Making a presentation with JessyInk

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jeroenrijckaert
Posts: 3
Joined: Sun Apr 07, 2013 5:20 am

Making a presentation with JessyInk

Postby jeroenrijckaert » Sun Apr 07, 2013 5:45 am

I've made a youtube video tutorial on how to make a presentation using Inkscape and JessyInk. This video shows both the slide-by-slide powerpoint style as the zoom-pan-rotate style used by Prezi. Only basic JessyInk stuff:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MaiSrJNXNeQ
(Feedback on this video is appreciated.)

JessyInk is a JavaScript that can be incorporated into an Inkscape SVG image containing several layers. Each layer will be converted into one slide of a presentation. Current features include: slide transitions, effects, an index sheet, a master slide and auto-texts like slide title, slide number and number of slides.


Source : http://code.google.com/p/jessyink/

Any other (English) JessyInk tutorial video's that you like? Please let us know.


p.s. Does anyone know how to integrate youtube vids here? Like :
<iframe width="560" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/MaiSrJNXNeQ" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
or something ... ?

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BobSongs
Posts: 324
Joined: Fri Sep 14, 2007 2:18 pm
Location: Montreal, Canada

Re: Making a presentation with JessyInk

Postby BobSongs » Tue Apr 16, 2013 10:51 am

Hey there, Jeroen.

I've begun watching your video. And I have some points to suggest and comment on.

The Good:
1. Your voice is clear and very comprehensible.
2. You definitely know what you're doing with JessyInk.
3. The 720p video option is an excellent decision for those who want to expand the video to full screen.

Things I observed:
1. Dark blue for highlighted menu. For the video presentation, it might be a better idea to use a paler colour so that we can see the name of the selected menu item.
2. When moving through menus such as "File", "Save As..." or "Extensions", "Modify Path", "Interpolate Attribute in a group...", it's often better to simply read these aloud while recording the presentation. Reason: the viewer is free to follow your presentation in Inscape without the need to continually flip back to video, pause it, see what you're selecting, return to Inkscape, do it and repeat.
3. The microphone may be a bit too close to the keyboard/mouse. The sound of the keys being struck come across with a bit of a boom sound on my sound system. A possible option would be mounting the microphone away from keyboard and mouse while being closer to your voice. If you have a headset with microphone, that helps with a more consistent recording when the head turns away from the screen for a moment.

I am looking forward to more videos from you.

Edit: I noticed you were using a classic look to Windows when doing your presentation. Instead of making any changes to individual parts of Windows, I suggest using the color scheme called Desert (in Windows XP: Control Panel > Display > Appearance tab > Windows and buttons: Windows Classic Style > Color Scheme: Desert).

jeroenrijckaert
Posts: 3
Joined: Sun Apr 07, 2013 5:20 am

Re: Making a presentation with JessyInk

Postby jeroenrijckaert » Thu Apr 18, 2013 7:12 am

Thanks for the extensive feedback. You pointed out some things I never thought about (like the too dark blue background for menu selections). I'm not using XP, but since I'm used to the layout I always switch back to it. I'll see if Windows 7 has the desert theme, but there a good chance that the next videos will be made using Linux. But the focus is of course on the software (which runs on both OSses). I'll improve on the other points in the future.

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BobSongs
Posts: 324
Joined: Fri Sep 14, 2007 2:18 pm
Location: Montreal, Canada

Re: Making a presentation with JessyInk

Postby BobSongs » Sun Apr 21, 2013 10:07 pm

Excellent.

Inkscape is very similar in Windows and Linux. So tutorials made on either platform will certainly be helpful.

I think if I were to record an audio/visual tutorial, I think I'd lay it out this way:

1. Create a point by point script for everything I'd want that tutorial to cover.
2. Capture the screen part using the written text.
3. While playing back the video, casually explain what is going on ("Now, click here...") using my microphone and an audio recording software such as Audacity (open source). Clean up the sound by muting any extra noises and adjusting the audio to better match the video.
4. Place the video and audio into an editor like iMovie or some similar product to add in intro title screens and music, etc.

Just some ... random thoughts.

:D


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