Images
Karaoke CD+G Creator allows to display images anywhere in the song. It also has shortcuts for adding title and credits screen.
The following formats are supported by Karaoke CD+G Creator:
- BMP (Windows bitmaps)
- JPG
- PNG
To invoke the file selection dialog box select Browse button.
Note: CD+G image format is 288x192.
Images may be of any size and color depth, however if they contain more than 16 colors or are larger than 288 x 192, they will be automatically converted to CD+G format. If you would like to use an image editing software to decrease the color depth and resize the images, make sure you save them as 4-bit BMP file.
Pro version also allows to add images at the side or around of the lyrics.
See the following topics for more information:
Displaying images in the middle of the song
Displaying image and lyrics at the same time
Displaying images using styles
USING TITLE AND CREDIT IMAGES
Title image is displayed at the beginning of the song. Credits image is displayed at the end of the song, when the singing stops.
To define title and credit images open CD+G Settings dialog box click CD+G Settings button on the toolbar or select CD+G Settings command from Create menu.
Images
This group of options allows to select the pictures that are to appear before the song and after the song. By default these pictures are disabled.
To display title image select Title checkbox and then click on Settings button. Display image dialog box will appear. To learn more about it please see Display Image event section.
The same procedure needs to be applied for credits image.
Checking Insert silence to accommodate the picture ensures that the title picture will not interfere with the flow of the song (this option works for BIN files only).
DISPLAYING IMAGES IN THE MIDDLE OF THE SONG
To display image in the middle of the song place cursor position in the place that image should appear, click Insert CD+G Event button on the toolbar (
), and then select Display Image event type.
Display Image event allows to display the image on the screen. Before the image is displayed the screen is cleared.
The image will be displayed immediately after the last word before it is highlighted.
In Pro version you may modify this behavior with Synchronization settings.
File
You need to select the file containing the image. The following formats are supported:
- BMP (Windows bitmaps)
- JPG
- PNG
To invoke the file selection dialog box select Browse button.
Link to file and Insert contents options
By default Karaoke Creator leaves the images on the hard disk and reads them when needed (Link to file option selected). This behavior reduces the size of PK3 files and allows making changes to the images using image editors (you do not have to visit the event again -- just edit the image and re-create the song). However if you delete the image file from disk, it will not be available.
If you would like to share your PK3 files select Insert contents option. It will cause Karaoke Creator to include the image in PK3 file, so you may send it over to a friend or delete image files. Note that if image source file is deleted you will not be able to edit it any more.
Keep on screen for N seconds
This setting controls how long will the image be visible before it is erased. Note that painting time (up to 10 seconds for a full screen sized picture) and erasing is not included, so the total time that the picture takes equals to the sum of painting time, display time, and erase time.
Selecting 0 will cause the image to become erased immediately after it is fully painted.
Border color
Choose the color that will surround the image. Note that it is different than Borders color setting in Colors event, as it refers to the area not taken by the image, and not only to the border of the screen. If you are using image as a background (in Set Text Area event) the background color must match the background color of the text.
Display mode and Erase mode
These settings control the way image is painted and erased. By default images are painted from left to right and erased immediately. You may change it by selecting any of the display effects.
Checking the Reverse checkbox will cause the effect to run backwards, for example Left to Right mode will become to Right to Left.
Note that selecting Fade and Simple as Display mode will cause the screen to go blank for several seconds (the image still needs to be painted, and this is done in a way that is not visible, yet still takes time).
Alignment
You may select the position of the picture if it is not full screen sized. Simply select the appropriate rectangle. By default images are centered.
Force scaling
This option will force the image to be scaled to the size defined in Width and Height boxes. This size cannot be larger than the full screen (288 x 192).
Dithering
If the number of colors in the image is larger than 16, Karaoke Creator will reduce it. You may select the algorithm that is used to make the image look as good as possible with the lower number of colors. Selecting none will disable any dithering. The simples way to see how each of the algorithms works is to select it and then to click the Preview button.
Resizing
This setting controls the way image is scaled if its size is not 288 x 192 (full screen).
Fit will cause the image to be scaled up or down to take as much screen as possible.
Fit if larger (default setting) will scale the image only if it is too large, it will not stretch it.
Crop will not scale the image and will display as much of it as possible.
All resizing modes retain aspect ratio of the image.
Preview
Notes
· Images with more colors take longer to paint.
· Inserting image in the middle of the song may use up the time and cause the loss of synchronization.
Synchronization (Pro version only)
By default the image will be displayed immediately after the last word before it is highlighted. It is possible to define the exact time when it should appear (but remember that image needs to fit between the previous and the next word).
You may define the exact time the image should be visible (From the start of the song) -- the value in Display at box is a position in seconds. You may use Copy from cursor button to enter current cursor position into Display at box.
You may also define time before the next word is highlighted (Before the next word) or after the previous word finishes highlighting (After the previous word).
Please remember that the time position refers to the moment image is fully painted. It does not include painting nor erasing time.
DISPLAYING IMAGE AND LYRICS AT THE SAME TIME
To display image at the side or around the lyrics use Set Text Area event. To do this position lyrics editor cursor in the place that image should be displayed, click Insert CD+G Event button on the toolbar (
), and then select Set Text Area event type.
Note: This event is available in Pro version only.
Using this event you may display the image and the text on screen at the same time. It also allows to change the portion of the screen that is used to display the lyrics.
If you choose to display the image, it will be painted according to the selected options and will not be erased. The lyrics will appear at the defined area. Using this setting you may display the banner on the top of the text or an image anywhere on the screen.
Clear screen or Display image event resets the text area to the full screen.
Note: If the selected display mode is other than Overwrite, the image will be visible only on the first page.
Display image
Select the image you would like to appear on screen. You need to select the image file using Properties button before Display Image checkbox becomes active.
Properties button will open Display image dialog box, the same as for Display Image event.
Note that you the erase mode will not be used event if you define it, as the image will stay on screen.
Use all available area
Select this option if you want text to use all the screen that is not used by the image.
Copy to custom area
Define custom area
Using this option you may define the rectangle that will contain the lyrics. It may be useful if you want the lyrics to appear in the middle of the picture or simply move the text a little to the right. The full screen has width of 288 and height of 192 pixels.
The custom area is visualized by the blue frame (black area represents full screen). You may modify it by dragging the edges of the frame.
DIPLAYING IMAGES USING STYLES
To apply a predefined visual style to your song click Styles button on the toolbar (
) or select Styles command from Create menu.
Song details section of the dialog box allows you to enter title of the song, artist name, and text that will be displayed as your company information (probably something like Presented to you by DOBLON). Credits are displayed after the song is finished.
Tip: To force a new line in Title, Artist, or Company name fields, use ^ character.
What is style?
Karaoke Creator allows to set styles for:
· Title: image displayed before the song
· Credits: image displayed after the song is finished
· Song: colors, text formatting, page layout, and image (in Pro version only) of the lyrics
Each of this styles can be applied individually, or it is possible to use presets.
Style preset combo box allows to select one of predefined templates. It will change all styles in Applied styles. You may store your combination of Title, Song, and Credit styles using Add button. To save changed combination use Save button. Delete button removes your preset from the list.
Applied styles lists styles used for each of the sections of the song. To change the style select it in Applied styles list and then choose the new style from Available styles combo. Selecting (Unused) will disable the style.
Preview window displays the preview of the style selected in Applied styles list.
Selected styles will be applied to the song when you select OK button.
To continue with the tutorial select Rock style preset and click OK button.