Dorchester — Jul 14th 2015

Trevor showed how to get started with Pages by selecting a template, this time sticking with the blank sheet option. Using the Inspector he showed how to set margins, headers and footers before moving on to text options and left, right, centre or justify alignment. He then showed how to include a picture, with the text on the page “wrapping” to provide the space. Next he added a new text box. To draw a reader’s attention to an important detail in the document Trevor selected an arrow from the shape menu and using the Inspector changed its shape and orientation. During the discussion other settings were mentioned for picture and text box “wrapping” and for rotating text and picture boxes.

Euan explored ways to find files and how to find its location (path) in the filing system. Spotlight is a good starting point but Find in the Finder Menu is very powerful and allows users to hone search parameters. For open files Control-click on the title at the top of the window and the path is revealed. A surprise to many was the option in the Finder View menu to Show Path Bar; when selected the Path is revealed in a strip at the bottom of the Finder Window. Euan, who has a number of different partitioned drives uses the http://www.cdfinder.de indexing app. Like Spotlight NeoFinder Indexes drives, partitions, DVDs, CDs and folders according to choice, but keeps the information in a single database which can be accessed whether the relevant drive is connected or not. As with the Finder, it is important to allow NeoFinder to update the index and not to force disconnect the drive. Finally he showed us http://www.cgsecurity.org/wiki/PhotoRec .

John acting as master of ceremonies successfully found a home for Georgia’s husband’s Epson flatbed and slide scanner before auctioning a copy of Steve Wozniak’s biography (with authenticated signature), donated by Mark. Proceeds to the Christmas mince pie fund.

Andy, a professional video maker, explained how to pan a small camera such as the iPhone smoothly avoiding shake. Apart from the conventional tripod, a small trolley running on a smooth surface or a simple frame like a large steering wheel with the camera fixed at the centre, are good options. The latter method uses simple leverage so that movement of the arms at the perimeter is reduced at the centre. He described gimbal devices incorporating a balancing weight to stabilise the camera (but not very user friendly with a weight swinging about). He has recently discovered tri-axis gimbal devices which use small motors to provide gyroscopic force to stabilise the device. He demonstrated his Beholder SP by Team Rebel Design. As hands-on experience showed, while stabilising sudden movements the device still accommodates deliberate changes in direction forced by the user. We were all impressed.

Andy has provided some useful links relating to methods of camera stabilisation.
Variations on stabilisers:
The little trolley
The basis for Andy's plumbing parts steering wheel stabiliser is the “Figrig" (named after its inventor, the director Mike Figgis) here:
the DIY version is here:

Comments

Page 1