Hello everyone.
As I have announced at the ALPB meeting I will be sharing time, temperature and humidity mp3 files and offering an instruction manual on how to program those voice files into Zara Radio automation software.
I have created a topic over at the ALPB forum board related to process of making those files available and how to program Zara Radio to play them at a pre-programmed time.
I created this topic to let you know I have started the process and have had the library of mp3s uploaded on the ALPB site, but I still have to create and publish an instruction sheet with photos that explains how to store and use them, by programming Zara Radio's "events" section of the program.
I will also explain that the GUI has icons that are buttons that can be pressed to activate that event manually on the fly.
I will also keep everyone up to date here as well, with my progress and where the files can be downloaded from and where the instruction manual has been published.
For now, here is a link to the ALPB forum board where I have created my initial thread.
http://alpb.boards.net/thread/350/radio-discussion-temperature-humidity-files
Thanks for reading.
Bruce.
The Time and Temp features on Zara are very professional, gives the automated radio station a great tool.
My Zara time feature puts time in between every program all day.
Having more voices thanks to you is welcome and you are to be thanked!
Okay, I ran into some issues with the screen shots of Zara Radio's GUI and other images I plan to use in the instruction manual.
Asking about screen shot issues in a part 15 related web site is probably not going to get me anywhere, but is better to ask, then not ask at all.
The problem is the images have lost a lot of the detail I need, for clear detailed photos for making a PDF file in Adobe Acrobat 3D.
The computer that Zara Radio runs off of has Windows XP on it. I used the print screen key to copy an image of my desktop with the various sections of Zara Radio open and copied and pasted it into Windows Paint.
I can not find in Windows XP's version of Paint the cropping tool like I have seen in Windows 7 and up, so I am basically stuck with a full screen including my desktop in the background of the image.
I attempted to bring those images onto my Windows 10 machine and edited them in Adobe Photoshop CS or other Adobe related image editing software that I curently have on my machine. The trouble is the .bmp (bitmap) image is spotty, some of the text in the images is very broken up and spotty, or hard to read. The images are very poor quality.
I am trying to think of a way to get better screen shots of Zara Radio and the files that are located in the Zara Radio's events folder so all text and images look sharp and clear without installing my licensed software on two separate machines and requring a second license or license upgrade to include two serarate computer systems.
I would really rather not install Zara Radio and all those files on my Windows 10 machine simply to make better screen shots for re-production into Adobe Photoshop CS and then into Adobe Acrobat 3D and saved as a .PDF document.
Does any body have any decent suggestions as to how on a Windows XP machine I can get some decent on screen shot photos for use in Adobe Acrobat 3D?
Bruce.
Paint will allow you to select a section of your image to copy or cut. Click the "select" tool icon in the upper right corner in the pane normally found on the left side of the screen.
Then use the mouse to outline the section you desire. Once the section you want has been outlined, right click and select either "cut" or "copy" or do the same by clicking "edit" on the tool bar at the top.
Next click "file" from the tool bar at the top left and open a "new" file (disregard the save first prompt unless you want to.) Next click "edit". Then "paste' to insert the section you copied.
You may need to shrink the size of the image window to fit the pasted image. Just click on the bottom right corner of the image window and pull it up and over to fit the image.
You can increase or decrease the size of the final image by selecting "image" at the top of the screen. Then select "stretch/skew". Here you use the "Stretch" boxes to make the image smaller (or larger) by putting in the percentage of the image size you want. Put the same number in both horizontal and vertical boxes. Click OK and see what you have.
While trying to size or move the image around, sometimes you'll lose part of the image. Just click "undo" found in the "edit" tool before you make any other changes as it can only undo one level.
Download the free version of PhotoFiltre 7, it should solve your problem http://photofiltre.free.fr/frames_en.htm It tiny, rather full featured (even does layers), very fast, and will run fine on your XP. It's gotten to where I use it more often than Photoshop becuase it's so fast and lightweight.
Just use your print screen key as you have been doing and then paste in Photofiltre
I highly reccomend it
The forum seems to shrink it down a little when I post it here, but is this better than what you are getting with paint?
Okay, being it is Easter Sunday Holiday, I have been spening time with my family, so I have not had time to look into the options that you have provided for me to try.
Rich Powers, I looked at your photo above, it looks better than the ones I have, but I tend to see a bit of a blur in your image. I will have to try what has been offered here and see what results I get here and compare them.
As for Windows Paint in XP, it appears the crop option is a bit elusive where in the versions for Windows 7 and up are right there along with resize and rotate.
I usually save paint images as .png format for use on line on web sites, I'll have to see if the version on Windows XP allows the same file extension.
Bruce.
Rich Powers, I looked at your photo above, it looks better than the ones I have, but I tend to see a bit of a blur in your image.
It is blurry above, but the forum did that. It can make a difference where and how it's posted. The image above is distorted, but if you look at the exact same file the one above is called from: you'll see a difference:
Thanks Rich Powers, you are right, the second image looks better than the first one you posted.
I'll keep you all updated and ask any questions if I run into any snags or problems along the way.
In the meantime, I want to thank everyone for the help and your continued interest in my topic and getting this instruction manual finished.
Bruce.
The free Zara automation software continues to be a favorite for Part 15 broadcasting, and the slick features built into Zara have yet to be fully explored and mastered by many of us who use the program.
MrBruce is helping us open new possibilities with the work he's doing to guide the way into having various kinds of announcements including time and weather breaks.
KDX Radio utilizes time announcements, but there are other Zara tricks yet to be tried, and that's why MrBruce opened this thread.
After he's done with the Zara HowTo Guide, we wouldn't be surprised if MrBruce did another guide on "How to Make a PDF Guide".