View from Below (click for larger view)

View from Above (click for larger view)

I’ll post again later on with more info on how I got on with the software and hardware – but overall it was very good, having 8 channels of video to mix with is great, and the ease of use makes selecting videos quick… during one song I did have 7 layers of video in use at the same time!

I started mixing VHS tapes (eg the original Images for Worship VHS tapes from onbd.org), with a Panasonic MX50 mixer connected to a couple VHS players. This was great with lyrics keyed in over the top…. I started doing this about 12 years or so ago…

Now I have a growing collection of video files and have been looking for the best way to locate, mix and control video mixing of these files – mpgs, movs etc…

I have recently been using 2 laptops with their SVIDEO output connected to an Edirol video mixer, and then connect the output of the edirol to a projector.

However, I’ve been looking for a better solution, and I’ve decided on this:

Software Mixer: Arkaos Grand VJ

MIDI Controller: Livid Instruments Ohm64

They are currently on order, but the idea is, that the software can mix 8 channels of videos, and apply effects etc and more, and using the MIDI controller will make make the physical mixing/settings etc quick and easy…

I’ll post back with how it goes, I have an event on March 28 at which I’ll be using this…

Ephesians

I’ve just come across Wordle – it’s a web based program that can make images (like the one here, click for a bigger version) from a load of text – here we have the text from Ephesians! It figures out the most popular word (by count) and makes those words bigger.

You often see ‘word clouds’ on blogs and other web sites – these are links to pages that are about that word… However, this type of text formatting can make very nice images – mix it with biblical stuff, and it creates an image that can be used in many ways.

I thought it may be useful as a visual aid, perhaps as a logo for a bible teaching series… it would be great if there was a service that made videos like this…

Options

It’s very easy to use – you can paste in some words, or provide a URL (a web page address) and it will go and generate an image. You can then choose different fonts, layouts and colour schemes.

Revelation Words:

Here is one using the words from Revelation:

Revelation

Not all the features I’ve been suggesting over the years have been put in (did I hear someone say ‘liturgy tab’?)

New Features:

Anyway, the main new features are:

• 3rd Screen Support - a screen aimed at people on the ’stage’ rather than for the congregation.
• VJ mode – Easily change images/videos during a song
• Web site presentation – web pages can be navigated and displayed
• Better audio playback – playing MP3’s for example is now easier, and can be run along side a song being presented
• Shiny interface - the buttons etc are now a bit more modern… whether you prefer this is your own taste – it’s nothing drastic!

Cost

There is a cost to upgrade – nothing that will break the bank mind…

more at: www.easyworship.com

The Software:

The program that does the spell checking is ‘Freespell’ – as the name tell, it’s free software! The program is actually designed to help spell check anything – any program, and it works Woth EasyWorship when your editing songs! For information and to download see: http://hcidesign.com/freespell

It’s a little clumsy/basic, but seems to work OK for me… There is a ‘pro’ version that you can purchase which has a nicer interface, but does the same job.

How to Spell Check EasyWorship Songs:

You Edit a song, highlight the text, press the ‘hot key’ eg WinKey and Z. and it pops up suggesting words for the typos. – if there are no spelling mistakes then nothing happens!

Here it is in action, using EasyWorship 2009:

Screenshot of EasyWorship Spell Check

Not Just EasyWorship

As FreeSpell will spel check any program, it would also spell check other presentation programs that don’t have a built in spell checker – such as MediaShout, Sunday Plus, etc…

By using Test Patterns along with the colour/brightness/contrast and other settings on your projector will give you best results. We have created a PowerPoint file with 32 test patterns that will help you calibrate your video projector…

Preview:

Click to cycle through the screens:

These have been useful to me when setting up and aligning projectors, that are given on that basis – nothing more – I don’t garantee that it will help, these are not ‘prefessionaly’ created – but in using PowerPoint – they are as flexible as possible and by using powerpoint it’s simple and easy for any one to use!

Test Patterns

There are lots of familiar test patter screens – colour bars etc – as well as screens to help centre and align your screen.

There are individual colour screens – White, red, green, blue, Cyan, Magenta, Yellow and Black – these are there to help spot duff pixels and ensure an even colour spread.

There are a couple of greyscale screens to help set up the contrast and brightness of the projector correctly, as well as photos to help ensure skin tone looks as best as possible. There is a slides with different text sizes so you can easily figure out what font size works best on your screen, a colour hues screen to check clarity of colour etc…  – oh, and a freaky brain-animation at the end, just for fun!

Download:

This is available for free, download now:
PowerPoint Projector Calibration Test Patterns (3506)

All we ask is that you don’t redistrubute it (feel free to link to this page) and don’t complain if it doesn’t help you

Feel free to leave comments!

You can create 30 second clips for free, and you can pay for full-length and DVD quality movies of your work.

They have recently added video support – so as well as photographs you can add video in to the slide show.

From a church presentation point of view, this is a quick and easy way to make a great looking slide show of a recent church event, perhaps a weekend away or some other special event.

Update – As of the summer 2009, you can now upload and include video footage in the animation. – therefroe you can mix photos with short video clips recorded on a camera or a mobile phone etc.

With CamStudio, a free (open source) software program, you can, and it’s pretty easy to convert a powerpoint presentation in to a video file!

CamStudio is a screen recording program, a very good one indeed, and being free makes it even better. It basically records what’s on the screen, so you just need to press record, and then play the presentation as usual and it will make a video file. You then then edit the video or convert it to flv/mpg and so on! It’s a ppt2flv or ppt2mpg program!

http://camstudio.org/