Very strange Results when iterating through a list generating jpegs

axs1 -

a] I can't reproduce your problem - straight out of the packet , I get 11 names, no pictures, but that is to be expected, you didn't upload any images.

b] I don't want to appear rude, for whilst Windows 7 might well be the sweetest fruit Microsoft's ever produced, their whole approach to XML by numbers makes a nonsense of what is meant to be a truly clear way of dealing with data and tagged information in property lists -

Phew - just take a butcher's hook [means look - old rhyming slang] at the alternate XML I've attached [slides2.xml_], as an example, as an alternative approach. It would mean renaming some of your index / key names in your structure setup, though.

All names do list for me though using either example - only difference is that one is a label and the other is a w:t - personally I prefer semantic clarity over the obfuscate.

Find attached a slightly reworked versioning of your file example [Listen Reworked]. Saved 2171 bytes - that's 17368 bits - if only they were pounds :-)

XML - best kept simple, sensible, serviceable and semantic.

P.S the XML in the Listen Reworked example is actually leaner than your original or my initial , semantic reworking. I took the liberty of switching for in the ListenReworked example .

BTW - have you noticed how the MS Office XML loathes being structured in editable format, preferring to just being an unwrapped text stream.

Any attempt to format it to an indented structure fouls the XML up operation wise, even if nothing else is changed. No explicit extension too. Plus the unusually repetitive font styling. Word XML - a suitable subject for a KISS [and sensible and serviceable & semantic ] makeover IMHO. Love the Unique User ID BTW •~ & welcome to the kineme QC forum

What version OS X are you running ?

Find attached a revamp that uses external paths.

hello cybero

thanks for your fast replies. couldnt get back to this until now.

for a) To clarify: In QuarzComposer the Comp is doing fine! The Problem arises only if I save Images to Disk with QuarzCrystal.

So: I create a comp that iterates trough a list of Names. (This comp may have Background Imagery like in your Example; It could even have changing Background Imagery like for males a Woman and for females a Man). The Comp for this is all fine and running in QuarzComposer (tattooing the Name onto either the male or the female :-) ). Ill attach one of the Backgroud-Images. Then I load this into QuarzCristal to Iterate through the List. The Framerate is synced to the Iteration and I should get Images each with a different Name on it. Thats where the Problem arises. It seems QuarzCristal does it not the same way as QuarzComposer. I do attach one of the background-Images (cant provide the special font since its custom-made) because these are big and maybe this causes the problem.

for b) well... I hate M$ as much as you do so bear with me. I took the simplest route to get a list of names into QC. Open TextEdit make the List, export as (MS)xml. Till now I don't know another simple way. Two things: Im no Programmer and I use this in Production (personalisation of Mailings and other stuff, list of about 2000 entrys) I know this is against xml and good measures but I simply dont have tools and enough knowledge to deal with xml properly.

There is another question: why do you often externalize the source of the Pictures? I have very large Pictures (for print) and somtimes those series have over 2000 entrys. I thought holding the Pictures inside the Comp is good for performance. Performance is a concern here.

10.6.3 on Macpro and MacBookPro - get the problem on both machines.

On my machine your Comps background-Images won't load at all in QuarzCrystal.

In addition ill attach the final comp - it happens there too (8mb due to the hires inline-images; Custom-built Font is missing).

Thanks for your Help!!! Alex

Firstly, the text editor to use - you've got Dashcode already with your Developer Tools and you can get Text Wrangler from Barebones Software.

I would strongly recommend TextWrangler, it's pretty extensible and will save good clean, non MS adumbrated and over complicated XML :-). So too does Dashcode.

You can also use the Property List Editor, although it doesn't like Word XML, you can create your own XML document by placing the entries required and save as .xml rather than .plist.

Secondly , if memory serves correctly you got sent a .qtz and / or an .xml file in my prior posts on this thread. In some instances, they are meant to be pointing to a resource base that isn't present, main point being that they do work and load when run in situe but the working of the XML is what really makes the difference in any case. That's why the background images aren't loading in the first redraft posted.

The second redraft Listen Reworked 2 posted here and earlier above, will work AOK.

Thirdly, the matter of to embed graphics or not; the more you embed, the more to load at first run time and the longer and slower, eventually, the composition will run. It works AOK for a small number of images, as you are using axs1, but larger image carousels will result in performance issues and less accessible editor stage constructions. 2000 images embedded - much more easily delivered via XML loading.

I would tend to recommend the use of a project directory approach so ./dir/res.ext [the name of the directory and the resources are your choice of course] becomes the usual way to call for resources in scripts, strings, multiplexers and so on. More lightweight, editable and easily changeable.

hey cybero

My Name is Alex btw. I looked into the Dashcode thing. As I see it there is no simple way of doing the following:

Usually I get a List of Adresses in an Excel-Sheet. I then copy-paste the rows I need into TextEdit saving it as an (bad)xml. Import this into QC. Done. Sometimes its one List somtimes multiple Lists for additional info like gender, Lastname, Firstname or other things. Those Lists contain somtimes up to 2000 or more Entrys.

I dont see how I can put all those Codebits like "entry", "value" and so on into it. Has to be automatic. I'm curious.

Embedded graphics: Thanks for the insight. I don't reuse the produced Images again in QC. Usually only one, somtimes up to 8 Background-Images.

I know that this is a pretty strange way of using QuarzComposer and QuarzCristal - allmost an abuse. But so damn cool!!! (Photoshop variable Images look old, lame and dated in comparsion)

After the QuarzCristal-Treat I have a set of Images. I then use Adobes Indesign and its ability to load in a Database (the Excel-Sheet) to a) load the "personalized" Image and b) the corresponding Postal Adress.

So - I tested your Comp again and what I get is the following: - Your Comp looks fine in both Apps.

BUT writing the jpegs to disk still doesn't load the Backgroundimages! Have a look into Attachment (Comp A) I then modified your Comp so the Images are referenced from the Folder "Images" (Comp B). The Images are now too in the saved jpegs.

So far so good.

BUT: In all Comps the same Error appreas (jpegs attached in Folders): Picture Number one doesn't get the Bg-Image. Picture Number 6 and 7 have the same Number (006) The Last number (011) is missing.

Here is where Im struck. And I hope the explanations above clarify why this is a problem in my case. Thanks again a lot for your help!!!

Alex

You do need to ensure that update signal and synchronous download are flagged on the xml and image importer patches.

Then both Test A & Test B case work AOK.

I did slow down the Interpolation a wee bit, to make the change more obvious. that helped [subjectively] .

I cannot reproduce your reported error.

BTW Oxygen XML editor does a bangg up job of converting xls to clean XML.