Page 487 - ProShow Producer Manual

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18. Modifiers

Working with Modifiers

Modifiers are one of the most advanced features found in ProShow. They
are not for the faint of heart. Modifiers are intended to provide advanced
users with advanced functionality and control that goes beyond what can
be configured in the normal ProShow interface. Because of this, they come
with a certain amount of complexity that can’t be removed without limiting
their capabilities. Simply put, modifiers are just a complex concept, and are
not intended for all users.

It’s important to remember that while modifiers are incredibly powerful
tools to enhance your shows, they have pretty limited uses. For the most
part, you will use modifiers to create effects that would be incredibly
tedious to do with keyframes or other features. They won’t completely
change how you create shows, or make your show creation an automated
process. They are intended only to act as a compliment to the rest of the
tools you have available.

What is a Modifier?

A modifier applies a change to a setting. It takes whatever values you’ve
entered for your layer's Effects in Slide Options and makes more refined
changes. Changes can be based on some set value, based on another layer
or caption, or derived from some algorithm. Modifiers are a way to have
ProShow automatically adjust the normal settings for your slide based on
some value. Want something to pulse? Modify its brightness based on a
wave. Want a layer to follow another? Modify its position based on another
layer’s position. A modifier is just some value that gets added to a setting.

In their simplest form, modifiers change, or “modify” a value you have set in
Producer. You can also think of a modifier in terms of what it does. It’s a
combination of values that will change what they are attached to,
automatically.