FilmLoop

Introducing the BIG new way to view and share Loops

We've just made it easier than ever to view and share your Loops!  As of today, anyone can see your full-screen Loop images without downloading the FilmLoop Player.

 

One click to a Loop slideshow from any Loop posted on a web site:

1. Simply click on any Loop that's posted on any MySpace site, blog, or web site.  You'll instantly see a full screen Loop slideshow in your Web browser.  It's that easy!

For example, click on this Loop:

One click to share your Loop photos with anyone via email:

1. Use FilmLoop to create a new Loop. Or, display an existing Loop in FilmLoop.

2. Right-click on the Loop and choose Share and choose an email share method.

3. When someone receives your email, they'll get a link to your Loop. When they click on the link, they'll see your Loop slideshow. It's really one-click photosharing!

If they want to collaborate on your Loop, they'll need to open it in FilmLoop by clicking on the "subscribe" button on the slideshow. Once they open in FilmLoop, they can comment, add photos, and display photos as a screensaver. Or make their own Loop slideshow!

One click to copy a link to your Loop slideshow

1. Use FilmLoop to create a new Loop. Or, display an existing Loop in FilmLoop.

2. Right-click on the Loop and choose Copy Shortcut/Loop URL.

3. Paste the URL into your browser to watch the show.  Or, share the URL with anyone via email or IM.

FAQs about the new Loop Slideshow

Can my friends and family still view my Loop using FilmLoop instead of the Loop slideshow?
Yes, viewers can still choose to view your Loop using the FilmLoop player.  By using FilmLoop to view your Loop, your Loop "subscribers" will receive desktop notifications whenever you add new photos to the Loop.  Subscribers can also make comments on your photos, use your Loop as a screensaver, and collaborate on your Loop by adding photos themselves.

How can I change the photos that appear in my Loop slideshow?
It's easy.  Just update the Loop using FilmLoop and your changes will be reflected automatically in your slideshow.

Can the people I share with change the photos in my Loop slideshow?
Only if you want them to.  First, they'll need to open the Loop slideshow in FilmLoop by clicking on the "subscribe" link in the upper right corner. If they don't have FilmLoop, they'll automatically be prompted to download. Once they do, they can add photos and comments (if you turn that option on) and run your Loop as their screen saver.  If you have chosen to not allow changes to your Loop, then they won't be able to make changes, however.  (To change the Loop permissions, right-click the Loop and choose Loop Options and Members.)

How many photos are in the Loop slideshow?
As many as are in your Loop.  You can have up to 200 photos in a Loop, and so you can have up to 200 photos in your Loop slideshow.

Can anyone see my Loop now?  Are my Loops still private?
Your Loops remain private unless you choose to share them with others.  If your Loop contains photos you don't want others to see, we recommend that you do not share the Loop or that you only share it with people you trust.

Flash Loops - Post to your Blog and Myspace

You can make an ultra-customizable Flash format Loop and post it to your Blog and to your Myspace pages. Loops make a fun, scrolling photo “ticker” for your blog.

Here are a couple examples. Click on the moving Loops on these blogs to see the slideshow.

·       Skeezix the Cat – Hilarious cat wearing costumes

·       Naturally Connected – Beautiful Costa Rican butterflies

Check out the list in the left column of this blog too.

To post your Loop in Flash format:

1. Make a Loop in FilmLoop (click here to see how)
2. Right-click your Loop
3. Choose Post Loop on Web or Blogs...
4. Select the site where you want to post your Loop -- that's the host destination
5. Choose a Loop link style -- Flash format is the new format 
6. Choose a Loop height, width, and speed
7. Copy the code beneath the loop. (Right-click Copy on Windows, or keyboard equivalent for Copy on the Macintosh.)

Now you have all the code you need on the Clipboard to post a cool loop onto your blog or web site.

Here's the web blog link dialog box:

   

Your Blog and Myspace Loops update automatically
Whenever you add photos to your Loop, your blog and Myspace Loop updates automatically. Also, anyone who has opened your Loop on their desktop in FilmLoop will get your new photos automatically too.

Flash Loops are available for Macintosh and Windows. You can set the size of your Loop (from 10 to 550 pixels high). You can set the width (up to 2000 pixels wide). We think 144 pixels high looks good ... images will look perfect ... but you're in charge.  You can also set the speed. A speed of 1 or 2 is good. (You can go up to 100, but that will make you dizzy.)

Special eBay "Gallery Loops"
You can now also post "Gallery Loops" of your eBay listings right on your web site or blogs. Read more about this.

Here's a Flash Loop. Click on it to see the Loop slideshow, then click "subscribe to this Loop" in the upper right corner to open the Loop in FilmLoop.  You'll always have a link to the latest cool videos on YouTube.

Where can I post these Flash Loops?
Anywhere that accepts Flash.  You can also use Javascript, or just a plain link if you prefer.

Questions or comments? Please go to our forum. Thanks!

Release of Windows client v1.1.4

How to Upgrade

You'll get the Player upgrade notice automatically. To ensure the upgrade happens, right-click on the FilmLoop icon in the system tray in the bottom right corner of your Windows desktop, and choose Exit. Launch FilmLoop again. Click "Yes" when asked if you want to auto-update.

What's New

New upgrade notification.  We are working fast and furious on some seriously great features. We don't want you to miss out. So in addition to some of the more usual types of bug fixes and all kinds of stability improvements, this maintenance release will let you know when there's a new version of FilmLoop available for free download.  (In previous versions, FilmLoop would only alert you when you quit and restarted the app -- but many people never quit the app! So this lets you know while you're running the app.)

Release of Windows client v1.1.3

How to Upgrade
You'll get the Player upgrade notice automatically. To ensure the upgrade happens, quit FilmLoop by choosing Exit from the Options menu.  Also, right-click on the FilmLoop icon in the system tray in the bottom right corner of your Windows desktop, and choose Exit. Launch FilmLoop again. Click “Yes” when asked if you want to auto-update.

If for any reason you have difficulty, simply go to http://www.filmloop.com and click on download. You'll be prompted to overwrite the existing version.  That will work just as well as an auto-update, and you won't lose your Loops.

What's New

New Menu Tray -- we hope this does a better job of showing off some of the cool features of the FilmLoop Player. Here's a screenshot. You can open or close this menu tray.

New Rollover Frame -- again -- to encourage you to try out some of the more "hidden gems" of FilmLoop such as zoom, commenting, sharing, and other features.

New Click Action -- to set a chosen Loop as your screensaver. Just saves you some time!

Click from comment to zoom -- many people asked for this; you can now click directly on photo thumbnails in the comment dialog to go to that picture. Made sense to us to, so we did it.

Better help information in our user guide -- to, well, help. (We hope.)

Plus, more than a hundred other improvements and bug fixes. Phew! Enjoy.

As usual, comments or questions should go to our discussion board at http://www.filmloopbeta.com. Look forward to hearing from you!

New Windows Version: 1.1.2

You'll get the Player upgrade notice automatically. To ensure the upgrade happens, quit FilmLoop by right-clicking on the FilmLoop icon in the system tray in the bottom right corner of your Windows desktop, and choose Exit. Launch FilmLoop again. Click “Yes” when asked if you want to auto-update.  All your Loops will be saved.

What's New

• Improved "share" feature.  You can now share Loops through FilmLoop, or by using your Outlook or Eudora 7 client. 
• Improved "create Loop" feature with an easier way to create eBay, Flickr, and other Loops.
• You can also just copy a Loop URL from the share dialog -- we found we wanted this feature to be much more accessible. You can quickly copy the URL of a Loop and then paste it into an email or web page, or wherever you want to make a quick link to a Loop.
• You can also copy the URL of a Loop by right-clicking on the Loop and choosing Copy Shortcut/Loop URL.
• Improved message notification window -- you now have control over how long the message window stays open (for those of you that need more time to click to see who has joined your Loop!), and which Loop updates send you a message notification.
• Finally, lots of bugs fixes and improvements.

As usual, if you have comments or questions, please visit our forum. That's the best place to talk to us.

Release of Windows client v1.1

Great news! We're out of beta on Windows!

How to Upgrade
You'll get the Player upgrade notice automatically. To ensure the upgrade happens, quit FilmLoop by choosing Exit from the Options menu.  Also, right-click on the FilmLoop icon in the system tray in the bottom right corner of your Windows desktop, and choose Exit. Launch FilmLoop again. Click “Yes” when asked if you want to auto-update.

If for any reason you have difficulty, simply go to http://www.filmloop.com and click on download. You'll be prompted to overwrite the existing version.  That will work just as well as an auto-update, and you won't lose your Loops.

What's New

Overall, smaller, faster, better We think you'll see many customer friendly improvements. Better screen display, much faster loading of Loops, quicker downloading of images in the background -- plus of course lots of bug fixing! That's why we have removed the "beta" from this release. (We'll never say bug free. No software is. But this release is soooo much better!)
Improved Notifications This feature has been upgraded in response to user requests.  You can now filter notifications to show messages on the type of events that interest you (comments, new photos, new members etc.) You can also choose how often notifications pop up.  The notifications themselves now appear in a discrete "pop up toaster" style notifications window. Improved screen saver Users fell into two camps -- those who loved the black and white screen saver, and those who wanted color too! So now you can choose -- black and white or color. Plus you can select a single, favorite Loop that plays in the screen saver. New rollover help on frames Our user testing showed that some users didn't know you could "zoom" by clicking on an image. We hope that our rollover design will encourage you to take a look at the higher res pictures.  Particularly in our professional Loops, these images are just too good to miss! Forward/back with mouse wheel When you're displaying a FilmLoop Loop, use the mouse wheel to navigate through the Loop. You can also still use arrow keys, or the control panel in the FilmLoop Player. Lighter registration dialog It's still there, but there's just less of it. We never, ever make this info public. (See our privacy policy for details.)	Improved Notifications
	Improved Screensaver Options
	Improved Rollover Hints

New Feature: Flickr RSS Feeds in FilmLoop

Now you can make a Loop out of your Flickr(tm) photo album.  You've heard of RSS right? (duh!). Now you can read a Flickr RSS feed into a FilmLoop Loop. Your Loop will stay automatically updated with new photos from Flickr.  This is a wonderful way to stay up to date on the latest Flickr photos from your fave group. We love Flickr. We love watching Flickr in a FilmLoop even more!

How does it work?

1. So, on practically every Flickr album page you can see a link to "RSS2.0" in the footer. Click on that link.
2. Copy the URL to your Clipboard.
3. Go to the FilmLoop Network -- http://network.filmloop.com -- click on the RSS tab.
4. Choose New Flickr Feed from the RSS menu at the top of the Network page.
5. Paste the URL of your Flickr feed into the text field.
6. Click Preview. You'll see a preview of your Loop.
7. Click Open. Now the Loop will open in FilmLoop. Keep it running, and it'll update automatically with new photos.

Tip: click on the first title frame of the RSS Loop to return to the source of the Flickr feed.

Note: you'll need v1.0.7 or later of the Windows FilmLoop Player to use this feature. (0.85 or later for Macintosh)  The player will prompt you whenever a new version is available.

For more information, visit the FilmLoop.com site.

Release of Windows client v1.0.7

We're releasing a new version of the Windows client today -- v1.0.7.

How to Upgrade
You'll get this Player upgrade automatically. To ensure the upgrade happens, quit FilmLoop by choosing Exit from the Options menu. Also, right-click on the FilmLoop icon in the system tray in the bottom right corner of your Windows desktop, and choose Exit. Launch FilmLoop again. Click “Yes” when asked if you want to auto-update.

What's New

New Web/Blog Link
This feature is soooo cool! And it's absolutely the most requested improvement we've had. You can use this feature to post a Link to your Loop on any Web site or Blog. The link can be a mini moving Loop. When people click on the link, they’ll get the Loop (and the Player if they need it).

To create an animated button that automatically links to a Loop:

1. Right-click on the Loop you want to post on your site.
2. Choose Web/Blog/IM Link.
3. Select a destination and an available link style.
4. Copy your Loop Link code
5. Post on your site.

An animated web button will appear in place in the HTML page. The code will automatically allow visitors to subscribe to your Loop. You can create a web button or link from any publicly sharable Loop, including your own. You can see examples of animated JavaScript buttons or looplets* on this page, and on the FilmLoop site.

Animated buttons cannot be generated for Loops that include copyrighted materials, or where sharing has been turned off. However, you can generate Loop URL or HTML links for Loops with copyrighted materials and post them onto websites and blogs. To create a Loop URL or HTML link, right-click on a loop and select Web/Blog/IM Link.

Posting Looplets on MySpace, Blogger, eBay, etc.
Some these sites do not allow JavaScript to be posted by members. Where javascript is not allowed, use the selections for animated .GIF links to post Loops.

Here's an example of a Looplet:

Other miscellaneous stuff in this release
Naturally, we have lots of fixes all over the product. Some of the big ones include:

• Fix the error condition when you try to Zoom into a photo that doesn’t exist any longer
• Improved deliverability of email invites sent from the Player.
• Fixed a few crash situations. Of course. All the best software has them. But we're really serious about making this a crackingly good piece of software!

If you run into difficulties

We hope you don't. But if you do, or if you have questions, please visit our Forum.  Or, send us email on support@filmloop.com.