SlideShowPro News

03.28.07 | "Wet Floor" with SlideShowPro

Last night a SlideShowPro user emailed me, saying he was having syncing problems with two instances of the component in the same movie. Thinking he had mistakenly added the second instance (for you should only need one) I told him to delete it. He replied that he couldn't delete the second one because it was used as a "reflection." Not sure was he was implying, I checked out his movie.

The second instance of SlideShowPro was below the first, flipped vertically, and with a pseudo gradient mask layered above it. In other words, he was (rather inventively) recreating the popular "wet floor" look you see all around the web these days. Despite its popularity, I had never thought of using SlideShowPro in this manner, nor had I seen anyone else attempt it. And it looked fantastic.

But how could the affect be achieved without two component instances? I thought about it for a few minutes, then remembered the BitmapData object in Flash 8. What if we only used one instance of SlideShowPro, and used ActionScript to create the effect?

After about an hour of tinkering, I got it working.

At first glance it looks like a Photoshop effect, but notice what happens when the images change or you rollover the thumbnails in the navigation. Ahhh yeah, a live reflection. This is accomplished by using an enterFrame event to render the bitmap with every frame tick.

If you're a SlideShowPro user and would like to see how it's done, login to your member account and click on the "SlideShowPro" text link under "Your product purchases". Scroll down on the next page and look for "Wet Floor." There's a link to the FLA there.

Have fun!

03.27.07 | Tuan Photography

Photographer Tuan Nguyen is using SlideShowPro to present his stunning portfolio of original photography. SlideShowPro is scaled to a larger size than most examples you see, and with good reason -- every photo is a feast for the eyes. Dig in.

03.06.07 | Let's go

Big news for the future of SlideShowPro. I've decided after much consideration to leave my job at Turner Broadcasting, where I've worked for the past four years, to work full time on SlideShowPro, as well as other related, future products.

Truthfully, it's all your fault. Yes, you! If you had never purchased SlideShowPro, or recommended it to a friend, I wouldn't have been put in this situation. I always thought this product would be a fun side project from my "real" job, but it's anything but that now. SlideShowPro, as well as Director, are performing extremely well, and the time has come to throw all my energy and time behind both products to make them everything they can be.

Some may be surprised reading this, thinking I was already working on this full time. Which...I kinda was, as evidenced by my outgoing emails at crazy hours, for SlideShowPro has consumed nearly all of my "off-work" time for the past two years. But enough is enough. It's time to jump in and go for it.

With that, you'll be seeing more updates around here, from screencasts to new examples, and of course product updates as well. Brad and I are already working on a new product for later this year that we can't write anything about yet, but we think you'll like it.

At any rate, in all seriousness, thank you to all SlideShowPro users for giving me the opportunity to make this move. I've built up a lot of credit thanks to you, and I greatly look forward to repaying it. Let's go.

03.04.07 | Simply Amish

Furniture manufacturer Simply Amish is using SlideShowPro to showcase their collection of beautiful furniture. Large thumbnails in the navigation make the gallery easy to navigate and click through. The background color of SlideShowPro's navigation bar was changed to a pleasing gray/green that perfectly blends with the color palette of their web site. Lots of great product photography as well. Check it out.

03.03.07 | SlideShowPro 1.4.5 Released

Version 1.4.5 of SlideShowPro is now available for registered users to download. This releases fixes three bugs (one of which was potentially nasty for those who repeatedly load a SWF containing SSP into another SWF), plus new public methods for navigating between gallery screens from outside the component. Check out the version history for more information, or login to your account to grab the update.

03.01.07 | Ronny Kiaulehn Photography

European photographer Ronny Kiaulehn is using SlideShowPro to display hundreds of large, beautiful photographs from his eclectic portfolio of work. The navigation bar color was colored to match the background color of the radius frame behind the component to create a fluid, integrated look. He's also using (under the "Portfolio" section) the new "Thumb Crop to Fit" option for the albums for a dramatic effect. Lots of good photos to see.