3D-Album Home

[oldsoul]

I recently bought a new computer and, of course, want to be able to use 3-D Album on it. I bought and downloaded the Commercial Suite when it first became available 6-7 years ago (i.e., downloaded - that was their option/preference at the time, so I don't have it on CD).

I tried moving the program from the old hard drive to the new, but that didn't work (must be re-installed). So I emailed support@3d-album on July 1, asking about how to re-download. They wrote:

If you can provide us your serial number, we can mail you a 3d-album commercial suite 3.29 CD for you to re-install ( free of charge )... We can not offer re-download because it is handle by the online retailer.

I provided them with the serial number and my current address. They said they would mail it on Monday (July 5th). On Wednesday, July 7, I emailed to confirm shipment because I knew some companies would assign Monday as the holiday and the P.O., and all its services, was closed. They emailed back that it went out Tuesday the 6th.

On Monday July 12, I emailed again because I hadn't received the CD. I referenced my current address again, thinking they might have sent it to some address on record (I've moved since I bought and registered it). Email back:

I will check with our shipping department. If we had send to the wrong address, we will send it again. Sorry about the inconvenience.

I emailed: Please hurry - as I said, I have a client waiting.

They replied the next day: Yes, we will make sure it go out.

I emailed again on Thursday, July 15 letting them know that neither CD had arrived.

They replied: We had mailed 2 CD out already and both of them sent to the address you provided.

My email back on Friday, July 16:

Well, neither has arrived - I just checked my mail - where are you mailing them from? I have not had a problem receiving any other mail at this address. If the address I gave you was wrong, and if you did mail them to that wrong address, you'd have received both items back with a notification from the post office that it was undeliverable.

I don't know why you think I'm lying. I have been a loyal and enthusiastic advocate of this product for many years. And I would continue to be if I had access to it, the access I paid for.

No reply. I guess it's finished with them. (It didn't come in today's - Saturday's - mail either. 11 days for the 1st CD, 5 for the 2nd - it seems unlikely that 2 would get lost.)

So does anyone have any suggestions as to what I should do next? It appears my only option as far as 3D-Album is concerned is to chalk it up as a loss - or perhaps buy another copy, which, if they can't/don't/won't get this one (two) to me, how could I possibly expect them to get another one to me?

[Bill Smith]

Maybe you could contact them and offer to pay the cost to have a 3rd CD sent registered mail (signatures all the way).

It would cost a few bucks, but the cost would be much lower, and the CD will be tracked every step of the way.

Probably there are other similar shipping options that others might suggest.
_________________
Bill

How to Videos & Tutorial PDF: www.northwestpages.com/3dalbum_tutorial/
Bill on YouTube: www.youtube.com/user/northwestpages

[oldsoul]

Thank you, Bill. On Sunday, I received an email with them asking me to wait to see if I got it in the mail Monday (today) - I did, it was post-marked the 16th (Friday).

They emailed me tonight to see if I got it and said: We will definitely try to improve our shipping procedure. I am not sure what happened for the first and 2nd shipments. The one you that received was mailed out by myself last Friday.

So I would suggest that when the person in support took charge, things got done. In the end, I do have it and have been working with it (alas, not for the client who needed it this past weekend).

I wanted to ask you if your tutorial for creating a DVD is up-to-date. So far, I've only created shows for play on a computer, and now I want to try making one that will play on a TV - i.e., a DVD not a CD this time. I have a couple specific questions, if you have a minute to help:

1) I'm using 3 songs in one folder so they will play one after the other. The third one is softer (volume) than the other 2 - is there a way to raise the volume of this one song? And there are a few seconds between songs - can that be shortened/eliminated?

2) If I remember, there is a max file size per picture - is it 1 meg? How does picture size affect capture time? The pictures I was given are between 1 & 1.5 meg - if I reduce the size, will the capture be faster? Will the quality (clarity, sharpness) be as good?

I appreciate any help you can give me - it serves as a shortcut, rather than doing trial and error by myself.

[Bill Smith]

I don't believe that 3D-Album can do much with audio files. It can certainly spread them across your show, and it's timeline can manipulate the length of time. But, for changing audio I think you'll need to use an audio editor. I haven't tried it, but the free "Real Player" has a program that allows you to clip portions of your audio (the few seconds between songs is dead time, often found at the end of a song).

Most (most, not all) styles don't really care about the size of your image anymore. I have used 3mb images with satisfactory results. If the style has to do too much with the image, then that might affect the quality - but I don't believe it will have that much of an impact on the capture time. I do usually resize my images, but when I'm dealing with a lot of scanned images I often leave them as is. I haven't seen any major problems in that area.

Nan does a lot more in this area, so if follow any advice that she offers here.
_________________
Bill

How to Videos & Tutorial PDF: www.northwestpages.com/3dalbum_tutorial/
Bill on YouTube: www.youtube.com/user/northwestpages

[Bill Smith]

The rest of the original posting has been moved to the RESOURCES area under FREE Audio and Video Editing software. http://www.3d-album.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=3694
_________________
Bill

How to Videos & Tutorial PDF: www.northwestpages.com/3dalbum_tutorial/
Bill on YouTube: www.youtube.com/user/northwestpages