Power Karaoke Software

Play, create, record, and burn karaoke songs!

Using CD+G events

Karaoke CD+G Creator gives you the full control over the karaoke video you create. You may change the text properties, colors, and display images anywhere in the song. These extra options are available by the means of events. Event is executed after the preceding word is painted or highlighted (it depends of the event, eg. Clear screen is triggered after highlighting, while Colors event during painting). This behavior may be changed for Set Background events, for which you may choose exact time of activation.

You work with events in the lyrics editor. They are displayed as boxes with text describing the type of the event.

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In order to insert a event position the cursor in the place the event should be inserted and right-click to open a context menu and select an event type from there, click the Insert Event button on the lyrics pane toolbar (image.png) or  select the Insert event menu command from Edit menu. Insert Event dialog box will appear, allowing you to select the event type from the list.

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 Below is the list of events available in Karaoke CD+G Creator. Please remember that some of them are available in Pro version only. After you select the type of the event another dialog box is displayed that allows to set the properties of the selected event type.

Clear Screen

Causes a screen to be erased after the last word before the event becomes highlighted

Colors

Allows to change colors for text (both normal and highlighted), effects, background, and border

Countdown

Inserts countdown mark before the next word that helps the singer to start on time

Display Image

Allows to display an image on the screen. Before the picture is displayed the screen is cleared.

Duet

Allows to change the coloring of the text to visualize the change of a singer
 In Pro version duets can be parallel

 Overprint Image

Allows to display the image anywhere on the text. It may also be used to erase a part of the screen

 Set Text Area

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

Text Settings

Allows to modify the properties of the text

 Events can be edited. To edit an event double-click it in the lyrics editor or right-click it and select CD+G Event Properties command from pop-up menu.

 Events can be deleted like other text. There is one more editing feature available for events -- you may copy event and insert it in some other place in the song. to do this right-click an event to copy and select Copy Event command. Now right-click in the place you want the copy of the event to appear and select Paste CD+G Event command from pop-up menu.

 


CLEAR SCREEN EVENT

This event will cause a screen to be erased after the last word before the event becomes highlighted. 

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 You may select the mode that will be used to clear the screen (the default Simple is the fastest and results in immediate screen erase). Reverse will cause the effect to be reversed (ie. Left to Right will become Right to Left).

  If scrolling display mode is selected, after clearing the screen lyrics will painted from the top of the screen.

 


COLORS EVENT

Colors event allows to change colors for text (both normal and highlighted), effects, background, and border.

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 Colors change will affect all words after the event. We do not recommend changing background and border colors in the middle of the page, only after of immediately before Clear screen events.

 With Colors event it is possible to change the sweep mode from highlighting text to highlighting the text outline. To do this select the same color for normal and highlighted text, and then select different colors for normal and highlighted effects. Also make sure to enable Outline text effects in CD+G Settings dialog box.

 Due to CD+G format limitations (only 16 colors can be used at one time) if you use too many color changes on one screen you may experience problems (you will not the colors that you want). We advice to use no more than 6 color sets with disabled effects and no more that 3 color sets with enabled effects.

  Color event needs to be used cautiously if you choose to display image using Set text area event, as the maximum number of colors on screen is 16, and usually image uses up to 10. With one color for background and one for border this leaves 4 colors for text -- that is 2 color sets with no effects and only one with effects enabled.

 


COUNTDOWN EVENT

Countdown event tells Karaoke Creator to display a countdown marker before the next word is highlighted. In the current version of the program countdown marker is a string of dots.

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 Countdown time defines the duration of the countdown (2 seconds by default).

 Number of items is the number of characters to display.

 Use repeated character select the default mode of repeating the single character several times. You may change the character used in Character to use field.

 Use text allows to enter text that will be used as a countdown. The text has to be entered into Text to use field.

 


DISPLAY IMAGE EVENT

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.

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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.

 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.

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

Click this button to see how the picture will look.

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.


DUET EVENT

Duet event allows to change the current duet mode.

 In regular version of Karaoke CD+G Creator duet mode changes the coloring and alignment of the text to visualize the change of a singer.

  In Pro version with full duet mode enabled duets can be parallel. The upper part of the screen is taken by Singer 1, and the lower by Singer 2. The lyrics for each of the singers are highlighted independently. Please see Creating duets section for more information.

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 All words after the event will be colored according to the selected mode. Three duet modes are available:

·    Singer 1

·    Singer 2

·    Both

 

You may view and change the predefined coloring and alignment assigned to duet modes by clicking Duet settings button.

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 Mode allows to change the duet mode that you would like to modify. Only Singer 1 and Singer 2 modes are available -- for Both Karaoke CD+G Creator uses global CD+G settings for the song (as defined in CD+G Settings dialog box).

 Color and Highlight allows you to change the color of the text assigned to the selected mode, while Alignment controls the alignment of the text assigned to the selected mode.

  In Pro version you are also able to set lines count and vertical alignment for each of duet modes.

 The duet settings are global for the song.

 Note: Colors and Text settings flags overwrite the duet settings.

  


OVERPRINT IMAGE

 Note: This event is available in Pro version only.

 This event allows to display the image anywhere on the text. It may also be used to erase a part of the screen.

 image.png

 As you can see the settings are very similar to Display image event.

 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.

 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.

By default Karaoke CD+G Creator leaves the images on the hard disk and reads them when needed (Link to file option selected). This behaviour reduces the size of PK2 files and allows making changes to the images using image editors (you do not have to visit event again -- just edit the image and re-create CDG file). However if you delete the image file from disk, it will not be available.

 If you would like to share your PK2 files select Insert contents option. It will cause Karaoke CD+G Creator to include the image in PK2 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.

Display mode

These settings control the way image is painted. By default images are painted from left to right. 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.

Position

You may select the position of the picture by selecting the appropriate rectangle.

 You may also display the image in any part of the screen. To do this select Custom and enter coordinates of left top corner of the image position.

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).

Display during

You may choose whether the image should be displayed after the preceding word is painted, or highlighted.

Erase image

This option will erase the image instead of painting it (used if you have displayed an image in the same place before).

Dithering

If the number of colors in the image is larger than 16, Karaoke CD+G 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.

Colors

Use this setting to define the number of colors that will be added to the current palette to match the colors in the image. Below are some suggestions how to set this option regarding the types of the usage:

Maximum

Use this setting if you are displaying the image on the clear screen. You may also use it if this is the only image displayed on the current page and you do not change the colors for text

10, 8

Use this setting for the color-rich images for the songs with changing text colors (or duets)

4

This is the best setting for small images (stars, tick marks) displayed on screen. Remember that if you want to display the same image more than one you should select this setting for the first image only

Use current palette

Use this setting if you are displaying the image for the second time or if you have already used up many of the palette entries (the total number of available colors is 16)

 Preview

Click this button to see how the picture will look.

 


SET TEXT AREA EVENT

 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

This button will set the custom area dimensions to the area not used by the image.

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.


TEXT SETTINGS EVENT

Text Settings event allows to modify the properties of the text.

image.png

Font

This setting specifies which font will be used for the lyrics and how large the letters should be. If you are trading you PK2 files make sure that you use fonts that are installed on the destination computer.

Vertical alignment

Allows to change the placement of the lines of the text. You may select Center, Top, or Bottom which would place the text at the appropriate part of the screen, or choose Space evenly, which makes sure that the first line is at the top, the last at the bottom, and all the spaces between the lines are equal.

Horizontal alignment

This setting controls the way the individual lines of text are placed. You have the choice of Center, Left, and Right.

Lines per screen

Allows to specify the maximum number of lines to be shown. Note that if the font size is too large, the actual number of lines may be lower.

Additional spacing

The number of pixels to insert between the lines.

Text Effects

Select the text effect you want to apply. You have the choice of Outline (you may choose the size of the outline), Shadow and Heavy shadow. The color of the text effects can be set in Colors dialog box.

 You may enable any of the following text effects:

 

·    None

Text effects are disabled

 

·    Outline

Text is outlined by a single pixel

 

·    Shadow

A one pixel shadow is added to text

 

·    Heavy shadow

A two pixel shadow is added to text

 

·    Outline (2-5 pixels)

An outline of a selected width is added to the text

 The color of the effect is controled separately from the color of the text. By default efects are painted in black.

 Note: Enabling text effects decrease the speed of display the text. For the fast-paced songs it is recommended to disable the text effects.

Sweep words

Uncheck this option if you want to highlight the entire word at once, instead of coloring it gradually as it is sung.