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Slideshows
CubicNavigator allows you to display the current node or series of nodes as a slideshow which takes over the whole screen and pans around by itself.
Slideshows can be set to be continuously running, perhaps to be used as a "kiosk mode" tour or as simply a visually interesting display.
The way slideshows work and the interface to set them up is very closely mirrored on the iPhoto interface, so if you are familiar with iPhoto you should have no trouble getting started.
To set up a slideshow, click the "Slideshow" button on the toolbar, or choose "Setup Slideshow" from the View menu.
The slideshow setup sheet will drop down over the window. You can then choose the settings you want before playing the slideshow.
The first choice is the "pattern" which the slideshow will follow. Unlike a photo slideshow which displays still photographs, CubicNavigator pans the VR around. How it does this is determined by the Pattern menu.
The items in this menu are fairly self-explanatory except for the last one, "Custom Recording," which applies a panning routine that you yourself can record using the Recording mode covered in the next chapter.
The next setting is the slideshow "speed" slider.
This determines how quickly the panorama is rotated, and increases from left to right.
The main setting of the setup box is what the slideshow should actually show. This consists of a group of radio buttons which determine what will be displayed.
Choosing Auto-Pan Current Scene will pan just the currently loaded scene (which could be a single node or a multinode VR, in which case the nodes will be cycled through).
Choosing Bookmarks will cycle through the locations stored in the bookmarks. Each location will be loaded and panned. There are two sub-options: the popup button determines which bookmarks folder will be used, allowing you to restrict the slideshow to just a given set of bookmarks, and the Cached Only checkbox. This checkbox tells the slideshow to only access locations that have already been viewed and will therefore load quickly.
(Slideshows keep panning no matter whether the content is fully loaded or not, so if a location is slow to appear, you may see the wireframe through some of the panning sequence. The checkbox avoids this, but of course if you haven't viewed any bookmarks, they won't appear.)
Choosing Recorded Tour will use the currently loaded recording for the slideshow, allowing you to manually record a panning sequence then have it played back unattended. (Recording is covered in the next chapter.)
Choosing Files From Folder will load the contents of a given folder on your hard drive. This choice is similar to the Bookmarks one, except you don't have to drag the files into the bookmarks list first. The "Choose..." button allows you to select the folder that will be scanned.
The final settings group is the "options" which customize how the slideshow will behave.
Randomize causes the series of locations (eg, a list of bookmarks) to be jumbled up so they appear at random.
Repeat Slideshow causes the slideshow to loop when it reaches the end, meaning it will go on continously until manually stopped.
Show Name / Keywords will overlay the name and/or keyword information associated with the location being panned by the slideshow. (Keywords are only available when the slideshow is using Bookmarks.)
Clicking the "Music" tab at the top of the setup box will display the music choices.
By default, music is switched off, so to enable it you will need to click the checkbox at the top.
When turned on, your iTunes Music Library (if you have one) will be scanned and the playlist names placed in the "Source" popup menu. When a playlist is chosen from this menu (or simply the whole iTunes Library), the song titles will be listed in the table below it.
Below the playlist table is a "play" button to check the music is what you want, a search field to locate a track, and a status display indicating what will actually be played during the slideshow.
Clicking a song title will select just that song. To have the whole playlist played instead, deselect the song by clicking in an empty area of the table, or just choose the playlist name again from the "Source" menu.
To start a slideshow playing, just click the "Play" button at the bottom of the setup box.
The screen will fade to black, the slideshow content will be arranged, and the first location will appear and start panning according to the settings you have chosen. If the slideshow ends immediately, check that you haven't chosen to only view cached bookmarks, or that a folder actually contents VR media.
Depending on the state of the Repeat Slideshow option, the slideshow may continue indefinitely. To stop it, press the "Esc" key on the keyboard or click the mouse button.
This completes the Slideshow chapter. The next chapter covers Recording a tour.
Watch Movie of Tutorial Being Performed [0:35]