Uhrmacher Help →




Brief description

Uhrmacher creates a series of images that are showing every minute of a day.
Transferring these images to a digital photo frame and setting the slideshow to change every 60 seconds will give the impression of a real clock.

The look of the clock is defined by an HTML file. This file is loaded by Uhrmacher with the time as parameters (hour, minute), is displayed and its screenshot is saved as an image.

Predefined HTML files for various kinds of clocks can be downloaded from the Uhrmacher Homepage. Easy-to-use HTML templates are available to help you to create your own designs.

Installation

Uhrmacher doesn´t need installation. Just unzip the downloaded file into any folder - this could also be a USB stick or network drive.
On your first start, Uhrmacher tries to create a file named Uhrmacher.ini in its directory to store the settings explained in the following. If this is not possible, i.e. because of a read-only settings or lacking user permissions, the application just silently skips this using default values and your settings made in this session will be lost on exit.

Settings

First you need to define some basic values before creating your clock images by selecting menu item "File → Settings":



>Input: clock file

Here you enter the full path of the clock´s HTML file. If this is a location on your computer (=local) you´d best click button "Browse" for its selection.
Alternatively you can also enter a web address (URL) pointing to the HTML file.

>Output: screenshots path

This sets the location for storing the generated clock images (the screenshots). Please make sure there is enough space on the target device (about 100MB per complete clock image series).

>Name prefix

Every image file name can be prepended by a self defined text, i.e. the name of the clock.
This makes sense in case you have to copy multiple images series into the same folder of your photo frame (because your device doesn´t support subfolders for slideshows).
When leaving this field empty the file names will simply be named by the timestamp they are showing (beginning at midnight) - that is, 00h00m.jpg, 00h01m.jpg, 00h02.jpg ...
The keyword %res% is automatically replaced by the resolution used at creation time. If you have selected 640x480 as the image size the file name will then read 640x480_00h00m.jpg and so on.

>JPG quality

Although an image may look fine on your computer´s screen at a JPG compression rate of 75%, this is often not good enough for (even older) digital photo frames - they may reveal big ugly artifacts. Therefore it is advised to use the highest quality (100%) even if this will increase the file size.

>Start time

Usually an image series creation is started at midnight (0:0) but for some purposes it might be necessary to set any other time up to 23:59 - i.e. to continue a paused processing.

>Minute step

If you don´t want a clock display split to the minute you can decrease the amount of generated images by letting Uhrmacher create images only for every x minutes. Let´s say the time shall advance only every five minutes, instead of 24 x 60 = 1440 images only 24 x (60/5) = 288 images will be created.

Please note: Your targeted photo frame device must support a change delay of five minutes (300 seconds), otherwise the displayed time would run too fast.

After clicking the "OK" button the new settings are in effect immediately.

Set the resolution

Use the menu "Resolution" to select the desired image size from three default sizes in both landscape and portrait orientation.

You should select the same resolution that is natively supported by your targeted photo frame. If you don´t know it, check the device´s manual (see technical specifications section) or do a quick search at the internet.

By using the very same image size the optimal display quality is guaranteed because the device doesn´t need to resize the image to fit the screen.

Please note: Not all HTML clock definitions support all resolutions! Some may only support a distinct size and orientation - this depends on the implementation of each specific clock.

Start / Stop

After you have made all necessay adjustments you can start generating the image series by pressing the key s. Pressing the same key a second time while the creation process is running will pause it. Pressing s again will continue.
But usually you will wait for the image series to be finished - at 23:59 the generation is stopped automatically.

You can then copy the complete image series from the selected output folder to your photo frame.

Status information

The title bar of the Uhrmacher window also serves as the status bar to save screen space. This is important even for smaller computer monitors like laptop screens.
Besides the current version of the application you are notified about various topics, i.e. if you need to set some options, which timestamp is currently processed, if the process is paused, ...



Legal information & contact


Uhrmacher is freeware!

This program may be used freely by both individuals and companies. Any redistribution is allowed solely in its complete form and only free of charge.

You will find the most current version of Uhrmacher by using menu item "Help → Check for updates" or by visiting the Uhrmacher Homepage at http://www.dirk-schwarzmann.de

To contact the author write an email to dirk@dirk-schwarzmann.de

You are welcome to send your own clock creation to be included in the download gallery.