BEEDOCS Blog

Community Spotlight: Ted Kionka

2009-11-18T10:44:00.000-08:00

Yesterday, we posted our first video in a new series we are calling Community Spotlight. These will be short videos of interviews with folks about how they use timelines in their lives and careers. I am very excited to get more voices on our website. Maybe someday soon you will be in one of our videos too!

This first movie is Lawyer and Trial Consultant Ted Kionka explaining the importance of storytelling as a way to create empathy. Enjoy!

Export Performance Update

2009-10-22T13:00:00.000-07:00

Each week Elise and I meet to discuss our observations of customer support trends and feedback. Over the past few weeks we have noticed quite a few concerns about the performance of 3D movie exports. So that is what I have been focussing my development efforts on.

In a release last week, we improved the export performance a little. Later today we will release v2.9.3 which further improves the speed of 3D movie exports. Since I have been measuring the performance of different types of exports I put it together in a chart for you to see and comment on.

There are two charts. The first is a comparison of variety of export types on my MacPro (PDF). The second chart is the same exports measured on my MacBook (PDF).

I would like you to note three things in the chart...

The first thing to note is that setting Motion Blur to "best" slows down the export by about a factor of 10x. We built the Motion Blur feature at the request of two customers who were using the software in film and television broadcasting. We wouldn't normally build a professional feature for so narrow an audience but obviously we love the exposure that these types of customers can bring to the software. All that to say, you should probably leave Motion Blur off (the default) but if you insist upon using it then I would suggestion saving it until you are rendering a final draft of your timeline.

The second thing to note is that there was one particular combination of settings (the Keynote export at the default slide size with Motion Blur turned on) that really blew up the export time. It is literally off the chart. This combo also sometimes resulted in flickering images in the final movie. Observant customers sometimes noted very low usage of their CPU too.

This was my fault. I was sending the graphics card (GPU) images too big for it to handle at that particular export size. It is now fixed in v2.9.3. Thanks to those who had the patience to carefully describe their experience so that I could find and fix this.

Third thing to note is that the exports are getting faster over the past 3 releases. In particular, the exports without blur are very fast now. For example, the Apple TV setting which is a nice general purpose export takes 24 seconds for an 8 event timeline with photos on my MacPro.

I've been doing some more radical optimizations for the major 2010 release which will further optimize the export performance but I wanted to get all the less invasive improvements our to you as soon as possible. As always, we would like to know how things are working for you. Thanks!

MacUpdate Promo - Deal of the Day

2009-10-20T06:31:00.000-07:00

Bee Docs Timeline 3D is on sale (for today only) for the lowest price ever, offered from our friends at MacUpdate.

If you or someone you know would like a great deal on Bee Docs Timeline 3D, pick up a copy before time runs out!

New Feature: Basecamp Timelines

2009-09-08T10:32:00.000-07:00

This morning I released BEEEDOCS Timeline 3D version 2.9.

The new version adds support for Basecamp by 37signals. Basecamp is a popular web-based project management tool. Now you can chart your Basecamp messages, to-dos, and milestones in just a few clicks.

To see it in action check out the following video demonstration:

Please help us spread the word and let us know what you think of the new feature!

New Release of Bee Docs Timeline (v2.8)

2009-08-18T09:30:00.001-07:00

I just published a free upgrade for Bee Docs Timeline 3D. Use the "Check For Updates" in the Timeline 3D menu to upgrade or you can grab the latest from our download page.

We have had a serious bug in the software that began to show up recently. Because of the recent performance improvements we have implemented, people are creating ever larger and more complex timelines. When customers drag in hundreds of very large images (such as full-resolution images from a digital camera) it could cause a corrupted save and loss of timeline data.

This bug didn't affect the automatic importers or imports via the build-in photo browser. In fact, this bug seems to have only affected about 1 out of every 2,000 active customers but it was obviously a frustrating bug for those it affected.

This release solves that problem by scaling down all images that are added to events. I have completely restructured the document file format for the 2010 release next year which will further enhance the speed and stability of file saving but this change should eliminate the bug for now.

Scaling the images on import also improves 3D render times and reduces file sizes for everyone. You should notice no change in image quality unless you are printing wall size posters on a high resolution printer. If that is the case, you can turn this feature off in the Preferences before importing your event images.

There are a few other bug fixes in this release based on our most common support requests, so please upgrade when you get a chance. See the release notes for details. Thanks!

Elise Acting in Half Moon Bay, CA

2009-08-14T11:27:00.000-07:00

Today is Elise's last day at the Seattle office for a few months. Here is what she'll be doing:

Next week I am headed down to Half Moon Bay, California, to play the part of Laura Wingfield in Tennessee Williams’ Glass Menagerie at Coastal Repertory Theatre. I grew up in Half Moon Bay, and this will be a return to the stage where I first learned a thing or two about a thing or two before heading to the Big City to try my luck. Tennessee Williams is one of my very favorite playwrights, and Laura Wingfield is a role to be sought after. The play is fantastic, and I am very excited to have been asked to be a part of it. I am going to be working with some very talented artists who I have a lot of admiration for, and I am thrilled that my family won’t have to travel hundred of miles to see me perform.
Glass Menagerie runs from Sept. 18 - Oct. 10, Thurs-Sun. at Coastal Repertory Theatre in Half Moon Bay, California.

Elise will be still be providing Bee Docs Timeline e-mail support during this time and she'll keep us up to date via her twitter account.

I am excited that the company culture we are building and the technologies that we are using allow us the flexibility to pursue our life's passions whether or not they relate to BEEDOCS official business. I believe it makes us a more interesting, creative, and innovative company for our customers. Good luck Elise!

New Video Posted: Bee Docs 101

2009-08-13T15:17:00.000-07:00

We just posted a new video to our movies page. This one is called BEEDOCS 101: Intro to Bee Docs Timeline and was made in response to customers who have asked for a movie to help them get started with the software.

This video features a custom soundtrack by musian, composer, and Bee Docs Timeline customer Chris Schlarb. If you missed the interview we did with Chris a while back, be sure to check it out. We love to have our talented customers involved as much as possible, so thank you Chris!

We can't wait to hear your feedback, so check it out then please leave a comment or a tweet.

Ask Bee Docs: Event Limits

2009-07-27T11:23:00.000-07:00

Last week Neal left a comment on the blog asking about event limits for timelines. We thought this was a great question so we made an "Ask Bee Docs" video to answer it:

If you have a question you'd like to us to answer in a video, please send it to ask@beedocs.com

Ask Bee Docs - Artisan Software

2009-06-30T10:33:00.000-07:00

In this episode Adam shows off his bass guitar and answers the question: Why do you choose an artisan approach to software?

For more information on the bass shown in this video, check out the Rob Allen website.

What does “artisan” mean to you? Please let us know in the comments. Also, we need some more questions for future videos. Please send a question to us at ask@beedocs.com.

OmniFocus Importer for Bee Docs Timeline

2009-06-29T12:42:00.000-07:00

As many of you know, we recently added built-in support for Things and The Hit List in response to customer requests. Well, we heard loud and clear from the OmniFocus fans who wanted support for their task manager of choice too!

We just published version 2.7.1 of Bee Docs Timeline which can automatically create timelines based on your tasks stored in OmniFocus that have due dates. We are proud to offer automatic timeline charting that integrates with three of the world class task managers on Mac OS X.

Thank you very much to the folks at OmniGroup who helped us with the OmniFocus integration. They even updated some of their custom images for us so that we could offer you a pixel perfect experience!

Download Bee Docs Timeline 3D (v2.7.1)

Ask Bee Docs - Customer Service

2009-06-29T09:25:00.000-07:00

In this first episode of our “Ask Bee Docs” video series, Elise and I answer the following question: Can you describe a great customer service experience?

How about you? Do you a great customer service experience to share? If so, please tell us about it in the comments. Also, if you have a question you'd like us to respond to in a future video, please send it to ask@beedocs.com.

Natural Selection Shirt on Sale!

2009-06-22T09:43:00.000-07:00

Need a funky tee?

This week, we reduced the price of our exclusive “Natural Selection” t-shirt to $9.95 USD plus shipping. That is 60% off!

Designed by Engin Korkmaz of Instanbul Turkey and printed by PJ Portlock of Portland Oregon. These shirts represent a global collaboration of artists and are made from 100% organic cotton and eco-friendly water-based inks.

These shirts have always been rad, and this week they are cheap.

Get yours today!

Introducing: Ask Bee Docs

2009-06-18T16:29:00.000-07:00

We thought it would be fun to record a series of videos answering questions that you may have. Please check out this intro video explaining how it works and then ask away!

New Movie: Transparent Backgrounds

2009-05-20T15:30:00.000-07:00

In our latest movie, Elise Hunt presents an easy way to layer your timeline on top of multi-media backgrounds using the latest release of Bee Docs Timeline 3D and Apple's Keynote.

As always, we would love your feedback and we can not wait to see how you put the new feature into practice!

Click here to visit our movie page

Kennesaw State University Pre-Graduation Video

2009-05-18T14:13:00.000-07:00

Since we posted Dale Suffridge’s Kennesaw State University Video last week, we have received at lot of positive feedback and questions about how the video was put together.

I asked Dale if he could provide some technical details on how he made the video and he was kind enough to write the following article for you! Please enjoy this behind-the-scenes peek at an creative use of Bee Docs Timeline and be sure to thank Dale if you learn something from his article.

The Creation of the Kennesaw State University Pre-Graduation Video

by Dale Suffridge

Our department was approached about creating a video that would run on the HD projection screen over the stage for the hour leading up to each graduation for Kennesaw State University (KSU). We had been impressed with the new Timeline 3D software and thought that this would be a perfect large-scale use for it.

Showing an historic timeline of how KSU got to where it is today seemed a perfect and engaging fit for a diverse graduation crowd. However, we also needed to include current facts about each graduating college within the university. So I knew that I would use Timeline as the base and “break out” of the timeline to cover the current facts whenever we shared a relevant historical fact regarding that particular college in the Timeline.

The final look was achieved using a combination of Timeline, Photoshop and Final Cut Pro.

First I created and exported the Timeline using the Cherry Pie theme. I then screen-captured the red gradient background, bottom timeline bar and burgundy info box (all blank) for use within Photoshop and Final Cut Pro (FCP). Note: To get the burgundy info box to be large enough and blank, I created one that had a period at the top and then multiple line breaks and a period at the bottom. In Photoshop I used the clone stamp to take away the periods and the year and leave a blank info box.

In Photoshop, I created all the elements that I would need to recreate and manipulate the Timeline-look within FCP for the “break out” moments. These included:

All the burgundy “fact” boxes. I trimmed around the edges to keep the rounded-corner shape of the info box and I exported all info boxes as transparent PNGs for use within FCP.
And the timeline “pole” that would rise and fall from the bottom timeline bar connecting to the info boxes.

After I shot the HD footage of campus for the video portions, I brought it all together in FCP. Then it became a simple video editing project within FCP.

First I created a video opening and video segments for each individual college that would have it’s own “break out” portion. Then I recreated the Timeline look for the opening by using the elements created in Photoshop.

For the movement of the elements I utilized the “Motion Parameters” and keyframes within FCP. The fact boxes folding in and out upon themselves was achieved by key-framing the upper and lower right corners within the Distort section. And the pole ascending and descending was a basic "Center" motion path key-framing.

The transitions for breakouts of the various college were enhanced by creating a text layer of a keyword (or words) connecting the Timeline fact to the breakout college’s title bar. These text layers were then motion key-framed across the screen from the fact box into the title bar using a “Center” keyframe (and “Scale” was also key-framed if necessary to make the word fit). I added a “Scale” key-framing to the text layer to make the word(s) appear to move closer and then farther away as they travelled. And to achieve the glow as the text moved across the screen, I also incorporated the “Dazzle” filter that was key-framed to go from 0% mix to 100%, and then back to 0%.

If you notice during the breakout segments, the pole connects to the timeline at approximately the current time on the calendar. I would love to say that this was a forethought. But alas, it was a happy accident.

If you have any other questions, or if my convoluted explanation simply caused confusion, please feel free to contact me at dsuffrid at kennesaw.edu. Cheers.

Bee Docs on Twitter

2009-05-15T09:04:00.000-07:00

We have found that Twitter is a great tool to see what people are saying about Bee Docs Timeline and timeline charting in general. We have also been having fun leaving some tweets of our own.

Elise Hunt (@elisekarolina), our Community Development Lead, has been using her Twitter feed to feature outstanding projects that our customers have created using Bee Docs Timeline.

For example, Elise recently featured this beautiful graduation video from Dale Suffridge of Kennesaw State University.

My own Twitter feed can be found at @AdamBehringer. I sometimes tweet about what I am developing, sometimes random stuff... I am trying to limit the blog on our website to official announcements so the Twitter feed is a more casual way for me to keep in touch.

Please add us to your follow list if you are so inclined and be sure to send us examples of your best timeline projects so that we can feature your work too!

Bee Docs Timeline 2.6 - Released!

2009-04-30T14:36:00.000-07:00

Today I posted the 2.6 update to Bee Docs Timeline. This update contains a lot of “housekeeping” improvements that I wanted to get in there before turning my attention to the next major release. As usual, there are also some new fun features in the update.

I was happy to have Gary C Martin involved on this release to help me work a little more 3D magic. A few of our professional customers from film and broadcast television have requested a way to export video timelines with the background as an alpha channel (transparent). This would allow them to layer the 3D timeline movie on top of custom graphics using tools such as Final Cut Pro or Motion.

To do transparent backgrounds correctly was no easy task because wanted to make sure the feature supported motion blur, semi-transparent chart backgrounds, lighting effects, etc... However, we’ve done it in 2.6 and made subtle improvements to other aspects of the 3D rendering while we were at it.

We are working on a new demo video to show off some of the potential of this new feature. In the mean time, if you would like to try it, look for the “Include Alpha Channel” checkbox in the QuickTime export panel. Keynote does a good job of layering transparent movie files if you don’t have access to professional video editing software.

Our automatic importer for Things has been a popular feature since we added it last month. We also received feedback from other customers who are fans of another task manager called The Hit List by Potion Factory. So we have added an automatic importer for The Hit List is this release.

The Hit List was included in the recent MacHeist sale and has been getting rave reviews on Twitter so check it out. Whether you are using Things or The Hit List to manage your tasks, we hope you enjoy the integration with Bee Docs Timeline.

In the housekeeping category, saved document sizes up to about 40% smaller now if you are using lots of images. Also, PDF exports can be compressed which makes them more appropriate for sharing via the web or e-mail. There are some subtle improvements to the typography of date ranges. I’ve also modernized some of behind-the-scenes processes. For example, movie export is better at using disk space efficiently.

Version 2.6 is a free upgrade. So please use “Check for Updates” in the “Timeline 3D” menu or download Bee Docs Timeline today!

Chris Schlarb - Musician, Composer, Producer

2009-04-22T12:33:00.000-07:00

Musician, composer, and producer Chris Schlarb has been a Bee Docs Timeline customer since November 2008.

As some of you may have experienced, we are a fan of sending people pleasant surprises in the mail. Well, we like receiving them too! Chris send us a couple of his CDs after becoming a customer which was an awesome surprise.

Elise Hunt, Bee Docs’ Community Development Lead, just posted an e-mail interview with Chris. Check it out and be sure to check out the following video timeline as well:

Read the interview with Chris Schlarb

If you have an interesting story to tell about the way you are using timelines, please send Elise an e-mail. We would love to hear from you!

What's New in March '09

2009-03-31T17:00:00.000-07:00

There have been many small improvements to Bee Docs Timeline over the last few months. Besides the release notes, I thought it would be fun to get into the habit of putting a video together each month to highlight a few of the changes. Hopefully you will find it entertaining and informative!

Click here to visit our movie page

Bee Docs Timeline 2.5.1

2009-03-26T16:45:00.000-07:00

I released yet another update to Bee Docs Timeline earlier this week. We are working on a video to show some of the new features, but until then, here is the list of improvements...

Release Notes - 2.5.1

NEW: Select which monitor the 3D Mode uses for display in Preference pane
IMPROVED: Up to 10x performance increase for automatic layout
IMPROVED: "Things" importer has option for excluding completed To Do items
IMPROVED: Tall timelines (stacked events, many rows) are more efficient in width
IMPROVED: Shift-arrow and control-arrow combinations now work as expected
FIXED: "Things" importer works with databases stored in non-standard locations
FIXED: Sometimes arrow keys didn't traverse in the proper order
FIXED: Height of complex timelines were sometimes too tall
FIXED: Subversion (SVN) compatibility for timeline documents improved
FIXED: Change default export from Pixlet to Photo-JPG for wider compatibility
FIXED: Exporting 3D timelines that use image backgrounds would sometimes show a white flickering line on the back edge of the chart

Bee Docs Timeline 2.5 - Released!

2009-03-05T14:17:00.000-08:00

I just published the 2.5 version of Bee Docs Timeline. This is one of our biggest releases since the launch of the 3D Edition almost a year ago. We (yes, we!) will be working on some more detailed blog posts and some videos to demonstrate the new features, but I wanted to give you an overview as soon as possible.

First, we have made bulk edit more stable. Bulk edit mode has not been as stable as the chart view modes and certain combinations of actions, usually involving undo, would sometimes freeze the application. I put an emphasis in this release on tracking down and fixing these bugs.

Second, I have improved the quality of video exports. I won't get into the technical details here, but the bottom line is that your video exports should look better (and render faster). I have also added professional quality motion blur for video exports. Motion blur is a advanced topic, but it basically makes the motion of your timeline look smoother and more realistic. Please note that turning on motion blur will significantly increase your video export wait times.

Third, this version allows you to export video segments to Keynote! Not only that, but you can choose to pause only on selected events which will allow you to highlight the parts of your timeline that you choose. See an example Keynote export here.

Finally, I added an automatic importer for Things by Cultured Code. Things is a new application winning rave reviews that allows you to create To Do lists. If you have To Do items with due dates, you can now import them into a timeline with just a couple of clicks.

Version 2.5 is a free upgrade. So please use "Check for Updates" in the "Timeline 3D" menu to update today!

Release Notes - 2.5

NEW: Export full motion 3D QuickTime to Keynote slides
NEW: Option to skip to selected events for 3D exports
NEW: Professional quality motion blur for 3D video exports
NEW: Automatically import To Do items from Things by Cultured Code
IMPROVED: Video export is more efficient (faster)
IMPROVED: Quality improved for video export presets
IMPROVED: When entering 3D mode, current selection is respected
FIXED: Removing an event in bulk edit while editing text caused freeze
FIXED: Undo was not working properly for deleted events in bulk edit
FIXED: Undo was not working properly for newly added events in bulk edit
FIXED: QuickTime chapters are no longer added to HD exports for compatibility with iMovie

3D Transition Speeds - Video

2009-02-04T13:41:00.000-08:00

I just posted a new video to our movies page that demonstrates the brand new 3D motion settings in v2.4 of Bee Docs Timeline 3D.

If you are interested in customizing the speed of your timeline transitions, be sure to check it out.

Bee Docs is Hiring!

2009-02-03T14:06:00.000-08:00

I am pleased to announce that we are preparing to hire Bee Docs’ first full time employee. Please read the following job description and take a moment to think of the most talented person that you know who would be a good fit for the job. I would appreciate your help identifying great candidates!

Mission for Customer Care and Community Development Lead

To receive, connect, and educate the Bee Docs customer community by providing personal contact with current and potential customers in a way that makes them feel valued and appreciated. Expand the reach and reputation of Bee Docs’ brand and products by leveraging the relationships and opportunities found in a passionate and connected community.

About Bee Docs:

Bee Docs nourishes individual human expression through the crafting of organically inspired software, fashion, and ideas. Bee Docs is located in Seattle Washington.

People who are interested in serving the Bee Docs community in this role should contact Mike Wisler via the e-mail address: mike at beedocs.com

Thanks!

Release v2.3

2009-01-22T16:41:00.001-08:00

I just posted the v2.3 update to Bee Docs Timeline (both the Standard and 3D Editions). You can use the “Check for Updates” feature in the software to install it or download Bee Docs Timeline if you haven’t yet.

This release contains some important bug fixes for our international customers. Notably PDF export is now working properly in the German localization and “BC” dates are working properly in all of the international formats.

Also, the minus sign can now be used to indicate a BC date when eras are being used in any global date format. For example, a French customer may prefer to type “-50” instead of “50 av. J.-C.” (or 50 B.C.E.)

For the 3D Edition, this release adds a new feature to Export menu. You can now export still image sequences in a variety of formats. These are similar to the event images used in the Keynote export, but now you can save them directly to disk. One image will be created for each event with a 3D perspective.

Image sequences will be helpful for people who want bitmap images of their events to use with Powerpoint, Photoshop, etc... You could also save out a high resolution image sequence and order some of the images as prints from iPhoto or your favorite photo processor.

Last, but not least, I have improved the line quality for 3D exports. Carefully compare the following two examples to see the difference. This change affects all of the smaller video and 3D image exports (iPod, iPhone, HD 480p, etc...)

Detail of export from Bee Docs Timeline 3D v2.2.2:

Detail of export from Bee Docs Timeline 3D v2.3 (note better line quality):

Macworld Wrap-up

2009-01-13T14:22:00.000-08:00

Well, I completed my first Macworld Expo. It took about 3 months of full time work plus the help of many others to get ready.

Special thanks to Ben and Stephanie from Turnstyle for help putting the booth together. PJ from Prolabro for printing a very challenging shirt design.

I learning a thing or two about how to sell my software from Lee and Amy who provided much more than backup at the booth. Thanks for taking time off your regular jobs to help out.

Blogs, podcasts, twitter, mailing lists and forums across the internet were abuzz with news of our sale. I just put out a press release and a few e-mails. Thank you to everyone who helped spread the word. People like you make it possible for people like me to make a career out of independent Mac software.

Thank you for everyone who stopped by the booth too. I enjoyed getting to meet all you.

Once I get caught up on my e-mail, I look forward to starting the next chapter for Bee Docs Timeline. That is what this moment feels like to me. 2008 was an amazing year for Bee Docs. I hope I can surprise and delight you in 2009. Stay tuned!