Will Pano Cacoon work for non-Flashificator projects?

[makiedog]

I'm interested in using it for normal FPP projects that consist of multi-node tours. These projects were not created with Flashificator. I understand it encrypts cubic jpeg images, will it also encrypt the main XML file where all the FPP codes reside? Thanks.

[Trausti Hraunfjord]

Yes, it is made for taking care of all FPP projects, be that FFC or hand coded.

The default minimum function in Cocoon, is to encrypt the XML, and requesting the use of the custom Context Menu.

If you have projects with more than one xml, you will only have the possibility to encrypt ONE (the main) xml file.

It can encrypt the following pano formats in FFC:
vertical stripes
Cylindrical
Equirectangulars
.mov's
Cube faces

Normal images and layout can not be encrypted, nor is there support for encrypting videos or mp3's or other file types.

You should download the free trial version from here: viewtopic.php?f=23&t=2289 and try it on your projects.
Remember that projects made with the demo/trial will only have a life-span of 2 hours.
Everything in the program works the same as the commercial version, except that Time Limit has been disabled (since it is the component that limits the trial to only 2 hours).

Good luck.

[majdsalim]

hi Trausti,

I tried the demo version for now
as i see the welcome screen contains one "New project" button, by clicking it a browsing window appears

Now i select the folder where my pano.swf, pano.xml files are, but face the following msg :
"Please check your selected folder since none of the required files were detected"

what are the "required files" really are? what im i doing wrong?

Thank you
Majd

[mcwhorter]

I downloaded the latest version (1.1) and it wont load my projects. I don't use Flashicator. The message says "Please check your selected folder since none of the required files were detected"

What format/file structure is this program looking for?

[Trausti Hraunfjord]

A "minor" confusion on part of the programmer when rendering the demo version...

I will have him prepare a new fail free version tonight (within the next couple of hours or so)

The error message is very exaggerated, and that will have to be changed in a future update to specify if it is a missing xml file or pano.swf or the context menu plugin or the reference to the context menu in the xml file (see the help file on preparing the project by adding the context menu and the context menu part in the xml file... my guess is that it's the context menu missing in your project, or the reference to it in the xml file.

Errors like this one are avoidable on our end, but with a mountain of things to do one can forget to check properly before publishing... sorry about that.

[Trausti Hraunfjord]

Problems on our end... no new release for now.

[mcwhorter]

Any updates?

I'd really like to give this a try, so could you provide a list of the files that Cacoon is looking for and an example directory structure?

[Trausti Hraunfjord]

No update on this, but I will have that to change today. I installed the DEMO version, and I get into trouble for using the context menu I have made available exactly FOR testing with the demo version... the darn thing tells me that I have to use my licensed version.... )(&#)=$(%/#)%&"#

Until now there has been no time for the programmer to look into anything but what he has been working on, but that project will be ready for testing today, and knowing that, I will have him take care of a few other things before he moves on (with the test project he has been slaving over).

"Today" means "within the next 16 hours" after posting this message.

[Trausti Hraunfjord]

And the part I forgot to address:
Pano Cocoon will look for:

1. HTML file (you may have to disable it if the structure is not recognized ... by naming it "yourTour.htmlX" or something else that results in the file not being known. In that case Pano Cocoon will create a html file on it's own if that is your publishing choice.
2. XML project file
3. The context menu and the context menu reference in the XML file
4. The panorama images (cubes, .mov, stripe, equirectangular, cylinder)

Directory structure is not important at all. It will search for the files in the project folder, and all sub folders of the project folder.... so the only requirement is to have all the files within the project folder... unless you publish the project for embedding in a Flash project, where no html file is required.

Hopefully this sheds a little bit of light on how it works... but seeing is believing, and while the demo version does not work due some serious mixup with the full version during rendering... (as it looks to me)... then we simply have to get a new demo out as soon as possible.

Forgetting things combined with not having the time to attend them... is no fun.

[Trausti Hraunfjord]

The problem should be fixed now, simply by replacing the context menu in the project with this one:

ffc_contextmenu.zip

(12.24 KiB) Downloaded 89 times

It was an oversight by the programmer... something that happens when there are too many things going on at the same time.

Check the "Help" file in the program to see how the xml should be prepared for the context menu:

Code: Select all

<contextmenu>
  <data>
    <items/>
  </data>
</contextmenu>

Don't use a html (at least not on first try... just to eliminate that as a potential problem)... and you should be good to go.

Sincerely sorry for not having had the time/to look at this earlier... and many thanks for bringing it up again... I had simply forgotten the need to check it.

[mcwhorter]

It worked. I was able to get into the 'demo' gui and publish some test projects with encryption. Thanks for clearing up the process for me.

[Trausti Hraunfjord]

Glad to hear, and I am truly horrified not having had this fixed earlier... it's been weeks since the latest update, and fixing this was a 1 minute job... truly shameful

[jwatson]

Thanks for the update Trausti; I can get past the New Project screen now. I'm having an issue when I add the contextmenu to my xml parameters (e.g. layer_4 =files/ffc_contextmenu.swf): my project will no longer open. It doesn't display the normal "Failed", but just remains blank. Is there any additional text that I need to add to my xml file that the contextmenu plugin is expecting other than the following?

<contextmenu>
<data>
<items/>
</data>
</contextmenu>

I can get Cocoon to work now and everything encrypts properly, but as my project doesn't work prior to encryption, it obviously doesn't work after.

[Trausti Hraunfjord]

Hi J. Watson.

Could you possibly link me to your project in order to be able to give it a test?

[jwatson]

Sure, here is a link to a simple example:

http://www.jon-sarah.com/pano/cocoon/


What is odd is that it seems to run fine when it's uploaded to the internet, but locally it won't work. Is that normal?

thanks,

Jon

[Trausti Hraunfjord]

That depends....

If you have used the Domain Lock feature, it will absolutely not work locally. It would only display a white browser window.

If you have NOT used Domain Lock, you should check the current security settings for your computer here: http://www.macromedia.com/support/docum ... ger04.html

The Adobe Flash security is not something that we can run away from, but it is a minor thing to deal with, unless you are presenting your projects to a client using the project folder and not the online project. In such cases is is best to create a SAP (Stand Alone Projector) since it will contain everything needed for displaying the project locally, without conflicting with the security.

You find the SAP output feature in the "Publish" tab in Pano Cocoon.

Hopefully this helps. If not, you are welcome to contact me again... in that case it would be best to provide me with a link to a .zip file of your project for testing.

Trausti

[jwatson]

So here is a zip of a simple project prior to using Cocoon.

http://www.jon-sarah.com/pano/cocoon/pre-cocoon.zip

As it is, it won't display locally, but will if it's uploaded to the internet. If the layer_13 =files/ffc_contextmenu.swf line is removed from the xml, then the project will display locally, but Cocoon won't process it. When I leave that line in, the only way to get a working project out of Cocoon is to not select my html file on the Basic tab and have Cocoon generate a new HTML page for me. It would be nice if I could feed Cocoon my own html files and have it modify them as necessary, but it's not that critical as I will get a working file that I can modify.

[Trausti Hraunfjord]

Correct. If you remove the context menu or the reference to it in the xml file, the project will not work. This is a part of the security features.

On the html issue.... I completely understand the wish and need for the program to simply accept the html file provided, but that is not going to happen. In the beginning, projects made with Flashificator were a perfect fit for Pano Cocoon, and the html file generated by FFC was accepted with no issues attached. But very soon it became clear that if there are 10 hand coders making their own html structure, there would be needed 10 different versions of Pano Cocoon to understand the structure of the files. We decided to handicap the Flashificator users in favor of a more generic form of html that would be easier to use by hand coders... and FFC will get an update where the html output will be fully accepted by Cocoon.

What you can do, is to play with the automatically generated file from Pano Cocoon, and change the display size to fit your needs, and in the future use that as your standard html file for projects you want to run through Cocoon, and the problem will be solved.