding these to a ProSelect Album.

Music Selection & Syncing

When Working with Slideshows the name of the first music track to be played is displayed in the title bar along side the selected Slideshow Style for the currently selected slideshow.
If music syncing is turned off in the Slideshow Style then, by default, each music track is played in same order as setup in the Music Group starting with the first track. All music tracks that will be played (or partially played) are shown in the "Play List" at the top of the "music track popup menu" in the title bar. You can select a different starting track from the "Select Starting Track" section which shows all tracks in the associated Music Group.
If music syncing is turned on in the Slideshow Style then, by default, ProSelect will start with first music track in your selected Music Group. However, clicking on "music track popup menu" will show all music tracks in that group star rated by which are the best to start with to achieve the closest slide time to your "ideal" times. The very best track has green stars and any tracks with a red "x" indicate that a track is is either to long to too short to sync. You can optionally select a different starting track. Alternatively, you can turn on "Auto-Select best music track" (at the top of the pop-up menu) and ProSelect will do this for you. Selecting a specific starting track will turn off "Auto-Select best music track" and use that one instead.
In Preferences -> Slideshow you can select to have "Auto-Select Best Music track" for all new albums. This setting will only be applied when using a Slideshow Style with Music Syncing on.

Focal Point View

This is available when Working with Slideshows and design to allow you to set your preferred feature location (e.g. some's head or eyes) in each image or layout when using the Ken Burns "Cropped to fill screen" mode. Focal Point view is similar in appearance to Thumbnail view.
In Focal Point view, all images and layouts in the current slideshow are displayed (even if within a Album placeholder set) with a box showing current Focal Point location. You can drag the position to where ever you like. If you have an number of similar images, you can select them using Shift-click and Control/Command-click then drag one Focal Point control with the SHIFT Key held down to adjust the Focal Points in all selected images together.
The Focal Point positions for rooms is automatically set to the "Default Image Location" that you have setup for each room. For books it is the center of the spread.
Focal Point positions are saved in the Album file.

Slideshow Info

When working with Slideshows, the Info Bar displays the total number of slides, slideshow duration, music syncing status (syncing off, fade at end, synced and number of track to be played) and the resulting slide, transition and total slide times. It also shows info about any selected items such as the selected video's "codec".
When music syncing is on and not synced, the number of slides required to sync to next and previous tracks is shown in the Information Bar.

Title Slides

Title slides are setup using "Setup Title Slides" (under the Slideshow menu)
You can setup individual title slides or a sequence of title slides in one or more groups. Title slides can use a colored background or any selected resources image.
Title Slide background options are:

- None (use Slideshow Style's background)
- Color
- Image
- Next image slide
- Previous image slide
In ProSelect Pro, you can also add any number of text layers to your title slides. Text layers can customized with different styles, sizes, colors, fonts, opacity and justification. Text layers can be fixed or "personalized" for each album by including one or more of the Personalized Text Tags. These include Album name, Next/Previous Set names, Order Group First/Last/Full names, and five Custom text options.
When adding a Title Slide group into a slideshow, each slide in that group is treated as a separate slide which can be optionally re-positioned in the slideshow sequence. Title slides added from a group have their original group position number shown on the thumbnail image so its easy to check for the correct sequence of title slides.
Title Slide background images also have the option to "Fit Within". This will cause them to maintain their original aspect ratio with the bounds of the SlideShow style's edge space (if this is selected to be applied to Title Slides). Any empty "letterbox" areas will be filled with the SlideShow style's background.
Title Slide Text is fitted within the smaller of SlideShow style's edge space or resource image size.

Entering Title Slide Personalized Text Tag Values (ProSelect Pro only)

If any of the included titles slides in your slideshows contain any Personalized Text Tags then, when that slideshow is selected, ProSelect checks that all these tags have some text entered for them. If not, ProSelect will show a "caution" symbol next to the "T" icon on the right-hand end of the title bar (in Thumbnail view) and against the "Edit Personalized Text" menu (under the Album Menu).
Clicking on either the "T" icon or selecting the menu item, will open the Edit Slideshow Personalized Text window where you can enter any missing text or, in the case of missing Order Group Names, allow you to directly open the Order Group Setup window and enter it there.
By default, the entered values and the selected order group are automatically used for all slideshows. However, by unchecking the "shared" checkbox in the above window, you can enter a different value (or select a different Order Group) for each slideshow. Hint: If you are using the Album Name tag in a title slide, make sure that you save any newly created albums (giving them a name) before running or exporting the slideshow else this will end up being "Untitled".
You can Preview any of your title slides in Show Slideshow Slide View (the Eyeball) and any Personalized Text Tags will display as they will while playing or exporting..

Videos (ProSelect Pro Only)

You can setup and preview shared resource video items (Library Videos) and album specific videos (Album Videos) using "Setup Videos" (under the Slideshow menu).
Album specific video can be added by dropping into the image list or will also be automatically added if they are in any folder that is added to an album..
Videos can be inserted into any position in a slideshow when in Working with Slideshows by dragging them from the Resources section at the bottom of Thumbnail view.
Note: Album Videos are NOT saved into a ProSelect album file (due to size constraints) so, it is recommended that you keep them in the same folder as your ProSelect Album file and copy them with the album file if necessary. If you place them along side or in the folder structure below your album file then ProSelect will remember the location relative to the album file so you can easy move both the Album file and associated videos to other machines at the links will still work. If the link is broken, use Find Album Videos (under Album Menu to re-link them.
By default, Proselect uses VLC libraries (if present) for greatly improved video playback performance. The VLC Libraries are now installed with the ProSelect installer on both Mac and Windows machines. ProSelect will reverts back to using Quicktime for playing videos should the VLC libraries not be found in the installed location (next to ProSelect).
Use Default Album Video folder in Preferences--> Default Folders. This is used as the starting folder when importing videos into library and album
The selected video's "codec" is shown in Setup Videos window and in the Info Bar when Working with Slideshows.
You can set Preferences --> Importing Images to automatically also import any video files in the imported image folder as new Album Videos.
You can open a video file in Photoshop (requires CS6 or CS4/5 Extended). You can do this for both Library and Album videos from the Setup Videos window using the new Open in Photoshop button or for any Album Video in a slideshow by selecting the video and using a Cmd/Control-T (Album Menu-> Videos -> Open in Photoshop).
Video menu Command "Open PSD version in Photoshop" (Cntrl/Command-Y) will open a saved Photoshop version of a video file in Photoshop (This file must be located next to the album video file).
After making changes to an already imported album video, use Update Selected Album Videos (Album Menu -> Videos) to update the saved video information in ProSelect. If the video length has changed then the music syncing will be adjusted accordingly.

Exporting a Slideshow

You can create a fully rendered .mp4 movie from any one of your slideshows. This is set up under Export -> Slideshow Movie.
You can choose which slideshow movie that you wish to export and the format required from a list of export presets. Click on a Preset to get a hint of where to use this output format. More than one format can be selected to be exported at the same time..
Exporting a movie can take some time since every frame must be rendered so it is recommend that you use lower resolution, lower frame rate options where possible
The Default Export Presets are loaded from the Default Resources -> Video -> Export Presets folder installed next to the ProSelect Application itself. These can be duplicated and modified as a "Custom Preset" using the Edit button. Custom Presets are saved in the ProSelect Resources -> Video -> Export Presets folder and can be shared between multiple ProSelect installations.
You can add the copyright stamp setup in your preference to the exported video.
When exporting videos, if there is only one video format selected then you will have the option to change the file name of the exported movie otherwise a default name will be used.

Payment Methods

You can now setup your own Payment methods and export codes under Payments Setup (under the Orders menu). These options will then be listed in the Payment Method popup menu when adding/editing a payment for an order.
Payment methods assigned to orders from earlier versions of ProSelect will automatically be converted to use the new format by matching the new payment method description against the previous fixed payment method name. If no match is found then the topmost current payment method is used and a warning is shown. The payment is flagged with a caution icon until either the method or the payment note (which now has the old album's payment method) is changed.

Miscellaneous Changes

The current Mirror Display setting is now saved and restored (if you still have two screens attached) when you close and open ProSelect unless "Always Off on Startup" is checked in the Preferences -> Display -> Calibration & Options -> Display Mirroring. Apart from the View menu command, you can turn it on/off using the new icon at the lefthand end of the Working with Bar.
Auto-populating a composite book page now allows the template to be rotated if the book page is within 5% of being square in size rather than being exactly square.
Dragging items to the trash icon no longer prompts you to confirm that you wish to delete them unless you have the SHIFT key down (for permanently deleting the original images as well). Selecting items and clicking on the trash icon still asks for confirmation before deleting..
You can now assign sets name for room sets and slideshow sets..
You can open the Edit Set Names window by double clicking on the set name in the top title bar.
Alt/Option clicking on the text associated with many popup menu in the title bars will show their respective setup windows:
Book Design Name --> opens Edit Book Designs Window
SlideShow Style Name --> opens Setup Slideshow Style Window
SlideShow Music Group Name --> opens Setup Music Window
Minimum Window size is now 1024x685 pixels.
Working with Books, now also shows the template name for a selected book page in the info bar when you have the preferences selected to show side names on the pages.
Remote commands - GetAlbumData command now also returns the albumName and Preference settings for defaultJobFolder (as a path) and useImagesFolderForJob (true/false) status.
After closing the Template Editor, any previously selected templates (in thumbnail view) are left selected so you can quickly re-edit the same template again.
You can now apply a 0% opacity to a graphics block in the template editor. Image openings must have a minimum of 10% opacity.
Original images -> Copy to commands now leave the internal links to the images in the original location. (Previously these were changing to the destination location). This makes it easier to simply replace the original images in the original folders after the selected images have been retouched.
All popup menus in Thumbnail view now open when you click on the text associated with popup menu as the dropdown menu icon.
Added shortcut Key Control/Command-W to toggle current units.
Moved hide/show Image List button to left hand end of Working with Bar. If you don't have the Working with Bar displayed, use Shift-Tab 5 times.
In any of the Thumbnail views dragging an item to the top or bottom of the thumbnail area will auto-scroll the images down or up. Due to OS limits on Macs, you need to wiggle your mouse near the bottom or top area for scrolling to continue. On Windows it will continue to scroll automatically.
Dropping items in "auto scroll area" at the top and bottom of the thumbnail view area will position the dropped items at the top or bottom of the thumbnail view and also scroll the view to the beginning or end respectively.
Added "ProSelect Resources Folder -> Show in Finder/Windows Explorer" (under Resources menu) to quickly get to this folder location.
Thumbnail view now fills the main screen's Display Area when Mirror Display Area is on and the Display Preferences are set hide the thumbnails on the mirrored screen.
Updated the About ProSelect window. This window now also shows the status of the VLC libraries and OpenGL.
When using the Alt/Option key shortcut for cropping adjustments in Show Layouts (WWL) and Show Pages (WWB) view, the cyan crop selection rectangle around an opening only show after you start dragging.
Changed the default setting for "Re-size to" when adding images from "Current Screen Size" to 1920x1600.
Allow Template Groups containing images to be deleted if not empty. In this case any templates in the group are also deleted.
Added more information about screen sizes and VLC status into Debug Log.
Added "Checking Recent Albums" status to Splash Screen on startup.
Changed Preferences sub menu name from "Templates, Layouts, Rooms & Books" to "Templates, Rooms & Books".
Now ensures that Order Item ID numbers are always unique for each album when exporting orders.
Change text on Preferences --> General Setting --> Use Javascript to launch.

Bug Fixes

[FIX] Template Editor - When using "Rotate 90" on a template with an overlay image, the overlay image is now also shown rotated in the editor.
[FIX] Template Editor - changing the overlay image on a template with a rotated overlay image, the new overlay image is no longer rotated.
[FIX] Working with Books. When adding a page to a book with composite book design, the page is automatically changed to a non-fixed size type.
[FIX] Working with Books. When using a composite book design, ProSelect shows the overlay image correctly scaled to fit on the page when auto-populating new templates by dropping an image into a traditional matted template which has an overlay image.
[FIX] Fixed a problem with Hi-Res Production stopping if an image is not in RGB mode. This could really only occur with Overlay images since ProSelect only allows importing of RGB images.
[FIX] When using Mirror Display mode in Thumbnail view, the new templates or rooms section at the bottom of the screen is no longer partially hidden when mirror screen is smaller than main screen.
[FIX] Now checks for & removes any illegal characters entered into the Custom Extra descriptions when ordering.
[FIX] The "Warn Same Name" warning when renaming templates is reset to true on each session start and so the prompt to turn this off is now "Turn Off Temporarily".
[FIX] Now also checks for duplicate template names when changing names in Template Manager.
[FIX] No longer truncates ordered layout names containing decimal characters when displayed as line items in the Place Order window when hide file extensions was on.
[FIX] Windows that keep their screen position from the last opened position (eg the Place Order Window) will now do this correctly when you are using three screens on your computer.
[FIX] When converting a .png resource into a .jpg the image is correctly masked with a white background for a smoothly rendered image.
[FIX] End of lines are no longer removed from any entered Order Group Notes.
[FIX] Added test code to see if image stretching on printers that incorrectly report different vertical and horizontal resolutions can be corrected. (This has not been tested in-house).
[FIX] The Template Editor now remembers a template's last used overlay image and will pre-select this again in Select Resource Image window if you uncheck and re-check the overlay image checkbox.
[FIX] No longer gives an error if you change to a different view using a keyboard shortcut while the mouse button is still down.

What's New in Version 2013r1.7

February 12, 2014

[FIX][WIN] Print Paper Size window icons no longer have a black backgrounds on Windows 7/8.
[FIX][MAC] No longer gives an error when opening the Slideshow Export window if you are running ProSelect from a location that is not next to its Default Resources folder and no Slideshow Export Preset have been previously added.
[FIX][WIN] You can now adding new videos using the Setup Videos window and the associated ProSelect Resources window on Windows machines.
[FIX] No longer gives an error when setting up title slides when a title slide group is open.

What's New in Version 2013r1.6

January 30, 2014

[FIX][WIN] The mirror display screen no longer has a 1 px white border on the top and left edges. This seemed to be a more recent Windows version issue only.
To help track down the reason why a slideshow movie fails to export, ProSelect now displays an error code which references the step at which an error occurred. These codes can be found in the KnowledgeBase article called "Slideshow and Movie Export Error Codes".
Added more data to the Debug messages when exporting and playing slideshows to assist with any diagnostics in these areas.
To improve slideshow playback appearance, ProSelect now dynamically adjusts the priority of the background thread that is fetching the next image. This is based on the type of slideshow style, slideshow contents and computer performance.
[FIX][WIN] - On start-up ProSelect no longer attempts to install the default music if Quicktime is not installed because this results in the music track length being set to zero and results in a crash if you then attempted to play a slideshow using this music track.
[FIX] Slideshows no longer crash if you try to play them using a music track with zero length.
[FIX] The Setup Music window now shows a warning on any tracks that have zero length.
[FIX][WIN] Slideshow transitions now work on Windows XP with OpenGL turned off.
[FIX] Fixed a currency format problem when using ProSelect on Mac OSX Mavericks for non-English languages (mainly European).
[FIX][WIN] - Slideshows now play correctly when not using OpenGL on Windows XP.
[FIX][WIN] - Made changes to the slideshow timers to improve playback performance on Windows XP machines when not using OpenGL.
Now shows the achieved speed (in Frames per second) in the Debug Log at the end of each slideshow.
[FIX] Now shows the "Starting Slideshow" screen without delay when starting a slideshow.
[FIX] Jumping forward and backwards through a slideshow now correctly buffers the next images to remove any delays when the slideshow resumes.
Now automatically add two default slideshow movie Export Presets to the list of available options if there aren't any there to when the Export Slideshow Movie window is opened.
[FIX] No longer gives an error when deleting title slides from Setup Title Slides window which were visible in thumbnail list.
[FIX] Now reloads thumbnails after editing titleslides when in Working with Slideshows, Thumbnail view.
[FIX] No longer gives an error when editing title slides with text layers with a font that is not installed on the same computer.
[FIX] Added out of bounds checking to the Slideshow play video loop to fix a possible thread being processed while stopping a slideshow.
Added additional "thread already running" checks when pausing resuming ambient music.
[FIX] No longer gives an error when resizing a title slide text layer box to a size smaller than width of one character of text. Now stops ar need to set text height 25%.
[FIX] Extra error checking added when updating images after changing images with effects back to original.
Improved the method of calculating number of images/videos being imported based on acceptable file types so the progress bar reflects the actual number rather than all items in an imported folder.
[FIX] - Fixed an issue where a Title Slide with a "next image" background was showing title slide image again in place of the next image. This only occurred when with Ken Burns effect was turned on.
[FIX][WIN] Export slideshow Window. Fixed button misalign.
[FIX] - If turned on, the Vignette is once again shown on slideshow playback, preview and exported movies.
[FIX] Now correctly caches slideshow images when they are loaded. This was causing some jerkiness (particularly on machines with slower disk access speeds) during slideshow transitions after the first five slides were played.
[FIX] Frame data associated with a layout is now correctly copied to a layout when the layout is duplicated.
[FIX] Thumbnails are now correctly displayed after duplicating an empty layout with a frame.
[FIX] Now correctly shows the first slide on paused start (if setup in slideshow style) when running a non-OpenGL slideshow.
[FIX] - The version checker window will no longer appear if there are any other dialog windows open (including the register/active windows). This could cause a user interface lock-up.
[FIX] The slideshow down arrow keyboard shortcut now works again for moving images to another tab at the end of the slideshow.
[FIX] Added extra debugging code when exporting slideshows. To circumvent possible OS file locking, if an error occurs while converting the movie to .mp4 format, this operation will be retried up to three times before giving up with an error message.
[FIX] No longer gives an error when adding a template as a book cover when the front cover page is already set and the design has a back cover.
[FIX] Now checks that the default output folder for slideshow export exists before exporting.
[FIX] Now hides music syncing status in the info bar when using a music group with no music in it.

What's New in Version 2013r1.5

January 2, 2014

[FIX] Now always clears the previous slideshow resources selections when changing to a different resource group so mulitple videos are no longer preselected in the Setup Videos window when using the new X (for eXamine) shortcut.
[FIX] You can now import album videos by dropping them into image list even if you have "Import Videos in Image Folder" unchecked in Preferences -> Importing Images -> Settings.
[FIX] - Now just skips over rather than reporting "Unable to import" any .xmp files in the folder of images being imported.
[FIX] No longer gives an error if an item included in a slideshow includes illegal XML characters in its name. Albums saved with earlier versions of 2013r1 with this error (2095) will now open correctly however the slideshows will be reset to default.
[FIX] - New installs are now automatically set to play a slideshow with a Triple Scoop music track. Upgrades from earlier versions now are setup correctly to use the music previously setup in the Preferences rather than the Triple Scoop Music track.
[FIX] - Pro version now automatically includes some default video resources on new installations and upgrades.

What's New in Version 2013r1.4

December 18, 2013

Enhancements to the Setup Videos video. You can now set a display name and video thumbnail for your video clips.
Working with Slideshows. Changed the way audio on/off tags are shown on video thumbnails to work with the new thumbnail images.
[FIX] When Exporting Sample Images/Layouts now only shows the missing copyright stamp warning once rather than on every item exported.
[FIX] Ambient music no longer stops fading down if you open another window immediately after turning it off.
Ambient music now keeps playing during a Slideshows if the slideshow doesn't have any music setup or it is not playing a video with an audio track.
[FIX] Updated the Export Slideshow Movie estimated time remaining logic to provide a more accurate time remaining value on different speed computers.
[FIX] No longer gives an error sometimes when trying to play an empty slidehow (namely one with only an empty album set).
[FIX] New albums are no longer set as needing to be saved. This stopped you from using the Lightroom plugin to create new albums.
Working with Slideshows. Re-arranged the order of the items in the Resources popup menus.
[FIX] Order Report. Now correctly remembers Order Report Notes with "&"s in their title.
[FIX] Setup Price List window -> Change item window now longer pre-loads a template which is one before the price list template being edited.
[FIX] No longer gives an error if you try to "Convert Selected Sets to Slides" when no album sets are included in the selected slides.
[FIX] No longer gives an error if some items are missing when playing a slideshow using mirror display area.
[FIX] No longer sometimes gives an error during the start and end transitions on slideshows.
[FIX][WIN] No longer gives a error when exporting a movie in some circumstances.
Now pre-selects the currently selected resources video when you open the Setup Videos window.
Changed Menu Control/Command E to Control/Command Alt R to rotate counter clockwise to be consistent with the toolbar control.
The Rotate CW and Rotate CCW menu commands (under the Edit Menu) will now also rotate layouts and book pages (if a "close to square" book design) in Thumbnail view and show layouts/pages views and the selected images in these items when in Cropping View.
[FIX] No longer fades the audio down during a slideshow if changing music tracks (with cross fade) in the the middle of playing a video with an audio track.
Added a new "X" (for eXamine) short-cut command which opens Setup Videos, Setup Title Slides or Edit Templates windows when pressed if you have a video, title slide or template resource selected respectively.
[FIX] Now updates the screen correctly after the open album Remote Commands.
[FIX] When working with images, you can once again drag and drop images in Show Images View onto a tab at the top of the image list to move them to a different tab.
[FIX] No longer gives an error under certain circumstances when selecting an opening in the template editor.
[FIX][WIN] No longer gives an error if the window is being re-sized while loading an album such as when opening an album while ProSelect is minimized.
[FIX] No longer gives an error sometimes when skipping music tracks in Setup Music window.
[FIX] Updated the text shown when exporting sample layouts
[FIX] You can now export sample images and layouts up to 2400 pixels in size.

What's New in Version 2013r1.3

December 5, 2013

Working with Slideshows. Now always shows video/titleslide/album set thumbnail labels in Thumbnail view (No longer subject to View Menu -> Show template/layout/page names setting).
[FIX] Now reports invalid filename instead of a generating an error if you try to import some incorrectly setup frame images with a "space" as the last character in the filename. (eg frame_XXXin .jpg)
Added additional error checking/trapping for better handle some miscellaneous reported errors.
[FIX] No longer gives an error in some circumstances when moving images to another set.
[FIX][WIN] Once again uses a Helper application for connecting to Photoshop. This is now only used when Ambient music is turned on so that the music will not be interrupted while ProSelect is interacting with Photoshop.
[FIX] Setup frames window. No longer keeps asking if you want to save changes if you edit a frame or frame group and then do some other operations before saving those changes.
[FIX] No longer gives an error while converting wall grouping into layouts in some circumstances.
[FIX][WIN] Fixed a "thread already running" problem when checking for updated hi-res resources.
[FIX] No longer gives an error under some circumstances when moving holes in the template editor.
Now defaults to showing "All Available Content" for slideshow resources in Working with Slideshows.
[FIX] Slideshow music now starts correctly when you continue a slideshow that was started with a paused start and using a Slideshow Style set to show the first slide on a paused start. This solves a issue with the start of the music being cut off sometimes.
Added new option to Include Start/End Transitions when Exporting a Slideshow movie file. This defaults to on and, when selected, the rendered movie will start and end with a black frame. If you turn this option off, you can instead produce movie which will show the first frame at the beginning and the last frame at the end.
Added Slideshow Preferences option to Show No Tab Image Sets in Available Content when "Working with Slideshows". Defaults to off as most user will not want to include no tab content in their slideshows.
Setup Videos Window now has separate Play and Stop buttons with mouse over hints.
Setup Videos Window now support a new "Display Name" for each video. If the display name is set then this is displayed instead of the original filename (which is now also shown at bottom of window when a video is selected. This can be used to help "label" the content of your video clips in your Working with Slideshows resources area.
Setup Videos window - now defaults to the Album tab except when you open it while showing the Library resource videos in "Working with Slideshows".
When playing slideshows with non-synced music, the music now fades out over 6 seconds at the end instead the length of the transition. This is once again the same as versions prior to 2013r1.
[FIX] Now blocks any mouse wheel input in the main window while opening an album to prevent any screen updates during this time.
[FIX][WIN] No longer adds images as Album Videos when you have Preferences --> "Import Videos in Images Folder" turned on.

What's New in Version 2013r1.2 (Windows version only)

November 21, 2013

[FIX][WIN] Fixed a problem with not being able to connect to Photoshop on some Windows setups. This was due to a new connection method developed to allow Ambient Music to continue to play while ProSelect was waiting for a repsonse from Photoshop. This update reverts back to the 2012r2 method however, any ambient music will stop if you do anything that interacts with Photoshop (except for the "Open Images in Photoshop" commands).

What's New in Version 2013r1.1

November 20, 2013

[FIX][WIN] Fixed a "Resource Access Error" when starting ProSelect on a computer without Quicktime installed.
[FIX][WIN] Now also checks that Window's environmental variables contain the correct path to Quicktime. If not, a "re-start your computer" and "Re-install Quicktime" message is shown.
[FIX] Now shows the correct warning message when deleting video resources.
[FIX][WIN] Fixed a problem not being able to import videos in the Setup Videos window.
[FIX][WIN] Added .mov files to the supported video file list.
[FIX][WIN] No longer gives an error when importing videos using the drag-drop option into the image list if Quicktime is not installed.
[FIX] Added some extra debug logic and corrected some text errors.

KnowledgeBase Article: What's New in 2013r1