Gracepoint Resources

Sample Frames

iheung — Thu, 15 Jul 2010 16:56:20 +0000

Here are some frames that some of our publications people made for baptisms, graduations, and farewells. If you want to use one of these as a template, contact Irene Heung for the psd file.

Useful Shortcuts

iheung — Thu, 03 Jun 2010 23:42:07 +0000

Here are some useful shortcuts within Propresenter. I bolded the ones that I use a lot. Feel free to add others by commenting.

ProPresenter Menu
• Open Preferences: Command , – to change resolution, margins, shadow sizes, check and uncheck display at top most layer, access modules…
• Quit ProPresenter: Command Q

File Menu
• New Presentation: Command N
• Import Presentation: Command R
• Import Background: Command Shift R
• Export Selected Presentation: Command Shift E
• Save Data: Command S

Edit Menu
• Undo: Command Z
• Redo: Command Shift Z
• Edit Slide / Done Editing: Command E
• Duplicate Slide: Command Shift D
• Cut: Command X
• Copy: Command C
• Paste: Command V
• Select All: Command A
• Deselect: Command D
• Create New Slide with Remaining Text: Option Enter – fast way to split slides, e.g. to split a slide with four lines of lyrics for the main to two lines of lyrics for overflow
• Send Remaining Text to Next Slide: Option Shift Enter

Text Format Menu (Only Active in Edit Mode)
• Show Fonts: Command T
• Bold (Font Dependent): Command B
• Italic (Font Dependent): Command I
• Underline: Command U

Action Menu
• Clear All: F1
• Clear Text: F2
• Clear Background: F3
• Clear Audio: F4

Window Menu
• Show / Hide Output Window: Command 1 – if you are not connected to a secondary display, you can use this to view your output in full screen

Shooting Video on the Canon 7D

iheung — Thu, 03 Jun 2010 20:07:38 +0000

Recently, our church purchased a sweet Canon EOS 7D for the express purpose of shooting video. It’s an awesome camera, but most of us didn’t know how to use it. After spending a few months with this camera, I decided to record this tutorial on using the 7D to shoot video. Though having photography fundamentals is really useful, the tutorial just assumes you’ve shot on a consumer DV camera in the past and introduces the basics and not-so basics of the 7D — all from the perspective of shooting video.

Now, this video is really, really rough. I threw my own personal 7D on a tripod and hit record. My son was just born when I made this recording so I know I look like a zombie in this footage. Focus on the camera, not me

Tutorial Chapters:

Tutorial Notes (PDF, 2MB)

You can also watch see the entire tutorial as a playlist album.

Filming Basics

iheung — Thu, 27 May 2010 18:19:15 +0000

This is a link to Conrad’s blog on filming for last year’s MYT. He covered camera basics, camera setup, coverage, lighting, production techniques, and story boarding.

http://myt2009film.wordpress.com/

Watch It: Playing DVDs

iheung — Thu, 27 May 2010 18:04:41 +0000

There has been an issue with Propresenter freezing when we insert a DVD into the mac. This is because both Propresenter and DVD Player are competing to open the DVD. By default, DVD Player opens whenever you insert a DVD. The solution is to uncheck that setting in the DVD Player Preferences.

Volume Levels

eim — Thu, 11 Feb 2010 05:56:42 +0000

If you’re not comfortable with how your mix sounds or the volume level, etc… you should ask for feedback or walk around the room to see if it’s loud enough. That will help you get an idea of how the speaker sounds and the audience’s experience.

Here are some pointers:
* For praise, you want to make sure you can always hear the person leading when they’re addressing the crowd – like a prayer. That might mean you need to turn others down a bit or watch the compressor during the run-through to see if it’s compressing too much.
* Use the decibel meter we have and make sure the praise doesn’t go over 92 at the sound booth in Willard. It can go up to 97 in the middle of the auditorium b/c that is a strong peak and you have a lot of voices/clapping around you.
* For the speaker, this is the most important. You always want to hear him/her very well and clear. They should be loud but not overpowering. You shouldn’t have to struggle to hear them. This is a tough one to gauge, but if you’re not sure then you need to ask for feedback or do a walkaround to make sure you can hear them.

Here are two articles from Willow Creek sound person Chris Gille, whom I’ve met at conferences and has a lot of experience:
http://www.churchproduction.com/go.php/article/3342

http://www.churchproduction.com/go.php/article/3434

Watch It: Editing While Slides Are Live

iheung — Sun, 07 Feb 2010 07:28:26 +0000

This post has to do with minimizing distractions to the congregation while you make adjustments and edits to your presentation.

When you left click on a slide, it gets displayed onto your secondary screen. In order to select slides but not have them shown, hold down the apple key when you left click on your slides. If need to edit your slides during a presentation, control-click on the slide you wish to edit and select “Quick Edit”. Quick Edit allows you to edit slides right in-line with the presentation and gives you the flexibility to continue to select and make other slides live while you make your edits. When you are done editing, just close Quick Edit mode by clicking on the cross on the lower right corner of the slide.

When you are adjusting volume of your laptop, you can avoid the popping sound by holding down the shift key and then pressing your volume keys (F4 to lower your volume and F5 to raise your volume).

These are some ways I can think of to make changes with the least number of people noticing. Feel free to comment if you have others.

Watch It: Live Video

iheung — Tue, 26 Jan 2010 08:26:50 +0000

In these “watch it” posts, I’ll write up things that Propresenter users have to be aware of.

The first one has to do with the live video function in Propresenter. This function allows you to stream video from your input source. So if you have a video camera connected to your laptop you can switch to displaying live feed when you press F6. But if you don’t have a camera connected to your laptop, which is most of the time for us, your input source is the built-in webcam above your screen and when you press F6, you’ll project whatever that webcam captures onto the your display. I learnt my lesson right before NSWN. I did not disable the live video function on my laptop, which Jason Tarn used for rear projection. He accidentally pressed F6 and triggered the live video function and his face appeared on the back projector screen. Fortunately for us it was during praise runthrough and that only shocked the praise band and did not disrupt the program. So be sure to disable it by checking the box shown here…

How To: Propresenter Dual Head Setup 2

iheung — Tue, 26 Jan 2010 06:03:05 +0000

This is how you set up dual head for Sunday Worship Service in diagram form.

General Power Understanding

Evelyn — Mon, 11 Jan 2010 20:06:07 +0000

ok, this is going to be a very rudimentary lesson on power. but just want to help you understand and be aware of how much power you’re drawing and using in a given situation.

watt – describes how fast a circuit uses electricity

volt – basic unit of electrical pressure or EMF

amperes – basic unit of electrical current – flow of electrons

* courtesy of this dictionary

Standard US voltage is ~110.

Most devices are measured in watts.

Most outlets/circuits are measured in amperes or amps.

Here’s the formula –> amp = watt/volt

e.g. You have a 1000watt projector plugged into a US outlet that is measured to be 110v. You know the circuit you’re plugged into is only 15A. Will you be OK?

1000watts/110v = 9.1A

Yes, you will be ok. but you could not plug two of these projectors into the same circuit or else you blow the fuse.

Most wall circuits are 15-20A depending on when they were installed b/c older electrical work often only had 15A circuits/wiring installed.

ok, but the big question is what does draw a lot of power? here’s a short list:

* projectors and lights (look at the bulb wattage)

* amplifiers – esp for the subwoofers. at normal usage the actual power draw will be low but if you get a real thumping song then the amp is going to push more sound to the sub, which will require more power and the wattage/amperage will increase.

* b/c these are in our environment – rice cookers or water boilers – basically anything that heats up something.

* microwave, hot pans, etc…

* vacuum cleaners

***last note: something that may affect your power in international settings, is what Hz the current is alternating at 50/60. in the US it’s 60Hz. Europe and Asia is 50Hz. If you do not verify your equipment is running at the correct voltage or frequency, you could severely damage your equipment. Yes, the equipment would run but it could also be burning out the wires internally. ouch!