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SNEEK PEEK AT SECTION 2 OF BILL'S TUTORIAL

The full Tutorial comes as a PDF file. It consists of over 50 pages of information. You have just finished viewing the first section. To learn more about the tutorial's contents, click on the Tutorial PDF link. To purchase the full PDF, click on the Order link.

Here is the content from one of the Problems, Tips, and Solutions pages.

RESETTING STYLES BACK TO DEFAULT VALUES
Sometimes, you'll find that you made a lot of changes to a style (changing colors, images, backgrounds, text, timing, etc.) and you want to reset everything back to the original default values. To learn how to do this, see Styler's posting on how to reset style settings back to their original/default values: http://www.3d-album.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=313. For the majority of us, you need to find your Documents and Settings folder (try C: ). In the folder, there should be a folder of the user name you access your PC with. In the folder, find Application Data/3D-Album/persistent/style. Delete the style folder. Note that the 3D-Album part of the name will change slightly depending on which version you have. If you cannot find the "Documents and Settings" folder, click View>Folder Options. In View tab, check on Show hidden files and folder. Check off Hide extensions for known types; Check off Hide protected operating system files. NOTE: VISTA users need to use either Desktop\\AppData\Roaming or C:\Users\\AppData\Roaming

Most 3Dtime settings can be reset by clicking on the RESET button at right side. Some reset icons can also be found under CAMERA settings (look in BACKGROUND and PHOTO tabs, etc.). Look for a little icon just to the left of the "make the image look larger" icon. When your mouse is over it it reads "reset to default position". I believe it could be reset for each picture. A few settings will require you to edit the style information (or maybe even delete it), which for 3Dtime styles is found in the 3D-Album program folder PRESENTATION. For example, to totally reset the scrolling text in TDTWeddingPS0001 you would go to the “C:\Program Files\3D-Album-CS\Presentation\3DT Wedding Show” folder and delete the PS0001 folder. This would then require you to reload the style and reapply any updates.

3D-ALBUM PROGRAM WON’T OPEN
What if 3D-Album gives you an error message and won’t run? The fix is very simple - just delete or rename the PERSISTENT folder (see above). The problem probably was caused by a photo/image recently added or worked on. If you notice, 3D-Album will usually "default" to the last set of photo images that you used, and this information is kept in the RECENT folder within the PERSISTENT folder. This is actually nice, because it lets you easily try different styles with the same set of photos as you look for which one you want to use. Deleting the folder removes that “history” and the program stops trying to access the problem image.

PROBLEMS AFTER AN INSTALL OR UPDATE
Are you having trouble getting your album to run after installing an update? If so, you need to close your 3D-Album application and then run the install again.

ADDING MORE THEN ONE SONG:
Let’s assume that you have some mp3 music files that you own rights to, and you want to include them. The easiest way to play more then one song/piece of music is to use the Global Play List. First, create a new folder somewhere on your hard drive where you will put copies of the music files that you want to add to your global play list. Then, in your first album, click on the musical note icon (which says select your background sound) and highlight the folder that you created. Do not highlight any of the music files in the folder, only highlight the folder itself. Click OK. Then, click on the 2nd musical note icon (which says to arrange the playing order of background sounds) and move the sound files into what ever order you want. Then, in the Sequencer/mixer, click on the button that says play album music in the global list. Read Oldsoul's music tutorial at http://www.3d-album.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=629.

WHY USE GLOBAL MUSIC LIST?
If you’re building a multi-album, there are two ways to add your music. You can add music to each album individually. This music will start to play as that album opens. This works well if you’re using the timeline for each album, but you probably want the music to flow across albums, in which case you will want to use the Global Music List as described above. MUSIC WON’T PLAY: Be aware that a lot of download music has protection, and can’t be used in your 3D-Albums. Also, aWMA song converted from a Music CD (.cda) cannot be transferred to a different PC.

The 3D-Album forum was down for awhile, and at the moment I'm writing this, they have only restored the forum through 2008. Because of this, I'm adding one more section from one of the Tutorial's pages that a lot of people may need to know about.

WINDOWS 7
Here is a summary of my findings working with Windows 7
  • 1. Be sure to run install using your user Admin account.
  • 2. Do not install in the PROGRAMS folder, but instead install to something like C:3D-Album-CS (or whatever version of the program you have).
Why do I suggest this? Because in my initial test I installed to the Programs folder. I was able to install program updates with only minor problems (see next topic), but I ran into a funny problem when I tested one of 3Dtime’s styles. I installed the Sports style, which worked fine. The problem was when I tried to install updates. Some updates worked, but other updates would not work. I tried various things – but was never able to update Sports8 to version 1.03. Finally, I deinstalled 3D-Album and reinstalled in a new folder (thank you Nan who first mentioned this approach). I was then able to upgrade to Sports8 1.03.

This completes our FREE 3D-Album Guide. I hope it helped you. If you have any questions, please do not email me, but post your questions on the 3D-Album User Forum.

3.29 vs 3.3xIn my experiences the 3.3x releases work fine except for one problem. I sometimes have problems with capturing music tracks in 3.3x, especially if mixer is involved. When this happens I rebuild with no music, capture to DV AVI format, and then use a 3rd party video editor to add music back in. 3.29 did not have these problems. You have to decide if the new features included with 3.3x releases is more important to you then the music tracks issue. Also, not everyone may have these problems. I have them using XP, and have not fully tested with Windows 7 yet.