I have just released the latest version, Smoothboard 1.5 on
http://www.smoothboard.net

Smoothboard 1.5 is available in English and Chinese.

The highlights for the new release are summarized below:

Floating Toolbar
The latest version has a new Floating Toolbar to allow users to quickly access toggles that was previously limited to the Outside Screen Toggles. Now, users will be able to visibly determine which area will trigger a specific command such as Felt Tip Pen, Arrow Mode, Highlighter, Start/End Slideshow, Previous Slide, and Next Slide in PowerPoint slideshows.



These commands can be triggered by pressing directly on the Floating Toolbar or outside the screen area. You will be able to impress your audience with a smooth and effective presentation.

The Floating Toolbar can be minimized or expanded and also can be dragged to any position on your screen.

The Floating Toolbar can be easily customized to suit your needs, whether you are creating shortcuts for Google Earth, Windows Media Player or any other application. The buttons can be assigned to key strokes, mouse right click toggle or even for launching files and applications. Optionally, you can also add your personalized description and favorite icon to each button.

By default, there are 3 sets of functions configured for toolbar; Annotation, PowerPoint and Navigation. To switch between these sets, just click on the left or right button at the center of the Floating Toolbar. You can also click on the drop down menu to jump directly to a specific setting which will be useful if you have a long list of settings.


Annotation Feature
I have also included the new Annotation feature which is accessible through the Floating Toolbar. Without any additional software, you are now able to write directly on top of any window using the built-in colored Pens available in Red, Blue, Black and White. For a white blank screen, just select White Screen and you will have the whole screen for drawing and writing.


At any time, you can quickly save the whole screen to keep the screenshot for future reference or to be distributed to your audience. This can be easily done by selecting the Snapshot button. The whole screen will be compressed and saved into Smoothboard’s Snapshots folder with the appropriate time stamp.

If you would like to control the desktop while the screen annotations are still shown, you can click on the Cursor button. To exit and remove annotations, just click on Exit Annotation.


The software can be downloaded from http://www.smoothboard.net


Regards,
Boon Jin

Excellent additions, great job!    is working well on my vista 64 machine

Is there anyway to change where the .jpg screenshot files windup?


Next up, video capture

little bit of a problem

using the floating toolbar in powerpoint mode.

1. In a powerpoint slideshow
2. Floating toolbar is set to powerpoint

3. Right Click button changes to the Red Pen
4. Double Click Button changes to White Pen
5. Have to go to Annotation to change the pen back to a cursor

Nice UI design on the floating toolbar btw


If you want me to post a screen cast of the behavior let me know

Hi mystre,

Thank you for all your comments and the video.

Sorry for the late reply. I think I overlooked this thread.

It seems to me that maybe the settings file may be corrupted.
I have tested and the problem will not occur if you close the software and delete the WiimoteSmoothboard.ini file in the Smoothboard directory.

I will try to find out the actual cause and make a new release soon.

Thank you for the feedback.

Regards,
Boon Jin

Hi Boon Jin,

nice work!

After saving a snapshot and opening it in irfanview i got a warning:
snapshot is a .PNG file with a .JPG extension.

Maybe you can fix that, probably save it as a JPG (it's probably smaller too)

Calvin

I have released a new Smoothboard version at my website: http://www.smoothboard.net

I have greatly improved the performance on the software especially for the floating toolbar and annotation features. It should work well for slower computers and netbooks.

I have also fixed numerous issues related to the Wiimote connectivity.

The Snapshot's folder is now easily accessible through Smoothboard main window. File->Open Snapshots Folder.
Previously, the floating toolbar occasionally may be captured in the JPG Snapshot. I have rectified this issue by hiding the floating toolbar longer during the Snapshot process.

Thank you for all your feedback and suggestions.

Regards,
Boon Jin

Hi Dale,

Are you using an IR pen or clicking with a mouse?

Most probably the PowerPoint slideshow is not in focus.
How about the Previous Slide, and Next Slide (Up and down)? Does it work correctly?

Thank you for your feedback.

Regards,
Boon Jin

Hi,

Yeah, it is meant to work with an IR pen. I allow clicks from mouse for convenience and testing. However, it may not work as well compared to an IR pen because when you click with the mouse, the toolbar will get focus instead of the PowerPoint slideshow. Therefore, sometimes the keys may not be sent to PowerPoint.

However, if you are using an IR pen, the toolbar will not get focus and you can control your computer such as in PowerPoint presentations smoothly. It will also work faster because the software does not need to lose focus.

Regards,
Boon Jin