We wish you a Happy Holiday and all the best in 2008!

The Touchpoint Studios Team

Share This

Share This

The newest version of Touchpoint Gallery is available! While we’re very excited, we’re stuck in one of those situations where we have to follow some rules before we can tell you everything.

Let me back up for a minute. For those of you familiar with Touchpoint Gallery you know that our photo viewing application has two main components, Templates and Picture Sources. Templates are the quick and easy way to change the look and feel of your Galleries by choosing the animated scene that your digital pics will appear in. Recently we’ve released a couple of holiday themed Templates. You can check everything out on our Templates page.

Picture Sources are the areas built into Touchpoint Gallery that let you choose - well - the source of your digital pics. A Picture Source could be local files on your hard drive, or those on your Flickr account among others. You can see a complete list on our Picture Sources page. You choose the Picture Source and the Template and it all comes together.

Recently we’ve added an exciting new Picture Source to Touchpoint Gallery that will allow you to use photos from a popular social networking site. However, we can’t quite mention the name of the social network in our PR material (yes, that includes this blog) until we get permission from them. You can read more about the rules we have to follow in Section 6. Publicity; Trademark Usage:

The Rules

We’ll tell you more about it once we hear back from them. In the mean time download the new version of Touchpoint Gallery and let us know what you think. If you haven’t figured out what the new Picture Source is yet, check back here in 3 to 5 business days.

Share This

Get it while it’s hot! Fresh out of the oven is our new Thanksgiving themed Template, Thanksgiving Album. After feasting with friends and family, why not show off your holiday pictures in a photo album inspired by Turkey Day? Also be sure to check out our other Templates. Stay tuned for more and have a Happy Thanksgiving!

Share This

Share This

We released a new version of Touchpoint Gallery today. Download it and rejoice!

This release features support for a new file format which we call Gallery files. We’re using these files to provide add-ons to Touchpoint Gallery after you’ve installed it, such as additional Templates and Picture Sources.

The first such add-on is a new Template: Floral Scrapbook. This is the first in a line of scrapbook-themed Templates we plan to produce. It is available to all registered users. After installing the new version of Touchpoint Gallery, just download and open the Gallery file for this Template and it will be installed in no time.

Two other registered Templates that were previously included in the installer, Grand Gallery and Sky Fall, can now be downloaded seperately from our Templates Add-Ons page.

In addition, we’ve heard from a lot of users who want the Touchpoint Gallery experience on their Windows Vista systems. Well, today is the day we roll out full Windows Vista support.

Stay tuned for more new Templates and Picture Sources coming soon.

Share This

My three-and-a-half year old daughter Grace loves to draw. She loves to paint. She loves to glue small things onto paper. And she loves to do lots of it. She’s quite the artist. It’s my job to find a place to display each masterpiece when it’s done. In fact, the ritual of displaying the artwork is more important to the artist than the colour of construction paper, paint, or crayon used in its creation. Each piece must be prominently displayed. And the look of pride on the young artist’s face is priceless and worth all the fridge real-estate you can muster. However, after a while this can pose a bit of a problem. Not every piece can win that coveted spot on the fridge. You think they don’t notice when you rotate out the old stuff, but they get wise to you after a while. We’ve expanded to cupboard doors, and any surface that can withstand masking tape.

Somewhat by accident, I discovered a fun way to avoid having to stick pictures to the ceiling and floor and still allow the artist to display her wares proudly. Last weekend when my wife was away on business Grace, armed with a stack of white computer paper and some highlighters, went into a zone and created about 30 masterpieces in a half hour. Out came the fridge magnets and tape.After she went to bed, I decided to scan a handful of these gems and post them to our Flickr account so my wife could see them. Then, considering my line of work, I decided to give it run in our software, Touchpoint Gallery. I thought it would be fun to see her art on the walls of a virtual art gallery. It was cool to see something other than photos there, so I set it as the default screen saver and went on to something else.

The next day Grace walked past the computer on her way to tackle a bag of cotton balls and some glue. Her reaction was priceless. Her face lit up and she yelled, “Daddy! My bugs!” The Touchpoint Gallery screen saver had kicked in. Well, that was a show stopper. There were her masterpieces proudly displayed on the walls of a virtual art gallery. She thought it was the coolest thing. Even though she doesn’t really know what an art gallery is (okay, maybe better parents would have taken her to the Guggenheim by now) she does know that mommy and daddy put the really special pictures in frames and hang them on the wall. No fridge action for the Matisse print.

If you’d like to give this a try, here’s how. Just so you know, the real thing can be run full screen and is a lot clearer than the video clip.

1. Scan your kid’s artwork: The first thing you need to do is get your kid’s artwork into digital form. This can mean scanning or possibly taking a quick shot with your digital camera (glued macaroni doesn’t scan particularly well). If you end up using your camera try to find an area with lots of natural light so you don’t have to use a flash. A tripod or a well placed stack of books to set the camera on can be invaluable here. If you need to use a flash, shoot slightly off-angle to avoid the flare being visible on your paper, foil, or cotton ball subject.

2. Download Touchpoint Gallery: Click here to download and install Touchpoint Gallery for free. You will be redirected to a download page. Click ‘Try Free’ then come back here for more instructions. Click here if you need help downloading and installing. If you’re really stuck, leave a comment below and we’ll get back to you.

3. Use Touchpoint Gallery to display the artwork: Here’s where the fun begins. Put the scanned artwork into your MyPictures folder. Run Touchpoint Gallery by double clicking the desktop icon. Click ‘okay’ when the first screen comes up. Then you should see the Main Screen as shown below:

Click on ‘Create or Edit Gallery’ to get to this screen:

Click ‘NEW’. You will then see this screen:

Using your child’s name, follow the settings shown above. Then click ‘okay’. Another screen will appear. Click ‘okay’ there as well. That will bring you back to the Main Screen:

Click ‘View Gallery’ and enjoy the show. If you have other images in your My Pictures folder that you don’t want to have appear, consult the user guide to see how to get pictures in from different sources including any other folder on your computer, or your Flickr account. None of it is tough, and we’re here to help if you need it.

If virtual art galleries don’t do it for your kids, you can try some of the other Templates available in our library.

So give it a try, and enjoy. It’s a lot of fun and your kids will love it. When you try this, we want to hear your story. Leave your comments below!

Share This

Ogre
Rendering Engine

Ogre is the graphics rendering engine in Touchpoint Gallery. This is what allows us to utilize your computer’s graphics card to display your digital photography in a rich 3D environment. Ogre’s object-oriented API fits in nicely with our own and provides the flexibility we need to do things like define our own render window and swap in and out entire 3D scenes on the fly. It does all this while maintaining a high level of performance, which allows us to deliver a smooth frame-rate and thus an exceptional user experience. They also have one of the most helpful communities I have ever encountered in software development.

Python
Scripting Language

Much of the inner workings of Touchpoint Gallery are written in the Python programming language. We have embedded Python as a scripting language within the app. With the help of another open source tool, SWIG, we have been able to bridge our C++ API with our Python API. This saves us a lot of time during development since we don’t have to recompile the code every time we make a change. It also allows us to deliver add-ons to the application after shipping and without requiring you to reinstall, such as new Templates or Picture Sources.

NSIS
Installer

When it’s time to package up Touchpoint Gallery, we make an installer using NSIS. Thanks to yet another helpful community and a wealth of plugins, NSIS lets you make Windows installers that do just about anything you want them to. It also fits seamlessly into our automated build process, which is a huge time-saver when you’re making multiple builds per day.

Subversion
Version Control

Our code and assets sleep soundly at night in the Subversion version control system. Truth be told, I’ve been using SVN for about 5 years now and have never had a single problem with it. No lost commits, no corrupt databases, none of the problems that my developer friends complain about with other proprietary systems. The TortoiseSVN Windows shell extension puts all of SVN’s client functionality into your Windows context menu, making it as easy to use as Windows Explorer. And like NSIS, it fits seamlessly into our automated build process.

Mantis
Bug Tracking

When we find bugs in our products (a rare occasion to be sure), we record and track them using Mantis. It took all of a couple minutes to install and is easy to maintain. It has an easy-to-use interface as well as all the features we need to effectively communicate bug information with each other: email notifications, RSS, file attachments, etc. I’ve used a couple of other bug tracking systems in the past, both open source and proprietary. None have been as effective with a price tag like Mantis has.

LAMP
Server Platform

We use a Linux/Apache/MySQL/PHP platform on our servers for the same reasons that most people do. It’s easy to maintain, stable, fast, flexible, cost-effective and provides the ideal framework to run many of the other open source solutions which we have adopted. Brick Tamland sums up our feelings on LAMP in 3 words:

What you are reading now was published using WordPress blog software. When it was time to start the blog, we needed a solution that was easy to implement and it had to be customizable so it would fit in our site’s template. It had to be easy to administer and easy for everyone to use. WordPress meets all of these requirements and then some.

MoinMoin
Wiki

We use MoinMoin for our internal knowledge base. It features an easy to use GUI editor so we don’t have to fuss with wiki markup. File attachments is also important to us for sharing types of data other than raw text. And because it is written in Python, it is very easy to extend and customize.

phpBB
Forum

With the help of phpBB, we recently opened forums for users to socialize and discuss all things Touchpoint. phpBB is the most commonly used forum software on the internet, so you’ve no doubt seen it around. Like many of the other open source solutions we picked, it was easy to get up and running, is easy to maintain and it fit into our site’s template. They also have a large, supportive community which has produced countless useful mods and plugins.

phplist
Newsletters

We manage our mailing lists and send newsletters using phplist. It has a super simple installation and enabled us to customize the sign-up form on our site. It also has a terrific GUI for editing HTML messages in the browser (FCKeditor to be precise). Be sure to sign up for our newsletter to receive regular updates.

As you can see, open source software has played an integral role in the day to day operations of Touchpoint Studios. And in turn, we will jump at the opportunity to give back to the open source community whenever possible. In the meantime, we will continue to look to the open source community first for cost-effective solutions.

Share This

When my daughter was born four years ago, our new digital camera and I had to become friends. Fast. I didn’t have any experience as a photographer, or any time to learn the craft, yet I still had to find ways to get those perfect once in a lifetime shots. Through trial and error I found a system that works for me. While I’m sure I’m not blazing any new trails here, these are the guidelines I’ve used to get shots my family and friends enjoy:

1. Say No to Shutter Lag: Get a fast camera. Shutter Lag is the enemy when your subject matter won’t sit still. I started with a Panasonic DMC LC20. After my daughter started getting a bit more mobile I graduated to a Canon EOS Digital Rebel. It’s hard to find shutter lag stats published even in independent reviews. Try out the camera in the store if possible, and pick a moving target. I had a friend rotate slowly. I snapped a shot when he was facing the camera. If the picture was of his profile or the back of his head, I know I had to keep looking.

2. Say Yes to Storage: Get a memory card for your camera with as much storage capacity as possible. I use 1GB and that allows me to take about 160 shots before I have to transfer photos from my camera to my computer. Be sure you have a fresh memory card for each new outing. Pick up a memory card reader to speed up the process. You need to clear your card frequently so you don’t want comparatively slow USB cable transfer speeds getting in the way. And don’t cheat by using a low resolution or low quality image setting. Use the highest quality and resolution you can.

3. No Film, No Fear. Take a Lot of Shots: Those precious moments come and go quickly. Get them even if the framing and zoom are not perfect. That can be fixed later. However, be sure to learn how to properly use your auto focus. Very out of focus images are something you can’t fix after the fact.

4. Go Deeper. Find the Hidden Gems: Once you’ve transferred your images to your computer, review them carefully to find the shot within the shot. If you’ve taken enough shots, the gems will be there. You’ll need a decent digital image editing software package with and easy to use cropping tool. ACDSee 9 Photo Manager is a good tool at a good price.

5. Shed Unwanted Pixels. Crop Crop Crop: Cropping your photos creatively allows you to get a fantastic shot out of some not so fantastic raw material. Once you’ve found a part of a photo you like, crop away the extra stuff. Highlight the subject matter and reveal shots that would have been missed if you took too much time setting up before hitting the shutter release.

Now that you’ve spent so much time and energy getting your shots just right, you want to have a special way to show them off. Give Touchpoint Gallery a spin and let us know what you think. Download here for free.

Images courtesy of Flickr

Share This

With all the hype around the iPhone recently we thought, “Wouldn’t it be cool if you could take a picture from your iPhone (or any camera phone) and have it show up on your friend’s desktop as wallpaper or a screensaver with animated 3D graphics?” Well, we thought it would be cool. If you think so too, here’s what you do:

STEP 1: Have your friends and / or family download and install Touchpoint Gallery. You can download it too, if you haven’t already. It’s free to use for as long as you want. Download Touchpoint Gallery.

STEP 2: Have them create a new Gallery that points to your Flickr account. Set up a new Gallery.

For Picture source select “Flickr User” from the Pulldown menu beside the number “3” in the purplish blue square. Click ‘New’ when the next dialog comes up enter your Flickr user name. Yes, you will need a Flickr account to try this - at least using this method. Get a Flickr account.

STEP 3: Set the Gallery you just created to be used as your default Windows screen saver and /or to automatically change your Windows wallpaper. Set Gallery as Default Screen Saver. Set Gallery to Change Windows Wallpaper.

STEP 4: Use your phone to email photos to your Flickr account. Flickr makes it pretty easy for you to do. Email photos from my phone to my Flickr account.

Now every time they run Touchpoint Gallery or their screen saver kicks in, they’ll see the latest pics directly from your mobile camera phone. Sure, there are a few steps involved to get set up, but once you are you don’t have to worry about them. anymore.

Okay, many of you have probably figured you don’t have to use just your mobile camera phone for this to be cool. You can transfer the photos to your digital camera to your PC in the regular way and still have them update on your friend’s screen saver and wallpaper. That’s fun too. Again, at least we think so. If you want some help trying this out, just leave a comment or hit the user forums and we’ll get you the help you need.

Share This