Captivate Path Observation

I noticed the other day that the pretty Captivate path motion functions differently than I previously thought…

The initial path direction is always to the the left or right (when not going either straight up or straight down) rather than being controlled by whether the starting mouse position is on one side or another of the horizontal or 45 degree axes (sp. for plural of axis??)

Captivate: Changes I’d like to see

When working with software, do you ever think that a feature would be more obvious if properly named/described/organized? Do you think there’s been an omission from a menu or dialog box?

This is the first of a series of planned, constantly updated posts related to minor corrections to the labels and dialogs used in applications. If you agree or disagree, please comment below. If you really agree with an item, go to the Adobe Features/Bugs Form and vote for it yourself. It takes 3 minutes, and is the best way to be heard, especially when a request is logged by multiple users.

Text Captions

Now that we can edit text by double-clicking in the text caption, I’d like to see the Caption Type added to the right-click menu (context menu) for captions. Often I need to go into Text Caption Properties for only this purpose.

Hilight not snapping to Playhead on insert

Unlike other objects, my hilight box is inserted at “0″ on the timeline, rather than at the current location of the playhead.

Screen Capture Tools comparison

Matthew Ellison has written an in-depth review of 10 popular screen capture utilities. The link is at http://www.writersua.com/articles/capturetools/index.html

Strategies for purchasing Adobe software

With recent additions (TCS2 and the e-Learning suites) to the “Adobe Suite” marketing of their applications, it’s important to evaluate how you purchase product from Adobe.

Most everyone expects to get a volume discount with multiple licenses, and it’s true that volume discounts can drastically reduce the overall cost.

 However, by choosing the appropriate Suite of applications, and by also including the maintenance contract (paying an annual fee for future upgrades of the application or suite) you can get even greater discounts and save a ton of money in the long run.

Going off of adobe.com, and a previous invoice,  here are a few examples for one of my purchases:

TCS2

• List: USD1,899,
• Upgrade from TCS: USD949
• Upgrade from Product: USD1299
• Maintenance Contract USD131/year

So if I’d purchased a retail copy of the original TCS without maintenance and upgraded that license, I would have paid an extra USD757 (the TLP Level 3 volume pricing contract I bought was 2 years at $96/year for the original TCS)

Now that I’m renewing that contract for USD175/year, on average from now on I’ll likely save about USD752 per version (Adobe on average upgrades every 1.5 years, so the math is approximately
USD950 -1.5(USD131)=USD752. If I qualify for a Tier 2 price, I’ll save about a third on the cost of the maintenance contract, or about USD40, briinging my savings to nearly USD800 for the upgrade.

And the math is even more extreme for the individual products.
With Adobe TLP (Transactional Licensing Program) you get discounts at a certain volume level per purchase. These discounts can really add up quickly.
Even with educational pricing (a huge discount for schools and Adobe Authorized training folks) when I purchased 4xTCS (with maintenance) and 1xCS4 Master Collection (with maintenance) I purchased enough to get Tier 3 pricing & got a discount of somewhere in the 40-50% range off of my EDU pricing.

Now that kind of savings is worth lumping together a few orders, and allowed me to get copies of some software (in the Master Collection) that I may not have otherwise gotten.

Comments?
Experiences?

-Matt

Adobe Software Installation Issues

As a trainer and consultant, I tend to have multiple versions of software on most machines at any one time. Couple that with classrooms of computers that are constantly getting installs and uninstalls, and conflicts are bound to pop up.

Two common problems occur for me:

1. Installed software simply stops “playing nice” with each other
2. Installers and Uninstallers decide to stop working

For both of these problems, the following has worked for me 100% of the time (though I had a client that tried some other things first and was then unsuccessful with my approach)
All scary experiences aside, the following have worked for me (without fail) for all Adobe software including the Tecnical Communication Suite (specifically TCS2) and the Creative Suite In fact, these suggestions came to me via Google searches and were initially penned to address some older versions of CS installation issues. (Photoshop, if I remember correctly)
In any case, please comment on your experience if you use this procedure, and let me know if there’s anything to add to the list. I’ve used TCS2 as an example, but it should be the same for any Adobe Suite Installer you own.
Option 1:
Uninstall TCS2 and any current or older apps included in the Tech Comm Suite via Control Panel or Installer DVD Use the Windows Installer Utility to remove any remaining visible thru that utility. As of 12/09, a download link for the utility is at Windows Installer Cleanup Utility
Restart your system and reinstall from your installer DVD (The trial DVD should suffice)
Option 2:
Use Windows to revert to a Restore Point prior to your installation of the Adobe software mentioned above, and install from there. Click here for a primer on System Restore and Restore Points

If memory serves, there are also some directories that contain serial numbers and other install flotsam. I’ll post this if/when I run across the info again, or when someone can point me that way.

***Nuclear Blast Method***

Use the initial Restore Point, or the Disk Image that likely came with your computer to start anew.

-Matt Sullivan

A tipping point for roundpeg’s web presence

roundpeg is a company with immense experience in web technology, elearning, and electroning communication an publishing.

Odd then, that we have not made better use of the web in getting our message out to “the masses”

Consider this the first in a series of positive steps to cast information to a wider audience. We hope you’ll appreciate the info we provide, and choose to share it with your valued networks.