If you did a forum search for keywords related to your topic and found nothing relevant, read on.

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Subject format

The subject lines of your threads should be concise and should summarize what it is you're writing about so that others can find your thread easily in the future when searching for related topics. Think of what possible keywords you would use to find info on the subject you're discussing, and form your subject based on that.

Please always post the exact content of any error messages you got that are relevant to the topic. Screenshots are always helpful. Also add any information you think might be relevant, don't worry about providing too much info. When reporting a problem with a file, whether its a RAW file, a png, jpg, pp2, color profile, etc, always be sure to make that file available to us by uploading it to one of the file hosting services listed below.

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Creating screenshots

You can create screenshots either using the Print Screen button on your keyboard and then pasting the image into an image editor, such as M$ Paint, and saving it as a PNG image, or better just install a proper image editor, like the free open source Gimp (links for Windows and Mac at the bottom of the page). To create the screenshot in Gimp, click on File > Create > Screenshot.

Comparison of raster graphics editors

Regardless of what program you use, its best if you save your screenshots to the PNG format (use maximum compression), and never resize them (unless you really need to and know what you are doing), since we had problems in the past with people who made their screenshots so small and ugly we couldn't make anything out. If you want to use JPG, they will look nicer if you disable subsampling (1:1:1).

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Uploading files, images and code

If you need to upload files (e.g. archives such as ZIP, RAR, 7z, TAR.GZ, large image files such as RAW or TIFF, problematic files such as JPG, PNG, PANO, etc.) you have two options: either upload files privately only for Kolor, or make them public so the whole Autopano community can try to help.

If you want to upload files privately, for Kolor only, get an FTP client (comparison of FTP clients) and upload the archive to ftp://ftp.autopano.net/incoming/
Read this for more info: http://www.autopano.net/forum/t766-ftp-server

If you want to upload files publically, try these sites:
http://www.fileupl.com/
http://filebin.ca/
http://www.divshare.com/
http://www.getdropbox.com/

Explanation and comparison of file hosting websites

If you need to upload images (not exceeding 5000x4000 pixels and 1563 KB per image) then use the forum image upload functionality, but do NOT use it for uploading image files that are problematic in AP! The image might get changed in some way if you use the forum image uploader, and we need the original image as you have it, unmodified, so use the file hosting sites listed above.

If you need to paste code (e.g. error messages), it's easier to read if you use a monospace (fixed-width) font. To do so, use the [code ] [/code ] tags (without spaces), like this:

[code ]
Your code here.
 ______________________
/ You see me because I \
\ use monospace font.  /
 ----------------------
       \   ,__,
        \  (oo)____
           (__)    )\
              ||--|| *
[/code ]

Alternatively, you can paste code on one of these sites:
http://pastebin.com/
http://pastebin.ca/
http://paste2.org/

Comparison of pastebins

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Screencasts

A screencast is a recording of your desktop activity. This can be used to create tutorials, and to get others to help you better if you record whatever you're having a problem with. Sometimes when reporting a bug, you might be asked to record a screencast so that others can help you better.

Here is a list of free open source software for Windows for creating screencasts:
- CamStudio-2.5-b1
- Taksi

Linux users have several free screencast software options at their disposal:
- recordMyDesktop using one of the frontends - either QT-recordMyDesktop or GTK-recordMyDesktop
- xvidcap
- vnc2flv

Comparison of screencasting software
List of screencasting software

Once you create a screencast, use one of the file hosting sites to upload it and then paste the link to it to the appropriate thread in the forum.

Last edited by DrSlony (2009-10-24 23:13:14)