This Read Me file contains notes, comments, and suggestions that will help you get the most out of the Portfolio.
What Is This CD For?
The Virtual Portfolio is a directory and reference tool for art directors, art buyers, creative consultants, and other communications professionals. It is designed to be a creative resource of some of today’s most innovative digital image makers, illustrators, animators, and interactive designers. If you like their work, you may contact them directly for additional information about their services, additional samples of their work, or to hire them for an assignment.
If you are looking for: an illustrator or photographer who can digitally manipulate or create images; for an interactive multimedia designer; an animator; or for relevant on-line services and software tools -- The Virtual Portfolio is the place to start your search.
Quick Start-Up:
You must have QuickTime™ 2.0, and Sound Manager 3.0 or higher to be able to use the Virtual Portfolio.
If you don’t have these versions of QuickTime and Sound Manager installed in your Macintosh, please install them from our CD into your System Folder before you start using the Portfolio.
Here's how you do it: open the "Put In Your Sys Folder" folder in our CD. If your Macintosh is 680x0-based (Quadra, Centric, IIci, etc.) then open the 680x0 folder. Select all the items and drag them into your own System Folder.---If you have a PowerPC-based Macintosh, then open the PowerPC folder. Select all the items and drag them into your own System Folder. (Do not copy the "Put In Your Sys Folder" folder itself, just the items inside it.)---Restart your computer.
If you don’t install QuickTime and Sound Manager, you may not be able to see or hear many of the animation and interactive files in the Portfolio.
Help Feature
In the Portfolio's Main Menu you will find a Help feature. This help feature will guide you through the general use and navigation of The Virtual Portfolio.
The Demos Folder
While you browse the Portfolio you might see instructions to look in the Demos folder to view an artist’s work or a company’s demo. This means that you can’t access these files directly from within the Portfolio. You’ll have to quit the Portfolio and open these files individually like any other application.
The reason for this is because your computer may not have enough RAM memory to load both the Virtual Portfolio and that particular demo at the same time.
Making The Virtual Portfolio Run Faster
The Virtual Portfolio will operate faster if you follow some or all of these suggestions:
1. Copy the icon titled "The Virtual Portfolio" to your hard drive. (Approx. 1 meg of disk space needed.)
2. Increase the amount of RAM this file uses to as much as you can spare. This is accomplished by selecting the icon (after you’ve copied it to your hard drive), pressing Command-I, then increasing the number in the box at the bottom right of the Info window.
The Portfolio's "preferred size" is set for 4096K of RAM, but if you have more available, use it. CD-ROM drives are much slower than any regular hard drive.
3. Turn off all unnecessary extensions (inits). The extensions you’ll need to leave on are the ones that allow your CD-ROM drive to boot up, and also the QuickTime and Sound Manager extensions.
The Return Key and Return Button
At the bottom of all the Category (Index) screens you will see a note about using the Return Key to Exit the artists’ portfolios. While this is mostly true, it is not true in all cases. We were faced with the following dilemma: force the artists to conform to a uniform navigation system so that the users don't have to spend too much time wandering aimlessly, or let the artists show their work exactly how they've designed it. We tried to find a middle ground by going with what was most appropriate.
For example: most illustrators and photographers simply wanted to present a series of still images, so they went with the standard navigation buttons. Some, however, are interested in expanding into the growing presentations field, and they wanted to use fades and wipes and custom soundtracks.
In the Interactives/Animations area there is a great deal of variety. Here we mostly left the demos as they were for a very important reason: navigation is an integral part of any interactive piece, and many of these artists are on the Portfolio to showcase their skills in this area. In fact, several of the pieces contain highly complex Lingo scripting (Lingo is the programming language contained in MacroMedia’s Director™, the software running the Portfolio), and our code for returning you to the Portfolio interfered with the operation of their pieces.
In short, if you try to exit an artist’s Portfolio with the Return Key on your keyboard and nothing happens, don’t panic. Wait till you see an Exit or Return or Quit button in any upcoming screen.
Also, remember that you can always quit the Virtual Portfolio altogether at any time by pressing Command-Q or Command-"." (period). You then may start anew.
Color Images On Your Screen
The Portfolio is almost completely constructed in 8-bit color since 256 colors display faster than millions of colors, especially when playing from a CD-ROM drive.
The images contained in the Portfolio are intended to give you samples of an artist’s style. If you are interested in seeing hi-res samples, please contact the artist directly.
Music
The music you hear on the Portfolio CD-ROM is 8-bit, 22 kHz sound. In contrast, regular audio CDs are 16-bit, 44 kHz. This sampling difference will be noticeable if you have high quality speakers connected to your Mac. But if you are depending on your Mac speaker, you probably won't notice the difference.
Animations
The animation files on The Virtual Portfolio were compiled with QuickTime™. The images must play in tiny windows because of the huge amounts of data that need to be displayed on-screen every second. Desktop computers are very powerful tools for the creation of graphics and sound but, in general, they are not yet capable of displaying realtime full-screen video. As faster computers, bigger hard drives, and better compression methods become more readily available, full-screen video will become possible.
If you contact the animators, they may be able to send you a high quality tape or reel of their work.
Interactives
Most of the presentations you’ll see in this section of the CD were created prior to the development of The Virtual Portfolio — for clients, or interactive demos, or self-promotion. Due to space constraints on the Portfolio, many of these demos are "limited" versions. This means that some buttons might not be active, or maybe the soundtrack may be left out, or perhaps a single still image will appear instead of a full animation.
Again, if you see a style of presentation you like, call the artists directly. They’ll be happy to send you a complete, unabridged presentation.
Troubleshooting
If you are having problems getting your copy of The Virtual Portfolio to run, first make sure that the extensions (inits) for your CD-ROM drive are turned on. Next, turn off all your other extensions except QuickTime and Sound Manager.
If it still doesn’t work, call our Tech Support staff at 1-800-769-7076. Hours are 10 am to 5 pm Pacific Time.
Future Virtual Portfolios
If you would like to showcase your work on future issues of the CD, give us a call and we’ll send our display guidelines and other important information. If you are a qualified buyer of the services of creative people, please call and we’ll put you on the list to receive a free copy of the Portfolio.
If you have any suggestions for enhancements to the Portfolio, or if you find any bugs, please let us know. We are committed to publishing the highest-quality digital showcase in the industry.
