Q: What versions of Windows does SmoothShow run on?

A: SmoothShow runs on Windows 95, 98, 98 B, NT 4.0, ME, 2000, XP Pro and XP Home. Windows 2000 or XP give the maximum performance.

Q: Is there a version for the Mac?

A: Sorry, but no. The product is only available for Microsoft Windows at this time. Please let us know if you are interested in a Mac version of SmoothShow as demand will drive that development.

Q: What video modes and projectors are supported?

A: SmoothShow can read and display images of any resolution and color depth and display them on any Windows compatible graphics device. The program automatically detects the graphics settings. Images that exceed the display resolution are automatically scaled down to fit. For example, we regularly display 2560x1920 images on a monitor at 2048x1536 and projectors at 1024x768. You are limited only by your hardware!

Q: Can I use SmoothShow to create CDs that can be played on another computer without SmoothShow installed?

A: Yes. Our new SmoothShow Player is a FREE program that you can distribute with your shows so that they can be played on any Windows 95 or later PC. You can download the player setup package from the link above. You can also use the new Web Export function to put your show on a web page that can be played in any browser with no special software required. Click here to see a demo web page.

Q: Can I use SmoothShow to create CDs or DVDs that can be played on a DVD player?

A: The current version does not create discs that run on a standard DVD player - but you can do the job with some hardware support. For example, you can run SmoothShow on a PC with a Matrox (or similar) dual head video card with the secondary output (SVideo) and audio plugged into an MPEG encoder in another PC. Then use Nero to burn the MPEG to a VCD format. Of course you could convert the MPEG to streaming video for a website or use it as-is in a PowerPoint. You could also subsititue a digital camcorder (or even a VCR) as the output device instead of the real-time MPEG encoder. Most laptops also have a video output that is designed to connect to a TV or VCR and can be used for the purpose.

Q: How many images can a single slide show contain?

A: There is no limit to the number of slides in a show.

Q: What sound file formats are supported?

A: SmoothShow can play audio files of type WAV, MP3, or WMA.

Q: Can different transitions be used between each slide and what kind of transitions are available?

A: Yes, each slide can have it's own transition effect which determines how the previous slide is replaced by the new one. There are over 2000 transition variations available including:

Fade to any color
Dissolve
Linear wipes - 554
Rectangualr wipes - 6
Circular wipes - 39
Pushes - 263
Slides - 525
Rolls - 263
Rotates - 259
Zooms - 2
Drips - 4
Blinds - 7
Random - 10
Checkerboards - 8
Blocks - 8
Circles - 35
Ellipses - 35

Q: Can I put captions or other text on slides?

A: Yes, each slide can have it's own text caption with individual control of placement, color, font style, font size, and several 3D effects like raised, shadow, etc. You can also setup a standard copyright or credit tag to be displayed on every slide.

Q: What image file types can SmoothShow read?

A: SmoothShow Pro can read and display image files of any of the following formats and variations:

BMP

Windows bitmap format. Windows bitmap files may have 1, 4, 8, 16, 24, or 32 bits per pixel when RLE compression is not used and 4 or 8 bits per pixel when RLE compression is used.

BMP

OS/2 bitmap format. SmoothShow supports either 1.x or 2.x formats. OS/2 bitmap files may have 1, 4, 8, or 24 bits per pixel when RLE compression is not used and 4 or 8 bits per pixel when RLE compression is used.

CLP

Microsoft Windows Clipboard. These are saved clipboard files and may contain 1, 4, 8, or 24 bits per pixel.

CUT

Dr. Halo. Dr. Halo files are device-independent images. The image is stored in one file (.CUT) and the palette is stored in a separate file (PAL). If the image has no corresponding .PAL file, it is considered a grayscale image. Images are 8 bits per pixel.

EPS

Encapsulated PostScript. The image that you read from an EPS file can be a PostScript raster image, an embedded TIFF image, or an embedded WMF image. Postscript Raster images may be 1 or 8 bits per pixel. Embedded TIFF images may be 1, 4, 8, 16, 24, or 32 bits per pixel. Embedded WMF files are 24 bits per pixel.

EMF

Enhanced (Windows) Metafile. SmoothShow supports this format at 8 or 24 bits per pixel.

FPX

FlashPix. The FlashPix file format was developed through the combined efforts of Eastman Kodak Company, Microsoft Corporation, Hewlett-Packard Company, and Live Picture Inc. Images may contain 8 or 24 bits per pixel.

GIF

Graphics Interchange Format. GIF files may be 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 or 8 bits per pixel and use LZW compression.

IFF

Interchange File Format. These may be uncompressed or RLE compressed and may contain 1-8 or 24 bits per pixel.

IMG

GEM image monochrome (1 bit per pixel) format.

ITG

Intergraph RLE compressed. This is a monochrome bitmap format with 1 bit per pixel.

JBG

JBIG bi-tonal (black and white), grayscale, or color. SmoothShow supports the Adaptive Arithmetic Encoder, the Adaptive Template Block, the Typical Prediction Block, the Resolution Reduction Block, and the Deterministic Prediction Block. Image may contain 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 12, 16, 24, or 32 bits per pixel.

JPG

JPEG file format. There are a number of variations of this popular photographic format. SmoothShow supports Lossy JFIF (YUV 4:4:4, 4:2:2, and 4:1:1 color spacing, and YUV 4:0:0 grayscale), Lossless JFIF (8, 12, and 16-bit grayscale and 24-bit color spacing), Lossy JTIF (YUV 4:4:4, 4:2:2, and 4:1:1 color spacing, and YUV 4:0:0 for grayscale), Lossless JTIF (8, 12, and 16-bit grayscale and 24-bit color spacing), and Progressive JPEG (YUV 4:4:4, 4:2:2, and 4:1:1 color spacing, and YUV 4:0:0 for grayscale).

MAC

MacPaint monochrome (1 bit per pixel) format.

MSP

Microsoft Paint monochrome (1 bit per pixel) format.

PBM

Portable Bitmap monochrome (1 bit per pixel) format.

PCD

Kodak Photo CD. Photo CD images may contain 8 or 24 bits per pixel.

PCT

Macintosh Pict Format. SmoothShow converts this vector image format to a raster (bitmap) format and supports 1, 4, 8, and 24 bits per pixel.

PCX

ZSoft RLE compressed PCX. Images may contain 1, 4, 8, or 24 bits per pixel.

PGM

Portable Greymap grayscale 8 bit per pixel format.

PNG

Portable Network Graphics. This is a non-LZW compressed format containing 1, 4, 8, 16, 24, or 32 bits per pixel.

PPM

Portable Pixmap 24 bit per pixel format.

PSD

Adobe PhotoShop. SmoothShow supports PSD version 3.0 and above. Images may contain 1, 8 or 24 bits per pixel.

RAS

Sun Raster format. This is the native format for Sun UNIX workstations and may contain 1, 4, 8, 24, or 32 bits per pixel.

SGI

Silicon Graphics Image Format. SmoothShow supports SGI black and white, grayscale, and color formats containing 8, 24, or 32 bits per pixel.

TGA

Truevision TGA. SmoothShow supports all uncompressed and RLE compressed TGA file formats at 8, 16, 24, or 32 bits per pixel.

TIFF

Tagged Image File Format. SmoothShow supports uncompressed TIFF images at 24 bits per pixel. LZW compression is now supported as well.

XBM

XbitMap monochrome (1 bit per pixel) file format.

XPM

XpicMap X Windows PixMap format. These may be black and white, grayscale or color and contain 1, 8 or 24 bits per pixel.

XWD

X Windows Dump. These are X Windows native files with 1, 4, 8, 16, 24, or 32 bits per pixel.

WMF

Windows Metafile. SmoothShow supports this format at 8 or 24 bits per pixel.

WPG

WordPerfect Graphics. SmoothShow supports only the raster image versions of these files containing 1, 4, or 8 bits per pixel.