Exporting images from tpd4 (Curr ver)

Darkside

More and more regularly I am forwarding tp design images to clients for both their information and approval.

It would be great to be able to export not only the images of the pages/popups, but include the result of pressing the 'show external buttons' image as well - particularly if you are explaining the external cursors etc. in the case of an MVP.

As far as I can tell, you can view your MVP8400 tp file in tpd4 and click the 'show external buttons' control, but when you copy it to clipboard it does not include the external panel image.

When doing a 'show popup' control ,if you remain focussed on the popup and then copy the page to clipboard, you do not get the page behind. Focus on the page and not the popup and you can copy the whole page and popup to the clipboard.

Nothing I do lets me get the panel exterior image in clipboard which would be VERY nice to have.

If we have a TP in our studio, we can obviously g4 browse it, and PrtSc it, but then of course you have to go away and edit every screen grab to get rid of Windows in the background....

...Mmm, getting rid of Windows....I'll be right back!

:-)

Joe Hebert

Stephen Bolton wrote:

If we have a TP in our studio, we can obviously g4 browse it, and PrtSc it, but then of course you have to go away and edit every screen grab to get rid of Windows in the background....

If you don't want the entire desktop try an Alt + Prt Scr.which only copies the current window in focus.

Darkside

Joe Hebert wrote:

If you don't want the entire desktop try an Alt + Prt Scr.which only copies the current window in focus.

Which page of the windows manual was THAT on?!
:-)

Thanks Joe - works very nicely and it's certainly a lot neater than having 6 windows in the background!

I would still really like to be able to copy the assembled page straight out of TPD, panel image and all. I think it would be a great feature.

jjames

Usually what I do to give them the full effect is open up the the main PAGE that the popups go on and use "Show Popup" (accessed from a right click on a popup in the workspace menu) and do what's needed. Then, when clicking on the popup in the editor (not the workspace) you can "Hide Popup" or "Hide all popups". Just be sure no buttons are selected, and that you've turned off "show functions"

Here's how I send them to my clients when / if they request. (example.jpg - consists of two popups and a page.)

If you need the external view, you could probably use TP Panel Preview, OR copy the "external buttons" image into the image file and adjust accordingly. (example2.jpg - consists of two popups, a page and external view of an MVP-8400)

ericmedley

Joe Hebert wrote:

If you don't want the entire desktop try an Alt + Prt Scr.which only copies the current window in focus.

Another nice feature about the control-print_screen command:

If you launch Photoshop right after doing it and create a new photoshop document, it will be the right size and DPI to just hit 'paste' and be ready to crop or export it straight to a jpeg or gif with the "Save For Web' functino.

Pretty cool....

jjames

ericmedley wrote:

Another nice feature about the control-print_screen command:

If you launch Photoshop right after doing it and create a new photoshop document, it will be the right size and DPI to just hit 'paste' and be ready to crop or export it straight to a jpeg or gif with the "Save For Web' functino.

Pretty cool....

Indeed! Same thing with Adobe (Macromedia) Fireworks . . . my choice of poison.

Darkside

ericmedley wrote:

Another nice feature about the control-print_screen command:

If you launch Photoshop right after doing it and create a new photoshop document, it will be the right size and DPI to just hit 'paste' and be ready to crop or export it straight to a jpeg or gif with the "Save For Web' functino.

Pretty cool....

It is pretty cool, but you still have to slap the clipboard into an editor to either tidy it up or remove the windows border or assemble the external buttons image...it's a whole process that takes plenty of time, and requires managing of newly created files etc.etc.

So, don't we simply need the ability to do all the clever show popup etc as we can and then be able to view the external buttons as we also can on screen BUT then be allowed to copy the whole assembled image you can see in tpd to the clipboard...

You can see it in the editor and it would be great to copy it onto the clipboard.<[demo image shows a page with a 'show popup' and the external buttons selected.]>

Now THAT would be taking control!

yuri

just make a 'demo-panel' with the internal commands to show popups and do page flips etc.
Then use Panel Preview to have the customer review the panel

Darkside

yuri wrote:

just make a 'demo-panel' with the internal commands to show popups and do page flips etc.
Then use Panel Preview to have the customer review the panel

Many of my panels have page flips and popups driven by code. Your idea is certainly another work-around, but, it's more and more time at the keyboard, and another file etc etc!

It also means I need to get a copy of the app to the client - many of them wouldn't be interested in having it, I can be sure of that. They just want to see an image in an email or posted onto our website. Imagine asking a consultant to install a proprietary application to check what the AV supplier is doing for his client in this day and age!!

All it needs is to be able to include the external part of the image you can already see in the tpd editor and then the copy command simply grabs it too - and the problem has gone!

jjames

Stephen Bolton wrote:

Many of my panels have page flips and popups driven by code. Your idea is certainly another work-around, but, it's more and more time at the keyboard, and another file etc etc!

To go around this, you could always VNC into the touch panel and do a live demo and take screen shots of it really in action, then the Alt+Print Screen will only capture the VNC'ed image, and then you could write a Fireworks (if that's your poison) batch javascript file to paste the images directly behind the mock-up external commands. That's exactly what I would do if I had a whole slew of images I needed to show off. Just an idea. . . .

Joe Hebert

Stephen Bolton wrote:

All it needs is to be able to include the external part of the image you can already see in the tpd editor and then the copy command simply grabs it too - and the problem has gone!

Sounds like a reasonable request to me.

Darkside

jjames wrote:

To go around this, you could always VNC into the touch panel and do a live demo and take screen shots of it really in action, then the Alt+Print Screen will only capture the VNC'ed image, and then you could write a Fireworks (if that's your poison) batch javascript file to paste the images directly behind the mock-up external commands. That's exactly what I would do if I had a whole slew of images I needed to show off. Just an idea. . . .

Wouldn't it be a little simpler if you could just copy what you can already see in the editor?

:-)

// end of being a dog with a bone!

jjames

Stephen Bolton wrote:

Wouldn't it be a little simpler if you could just copy what you can already see in the editor?

Haha - indeed it would! Now if all things in life were that simple, I'd be a millionaire already!

yuri

Stephen Bolton wrote:

Many of my panels have page flips and popups driven by code. Your idea is certainly another work-around, but, it's more and more time at the keyboard, and another file etc etc!

It also means I need to get a copy of the app to the client - many of them wouldn't be interested in having it, I can be sure of that. They just want to see an image in an email or posted onto our website. Imagine asking a consultant to install a proprietary application to check what the AV supplier is doing for his client in this day and age!!

All it needs is to be able to include the external part of the image you can already see in the tpd editor and then the copy command simply grabs it too - and the problem has gone!

you don't have to install anything.
I've done a test with an U3 USB stick. On insertion of the USB stick the panel preview automatically loads with the panel...
One thing to keep in mind with U3 is security, but it was just a test.

You would have to create a second panel with the popup logic 'inside' it, but that's not that much work is it?

Darkside

yuri wrote:

you don't have to install anything.
I've done a test with an U3 USB stick. On insertion of the USB stick the panel preview automatically loads with the panel...
One thing to keep in mind with U3 is security, but it was just a test.

You would have to create a second panel with the popup logic 'inside' it, but that's not that much work is it?

There have been many suggestions of methods of achieving screen grabs. They all work, they are all good ways to achieve a result, but, they all take lots of time.

We have a very elaborate editor in TPD 4 and it already has the ability to export screens - but it is missing the ability to export the entire panel image - which you can see in the editor.

Yuri, the second panel is yet another good idea, but it is a lot of work - you would have to change all the code driven button flips to the buttons themselves - same with revealing and hiding popups -consider sequentially revealing and hiding half a dozen popups per button press - yes it is a lot of work to make a button do all that in my mind!!

Also, it's always nice to show a client a grab of 'a panel in action' - perhaps with a few buttons in the ON state etc. etc.

If the feedback is channel based - you need to change all those as well. The list goes on - it is a lot of work. Then, make a few changes tomorrow on the actual, and you potentially need to go through the other panel as well!

The beauty about the tpd4 clipboard is that you can do all of the show popups - assemble the whole screen and even switch a button to ON etc at the push of a button - it doesn't get any easier!! I do all screen grabs like this and simply paste them into an email. So simple. But! no external buttons!!!!

So, in closing (!) I would like to formally list a feature request of ":..improve the already very good 'copy to clipboard' function to include the panel external graphics if they are visible in the editor at the time.."

//end feature request.

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