Product Tutorial for Special Delivery™ Demo Version
Overview:
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Welcome to Special Delivery™ Demo Version!
This Tutorial contains two sample presentations. Open them and see what you can do with Special Delivery.
Special Delivery software is the first multimedia software product designed for mainstream users. It is a multimedia authoring tool that will enable you to quickly and easily build interactive multimedia for presentations, training, kiosks and education. The product uses the concept of an interactive slide and features a simple graphical technique for creating interactivity without the use of scripting, timelines or other complex interfaces. This Demonstration Version does not allow you to SAVE your presentations.
Product Concepts:
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Slide - A Special Delivery slide is just like a standard presentation slide except that it is interactive. Buttons that you create on Special Delivery slides allow you to start and control QuickTime movies, show pictures, play sounds and navigate.
Portals - These are areas on the slide that you will draw using tools similar to those found in drawing programs. Special Delivery provides tools for rectangles/squares, rounded rectangles/rounded squares and circles/ellipses. Holding down the shift key while drawing Portals will keep an equal aspect ratio i.e squares and circles. You can assign attributes such as background color and transparency to Portals. Also, data such as text, movies, pictures and sound can be placed in Portals.
Button - When running an interactive presentation, Buttons are “hot” areas of the screen. In Run View, clicking on a Button will make something happen: a movie will play, you will move to another slide etc.
Master Portal - Another name for a Portal with a Button Attribute. A Button is referred to this way because it controls another Portal.
Dependent Portal - Another name for a Portal being controlled by a Button.
Transparent - This is an attribute of a Portal that allows the background of the Portal to be transparent. This is the default setting for Background Color. The icon for transparency is a transparent square on a shaded square in the upper left of the color palette. To set or change the Background Color, pull down the Format Menu and move over to the Background Color Palette and release the mouse button when the cursor is over the color you desire.
Map - Special Delivery provides a special slide that gives you an overview of your presentation. Get to the Map by pulling down the Slides menu and using the Edit Slide Command. Move over to the Slide Menu and select Map, release the mouse button and Special Delivery will take you to the Map. Here, you will see a Map icon and thumbnails of each of the slides you have created. While editing a presentation, double click on a slide thumbnail and Special Delivery will take you to that slide.
Views - Special Delivery provides four Views of each slide. These Views are represented by icons shown in the upper right corner of the Window. Clicking on one of these icons will move you to the View represented by the icon.
• The top icon (a slide) represents the Layout View. In Layout View you will draw
Portals, format backgrounds and lay out other slide elements that will appear
when the slide is initially shown.
• The second icon from the top (a circle with an arrow attached) is the Button
View icon. In Button View, you will create Buttons that will control media such
as QuickTime movies. In Button View, you will also create navigation Buttons.
• The third icon from the top is the Notes View icon. In Notes View you will see a
thumbnail representation of the slide. Below the thumbnail there is an area where
you can enter speakers notes (rich text) that tell a speaker what to say about a
particular slide as well as instructions about using the slide.
• The bottom icon (a projector) is the Run View icon. Click on the projector icon to
run a presentation. The Menus will disappear and your Slide will be shown. Type
Cmd-.(period) to quit the presentation and return to the View where you clicked
the Run View icon.
The Special Delivery Tutorial:
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The objective of this tutorial is to provide you with a number of exercises that will allow you to understand the basic capabilities offered by Special Delivery. In this tutorial you will create a number of interactive slides and then run the slides as in an actual presentation setting.
The Process of Creating a Simple Interactive Slide:
In this section, you will create a simple interactive Slide and link this Slide to other Slides through the use of navigation buttons.
1. Start Special Delivery by double-clicking on the Special Delivery Demo icon. Notice that Special Delivery creates the first New Slide for you. Notice that you are in Layout View, shown by the reversed slide icon in the upper right.
2. Notice that Special Delivery starts with the Tool Palette showing. Note that the Tool Palette can be dragged by the top bar and placed where you want it on your screen. If you don’t want the Tool Palette showing click on the close box. You can get the Palette back by dragging down from the Tools Menu. Select the RectPortal Tool. This tool is in the second row of the right column on the Tool Palette. Use the RectPortal Tool to draw a long narrow Portal across the top of the Slide. The Portal will remain selected. Enter text for the title into this Portal. Use standard Macintosh commands from the Format menu to give the text the look you want.
3. Use the RectPortal Tool to draw a rectangular Portal in the middle of the window. This will be the area where data will appear. The default setting for the background color is transparent. The transparent color is shown by two superimposed squares on the Background Color Palette; one shaded and the other transparent.
4. Use the RectPortal Tool to draw a small square Portal to the left of the Portal you created in step #3. Use the Format-Background Color menu to make this Portal black. This Portal will become the Button that will interactively place data in the rectangular Portal.
5. Using your mouse, click on the Button Link icon in the upper right corner of the window. The icon is an arrow coming out of a small circle. This will take you to the Button View. Alternately, you can click on the Button Link Tool on the Tool Palette. Notice that the Portals you created are outlined in various colors. Special Delivery automatically colors each Portal differently to make it easy for you to differentiate between them. These colors have no meaning except in Button View.
6. When you enter Button View the Button Link Tool is automatically selected. Use this Tool to draw a Button Link from the small square Button to the rectangular Portal. The Button Link you draw will remain selected. Note that the Button Link is drawn in two colors. The first half of the link is shown in the color of the Master Portal, the second half of the link is shown in the color of the Dependent Portal.
7. Pull down the File Menu and select Place File… Special Delivery will display the file browser. Select a QuickTime movie that you want to appear when the Button is pushed. The QuickTime movie "Cherry Juice Talks" is included in the Movie Folder inside the Special Delivery Tutorial folder. Note that after you select a file, the name of the file is written next to the arrowhead of the Button Link.
8. Now you are ready to test your first interactive Slide. Click on the projector icon in the upper right hand corner of the Window to Run the presentation. The Menus will disappear and your Slide will be shown with the Title and the Button showing. Click on the Button and the file you selected will appear in the Portal. Type Cmd-.(period) to Quit the Presentation and return to Button View.
9. Now, let's add some Navigation Buttons to your Slide. First, click on the slide icon (the top icon) in the upper right corner of the Window to return to Layout View. Using the RectPortal Tool, draw three small rectangular Portals in the lower right corner of the Slide. Don't worry about precisely sizing these Portals.
10. Select the Selection Tool (the arrow in the upper right of the Tool Palette) and click on the background. Use the Format-Background Color menu to specify a background color for your Slide. Optionally, you can place a picture file in the background using the Command File - Place File. A number of custom backgrounds are included with Special Delivery. Only one background is included with this Demo Version.
11. Use the Slides - New Slide command twice to create two new Slides. Then return to Slide 1. There are two ways to move from Slide to Slide:
• Use the pop-up menu in the lower left of the screen to specify the Slide you
want to see. Move the cursor over the Slide Name Pop-Up menu, press and hold
the mouse Button and then select the Slide you want.
• Pull down the Slides Menu, select Edit Slide and then select the target Slide.
12. On Slide 1, click on the Button View icon to get to Button View. Use the Button Tool to draw a Button Link from a Button to the Slide background. Pull down the Button - Navigation menu and specify Previous. When in Run View, clicking on this button will take you to the previously shown slide.
13. Next, draw a Button link from the center Button to the Slide background. Pull down the Button - Navigation Menu and select Go To - Map.When in Run View, clicking on this button will take you to the Map.
14. Finally, draw a Button link from the right Button to the Slide background. Pull down the Button - Navigation menu and specify Next. When in Run View, clicking on this button will take you to the next slide in the slide sequence.
15. Click on the projector icon in the upper right hand corner of the Window to Run the presentation. The Menus will disappear and your Slide will be shown with the Title and the Button showing. Note that Special Delivery has automatically pasted in navigation buttons for you.
16. Close your presentation using the File - Close Presentation command. Special Delivery will put up a Save Dialog asking if you want to save your changes. Click on yes. Special Delivery will ask for a file name. Name the file "Tutorial Test". If you wish, you can Quit Special Delivery now and return to the tutorial later.
A General Approach to Creating Interactive Slides:
1. Lay out all Portals on the screen in Layout View. This includes Portals for titles, bullets, text, imported data, and Buttons. Click and drag to create Portals and to position these Portals. All data imported or created while in Layout will be shown when the Slide comes up while in Run. Use the Portal - Adjust command to align, resize and touch selected Portals. Use Format - Font, Size, Style, Alignment, Foreground Color and Background Color commands to specify the design of Portals that will appear when the Slide comes up.
2. To create Buttons and interactivity, select the Button Link icon in the upper right hand corner of the Window. Create Button Links to connect Buttons to Portals by using the Button Link Tool and then specify data that will appear under Button control. Use the Data - Resize Portal to Data, Clip Data To Portal, Scale data to Portal, and Anchor… commands to define the Portal and the position of data in the Portal.
3. To create text that will appear under Button control, draw a Button link from the Button to the slave Portal. Enter text and use the Format - Font, Size, Style, Alignment and Foreground Color commands to specify Portals with text that will appear when the controlling Button is clicked.
4. Note that you can create a Portal with text that shows itself when clicked. Simply draw a Button Link that starts and stops within the desired Portal. Then add text as in #3.
5. Create Speakers’ notes for a Slide by clicking on the Note View icon (a slide icon with a few lines underneath) in the upper right corner of the Window. Special Delivery will display a thumbnail of the Slide above an area where you can enter and format text that describes the Slide for use by a presenter. Please note that printing is disabled in this demonstration version.
Creating a Slide With Movie Control Buttons:
In this section you will create a Slide that can show several movies and control these movies with VCR-like control Buttons that have functions such as Stop, Play and Rewind.
1. If you have Quit Special Delivery, restart the program. Special Delivery will create a new Slide and take you to the New Slide in Layout View. If you have not Quit Special Delivery, use the File - New command to start a new presentation.
2. Use the RectPortal Tool and draw a large Portal in the center of the Slide. Next, use the same Tool to draw a smaller Portal above the large Portal. Finally, use the Tool again and draw three small square Portals under the large Portal. To ensure that any Portal has an equal aspect ratio (square vs. rectangle, round vs. oval), press the shift key while drawing these Portals .
3. Next, click on the Button View icon in the upper right-hand corner of the window to go to Button View. Draw a Button Link from the top Portal to the large Portal. The Link will remain selected. Use the File - Place File command and select a QuickTime movie. Note that the name of the QuickTime movie is added to the Button Link near the arrowhead. Finally, ensure that the Data - Clip Data to Portal command is selected (it will have a check mark next to it).
4. Now, draw a Button Link from the leftmost small square Portal on the bottom to the large Portal. Use the menu Button - Data - Play to make the Portal into a “Play” Button. Note that the word “Play” is added to the Button Link. Repeat this process with the other two small square Portals. Make the center Portal a “Stop” Button and make the right Button a “Rewind” Button.
5. Now click on the Layout View icon in the upper right corner of the Slide to go to Layout View. Note that each of the three movie control Buttons now have icons. Use the Portal - Adjust command to align and distribute these icons if desired.
6. Now you will place the name of the movie in the rectangular Portal at the top of the Slide. Click on the Slide or use the Menu Tools - Select to get the Selection Tool. Select the top Portal. Type the name of the movie you have selected. Use the text Tool to select the name you have typed (drag across the text). Use the Format - Font, Size, Style, Alignment, Text Color commands to Format the selected text. Next use the Format - Background Color command to select the background color. The Background Color will be the color of the Button.
7. Save this presentation as “Movie Presentation”. This presentation will be used later in the tutorial.
8. Click on the Projector icon in the upper right corner of the Window to run the Slide. Note that clicking the Button with the movie name will start the movie, the other control Buttons will Stop, Start and Rewind the movie as desired.
Adding Transparent Buttons:
1. Start Special Delivery. A new slide will be created.
2. Draw a large Portal in the center of the Slide. Use the menu File - Place File to select and place a picture in the Portal. Included in your Special Delivery Tutorial folder is a picture file named Bugler-2 that is a good picture to use for this exercise. Use the Data - Resize Portal to Data command to make the Portal and the Picture the same size.
3. Draw three small Transparent Portals over areas on the picture you want to function as Buttons. Try drawing three Portals: oval, rounded square and rectangular.
4. Above the large Portal, draw two additional Portals. These Portals will contain data that will be controlled by the Buttons on the picture.
5. Go to Button View. Draw a Button Link from the RoundedRect Portal to the square Portal. The Button Link will remain selected. Use the menu File - Place File to select another picture that you would like to appear when the area under the RoundedRect Portal is clicked. Note that the arrowhead end of the Button Link is appended with the file name of the picture you have selected.
6. Next, draw a Button Link from the rectangular area over the picture to the rectangular Portal. The Button Link will remain selected. Type text in the Portal. This should be text that you want to appear when the area under the rectangular Portal/Button is clicked; for example, a description of the rectangular area on the picture. Note that you can format this text using the Format - Font, Size, Style, Alignment and Foreground (text) color commands. The text will remain selected until you click on the background. After clicking on the background, the text will be set, it will reduce in size and only a few characters followed by … will be shown. Don't worry, the text will be available as entered and formatted when you click on the controlling Button.
7. Use the Presentation - New Slide command to create an additional Slide for this portion of the exercise. Return to the slide you were working on using the Slide PopUp in the lower left corner of the Window. Draw a Button Link in the oval Portal. The Link will remain selected. Use the menu Button - Navigation - Go To to select another Slide. When you click this Portal during Run, the Slide you select with Go To will come up. This type of Button is useful if you need additional Slide(s) to explain a portion of your picture.
Creating Interactive Bullet Points:
Method #1:
1. Create a new Slide. Draw a large rectangular Portal (transparent) in the middle of the Slide.
2. Go to Button View. Draw a Button Link within the Portal. With the Link selected, enter and format the text you wish to have appear.
3. If you click on the background with the Selection Tool, the text will collapse to a few characters followed by an ellipses. Click on the text with the Text Tool to make the fully formatted text reappear. The shortening of text blocks is done to make the Button View more readable for busy slides.
4. Now go back to Layout View. Select the Portal with the selection tool. Pull down the menu Portal and select the Set Portal Info… command. In the Bullet section of the Dialog Box, mark the checkbox fo “ON”, specify the bullet character you want to use: font, style, size and color. Click on the OK Button to accept your choices.
5. Select the Bullet Tool and click on the Portal with this Tool. A Bullet will appear next to the Portal. Now Run the Presentation. When this Slide comes up the Bullet should be showing. Click on the Bullet or the Portal to reveal the text associated with the Bullet.
Creating and Using Master Slides:
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Special Delivery provides you with Master Slide capability. This feature allows you to define slides as masters (or templates). Once a Master Slide has been created, other slides can be quickly created that have all the same features as the master: layout, background, type specs, buttons etc. This feature also allows for rapid editing of a presentation. Changes made to the elements of a Master Slide will be automatically made to all the slides that are based on that Master (the “Dependent” slides).
In this section you will define one of the slides you have already created as a Master Slide and then create a new slide based on this Master.
1. Open the presentation named “Movie Presentation” that you created in an earlier exercise.
2. Go to the slide with the movie control buttons. Use the command Slides - Set Slide Name… and then name the slide “Movie Master” by typing the name in the Name Field and then clicking on OK. Note that the Slide Name has been changed in the Slide Pop-up in the lower left of the Window.
3. Next, use the command Slides - New Slide to create a new slide. Special Delivery will take you to the new slide.
4. Use the command Slides - Set Slide Master. When you select this menu item a hierarchical menu will appear giving you choices for a master. You can make any slide into a master. Select the Master you just created named “Movie Master”. A warning will appear telling you that the command cannot be undone. Click on Proceed. Special Delivery will recreate all the elements of the Master Slide on the New Slide.
5. Click on the Slide PopUp in the lower left of the Window. Note that the name of the Master Slide is now in italics. This means that slides in the presentation are using the italicized slide as a Master Slide.
6. Go to the Master Slide and change a few elements of the slide (button position, colors etc.). Return to the slide based on the master. Note that the elements of this “Dependent” slide have been updated to reflect the changes you made in the Master.
7. Go to the Dependent slide and create a new Portal on the slide. Note that this edit only appears on this Dependent slide.
Creating A Self-Running Presentation:
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Special Delivery can easily create self-running presentations. In this section you will take an interactive Slide and add Button Delays to the Slide to create a self-running presentation.
1. Open the presentation "Tutorial Test" that you ceated in the first exercise. Now, create 2 additional slides. Return to the initial slide.
2. In the extreme lower left corner of the screen you will see a green square. This is the Slide Init Button that starts self-running sequences. Draw a Button Link from the Slide Init Button to the small square Button. The Button Link will remain selected. Next, pull down the Button Menu and Control - Delay… This will bring up a dialog box where you can set a delay in units of 1/10s of a second. Set this delay for 20/10s of a second (2 seconds).This will give your viewer 2 seconds to read the title before the data in the first Portal is shown. The concept is that the Delay Button pushes the Dependent Button when the delay is complete (the Delay starts when the Delay Button is pushed).
3. Draw another Link from the first Button to the Next Slide Button. Set a Delay of 80/10s (8 seconds) for this Link. The QuickTime movie "Cherry Juice Talks" runs for approximately 6 seconds.
You have created a self-running Slide that will come up, wait 2 seconds, place the data in the Portal, wait 8 seconds and then go to the next slide.
Try the self-running presentation by clicking on projector icon (Run View).
To exit this presentation type Cmd-.(period) at any time.
Creating a Kiosk-Style Self-Running Demonstration:
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This type of self-running demonstration runs itself until a user clicks on a Button that provides additional information. The user can browse the additional information at will. When the Presentation user finishes, Special Delivery will wait a specified period of time and then return to self-run.
1. Create a self-running presentation as described above. Link a series of self-running Slides together by using one of the Delay Button techniques. Next, make this into a circular loop: on the last Slide of this series, create a Go To Button that returns to the first Slide of the self-running sequence.
2. Create Slide sequences for additional information and add Buttons that Go To these sections.
3. Finally, use the Slides - Set Presentation Info… command and set the Kiosk Delay in seconds. Special Delivery will wait for the delay that you specify in this Dialog Box. If a presentation user does not click the mouse or press a keyboard key for this period of time, and there are no Delays pending, Special Delivery will return to the first slide of the Presentation and will run again.
Where Do I Go From Here?
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We have provided this Tutorial as a basic overview of the capabilities in the Demonstration Version. This section will briefly describe some of the additional capabilities in the Demonstration Version:
Import - Will allow you to import PowerPoint and Persuasion presentation files from the Scrapbook.
Table of Contents - Provides a means for listing the contents of a presentation: fonts, movies pictures, transitions etc. This is useful when moving a presentation and its related files to another machine.
Monitor Setup - Special Delivery supports the creation of speakers notes. Click on the third icon down on the upper right of the window to go to Notes View. Notes View provides an area for creating speakers notes with a thumbnail of the slide on the top of the page. If your system has two or more monitors, Monitor Setup allows you to set one monitor for your slides (the monitor or projector the audience will see) and the other monitor for the Note View (the monitor you the presenter will see). Thus Special Delivery can provide a teleprompter capability.
Transitions - Special Delivery supports the use of both Slide-to-Slide transitions and Portal Transitions. On the Map you can select slide(s) with the Selection Tool and then assign a transition that will be used if you issue a next command while in Run View. Pull down the Format Menu and move over on the Transition menu to see the transitions that are available to you.These transitions will show during running of the presentation. NOTE: you may find some of the transitions to be unsuitable depending on what type of machine you are using. Some transitions are better used for Portal Transitions.
To create a transition for a Portal, select a Button Link for the Portal, assign a transition to the Button Link using the Format - Transition command. A Portal transition is similar to a Slide transition except that instead of transitioning from one Slide to another, you transition from the old contents of a Data Portal to new contents. Portal transitions are specified by selecting the Button Link(s) for which you wish to specify a transition (in Button View) and then selecting the appropriate transition from the Transition sub-menu on the Format menu. Portal transitions may be specified for Button Links which have one of the following Button Commands: Queue, Queue and Play, Show Portal, and Set Portal Background Color. Also, the same method can be used to create transitions for text by specifying a transition for a button link that places text in a portal.
Views - There are four ways to move from View to View. You can select the icon in the upper right of the window. You can use the commands under the View menu. You can use the keyboard shortcuts shown on the View menu. Also, some Special Delivery tools will take you to a View appropriate for that tool. For example, the Button Link Tool will take you to Button View.
Set Movie Info - This Dialog Box is available under the Data menu if you select a Button Link that places a movie or a portal that has a movie pasted in it. The Dialog Box allows you to change a number of parameters associated with a QuickTime movie: start, stop, poster frame, looping options and the sound track (if the movie has more than one sound track).
Other Tools on the Tool Palette:
Eyedropper - Used to match colors
Next Chain Tool - This icon is an arrow between two boxes. It is used in the Map to define main and alternate slide sequences. Use the tool to draw connecting links between slides in the order you want to show the slides using next commands. As you connect slides, the slide number (in the upper left corner of the slide) is updated.
Next Topic Tool - This icon is a series of dividers with tabs on the right side. Use this tool in the Map to mark Next Topic slides. Next Topic slides are shown on the Map by a dark band across the top of the slide. If you wish to jump ahead during running of a presentation, the up arrow key will take you to the Next Topic slide. Also, a Next Topic Button can take you to the Next Topic.
Bullet Tool - This icon is a bullet next to a block of text. Click on Portals with this tool to assign a bullet attribute to the Portal. Use the Get Portal Info Dialog Box under the Portal menu to set the bullet characteristics (font, style etc.). If there is no Portal selected when the Dialog Box comes up, you are setting defaults for subsequently created Portals.
Slide Name Tool - This icon is a slide with one line of text along the top. Click on a Portal with this tool and that Portal becomes a Slide Name Portal. To revert to a normal text portal, set the text and then click on the Portal with the Slide Name Tool. Use the Set Slide Name command under the Slides menu to give the slide a name and the slide name will be placed in the Slide Name Portal. This tool is very useful on Master Slides.
Line Tool - This icon is a line. Use this tool to draw lines and arrows on slides. Use the Format - Line Width and Line Style commands to format lines.
