Audacity Project Sharing

Hello everyone,

Although Audacity is a pretty simple way to record and edit sound, there are some troubles with sending it to friends/group members via email or just using the .aup on another computer. If you don't do it right you may be sending someone a blank Audacity project! So here are some tips for flawless Audacity project sharing:

• For using the .aup on another computer, you have to also include the _data folder that has the same name as the project. (this _data folder has the .au uncompressed audio data files)
• If the project has imported WAV or AIFF files, you have to go to File > Check Dependencies and copy those files to the project BEFORE using the project on another computer
• If you can't send your project because of the size, you can export your project as an MP3 to make it a smaller file, by going to File > Export, a pop up window should come up asking the name of the file and where you want to save it and there will be a drop down menu allowing you to choose to export it as an MP3

Happy recording! 

Sending iMovie Libraries

A few patrons have had questions about sending an iMovie project to another group member so they can continue to edit the video.  The new version of iMovie makes this pretty simple by consolidating all of the work into one iMovie Library file.

Before beginning a project, users should create a new library and choose where to save the library.  We always recommend saving on a hard drive if they are working on one of the library computers.  They can also save on a flash drive (better for smaller projects) or to their on desktop.  Lize's post describes how to save the library.

If a user wants to send the iMovie project to someone in a format they can edit later, they can do this using Google Drive or the UD Dropbox.  In Google Drive, for example, the user would simply need to select "New - File Upload" and then choose the location of the iMovie library in the project format.   Once the file is finished uploading, they can select who to share it with.

In order to open and edit the file, it must be downloaded from the Google Drive or Dropbox location.  The person that downloads the file should also select a location to save the library, and then it should open automatically in iMoive when selected.  However, users will only be able to edit the iMovie project in the same version of iMovie that is was originally created.  So if a user is working with iMovie 10, their group members should open the file to edit it in iMovie 10.

When a patron asks about saving an iMovie video, it's also a good idea to ask if they want to save the file so they can continue editing it later, or if they are finished editing and ready to export or share the video in a final format.  This could save them from unnecessary problems in the future! 

GROUP LINK TABLES review

Hello Everyone,

Now that the semester is almost ending we will be seeing a lot more groups using out Group-Link tables. So here is a quick review:

• Each table has the capacity to display 4 laptops simultaneously. 

• In order to switch between each laptop, there is a panel of 4 buttons for each specific laptop.

• In addition, the group link tables have the features to display via VGA cable, HDMI cable and a composite cable.

Thank you!

iMovie 10

Hi everyone,

On Monday night I was helping two students work on an iMovie project when we encountered a few challenges. They were working on the movie in one of the Macs outside of Room A, when using iMovie 10 they tend to run a little slow. The computer kept freezing and showing us the dreaded rainbow wheel...

For the future, I would encourage anyone working on an iMovie project to work in one of the studios for the best user experience.


Also, the students were looking to save their iMovie project on a hard drive so they could then go in the studio and record a voiceover. They were following the directions on the SMDC iMovie instruction sheet. This sheet is really helpful in saving a finished iMovie project, but it does not give students information on how to save the entire iMovie file in order to preserve editing capabilities.

To do this, go to the hard drive symbol on the desktop, click it, then go to movies.

Click movies and it will take you to the iMovie projects on the computer. Then select the file that is yours (hopefully saved under a distinctive title).

You can then move this file to an external hard drive, and it will be able to be transferred and edited on another Mac computer.

I hope this helps!

Lize

Printing posters

Hi everyone,
So lately we have had a lot of people coming up to the desk to print posters, mostly for BHLP, and I just wanted to remind everyone of other printing options around campus.

1. SMDC (..duh)
2. MacLab in Recitation Hall- they have a pretty wide range of printing options 
3. Smith Hall
4. University Printing- posters, brochures, t-shirts, maps, etc. can be printed here

These are just some places that you could redirect students if our printer is ever down. These options wouldn't have necessarily worked for BHLP because they already had copy cards with a certain amount of money on them. 

Important note for the portable power kits

As you all know, one of our newest pieces of equipment (the portable power kits) are able to charge your devices on the go. It comes with the power brick, a micro USB cable, and a lightning bolt connector. The lightning bolt connector, which can be used for devices such as the newer iPhones and iPads, will not work on every device.

The other day I checked it out for myself and tried charging my iPad mini with retina display. However, when I plugged it in it said towards the top "battery not charging". This happens when there is not enough power to go through and charge the device. HOWEVER, it is not the brick itself that is causing this and is rather the wire. I took one of our stand alone lightning connectors out and plugged that into the brick and that charged my device fine.

So, if for some reason the kit will not charge your device with the cable provided, just checkout one of our standalone cables to go with it and you should be good to go!

Also, if you experience this with any other devices other than the iPad mini with retina display, please let us know!

Programs, Programs Everywhere...(Part 1)

Hello my fellow personages!

Recently I have been particularly interested in the list of software found on our handy dandy center homepage.

Click on that guy...

Then that guy...

And wallah! Software. 

Now the reason I've taken you through this wonderful picture adventure (like climbing Mount Everest, but better right?) is because after I'd gotten over the fact that we have a place where you can check all of the programs that are downloaded on the computers, as well as which ones are Mac/Windows specific (see that heading operating system? Yeah, right below that.) I realized there were some that I had never heard of. So, finally getting around to the point of this post, here's a brief go-to for you guys (and myself) detailing (in a sentence or two) what each not-so-well-known program is used for:

*disclaimer--I am going by which programs I, personally, do not know, meaning this list is not definitive and might include something you're a beast at as well as exclude something you've never heard of--end disclaimer*

This program is described as a "free and open-source 3D computer graphics software product" on wikipedia. One tidbit of advice, if you ever need to search for an in depth explanation of this, make sure you add the word 'program' after its name. There is an app with the same name and it has nothing to do with 3D graphics.
Mac and Windows

  

Camtasia is described on its site as "A powerful, yet easy-to-use screen recorder. [...] Easily record your screen movements and actions, or import HD video from a camera or other source."
Windows only (I assume it's only in studios 1+2)

If you ever need a super in depth description of this program, here is Apple's own user manual, if you just need to know what it does, here's the first sentence under the About Color heading: "Color has been designed from the ground up as a feature-rich color correction environment that complements a wide variety of post-production workflows..."
Mac only (surprise)

Again, here's the user manual if you ever need an in depth description for a particularly hard headed problem. Otherwise, "Compressor gives you resizing, cropping, image processing, encoding, and delivery options, and offers batch processing, VBR options, and H.264 encoding."
Mac only

According to this apple website Compressor 4 is "Advanced encoding for Final Cut Pro-A simplified interface, intuitive controls, and tight integration with Final Cut Pro make Compressor the perfect companion for custom encoding."
Mac only (Only in studios 3+4)

According to cnet this program is "an open source software which can connect to FTP (File Transfer Protocol), SFTP (SSH Secure File Transfer), WebDAV (Web-based Distributed Authoring and Versioning), Amazon S3, Google Cloud Storage, Windows Azure, Rackspace Cloud Files, and Google Docs to distribute your files." Confused? Here's a nice informative forum all about it. Seems to be used mostly by web designers.
Mac and Windows

Another Apple product, another user manual. This is described as a "software for authoring DVD-Video titles" and "lets you work with audio, video, graphics, and text materials that you have already created and edited and orchestrate them into a DVD that can be played on a DVD player or a suitably equipped computer."
Mac only

This looks to be along the same lines as Cyberduck above, at least in the used mostly be web designers area. On cnet it is described as "one of the oldest and most well-loved FTP clients, whose cute fetching dog animation has been running--literally--on macs since 1989." Here's a handy little compare/contrast/manual for Cyberduck and Fetch that I found.
Mac only

I'm pretty sure there are some posts on this blog about this program (how Adobe Media Encoder is better but more complicated if I remember correctly), but if anybody asks and you happen to forget, cnet calls it "a video converter program intended to both rip and convert video files to work on a number of supported devices." This is also only on macs while encoder is on mac and windows.
Mac only

This, as cnet explains, is "Apple's DVD authoring-and-burning tool, working with internal and many external DVD burners."
Mac only

As the manual says, "iWeb is the easiest way to create and publish great-looking websites."
Mac only

From what I can gather from the apple site, this is their presentation software, like Microsoft's PowerPoint.
Mac only

So, this is an interesting one. According to this website (which I'm pretty sure is its legit website, but I could be wrong) "LaTeX is a high-quality system" including "features designed for the production of technical and scientific documentation." I also found this site that gives a bit more insight on its basics and the file types it uses.
Mac and Windows



And with that I will be ending part one of this in depth look at all the programs I had no idea existed on the center's computers. Please, stay tuned for the next exciting installment, out next month. A warning though; you'll have to keep a close eye on your socks while reading part two for it is sure to rock them, intense electric guitar solos and all.

See you then my friends!