Kennesaw State University Pre-Graduation Video
Monday, May 18, 2009
Since we posted Dale Suffridge’s Kennesaw State University Video last week, we have received at lot of positive feedback and questions about how the video was put together.
I asked Dale if he could provide some technical details on how he made the video and he was kind enough to write the following article for you! Please enjoy this behind-the-scenes peek at an creative use of Bee Docs Timeline and be sure to thank Dale if you learn something from his article.
The Creation of the Kennesaw State University Pre-Graduation Video
by Dale Suffridge
Our department was approached about creating a video that would run on the HD projection screen over the stage for the hour leading up to each graduation for Kennesaw State University (KSU). We had been impressed with the new Timeline 3D software and thought that this would be a perfect large-scale use for it.
Showing an historic timeline of how KSU got to where it is today seemed a perfect and engaging fit for a diverse graduation crowd. However, we also needed to include current facts about each graduating college within the university. So I knew that I would use Timeline as the base and “break out” of the timeline to cover the current facts whenever we shared a relevant historical fact regarding that particular college in the Timeline.
The final look was achieved using a combination of Timeline, Photoshop and Final Cut Pro.
First I created and exported the Timeline using the Cherry Pie theme. I then screen-captured the red gradient background, bottom timeline bar and burgundy info box (all blank) for use within Photoshop and Final Cut Pro (FCP). Note: To get the burgundy info box to be large enough and blank, I created one that had a period at the top and then multiple line breaks and a period at the bottom. In Photoshop I used the clone stamp to take away the periods and the year and leave a blank info box.
In Photoshop, I created all the elements that I would need to recreate and manipulate the Timeline-look within FCP for the “break out” moments. These included:
All the burgundy “fact” boxes. I trimmed around the edges to keep the rounded-corner shape of the info box and I exported all info boxes as transparent PNGs for use within FCP.
And the timeline “pole” that would rise and fall from the bottom timeline bar connecting to the info boxes.
After I shot the HD footage of campus for the video portions, I brought it all together in FCP. Then it became a simple video editing project within FCP.
First I created a video opening and video segments for each individual college that would have it’s own “break out” portion. Then I recreated the Timeline look for the opening by using the elements created in Photoshop.
For the movement of the elements I utilized the “Motion Parameters” and keyframes within FCP. The fact boxes folding in and out upon themselves was achieved by key-framing the upper and lower right corners within the Distort section. And the pole ascending and descending was a basic "Center" motion path key-framing.
The transitions for breakouts of the various college were enhanced by creating a text layer of a keyword (or words) connecting the Timeline fact to the breakout college’s title bar. These text layers were then motion key-framed across the screen from the fact box into the title bar using a “Center” keyframe (and “Scale” was also key-framed if necessary to make the word fit). I added a “Scale” key-framing to the text layer to make the word(s) appear to move closer and then farther away as they travelled. And to achieve the glow as the text moved across the screen, I also incorporated the “Dazzle” filter that was key-framed to go from 0% mix to 100%, and then back to 0%.
If you notice during the breakout segments, the pole connects to the timeline at approximately the current time on the calendar. I would love to say that this was a forethought. But alas, it was a happy accident.
If you have any other questions, or if my convoluted explanation simply caused confusion, please feel free to contact me at dsuffrid at kennesaw.edu. Cheers.
Labels: customer, education, graduation, timeline, tutorial, video
Bee Docs Timeline 2.6 - Released!
Thursday, April 30, 2009
Today I posted the 2.6 update to Bee Docs Timeline. This update contains a lot of “housekeeping” improvements that I wanted to get in there before turning my attention to the next major release. As usual, there are also some new fun features in the update.
I was happy to have Gary C Martin involved on this release to help me work a little more 3D magic. A few of our professional customers from film and broadcast television have requested a way to export video timelines with the background as an alpha channel (transparent). This would allow them to layer the 3D timeline movie on top of custom graphics using tools such as Final Cut Pro or Motion.
To do transparent backgrounds correctly was no easy task because wanted to make sure the feature supported motion blur, semi-transparent chart backgrounds, lighting effects, etc... However, we’ve done it in 2.6 and made subtle improvements to other aspects of the 3D rendering while we were at it.
We are working on a new demo video to show off some of the potential of this new feature. In the mean time, if you would like to try it, look for the “Include Alpha Channel” checkbox in the QuickTime export panel. Keynote does a good job of layering transparent movie files if you don’t have access to professional video editing software.
Our automatic importer for Things has been a popular feature since we added it last month. We also received feedback from other customers who are fans of another task manager called The Hit List by Potion Factory. So we have added an automatic importer for The Hit List is this release.
The Hit List was included in the recent MacHeist sale and has been getting rave reviews on Twitter so check it out. Whether you are using Things or The Hit List to manage your tasks, we hope you enjoy the integration with Bee Docs Timeline.
In the housekeeping category, saved document sizes up to about 40% smaller now if you are using lots of images. Also, PDF exports can be compressed which makes them more appropriate for sharing via the web or e-mail. There are some subtle improvements to the typography of date ranges. I’ve also modernized some of behind-the-scenes processes. For example, movie export is better at using disk space efficiently.
Version 2.6 is a free upgrade. So please use “Check for Updates” in the “Timeline 3D” menu or download Bee Docs Timeline today!
Bee Docs Timeline 2.5.1
Thursday, March 26, 2009
I released yet another update to Bee Docs Timeline earlier this week. We are working on a video to show some of the new features, but until then, here is the list of improvements...
Release Notes - 2.5.1
- NEW: Select which monitor the 3D Mode uses for display in Preference pane
- IMPROVED: Up to 10x performance increase for automatic layout
- IMPROVED: "Things" importer has option for excluding completed To Do items
- IMPROVED: Tall timelines (stacked events, many rows) are more efficient in width
- IMPROVED: Shift-arrow and control-arrow combinations now work as expected
- FIXED: "Things" importer works with databases stored in non-standard locations
- FIXED: Sometimes arrow keys didn't traverse in the proper order
- FIXED: Height of complex timelines were sometimes too tall
- FIXED: Subversion (SVN) compatibility for timeline documents improved
- FIXED: Change default export from Pixlet to Photo-JPG for wider compatibility
- FIXED: Exporting 3D timelines that use image backgrounds would sometimes show a white flickering line on the back edge of the chart
Labels: performance, software update, timeline
Release v2.3
Thursday, January 22, 2009
I just posted the v2.3 update to Bee Docs Timeline (both the Standard and 3D Editions). You can use the “Check for Updates” feature in the software to install it or download Bee Docs Timeline if you haven’t yet.
This release contains some important bug fixes for our international customers. Notably PDF export is now working properly in the German localization and “BC” dates are working properly in all of the international formats.
Also, the minus sign can now be used to indicate a BC date when eras are being used in any global date format. For example, a French customer may prefer to type “-50” instead of “50 av. J.-C.” (or 50 B.C.E.)
For the 3D Edition, this release adds a new feature to Export menu. You can now export still image sequences in a variety of formats. These are similar to the event images used in the Keynote export, but now you can save them directly to disk. One image will be created for each event with a 3D perspective.
Image sequences will be helpful for people who want bitmap images of their events to use with Powerpoint, Photoshop, etc... You could also save out a high resolution image sequence and order some of the images as prints from iPhoto or your favorite photo processor.
Last, but not least, I have improved the line quality for 3D exports. Carefully compare the following two examples to see the difference. This change affects all of the smaller video and 3D image exports (iPod, iPhone, HD 480p, etc...)
Detail of export from Bee Docs Timeline 3D v2.2.2:
Detail of export from Bee Docs Timeline 3D v2.3 (note better line quality):
Labels: export, image sequence, localization, timeline
Macworld Wrap-up
Tuesday, January 13, 2009
Well, I completed my first Macworld Expo. It took about 3 months of full time work plus the help of many others to get ready.
Special thanks to Ben and Stephanie from Turnstyle for help putting the booth together. PJ from Prolabro for printing a very challenging shirt design.
I learning a thing or two about how to sell my software from Lee and Amy who provided much more than backup at the booth. Thanks for taking time off your regular jobs to help out.
Blogs, podcasts, twitter, mailing lists and forums across the internet were abuzz with news of our sale. I just put out a press release and a few e-mails. Thank you to everyone who helped spread the word. People like you make it possible for people like me to make a career out of independent Mac software.
Thank you for everyone who stopped by the booth too. I enjoyed getting to meet all you.
Once I get caught up on my e-mail, I look forward to starting the next chapter for Bee Docs Timeline. That is what this moment feels like to me. 2008 was an amazing year for Bee Docs. I hope I can surprise and delight you in 2009. Stay tuned!
Labels: expo, macworld09, mwsf09, timeline, turnstyle
Lowest Price Ever - Macworld Sale
Monday, January 05, 2009
In celebration of Macworld Expo 2009, I am pleased to announce the “lowest price ever” sale for our flagship product, Bee Docs timeline 3D. From January 5, 2009 through January 11, 2009 single computer licenses are available at the special sale price of $30 (USD).
This sale represents the lowest price that Bee Docs timeline 3D has ever been offered and is more than half off the normal retail price. Customers can purchase a discount license online or at Macworld Booth #3526-F in the “Digital Media & Multimedia” Pavilion.
Please help me spread the word about the sale. I hope to see many of you at Macworld Expo!
Labels: discount, macworld2009, mwsf09, sale, timeline
WWII Timeline - Class Project
Friday, December 05, 2008
Professor Geoffrey Gekiere teaches at the Collège Paul Éluard in Châtillon France. His students made this beautiful video of major historical events of World War II using Bee Docs Timeline 3D.
I encourage you to watch the entire video, even if you do not speak French. I find it both interesting and emotionally engaging to have 12 different students narrate the major events of the war combined with historical photographs, maps, and sound clips. The 3D timeline provides a nice structure to the presentation.
Congratulations to Professor Gekiere and the students who participated in the project. It is my honor to provide a tool that can be used by creative people to bring meaning and understanding to our history.
Labels: customer, french, history, students, timeline, war, ww2
Give Good Food to your Mac
Monday, November 17, 2008
From today until December 1, 2008, Bee Docs will be participating in the Give Good Food to Your Mac promotion.
In this special offer, the more products you buy, the greater the discount gets. It starts at 20% when you choose 3 apps and increases to 50% with 5 apps or more. There are 60 applications to choose from, including Bee Docs Timeline 3D.
Check it out and tell your friends that this is one of the rare opportunities to buy Bee Docs Timeline 3D at a discount!
French and German Localizations Released!
Thursday, May 29, 2008
A couple of days ago I posted Bee Docs' Timeline 2.1.1 (both the 3D and Standard Editions). I'm very excited to announce that the new versions include, among other things, French and German localizations. I have had many loyal and enthusiastic customers from Germany and France for a while now and it gives me great pleasure to be able to provide Bee Docs' Timeline in their native languages.
A couple of weeks ago, I posted a request for help translating to these two languages and received so many volunteers that I had to turn a handful of people away. To do the translation work, I posted phrases that need translating in a Google Docs spreadsheet and my collaborators filled in the proper translation, often in real-time. Thank you, thank you, thank you to everyone that volunteered and helped!
I'm sure the translations aren't perfect yet and there are still a few missing phrases, so feel free to send me an e-mail if you see something that needs correction. In fact, I already have a stack of suggested corrections so I will try to make sure those get fixed in the next update. After the translations in the user interface are stabilized I will work on localizing the help documentation, website, and videos too.
I started with German and French because I already had a large number of existing customers in those countries, but I am definitely interested in localizing in more languages in the future. If you would be willing to volunteer to help translate to another language, please send me an e-mail (Adam at BeeDocuments dot com) and we'll get started!
Labels: french, german, languages, localization, timeline, volunteers
Bee Docs' Timeline in German and French
Friday, May 16, 2008
I am working hard to include German and French localizations of Bee Doc' Timeline in the next release, but I need your help to finish the work.
If you would like to volunteer to help translate some of the user interface labels to French or German, please send me an e-mail (Adam at BeeDocuments.com) and I will send you instructions on how you can help. Even if you only have time to translate a few phrases, it would be wonderful. Thanks!
Labels: french, german, localization, timeline, translation, volunteers
About 3D Timelines - Part III.
Friday, May 02, 2008
In December 2007, Gary C Martin sent some feature suggestions to me regarding Timeline 2.0, which was still in beta at the time. As I often do, I followed the links in his e-mail signature because I can see what kind of people are using Bee Docs' Timeline. Turns out Gary is a 3D artist and made a very sophisticated Asteroids game using Apple's Quartz Composer technology.
I've always thought that it would be great to be able to hire some customers to help me develop Bee Docs' Timeline and here was a great opportunity. I sent Gary the 3D design concept that I made using Motion and asked if he would be interested in helping me make the feature a reality. Within days he started sending me working prototypes of 3D timelines and we have been collaborating on it ever since.
Doing a mock-up of a 3D timeline was relatively easy, it took about a day. Getting it to work for the huge diversity of timelines that are possible with Bee Docs' Timeline is a much greater challenge. Timelines and events can be different sizes, aspect ratios, fonts, etc... Performance and interaction issues are tricky too. Gary has been doing the Quartz Composer programming and figuring out the calculations for zooming, rotation, movement, and performance while I have been doing the associated Cocoa programming and leading the design.
All of our communications have been via e-mail (Gary lives in Edinburgh, Scotland) and it has been fantastic working with someone who does amazing work and has also been a customer of Bee Docs' Timeline since May 2007.
I look forward to hiring more customers in the future, so if you'd ever be interested in working with me, be sure to let me know what you do! At the moment, I could really use some help with PR...
Labels: 3d, customer, gary martin, quartz composer, timeline
The Passion Timeline - BBC
Thursday, April 03, 2008
David Huyng, developer of the SIMILE open-source timeline project, sent me a link to this highly customized SIMILE timeline that the BBC created for Easter week. The BBC seems to have some of the best examples of interactive timelines on the web these days.
Check it out and let me know what you think of it.
NY Times - Barack Obama Interactive Timeline
Wednesday, April 02, 2008
Thank you for all of your valuable comments and insight regarding the BBC Timeline I posted a few days ago. In that same spirit, I'd like to point out the following from the NY Times website and gather your thoughts:
Please give it a spin and let me know what you think. Do you think it is intuitive to navigate? Does it present the information clearly? Would the information you are presenting work well in a format like this?
Labels: barack obama, interactive, nytimes, screenshot, timeline
Kenduskeag Stream Canoe Race: A Timeline
Tuesday, March 11, 2008
Here is another great customer timeline!
Michael Alden runs a website for a traditional canoe race held in Maine every April and created this timeline to highlight some of the major events in the race's 40+ year history.
The blurred image looks fantastic as a background. So good, in fact, that it makes me think that Bee Docs Timeline should include some image filters someday so that you can do these kind of effects without 3rd party software.
Labels: background image, Canoe, customer, michael alden, timeline
Charting the Structure of Aeschylus' Agamemnon
Wednesday, February 13, 2008
Bee Docs' Timeline customer Mary McMenomy of Ohio State University sent me the following timeline of the play Agamemnon. She writes, "My goal with this diagram was to demonstrate to the students how scenes of the play alternate with interludes from the Greek chorus, and how the choral passages themselves get shorter over the course of the play."
Interestingly, Ms McMenomy used "years" as the date format but instead of charting time, she is using line numbers from the Grene and Lattimore translation of the Greek text. It is a great idea so perhaps you might want to consider charting poetry using Bee Docs' Timeline too!
Labels: agamemnon, customer, education, lines, poetry, timeline
T2 Sneak Peeks: iPhoto Import
Wednesday, October 24, 2007
Here is a screenshot sequence that shows creating a photo timeline in about 3 clicks. T2 will be able to import photo albums from iPhoto and chart them based on the date they were taken! This is going to be very cool for vacations and creating timelines of your kids' first steps, etc...
Labels: iPhoto, screenshot, t2, timeline, zoo
Second Anniversary
Monday, May 14, 2007
One of this blog's readers just reminded me that this week is the second anniversary of the release of Bee Docs' Timeline. I was just reviewing the statistics and saw that we sold more licenses this past year than the first year. Thank you to everyone who has helped to make it a continued success by telling your friends about Timeline and by sending valuable feedback and suggestions.
By request, I have reactivated the ANNIVERSARY coupon code which you can use through the end of the month to save 25% off any Timeline order.
Labels: anniversary, coupon code, timeline
Event Timelines in redSTAR Magazine
Monday, April 30, 2007
Ian Burns, founder and managing director of redSTAR Times Media recently sent us some copies of redSTAR magazine. The magazine, which features culture and travel information for Qingdao China, recently switched formats and now features a full spread timeline to show the monthly event calendar!
We are excited that Ian chose Bee Docs' Timeline for the redSTAR event calendar and we are always thrilled to see the creative ways our customers use timelines.
In other customer news: Congratulations to Larry Staton, Jr who is now an official member the Florida Bar!
One of the best parts of running Bee Documents is getting to know all the talented and creative people who use our software. Be sure to drop me a line and introduce yourself if you haven't yet. I'd love to hear from you.
Discount Day!
Tuesday, February 06, 2007
We decided to do a special one day sale in collaboration with MacZOT today.
Today only, you can buy Timeline at a 40% discount for 24 dollars! If you have been on the fence about purchasing a license, or know a friend or co-worker who should own a copy of Bee Docs' Timeline, head on over to MacZOT and grab your copy. This is the biggest discount we have ever offered to the public, and is only being offered today.
Please note that we also have a steep discount available every day for teachers and students (even cheaper than MacZOT). To receive the education discount, just send me an e-mail and let me know where you study and what your favorite subject is and I'll send you back a discount code.
With T2 around the corner and deep discounts in the air, this is the perfect time to get on board the Bee Docs' Timeline bus!
Labels: discount, education discount, maczot, timeline
Marketing Bee Documents - Getting the word out
Saturday, June 04, 2005
I wrote earlier about how we track the success of our marketing efforts. I wanted to list some of the marketing techniques we have tried and give some comments.
"Traditional" Marketing
- Phone Sales - Early on we hired a local phone sales company to ask lawyers some survey questions. This cost a few thousand dollars and we didn't get one person to talk to us. I won't be doing that again!
- Direct Mail - We had some Bee Docs postcards printed up. I can customize the content and I usually send the postcards our to targeted clients when we release a new product or in coordination with other marketing efforts.
- Print Ads - We've ran some print ads in the local bar association journal. Though these ads don't often turn into immediate sales, I believe that it helps people trust you when they have seen your name in their trade journal. It seems to be that local association newsletters are a better value than the big national publications.
- Web Advertising - The Google Adwords program has resulted in a handful of new customers. As far as "traditional marketing" goes, this has been the most productive media. It takes time to get everything tweaked so that these ads are effective though.
- Trade Shows - It is fun to set up a cool display and meet potential customers in the flesh. At this point, I have only done local association trade shows, but it would be fun to do a Mac World or something like that in the future. It certainly isn't a cheap way to advertise though.
Press Releases
The Mac sites and Law Technology News have been great about publishing my press releases. I always get a large number of hits when they mention me in their publications. Press Releases are definitely a priority every time we do something new.
Free Software
I have been doing a cost comparison between the cost of traffic from web ads and the cost of developing free software that also generates web traffic. It turns out that I can sometimes whip out a program in a few days that will generate web traffic for months to come. It's a pretty good marketing technique that fits my expertise. You always want people to get warm fuzzies every time they hear your name, and giving away free stuff is always helpful to that end.
Community Participation
For Bee Docs' Timeline we tried something new. Instead of keeping everything secret until the product was ready to launch, I released a beta version about once a week and had people sign up on a mailing list to be informed of the releases and provide feedback. I was surprised at the amount of people who signed up and the great feedback that I received. This blog takes things one step further. Getting the user community involved in the creation of products has really been fun, has generated lots of traffic, and helps increase the number of times people mention Bee Documents in their blogs.
In the coming weeks, we will use the blog to announce a new product that is in development and will be posting updates and our design ideas so that folks like you can follow along and participate in the creative process. Stay tuned!
Labels: adwords, bee documents, free, marketing, timeline, website