Demonstration IssueBuilder

I’ve always wanted to create a better IssueBuilder (IB) than the one that I create and teach in nearly all but my shortest Visionary 8 training sessions.

That IB starts with a very simple item and gradually increases in complexity to the end.  With a nice linear flow, it is about a half dozen steps.  We aren’t going in a nice linear flow because we are going to be poking around in lots of nooks and crannies.

The problem has always been that I was doing it on-the-fly, probably in front of a room of students of varying Visionary 8 familiarity and basic computer skills. So while it presented a great teaching process, I am not sure how much learning was done.

So I started creating that IB from scratch and documenting my process.

I quickly realized that was going to create the internet’s worst blog post.  (Not really; that honor goes to Paula Nancy Millstone Jennings of Greenbridge Essex, England.¹)

So I decided to create this epic IssueBuilder as a series of posts.

So here is my plan:

1. This post to introduce the idea and how to get the data needed to follow along.  See the end for how to get the data.
2. Next will be an explanation of the IssueBuilder Item Properties window and it’s numerous options.  We will create the skeleton of the IB so we have something to work with.  Maybe a side post on templates.
3. Then we get into the items in our IB.  There will be about twenty all together and should provide examples of everything I have seen over the more than a decade that I have been doing this.
4. The first items will display single items; headshot, image view of a transcript, a document, non-synced video and finally, a talking head.
5. The second set will be two things at once.  Headshot and transcript, transcript and document, two documents, a document and tear-out, non-synced video and image, talking head and document and finally, a talking head and scrolling text.
6. The third set is a quick run through of the default talking head, scrolling text and designation.  We will also create a non-standard version and use the Modify all CourtViewer Layout options for rapid IB item set-up.
7. The fourth set will introduce the Run Next Item options.  We will create a cascading affect of multiple pages of a document as well as simple tear-out replacement.
8. The fifth set will combine the various processes from earlier to create a fairly complex scripted audio/video item with scrolling text, document, and tear-outs with replacements.
9. The sixth set will address some more esoteric ideas; moves, global item additions, link to video frame and clip editing.
10. The seventh set will continue with additional IssueBuilder processes; the various printing options, importing and exporting, run time, and confirming items.

I will try to post one item per day to keep this moving along.

I will also try to post videos as we go along; and obviously when we are done, I will post the complete playback.

The complete IssueBuilder, as exported from the sample case will be available as soon as I reach that point.

Please post any questions here as comments; remember, if you have a question so does someone else.  I will try to answer them as quickly as possible.

Thanks and let’s get started.

chuck

      

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How to get the data – or what do I need to follow along?

You will need a registered copy of Visionary 8.  There is a free version available on our web site, www.visionarylegal.com.  You must create an account (with a valid email address) to get the download link and registration code.  You will also want the video that we will be using.  That can be downloaded from this link: VLT sample case video files.  (This executable file is nearly 500MB in size, so a high speed connection will help.)  All the other data in the VLT sample case is included in the basic installation.

1  From my copy of Douglas Adams’ The Ultimate Hitchhiker’s Guide.