BUL Computer Tips for Making Slides

Questions or suggestions about this page should be sent to mspisar@flip.eecs.umich.edu

Question Index:

How do I set up a printer driver in Windows such that I can print to PICT images suitable for use with the slidemaker?
A: Here is the procedure for setting up a printer driver in Windows such that it will print to PICT files in /n/dixie/tmp/slides_username/*.pct

Note: the Adobe PS setup utility may be installed from \\oe800\archives\adobe\setup.exe, if it is not already installed on your computer. The "35mm Slides" PPD file may be found in \\oe800\archives\ppd\35adobe.ppd.

  1. Run AdobePS 4.1 Setup Utility
  2. Select Network Printer, and click "Next"
  3. Type in "\\dixie\slides" for the network path to the printer, and click "Next"
  4. The program will complain that the printer is not a Win95 host. Just click "Next"
  5. Select \\oe800\archives\ppd\35adobe.ppd for the PPD file (use the "Network" button to map a network drive letter to \\oe800\archives). This ppd file is called "35mm Slides"
  6. Leave the printer name as "35mm Slides"
  7. Set both "Default Printer" to "No" and "Print test page" to "No", and click "Next"
  8. Paper...
  9. Graphics...
  10. Fonts...
  11. Postscript...
  12. Advanced..
  13. Select OK once these settings are made
  14. Select "Exit" from the Adobe setup utility
Now the printer will be set up on your computer. To use this printer to create slides, use the following procedure:
  1. Go to your application (e.g. PowerPoint) and print to the new "35mm Slides" printer. The 180x180 resolution will give 2000x1333 PICT images which should be more than suitable for slides. If you want to get more detail, change the resolution to 360x360 to get 4000x2666 PICT images.
  2. Preview the PICT images using a program such as Polyview, to verify that things are correct.
  3. Go over to the slidemaker in the CAEN hotline room, FTP (or Fetch) the PICT images over to the Mac there. Then run MacRascol, and add the images to the list of slides to make. The orientation should always be set as "Landscape" because the images are in that form, even if the actual slides appear to be portait.
  4. A gamma setting in MacRascol of 0.28 will gives slides that appear the same as they do on the PC screen.
Q: Where can I make slides?
A: Slides can be made at the following locations: Q: Does CAEN have any documentation?
A: CAEN Technote 512 Lasergraphics Slidemaker
Q: How can I reserve the slide makers?
A: Slidemakers can be reserved: Note: You will probably need a few hours (1 min/slide w/ Rascol, 2 min/slide w/ POM, plus overhead time...)

Q: What kind of film should I use with the slide makers?
A: Kodak Ektachrome Elite Slide Film, ISA 100.
Note: you cannot use a partial roll of film. When you remove film from the machine, it will be wound into the cannister. If you don't need a full roll, then either ask around if anyone else needs some slide made, make extra copies of important slides, or experiment with something such as another color scheme or a different gamma. Developing cost at BMC is independent of the number of unexposed frames.

Q: How do I load the film in the slidemaker?
A: The best thing to do is to take a little bit longer lip of the beginning of your film and curl it all around the bobbin until it catches under the metal clip, close the camera and you will hear the film transport and the counter indicating the number of frames remaining.
WARNING Do not load film until queue builder prompts for it! If you have a problem loading the queue, you will have wasted the film - there is no way to get the film out without having it wound all the way into the case.

Q: How do I rewind the film in the slidemaker?
A: Rewind the film by holding the button. This may take a few seconds depending on the number of slides. If not, you did not load your film correctly.

Q: What inputs can I use with the slidemakers?
A: Scrapbook is the suggested format (a sequence of PICTS). Pmac POM 1.3 can supposedly also take EPS,PICT,TIFF input files, but that has not been verified.

Q: How should I setup PowerPoint for slides?
A: Here are some hints:

PowerPoint bugs: Q: How can I use equations in PowerPoint?
A: Go ahead and use the Equation Editor. You then need to convert the equation to powerpoint objects. Make sure the equation is final, because once you convert it, it will be quite hard to edit the equation neatly! Click on the equation object then select draw:ungroup. You can now change the colors of lines and text. Make sure to regroup the equation when done. Caution: Make sure that the fonts used in the equation are supported by the Mac which will be making the slides!.

Q: How do I make slides using the Mac Rascol Queue Builder?
A: Follow these guidelines to make slides with the software that came with the machine:

Setup:
The following should all be set to 100%:
Red
Green
Blue
height scaling
zoom scaling
GAMMA SHOULD BE SET TO 0.50 in MacRascol (imported images should have been saved without gamma correction, e.g., a MATLAB image could be saved w/ a gamma of 1.0 to a TIFF file then imported to powerpoint and exposed on the slidemaker with a gamma of 0.5). For negatives, gamma should be 0.68 in MacRascol
Resolution:
4K lines
Orientation:
option 1, before adding slide files
  1. file:open preferences
  2. edit the default preferences
option 2
  1. attributes:orientation
  2. select the orientation for each slide individually
NOTE: For correct orientation, the orientation must be correctly set in BOTH PowerPoint AND the slidemaker software, or else your slides will come out sideways with nice dark (but not fully black) bars on the sides!
Loading:
  1. create new queue
  2. add many. Note: if addmany gives an error message (says file does not contain PICT images, when it IS a scrapbook and really does), then don't use add many, but rather, add files one at a time using add file.
  3. select scrapbook or PICT files and add.
Preview:
available by selecting "crop", (just don't crop image!)
Speed:
1 minute/slide
Q: How do I make slides using the Mac POM?
A: Follow these guidelines to make slides with Pmac Professional Ouput Manger 1.3. Note: Currently, POM is only available in the CAEN office. They did mention the possibility of getting a license for the VIZLAB in the future.
Setup:
The following should all be set to 100%:
Red
Green
Blue
height scaling
zoom scaling
Gamma should be 1.82 (images should have been saved without gamma correction)
Resolution:
4K lines
Orientation:
click the film icon by the name of each slide (if you didn't click the down arrow by the scrapbook name, you'll only be able to change setup for the whole file)
NOTE: For correct orientation, the orientation must be correctly set in BOTH PowerPoint AND the slidemaker software, or else your slides will come out sideways with nice dark (but not fully black) bars on the sides!
Loading:
  1. create new
  2. select open folder
  3. add files
NOTE: to see individual slides as opposed to just each scrapbook file, click the small arrow in front of the file name. This is very useful when making slides, because messages and errors for individual slides will stay visible. This also allows adjusting the page orientation and number of copies for each slide individually.
Preview:
Nice preview available (magnifying glass)
Speed:
2 minutes/slide
Q: What do I do if my slides come out black or missing objects?
A: One possible error is that PowerPoint may run out of memory when creating a scrapbook file, and not give you a warning message. In this case, you should allocate more memory for PowerPoint before running it.

Q: What do I do if I need to allocate more memory for a program?
A: To check how much memory each program is taking, go to finder, then click on 'About this Mac' under the apple. You will get a window showing how much memory each program has been reserved, and how much is actually beeing used. To change the amount of memory allocated for a program, find that program, click on it (but don't start it), then go to 'get info' under the 'file' menu and change the appropriate parameters. Restarting the computer seems to also help, if other programs have been running.

Q: What do I do if I get out of memory errors when using Mac Rascol?
a: When you use Mac Rascol Queue Builder, it calls another program 'MacRascolPrint' (I'm not sure about the name, but it's something like this), and this is the program that usually runs out of memory. You should allocate more memory for this program before running the QueueBuilder.

Q: What do I do if my slides are stretched or scaled wrong, or not centered correctly?
A: You probably forgot to set the scaling correctly. should be 100%, and scale to fit slide SHOULD be selected.

Q: What do I do if symbol font doesn't come out on vertical text.
A: See notes on PowerPoint regarding bugs.

Q: What do I do if I get "Font Error!"?
A: The font you used does not exist on the Mac that is rasterizing the output. cancel!. Use a different font or install the desired font. Otherwise the slides will look terrible.
Note: on POM, if you do not have the individual pictures listed on the display, you might not catch the error as it flashes by (but you could still check the log file later).

Q: What do I do if I get "System Error! - Restart" in POM ?
A: Just restart and try again, it usually works the next time. Problem might be memory related (?). If you are halfway through a scrapbook file, just choose zero copies of the slides already exposed.

Q: How do I shoot slides from the Sun monitors?
A: Here are some hints:



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