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:
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.
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!
It is Template release time again! Trick or Treat, our Halloween themed Template, is the first ‘seasonal’ Template release from us. Along with our regular year-round-friendly releases, we thought it would be fun to add in a few Templates designed for various holidays and celebrations. And while we’re sure you will enjoy it up to Halloween, we like to think that some of you might use it all year round. It’s a shame for it to only come on for a week or so a year. Anyway, check it out. We hope you like it.
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.
“Every child is an artist. The problem is how
to remain an artist once we grow up.” - Pablo Picasso
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.
Before: Our Fridge
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.
After: Grace’s Grand Gallery
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.
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!
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.
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.
We couldn’t be more excited about the response we’ve had to Touchpoint Gallery since our release in April. Along with some solid feature ideas, many of you have had very creative suggestions for new design Templates. Topping the list were requests for Templates that follow a scrapbooking theme, so we thought we’d give you a sneak peak of some of the animated designs we’ll have coming your way.
Be sure to keep the ideas coming by either commenting here, or on our forums.
Welcome to the Touchpoint Blog. Here, you’ll find out about everything that goes on in the world of Touchpoint Studios, including the latest scoop on upgrades, features, events and ways to have fun with your digital photos.
We started Touchpoint Studios last year with the goal of bringing digital photos to life. Our first product, Touchpoint Gallery, does just that. It enables you to collect photos from a variety of places on the web, on your computer and on devices connected to your computer and show them off in different settings (what we call Templates). Templates range from two-dimensional slide-shows to realistic three-dimensional art galleries. You can then use it as your screen saver or to change your desktop wallpaper.
And for our first announcement, we’re throwing the doors open on forums. Head on over to discuss the latest Gallery developments, tips and tricks with other friends of Touchpoint.
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