Activities OvervieW
Let’s start out with a couple of definitions. Slides contain the content of the presentation, Activities are placed on a slide and are content or user interface elements that is displayed to the Audience. Activities alone often refer to the various elements on a slide, like text or an image. Action Activities are non-visible actions that perform a set of useful functions for the presenter. Actions are similar to macros. Action Activities are discussed in-depth on its own Help section named Action Activity. Each Slide Activity and Action Activity contain a collection of properties that may be set to achieve the desired appearance or effect. This collection of properties is displayed on a form below the preview. Some properties are common among all Slides, the Content tab changes based on the selected Activity of a slide, its form is based on the capabilities and requirements of the Activity.
The Slide Activity editor is divided into three main areas. A. List of Slides. B. Slide Layout Preview. C. Slide properties. Additionally the toolbar gives access to a number of features.
List of Slides
There are two list of Slides. Ordered and Ad Hoc slide lists. The desired list can be selected by choosing the tab above the list. The Ordered Slide are specific Slides used for the Event Presentation. They define the playback sequence order and the Event is generally played back in this order. The Ad Hoc Slide list is a list of reusable Slides that are shared among all Event Presentations and can be selected on demand to change the event flow. Some examples of Ad Hoc Slides are a “Fade to Black” or a “One Moment Please” or a video Ad or a common Action Slide Activity to turn on a HomeKit light. The Ad Hoc Slide can be accessed when presenting an event by selecting the Ad Hoc tab of the Control area. Ad Hoc Slides may only play Background audio and you must manually select the next Slide (Ordered or Ad Hoc) to display. The Slide for either Ordered and Ad Hoc may be deleted by swiping from left to right and then selecting the delete button. The Slides may also be reordered by pressing on a row until it “lifts up” and then dragging to the desired location.
Icons - The Icons are indicators for settings for the slide (Not all icons are visible in the graphic above)
Slide Type, Enabled Status, Spoken Word, Audio Type (Background and / or Activity Audio), Transition Type, Storage Indicator, PIP Status, Slide Number, Perform Upon Completion act.
Toolbar Buttons and Menus
Add a Slide - Display the Add Slide with Layout Dialog (see below)
Copy - the screen of the preview is copied to the universal clipboard
Paste - the latest Image or text that is in the universal clipboard is pasted unto the current slide. A new corresponding activity will be created
Share - display the standard share sheet to share the image of the current Slide. This allows you to send a text, email or air drop to receive feedback on the slide.
Slide Sort Order - Display The Slides in a new window that allows easy reorder (Icon not visible on all screen shots, see below for details.
Screen Tab Selector - Select the Screen to access - Slides, Audio, Tasks and Monitor
Add Activity - Add one of the several Activities available, See the specific help for the Activity for details.
Playback Preview Buttons - Play / Stop, Previous and Next allow previewing Presentation playback from the currently selected Slide and transitioning to subsequent Slides. If an External monitor is connected, the presentation output display to the monitor.
Help - Display Help on various DirectorStudio Slide topics
Context Menu - In order to minimize the creating and recreating of Slide Activities, the Context Menu button (far right on the toolbar) has a popup menu that displays options for reusing Activities.
View Shared Slides - Display a popup dialog with the list of shared Slides with preview. Tapping on an entry copies it to the current Slide List. Once copied it may be viewed and modified. Tapping on the red button on the left deletes shared slide from the shared list. Dragging the handle on the right allows reordering the shared Slides. Shared Slides may be copied to and between any Event. This option is only available if one or more slides have been previously shared.
Add this Slide to the Share - Make a copy of the current Slide and place in with the Shared Activities for reuse.
Duplicate This Slide - A copy of the current Slide is made and added to the current Slide List
Move an Activity - Moves an Activity between the Ordered and the Ad Hoc Activity list
Lock all Slides - Locks all slides to prevent accidental changes
Unlock all Slides - Unlocks all slides to enable editing
Edit Text Tags - Displays the Text Tag editing Dialog (See “Text Activities and Text Tag” Help)
Set New Slide Defaults - Allow setting the defaults for a commons properties of a Slide. This is not Event specific, but global to all Events.
Refresh Thumbnails - Recreate Thumbnails if some have not rendered correctly.
Set Theme for Background & Labels - Update the theme for the background and label for all slide in the current Event Presentation. Individual Slides have the ability to change if desired. (See “Define Theme” help for more details)
Adding a Slide
A Slide can be added by selecting the ‘+’ button above the list. A popup dialog will display showing a variety of slide layouts, many with placeholders. A Placeholder is a temporary Activity that can be replaced with a permanent Activity such as text or an image. When the Slide is added, it becomes the currently selected slide in the list and displays in the Slide Layout Preview.
Slide Layout Preview
A. Selection Frame - A rectangle encompassing the activity with eight anchor point for resizing the activity. Selecting within the frame, away from the anchor points, allow the activity frame to be moved. The selection frame can also be adjusted by using the positions values and the bottom of the content form. The following key combinations may also be used when the frame is selected and the iPad is connected to an external keyboard.
Command + Up Arrow - Move Up
Command + Down Arrow - Move Down
Command + Left Arrow - Move Left
Command + Right Arrow - Move Right
Shift + Up Arrow - Increase Height
Shift + Down Arrow - Decrease Height
Shift + Left Arrow - Decrease Width
Shift + Right Arrow - Increase Width
B. Selection Menu
Cut, Copy, Paste - perform the selected action using an internal App Clipboard for the Activity
Delete - Removes the selected activity from the Slide
Next - Selects the next Activity, convenient when there are several overlapping Activities.
Deselect - remove the selection from the current Activity. This is the same as selecting a blank area of the slide to deselect.
C. Edit Activity - Display a popup menu with additional selections or a dialog with configuration options. This allows the configuring of the Activity.
D. Position Activity - Positions the Activity
Bring to Top
Send to Back
Position as Slide Title
Position Below Title
Position Full Page
Position Left Half
Position Right Half
Adding Activities
Selecting the Add Activity Button from the Toolbar adds the chosen Activity to the current slide in a default location. There is detail help for each of the Activities in the Slide Editor Help Menu
Common Slide Properties
Below the Preview Layout is a collection of settings for the Slide Activity divided by tabs to allow Focusing on specific properties of the Slide Activity. If a property is required to have a value or a selection it is flagged with a red bubble with an exclamation mark. This indicates that the Activity will not be included in the Event Presentation unless the value is entered or selected. The count of errors is accumulated and displayed in the lists and screen selection tabs through out the application. In some cases the Activity that is not properly configured will simply not display when presenting (Image and Video for instance).
Content - For the selected Activity (an image for example), all of the properties associated with the Activity are displayed, allowing for a high degree of customization. Content always has a set of controls to position and size the Activity. Please see the corresponding help page for each Each Activity Type for details.
General Tab
Display the Name / Rename the Slide
Enabled State - Disabled Slide to not appear in the Event Presentation.
Lock Slide to disallow any changes.
Perform Upon Completion - Perform Upon Completion will determine how the current Activity slide will behave when it is automatically transitioned. If the Slide Advance type is manual or the user manually requested to go to the next or previous slide, this option is ignored and the manual request to move is honored. (Does not apply for Ad hoc Activity Slides)
Next Activity / Restart Event - The Next Slide is displayed or if the current slide is the last slide to the presentation, the presentation will start again from the beginning.
Do Nothing - The Slide will not automatically proceed, it just stops.
End Event - Stop Event Playback and the Event ends
Background Tab
When desired, using a background color scheme that is different from the Event presentation is possible by updating the values of the Background tab. By selecting Use Custom Background the it is possible to change the slide’s background. Either a set of color or an image may be selected for the background. For the color display, one, two or three colors may be selected for a gradient effect. To include more than a single color enable Color 2 and / or Color 3. To change the color tap on the color, select an enabled color rectangle and select from the color popup dialog. Changing the value of the Top and Bottom Tilt sliders vary the angle of the colors.
If an image background is chosen, tapping the “Select Image” button displays a dialog that allows selecting an image from the files App. The image may be positioned as “Scale to Fill”, “Scale to Fit”, “Tiled”, “Stretched” or “Original Size”. If “Tiled” is selected an additional control is displayed allowing the scale to be set.
Audio Tab
For slides that will play audio the selection of the audio type to play must be selected.
No Audio - No audio will be played
Background Audio - Only the current background audio selection will be played - this is continuous when consecutive slides each select Background Audio
Activity Audio - The Activity Audio will be played and a selection for which Activity Audio Activity must be made. (See Below)
Play Both - Both the Background Audio and the Activity Audio will play, an Activity Audio must be selected.
For Activity Audio you may select which Audio to play. Each Slide may select a different audio track or if consecutive slide select the same Activity Audio playback is continuous and repeated. It is also possible to create and record audio for the slide from the Audio tab. Lastly, if the Activity Type is a recording and there is a Video Activity on the Slide Activity a button will appear (not on the screenshot) that will allow the user to play the video while also recording the audio.
Speech Tab
If desired, some slides have the ability to speak designated text as a part of the Activity Slide’s presentation. Once enabled, enter the text you would like to have Siri speak and select the relative volume. The “Test Speech” button will allow you to preview the output. The selection for the voice Siri will use along with other setting can be customized, using the Preferences dialog available from the Main Menu.
PIP (Picture in Picture) tab
Use Global PIP - The state of the Global PIP is not Changed - If it is on it stays on, if it is off it stays off. Additionally if a previous slide turned PIP off, the PIP will turn on again to resume the “Global State”
Turn Global Pip Off - Turns the Global PIP, as mentioned above the Global PIP is turned off only for this slide and will resume as indicated by the settings of other slides
Turn Slide PIP On - Overrides the settings of the Global PIP and uses the settings as indicated below. The PIP settings can resume to previous setting or turned off, etc. when the next slide is selected.
Select Input Type - Select either the Camera or UVC device. This option is only available if the UVC is enabled in the Preferences Dialog of the Main Menu.
Camera - Depending on the iPad type, select the desired camera
Size - Select the PIP size, Small, Medium, Large or Full Screen
Location - Select one of 9 locations on the screen for the PIP location, Top left, Top Center, etc.
Orientation - Select the PIP shape, Landscape, Portrait or Square
Animation Speed - Select the speed of animation when resizing or moving the PIP. Regular (1.25 seconds), Slow (2 seconds), Fast (0.5 seconds) and None (immediate)
The preview area with the PIP placeholder for the PIP location and size. The PIP placeholder may only be positioned by the properties in the PIP Tab and cannot be dragged to a new position..
Advance Tab
Slide Advance determines how the Activity Slide progresses to the next slide during the presentation.
Options
Manual - User manually selects when to progress to the next slide
Activity Completion - Once the process of the Slide has completed, it will automatically transition to the next slide. Some examples are the completion of the transition, a video completed and the spoken text finishes. The completion of a audio is not included as an option for Activity Completion.
Timed - Once the transition has completed and the amount of time in minutes and seconds until the next slide will be automatically presented. (See Above)
Specific Time - The Activity Slide automatically transitions when the time designated is reached.
Event Start - When the specific Event date and time happens the Slide advances.
Countdown displays a label on the slide with the current time, the countdown time or both on a label in the slide display. This option is available for only certain slide types and slides that have a Slide Advance type of Timed, Specific Time and Event Start. The label properties are similar to that of the “Text Label”. The Label may be dragged around on the Preview or precisely set using the X/Y coordinates. Additional settings for font, color and border are also available.
Font Name - The Font to be used by the Label
Font Size - The size of the Font
Font Color - The color of the Font
Background Color - The color of the background of the label
Enable BG Color - Optionally enabling the background color of the label. Disabling this will give the label a clear background.
Border Width - The width of the content’s border. 0 for no border
Border Color - the border’s color
X - the distance in Pixels from the left border of the Slide
Y - the distance in Pixels from the top border of the Slide
W - The width of the Label
H - The height of the Label
Transition
The transition between slides can be animated with any of the 16 transition types. The transitions are actually pairs that allow the slide to do the reverses transition if the desire is to return to a previous slide.
Transition - The type of transition to perform to viewing the Activity Slide
Transition Duration - The time in seconds the transition should take
Preview Transition - Select to get an approximate viewing of haw the transition will look.
Drag and Drop
Dragging & Dropping content from Photos, Files, Safari or other third party App into DirectorStudio is possible for text, images and videos. Depending on where you drop the item within the App has different results. Using the other App in Slide Over is a convenient way to perform the drag and drop. Please see the Drag & Drop example video in the, “How to Video Guides” option of the Main Menu, in the Support section for more details.
Drop Location Results:
A. List of Slide Activities - A new Slide is created with the Activity Added. Multiple items may be dropped and a Slide for each is created.
B. Slide Layout Preview - A New Activity is added to the Slide. If multiple items are dropped only the first item creates a new Activity.
C. Slide Activity properties - The currently selected activity is replaced (it must be the same type). If multiple items are dropped only the first item replaces the Activity.
Slide Sort Order
The Slide Sort Order panel displays all Slides and allows dragging and dropping a slide to a new location. It also allows viewing all the slides. It can be accessed by tapping on the icon as indicated below. The Icon is not visible on all screen shots but is always visible in the App.
The Slide Sort Order window gives a great overview of the entire Event Presentation.
Pressing down on a Slide will “Lift Up” the Slide allowing it to be repositioned.
Tapping on a slide that is already selected dismisses the Slide Sort Order Window and select the tapped slide in the Slide editor.
While connected to an external Monitor the selected Slide is displayed when the Preferences setting “Preview Slide when connected to External Monitor” is set to on.