December 19, 2007

FeatherySoft Company Releases Vista Compatible FlashSlider 4.2

FeatherySoft has released the new version of FlashSlider - a web-authoring tool for converting images and sound into a flash slide-show for your web-site.

The new feature of FlashSlider 4.2: Windows Vista compatibility.

FlashSlider 4.2 is an easy-to-use tool for creating flash slide-shows with photos, text, predefined or random transitional effects and background music.
The program generates movies (*.swf files - Adobe/Macromedia ShockWave Flash format) for publishing to HTML or Macromedia Projector.

Some of the main features of FlashSlider 4.2:

• all image formats are supported: jpeg, png, gif, tiff, bmp;
• MP3 / WAV / PCM / ADPCM sound formats are supported;
• predefined or random transitional effects for slide-show;
• adding titles to slide-show frames;
• stop points on every frame of flash slide-show;
• resizing of the slide-show with mouse.

Slide-show sample is available at http://www.flashslider.com/images/sample.swf

Download Links:
http://www.flashslider.com/download.php
http://www.flashslider.com/download/fs_setup.exe

Buy Link:
http://www.regnow.com/softsell/nph-softsell.cgi?item=8342-3

Product Website:
http://www.flashslider.com

Contact info:
Contact person: Helen Kovalyova
E-mail: helen at featherysoft.com or info at featherysoft.com
Skype: elena.kovalyova
MSN: elena_kovalyova@hotmail.com
For more information about us and our products, please visit http://www.featherysoft.com

Mailing Address
Pacific Business Centre
FeatherySoft
#101 - 1001 W. Broadway Suite 381
Vancouver, BC V6H 4E4 Canada

December 19, 2007

FeatherySoft Announces Christmas Discount of 5% for Screen Calendar Software

Make a Christmas Present to yourself, your clients, your friend and relatives! Screen Calendar is a handy PIM and desktop calendar for the new 2008 year.
 
FeatherySoft Company announces Christmas discount of 5% for Screen Calendar program.

Screen Calendar software creates desktop wallpaper with built in interactive calendar.
The calendar is fully-customizable – its size, transparency, color, fonts etc. are configurable.
Besides, Screen Calendar serves as a full-functional PIM– it allows to schedule a day hourly, set reminder for important events, attach files to records, and print your notes.
Records can be read immediately on your desktop by moving mouse cursor on a date cell. Double-click a date cell to open Day scheduler.

New feature: iCal format compatibility. Beginning with version 7.4, Screen Calendar supports data exchange with iCalendar. That enables you to add events to your desktop calendar directly from iCalendar files (.ics files). Screen Calendars allows importing events from both local files and remote sources. Also, you can export records from a desktop calendar to iCal file.

Screen Calendar runs under Windows 98/Me/NT/2k/XP/Vista.

Download Links:
http://screencalendar.com/download.html
http://www.screencalendar.com/filedl/scsetup.exe

Buy Link:
https://www.regnow.com/softsell/nph-softsell.cgi?item=8342-1

Product Website:
http://screencalendar.com

About FeatherySoft:
FeatherySoft is a software development company founded in 2003 and aimed at delivering high quality software products. The first product line includes end-user applications based on Flash technology; the second – calendar software; the third – libraries for Flash software developers.
Also we’re open for Localization Services and Outsourcing (Application Development).

Contact info:
Contact person: Helen Kovalyova
E-mail: helen at featherysoft.com or info at featherysoft.com
Skype: elena.kovalyova
MSN: elena_kovalyova@hotmail.com
For more information about us and our products, please visit http://www.featherysoft.com

Mailing Address
Pacific Business Centre
FeatherySoft
#101 - 1001 W. Broadway Suite 381
Vancouver, BC V6H 4E4 Canada

October 18, 2007

Story about my first slide show making
Author: Elena Grigorieva lg0870_a_gmail.com

I want to tell you the story of my first slide show making. Being a crazy mother, I’m ready to make photos of my daughter every minute to capture every moment of her life. And I also like to show everyone these photos. And, of course, I want to show them in the best way. One day my friends gave me software for making slide show – Flashslider.

To make slide show using Flashslider is quite easy. Having started the program, I’ve seen a window for adjustment of movie properties.The first listbox is general properties such as movie size, rate, and background color. I’ve found out that the movie size is very important. First of all, one must decide what images, horizontal or vertical, will prevail in a slide show and set movie size according to this. Because if the width of your movie is more than its height, vertical image will be shown with white stripes on its sides. Besides that, it’s better when movie size corresponds to your images size – you won’t have to change image position after adding it to a slide show. I’ve chosen 533x400 pixels movie size. I’ve set a default movie rate and white background. Background color is important if you have such a situation as I’ve mentioned – when you insert vertical photo in a horizontal movie or vice versa.

The second listbox is navigation. It contains action at the end of the movie (I’ve chosen “stop”) and navigation buttons, which can be added to your slide show (I’ve ticked off all items for easier navigation).

The third is sound. I’ve provided my slide show with background music and made sound stop when movie stops. One can use MP3 or WAV files for background music. The next is preloader – one can add a preloader to a slide show and choose its appearance and position.

Then we have a listbox Links. As I made my slide show just for myself, I hadn’t assigned links, but Flash Slider can assign links to an entire slide show as well as to separate images. You simply choose either you want to add total URL or different URL to each slide. If one chooses the latter, there will appear Link in image settings.

And the last is titles. I’ve ticked off Enable titles on frame because I wanted to add notes to my images. Then I’ve chosen titles position, font and effects. Titles color is adjustable for every separate image. That’s all one should do before making a slide show itself. Maybe, it’s long to read, but it’s quick and easy to do. This window can be opened any time while making a slide show by clicking Movie properties button on the toolbar.

Well, then I’ve clicked OK and gone on to the movie making. At first, I’ve seen a window Open to choose an image for the first slide. Flash Slider makes a slide show from any files in supported graphical formats, including BMP, JPEG, GIF, PNG, and TIFF. Having chosen an image, I’ve seen my first slide. It’s time to adjust image settings – to choose a position (possible positions are left corner, center and stretch – I like the latter) to set a delay (default delay is 4 seconds). If one enabled titles, then a text should be entered and its color should be chosen. There is also a motion delay. I’ve kept a default delay for all slides except the first one and the last one. Then I’ve added the next slide (there is an Add slide button on the toolbar and in a menu which is seen after a right-click on a slide in the Slide list in the bottom of program window or press Ctrl+A). Mind you, when I needed to add some slides at once from one folder, I right-clicked on the image to open a slide menu and chose an option Add slides allowing to add more than one slide at a time. When I saw I had added wrong image, I didn’t delete this slide and add another one. I also opened the slide menu and chose Browse picture to change a picture of the slide. Using this menu, one can also insert a slide before or after the chosen slide, clear slide or delete it and set movie size corresponding to image size. Options Add slide or slides, insert before and after are also included in the Slide menu below the toolbar.
Well, I’ve already added all pictures. To make my slide show more impressive, I used different transitional effects. How to add them? It’s easy. I left-clicked on a small slide in the Slide list in the bottom of the program window, saw the motion space after it became grey and chose needed transitional effect in a list in the right side of the window just by left-clicking it. When I wanted to see the preview of a transitional effect before adding it, I used Edit menu to open Effect manager. Using this menu, one can also set random effects.

So, my movie is complete. Saving it, I’ve got an FSL file, which is just a project of the movie and can be opened only with Flashslider. To make a file, which can be opened with viewer or explorer, click Publish button on the toolbar, or press Ctrl+E, then set FPS (Frame-per-Second) value and choose Publish type. Flash Slider creates standard SWF animations or provides a user with HTML code for Web-sites.

So, the work is done. And now is a fly in the ointment – disadvantages which I’ve noticed while making my movie. The main is titles. I’ve observed that a text isn’t displayed on the last slide. My way out was to make clear last slide with minimal delay so that the text on the next to last slide could be seen. Sometimes, having clicked on a slide, I saw an image of this slide with a title of previous slide. But this problem exists only in the process of movie making, when a project is saved as a SWF file, all titles are on their right places. I also had a situation when titles disappeared and I had to open Movie properties window to enable titles on frame one more time.

Then, some words about transitional effects. There are a lot of them in Flashslider, but, to my mind, they are a little monotonous. I’d like to see something more interesting as a mosaic effect, effects of water drops, interference, broken glass, clock etc. It’s not a disadvantage; it’s rather my personal wish. I’m looking forward to adding of these effects in the next versions of Flashslider. And the last – a problem, which I confronted with after making a SWF file. It’s the huge size of this file. I tried to e-mail it, and my attempts can be described in a separate article, because it’s very long and sad story. Having tried every archivers, which couldn’t make the size of my file small enough to be received by my post server, I despaired of sending it and decided to solve this problem in another way. I’ve resized my photos to decrease their size. You can make it with every graphics editor or viewer. And it works! There is no difference between large and small images when you watch slide show from SWF file, but this file’s size becomes considerably smaller after images resizing. I even tried to cut off mp3 file, used as my background music, because I didn’t use all song for my show but only its beginning. But it hasn’t affected the size of SWF file. My opinion is that Flash Slider saves only that part of music file, which is used for a slide show (but I may be wrong, because I’m a real dummy in programming). Well, that’s all. I’m pleased with this software and advise you to use it for making your slide shows. I can say that it’s really easy to enhance your Web site, family archive or business presentations with an interesting and good-looking slide show made with Flash Slider.

New Flash tool adds professional charts to websites - Animated Chart 1.0

Animated Chart is a "do-it-yourself" Flash tool that helps web designers to add graphs and charts to their websites. The program does not require any knowledge of Flash or HTML, costs under fifty US Dollars and can be a powerful marketing tool that helps convert visitors into buyers.

This is how Animated Chart works. In order to add a chart to a website, there are three simple steps. First, a webmaster selects a chart type that fits his or her website best: Area, Bar, Bubble, Column, Doughnut, Line, Pie, (XY) Scatter or Stock. Second, the data source file is selected. The final step is customizing the chart. Click on any element and select an attractive transition effect: Appear, Grow, Fall, NeonAppear, Slide, Gather, Swing, Rotate.

After all three steps are completed, program users can choose to export the results as a SWF file or an image file, a HTML file or a projector file, a piece of HTML-code saved to clipboard. There are plenty of bright chart samples at the web site www.animatedchart.com.

For a limited time, free trial version of Animated Chart 1.0 (Standard edition) is available at www.animatedchart.com for evaluation. The price of registering the program is 49 US Dollars/Euros for a single license.

Animated Chart Pro edition allows you to get real time web charts and graphs from dynamic data and costs 69 US Dollars/Euros for a single license.

System Requirements: Macromedia Flash Player

Company: http://www.featherysoft.com/
Product page: http://www.animatedchart.com/
Screenshot: http://www.animatedchart.com/forsubmit/screen.jpg
Chart samples: http://www.animatedchart.com/samples.html
Download: http://www.animatedchart.com/download/animated-chart-setup.exe
Buy: https://www.plimus.com/jsp/buynow.jsp?contractId=1659117

7 May 2005

New Flash tool adds audio capabilities to websites

Fun SoundPlayer Maker is a “do-it-yourself” Flash audio tool that helps web designers add music, sound effects and audio presentations to their websites. The program does not require any knowledge of Flash or HTML, costs under fifteen US Dollars and gives website visitors an option to turn audio on and off.

This is how Fun SoundPlayer Maker works. In order to add audio to a website, there are three simple steps. First, a webmaster selects a player template that fits his or her website best. Free templates are provided by the developer. Second, the source audio file is selected (mp3 files are supported). The file can be “embedded” into the player or stored externally (file path needs to be provided). The final step is publishing the player to a website.

After all three steps are completed, program users can choose to save the results as a separate template HTML-page, a piece of HTML-code saved to clipboard or a SWF file.

Besides obvious applications, like providing music samples to promote bands and CDs, Fun Sound Player can be a powerful marketing tool that helps convert visitors into buyers. The program is successfully used for providing audio greetings, audio presentations and audio testimonials, which can be easily obtained by asking a permission to record phone conversations with satisfied customers.

For a limited time, free trial version of Fun SoundPlayer Maker 1.1 is available at www.funsoundplayer.com for evaluation. The price of registering the program is 14.95 US Dollars/Euros for a single license.

System Requirements: Macromedia Flash Player

Company: http://www.featherysoft.com/
Product Page: http://www.funsoundplayer.com/
Download: http://www.funsoundplayer.com/download/sp_setup.exe
Screenshot: http://www.funsoundplayer.com/img/screenshot/big.gif
Contact e-mail: support_at_featherysoft.com

20 November 2004

FeatherySoft Releases Delphi SWF SDK Helping Delphi developers create spectacular applications that support Flash.

When it comes to impressive presentations, demos or movies, Flash is developer's instrument of choice. But, until recently, Delphi developers had no fast and easy way to take advantage of Flash technology for their applications. Delphi SWF SDK makes integrating Flash (Shockwave) into Delphi-based applications just as easy as using Microsoft's plug and play technology.

This is how Delphi SWF SDK works – it comes with an Object Pascal library for creating SWF files using without any external dynamic libraries. This means that Delphi developer can create Flash buttons, banners, videos and demos with a few mouse clicks by simply using Delphi SWF SDK, Free Stock samples and Code library that is a source of ready-to-use methods of working with Macromedia Flash.

With Delphi SWF SDK any Delphi developer can create visual objects, shapes and charts. This SDK is perfectly suited for integrating Flash videos, sound (events or streaming), action commands, embedding fonts or inserting transition or transformation effects. While Delphi SWF SDK does not do all programming for developers, it certainly automates 95% of coding that would have to be done if one would decide to use Flash elements without using this SDK.

Delphi SWF SDK is well written, well documented and straightforward. It's both easy to use and quite fast to getting used to, because the learning curve is very low. It is likely the best way for a Delphi developer to start using Flash in his or her projects.

Delphi SWF SDK is available at www.delphiflash.com for free evaluation. The price of registering this SDK is 170 US Dollars.

Also, there is an ActiveX programming library based on the Delphi SWF SDK. So, Visual Basic, Visual Basic.NET, ASP, ASP.NET, Visual C++ and Visual C# programmers can use all features of the Delphi SWF SDK with the SWF Scout ActiveX.

Company Website : http://www.featherysoft.com
Product Page: http://www.delphiflash.com
Download: http://www.delphiflash.com/download/dswfsdk.zip
Contact e-mail: support_at_featherysoft.com

23 August 2004

Screen Calendar 6.0 can eliminate having a wall calendar

FeatherySoft, Inc. has released version 6.0 of Screen Calendar, a Windows 98/Me/NT/2k/XP utility that lets you add PIM like calendar just on any wallpapers.

Screen Calendar really allows you to put the calendar on your desktop wallpaper choosing the calendar size and transparency. Double-click a calendar to schedule your business day. To read your records fully, just move your mouse over the date cell. Also, your records and
calendar can be printed. So, your PIM is always at hand (it runs in system tray), but it does not require much space, especially if you like to use the hide/show calendar commands.

Beginning with version 6.0, you can use a full-functional scheduler with abilities of reminding, postponing and recurring of important records and appointments.

The program changes the desktop look quite easily: choose a new skin or calendar arrangement and font or even set a random background image. To add new skins simple click any skin link at http://www.screencalendar.com and the one will be installed automatically. Also, the well-dressed desktop calendar is wearing elegant WinAmp skins.
Screen Calendar does not request the Active Desktop enable but the calendar is really active on your desktop.

Screen Calendar costs either $24.95 or EUR 24.95 for a single-user license. The trial version of Screen Calendar is free and fully-functional but the registration reminder screen will pop up.

Developer: FeatherySoft, Inc.
Home page: http://www.screencalendar.com
Screen shot: http://www.screencalendar.com/images/sc_scr.jpg
Download: http://www.screencalendar.com/filedl/scrcal.zip
Contact e-mail: mail_at_screencalendar.com

January 24, 2005

FlashSlider 4.0 makes slideshow with various transition effects

FeatherySoft, Inc. has released version 4.0 of FlashSlider, a Windows platform application that lets you make slideshow or presentation using various transition effects (114 transition effects).

With FlashSlider you can create Flash movie in just a few steps, without requiring you to spend lots of time and money. It can be either a showy presentation or a slide show of your photos with any sound background.

The program generates flash movies (*.swf files - Macromedia Shockwave Flash format) from JPEG-images for publishing to HTML or Macromedia Projector. So, FlashSlider can be used as a web-authoring tool too.

Beginning with version 4.0, you can add titles to any frames and different URLs to each slide. Also, with the advanced timeline tool you can play the movie from any position (or step frame-by-frame).

For $29.00 you can have a tool that allows you to create very nice photo slideshows, complete with professional transitions. The interface is simple and very intuitive.

Developer: FeatherySoft, Inc.
Home page: http://www.flashslider.com
Screen shot: http://www.flashslider.com/images/prev.gif
Download: http://www.flashslider.com/download/fs_setup.exe
Contact e-mail: mail_at_flashslider.com