# Flipbooks



## jeff (Feb 23, 2012)

I’d like to tell you about a fun new feature we’re going to try out. One of our newer members is [profile=Fireengines]Larry Lorrance (Fireengines)[/profile]. Larry is not a pen maker, but is a pen collector and enthusiast. As you might be able to guess from his username, he also has another interest, and runs a web site for people who collect models of fire apparatus.

At his site, Larry make “Flipbooks” for his members to display their work. These are files powered by Adobe Flash that can be used to display text, images, video, etc., in catalog form. Viewers can “flip” through the pages much like they would a magazine. Sort of like a PDF on steroids.

Anyone can make these things with the right software. Larry owns one of those software packages and for no other reason than he loves pens and helping people show them off, he has offered to make some Flipbooks for our members as well. 

I've offered to host these for our members on our library server, and to test the whole process of how this would look and work, I asked [profile=Wizard]Doc (Wizard)[/profile] if he’d work with Larry to create a demo. I asked Doc because he makes beautiful pens and takes wonderful photos and those are key ingredients. 

Here is what Larry produced for Doc. Have a look and see what you think. Larry is ready to take on a few more of these, and he has worked out a few guidelines to make things smooth for you and him. These may change as the activity progresses, but they should do for now.


This is open to IAP active members only.  Preference will be given to those members who actively participate in forum discussions and who do no already have a personal website to display their craft
One book per member
There is a limit of 40 pages, not including the front and back cover.  There must be an even number of pages between the covers (example 14, 16, 30 etc.) 
It is highly recommended that members submit their work using Microsoft Word or Publisher.  This way you have complete control over how your book will be displayed and it greatly decreases the time Larry needs to publish your work
If you can’t submit your work in the above format, Larry will work with you on the design of your book
If you have any questions about this, please email Larry direct at flipbookquestions@fireengines.net
Remember, this can be a time consuming process and Larry will work to complete your book as soon as possible and as time permits
Please PM Larry directly to get started or to just learn more.

Although Larry isn’t charging for his time, this does take time and you might consider sending him a pen if you appreciate what he does for you.


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## nsfr1206 (Feb 23, 2012)

This is really cool. Thanks to Larry! And Jeff!


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## MarkD (Feb 23, 2012)

That is really cool! Great concept and great pictures. That would great to have running on a iPad at shows.


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## nsfr1206 (Feb 23, 2012)

It makes Wizard look like a good turner. Oh wait he IS a GREAT penturner!


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## LouCee (Feb 23, 2012)

Very nice, I like it!


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## sjhuse (Feb 23, 2012)

That is cool!!!!


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## IPD_Mr (Feb 23, 2012)

Larry is a really nice guy with an eye for flair. (just take a look at his boots)  :biggrin:

This is an awesome addition that adds a lot of class to the site.  Jeff, Doc was a great choice for putting together the demo.  I am really happy to see this put in place.


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## boxerman (Feb 23, 2012)

That's really cool.


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## Dalecamino (Feb 23, 2012)

I LIKE this. Sometimes it's easy to forget how nice a guys pens are, until you see them all together :redface: Beautiful pens and book Doc! Thanks Jeff!


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## Xander (Feb 23, 2012)

Wow. Me likey. Great pens, great photography, great presentation.


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## Fireengines (Feb 24, 2012)

Thank your for the comments!  Doc did a great job on the pens and photography and was great to work with creating this book.

I wished it worked with the IPad but since Apple and Adobe can not get it together it won't happen.

Please PM me if you have any questions.

Larry


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## wizard (Feb 24, 2012)

*HELLO PEOPLE !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!*

*UHHHH..HMMMM....YO! ..MY PEEPS....I think you might want pay a little more attention to this thread. There is a very special member Larry Lorance (Fireengines) who is offering  to do something extremely cool for us by making awesome Flipbooks of our work. And he's doing it for free because he likes us. He already did mine and, despite my usually modesty. it is AWESOME.!!!! The link is in Jeff's post. Check it out please!  *Doc


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## seamus7227 (Feb 24, 2012)

super awesome!!


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## Andrew_K99 (Feb 24, 2012)

I agree that this is very cool Doc. But I personally don't see a use for it. No offence Larry.

Will I ever go to this section and browse the flip books? Doubtful. I'll browse SOYP's before doing that.

[strike]As it is for memebers you can't share it with family or friends.[/strike]

I do agree it would be great for shows (if you have internet access to be able to show it) as it would allow customers to browse your catalog.

Maybe just me but I don't see the need


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## seamus7227 (Feb 24, 2012)

I want it! I want it!!!! That would make my pens look even better! I really like the up close view it gives you and feeling of comfort as you are "flippin" thru the pages. Fantastic work Larry! You have my support on this

Andrew..... this isnt just for display on here(IAP) if i understand this correctly. It can be used on your website as well!


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## wizard (Feb 24, 2012)

Andrew_K99 said:


> I agree that this is very cool Doc. But I personally don't see a use for it. No offence Larry.
> 
> Will I ever go to this section and browse the flip books? Doubtful. I'll browse SOYP's before doing that.
> 
> ...



Andrew,
I think you can share it with family or friends...I don't think you have to be a member to view the flipbooks...I may be wrong..but I've tried the link on it's own and it works without a log in. Doc


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## lorbay (Feb 24, 2012)

That is great. Thanks Jeff and Larry.

Lin


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## maxman400 (Feb 24, 2012)

This is a great Idea, I have a notebook that my wife just bought for me and my son down loaded an app that is close to this. My intended purpose was to show off my work at the show I do every Saturday, my problem is that the notebook keeps going to sleep on me. But Doc's book looks fantastic.


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## Fireengines (Feb 24, 2012)

You don't have to be member to view it.  You can link it off your website, connect to Facebook, email the link to a friend.  It is Google friendly too and free.


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## Andrew_K99 (Feb 24, 2012)

wizard said:


> Andrew,
> I think you can share it with family or friends...I don't think you have to be a member to view the flipbooks...I may be wrong..but I've tried the link on it's own and it works without a log in. Doc


 You are correct, I misread Jeff's post.

AK


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## IPD_Mr (Feb 24, 2012)

Andrew_K99 said:


> Will I ever go to this section and browse the flip books? Doubtful. I'll browse SOYP's before doing that.


 
If I am looking for a specific pen that I know Doc did, it would be easier to do a quick look through his flipbook.  If I need an idea for a state pen I can look at Seamus' flipbook.  If I want a good laugh I can go through my own flipbook.  

To just browse maybe the SYOP or the members photo albums would be easier, but people are going to put their best work and photos in the flip book.  That alone will make the flipbook a better use for me.  Yes there are some who only show great work like Doc and Justin so any photo they show is fine.  But you could care less about some of my earliest work and I would just as soon not show it, so any of those photos that are areound are a waste of time and hard drive space.


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## renowb (Feb 24, 2012)

Dang, that is awesome! I really like that!


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## kruzzer (Feb 24, 2012)

wow... great idea not to meniton to quality .....


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## seamus7227 (Feb 24, 2012)

Mike you couldnt have said it better! I feel the same way about my early work and some work even to this day. What a great way to show off those prized pieces of work though! 

 And i like the idea of showing off my coin pens that way too! Saweeeeeeeet!


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## Andrew_K99 (Feb 24, 2012)

IPD_Mr said:


> Andrew_K99 said:
> 
> 
> > Will I ever go to this section and browse the flip books? Doubtful. I'll browse SOYP's before doing that.
> ...


 
First, this would assume you know who's to search for a certain type of pen. Also as they're (presumably) not searchable it would be much faster to search for a Texas Quater via the forum than a flipbook.

*Please note I do quite like them, they are indeed very cool!*


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## wizard (Feb 24, 2012)

Andrew_K99 said:


> IPD_Mr said:
> 
> 
> > Andrew_K99 said:
> ...



Andrew, I've seen a search feature and an index (Table of Contents) as well as ability to do bookmarks. Andrew...please keep an open mind and look at or ask about the features rather than just making statements like the above...please. Doc


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## Andrew_K99 (Feb 24, 2012)

Doc, I'm not trying to be the bad guy here, just giving my honest opinion.

As they are flash, all the information put into the file would have to be indexed somewhere to be searchable via the forum.  I'd imagie they are searchable if you have one open but it is highly unlikey that vBulletin will ever be able to search these indexes.

As I said, for use at shows (and showing family friends) I think they would be great.  As they pertain to the forum I don't see their use.

I'll go now, as I seeem to be only one.


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## Jim Burr (Feb 24, 2012)

I love this idea!!! Beautiful setup Larry, big high 5!!! DOc, as always...super pens! If I ever learn how to take a picture...I'm in! 
Larry, how easy/hard is it to change pictures or to update the "book"?


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## Fireengines (Feb 24, 2012)

It is very easy to remove and add a photo to the book. You send me the photo and I can add / remove / replace it. Remember, you must maintain a even number of pages. It you have an odd number, say 39 pages in your book, the last page will be blank.

It takes about as long as making a vent change or giving a breathing treatment.


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## Jim Burr (Feb 24, 2012)

Fireengines said:


> It is very easy to remove and add a photo to the book. You send me the photo and I can add / remove / replace it. Remember, you must maintain a even number of pages. It you have an odd number, say 39 pages in your book, the last page will be blank.
> 
> It takes about as long as making a vent change or giving a breathing treatment.



Ha!! I do a tx in 5 minutes with a Aero Eclipse...vent change on our GE's in 10 seconds:biggrin:. It's the charting that kills me! We finally have electronic charting and it's clumsier than a drunk elephant on Saturday morning:curse:! Guess I should get serious about pictures:redface:


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## PSU1980 (Feb 24, 2012)

This is a great idea and concept.  Thanks Larry and Jeff.  My pens aren't the same caliber as a lot of the turners on this forum, but I would still love to have a flipbook.

Tim


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## IPD_Mr (Feb 24, 2012)

I just noticed the print option and the way that it works.  That is really nice.


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## BRobbins629 (Feb 24, 2012)

When I looked, the zoom in feature worked, but I couldn't zoom back out.  Option was faded out when I got to that menu.


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## Brooks803 (Feb 24, 2012)

Congrats Larry! I see alot of work in your near future and many pens in your soon to be growing collection!


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## ctubbs (Feb 24, 2012)

Thank you Larry for your very generous donation of your talents and time.  I do fear you may have opened Pandora's favorite keepsake box, though.  What you are offering is just so cool and we have so many great turners, I fear you may have to go full time on the books and even hire a full time staff.  Jeff, thank you for making this offer available to the membership.  And not to be forgotten, Doc, your work is as usual, outstanding.  thank you for putting your work out here so the rest of us sluggers have this to know it is attainable.

Great idea and it will be very much appreciated by many here.  Thank you to all involved.
Charles


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## Pete275 (Feb 24, 2012)

Really cool idea Larry. Thanks for sharing this with IAP. I hope to someday have my own flipbook however I must first get my penturning skill level up a bit and learn to take the pictures. Doc as usual your work is absolutely stunning!

Wayne


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## seamus7227 (Feb 24, 2012)

keep the feedback coming in folks!!!! this is good stuff!:biggrin:


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## jeff (Feb 24, 2012)

Andrew_K99 said:


> Doc, I'm not trying to be the bad guy here, just giving my honest opinion.
> 
> As they are flash, all the information put into the file would have to be indexed somewhere to be searchable via the forum.  I'd imagie they are searchable if you have one open but it is highly unlikey that vBulletin will ever be able to search these indexes.
> 
> ...



Flipbooks do have metadata capabilities, so keywords etc. could be added. I don't know if search engines are indexing those fields as they do with PDFs. We'll add these to an index and put some keywords in the index posts to allow indexing.


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## Fireengines (Feb 24, 2012)

This software has:
Build-in *Google Analytics* integrate support 
*SEO friendly*, all texts from PDF documents can be indexed by search engines after conversion to Flash flip book 

In fact, Google has already picked it up.  Do a search for "Shreenath Doctor, M.D., Ph.D."


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## angboy (Feb 24, 2012)

That is super cool!!!


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## toddlajoie (Feb 24, 2012)

I've done a significant amount of work with another version of the page flip applications ( as well as making one from scratch a few years ago that taught me the lesson that some software is worth buying, even when it is in the $1500 range...) and while they are flash based, they are also much more complicated than your typical flash site. If you notice the address bar changes as you change pages, this allows you to link directly to a specific page in the book, and as Larry said, they have worked to incorporate Search Engines and analytics into them. The version I use has a separate section for putting keywords or an entire duplication of any text on the page that is made accessable to web's cataloging features, which allows you to control how much or how little your book shows up (i.e. you can delete all the SEO text and your book will not have anything for search engines to catalog, yet your book will display all your text..)

Larry, you are very generous in this offer, I'm not familiar with this brand of the page flip, but the one I use (3dIssue) is not something I would want to offer out for a service to people without asking for at lease a little compensation for time!!! Does this work off of a PDF file originally, or is there some other content management system for creating them?


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## maxman400 (Feb 24, 2012)

I just sent my Photos to Larry, He sent me a sample with a couple of photos I sent him and some he got from the site and I got to say the book looks great so far. 
Larry Thanks for taking your time to do this.
Max.


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## Fireengines (Feb 25, 2012)

I received an email from the vendor yesterday.  They will be releasing a version that will allow the books to display over IPad and IPhone next month.  We will see...


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## wizard (Feb 25, 2012)

toddlajoie said:


> I've done a significant amount of work with another version of the page flip applications ( as well as making one from scratch a few years ago that taught me the lesson that some software is worth buying, even when it is in the $1500 range...) and while they are flash based, they are also much more complicated than your typical flash site. If you notice the address bar changes as you change pages, this allows you to link directly to a specific page in the book, and as Larry said, they have worked to incorporate Search Engines and analytics into them. The version I use has a separate section for putting keywords or an entire duplication of any text on the page that is made accessable to web's cataloging features, which allows you to control how much or how little your book shows up (i.e. you can delete all the SEO text and your book will not have anything for search engines to catalog, yet your book will display all your text..)
> 
> *Larry, you are very generous in this offer, I'm not familiar with this brand of the page flip, but the one I use (3dIssue)** is not something I would want to offer out for a service to people without asking for at lease a little compensation for time!!!* Does this work off of a PDF file originally, or is there some other content management system for creating them?



Larry is a pen collector...if you like what he does for you that you might considering sending him one of the pens you created....LOL..in my case I sent him one that Seamus actually did most of the work. I know it would mean something special to him. Doc


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## alphageek (Feb 25, 2012)

Fireengines said:


> I received an email from the vendor yesterday.  They will be releasing a version that will allow the books to display over IPad and IPhone next month.  We will see...



THAT will be seriously cool.   If they do it right and you can "swipe" to switch pages on the iPad, that would be an incredible way to have a portable demo of your stuff.    I hope you can cache the book locally on a device.


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## Fireengines (Feb 25, 2012)

I just added another cool item to Shreenath's book. Go to Custom Pens by Shreenath Doctor, M.D., Ph.D. and take a close up view of his pen collection.

Larry


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## wizard (Feb 25, 2012)

Fireengines said:


> I just added another cool item to Shreenath's book. Go to Custom Pens by Shreenath Doctor, M.D., Ph.D. and take a close up view of his pen collection.
> 
> Larry



Larry,*
WOW !!!!!!* LOL, I'm really glad my wife wouldn't let me take a picture without dusting the shelves first..  That is an awesome feature! 
Doc


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## beck3906 (Feb 25, 2012)

Can this be used to create a show for a digital picture frame?


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## Fireengines (Feb 25, 2012)

No, it can not be used with a digital picture frame.


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## seamus7227 (Feb 26, 2012)

I'm really diggin' what Larry did for my tutorial "How to skin a snake"

I would like to encourage everyone to check this out! It is very professional!


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## Fireengines (Feb 26, 2012)

I am ready for additional books...


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## IPD_Mr (Feb 26, 2012)

Jeff - When will there be a link to view the different FlipBooks?  Right now the only one that I have been able to see is Doc's.


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## seamus7227 (Feb 26, 2012)

here is mine again in case you missed from the page back  

here

I just want to say that Larry had a sample done for me in no time flat! And I love it! That just motivates me to try and finish up my tutorials for snakeskin tanning and making the blanks, to making the pens! hmmm.......what should i call that? "Snakeskin pens: Start to Finish"™:biggrin:


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## maxman400 (Feb 27, 2012)

I want to give Larry a BIG THANKS for completing a Book for me also, most of my photos has been reduced down in size but Larry was still able to work with them.
Here's the link.
Custom Pens by Mike Maxfield


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## wizard (Feb 29, 2012)

maxman400 said:


> I want to give Larry a BIG THANKS for completing a Book for me also, most of my photos has been reduced down in size but Larry was still able to work with them.
> Here's the link.
> Custom Pens by Mike Maxfield



Max,

Just wanted to tell you that your Flipbook is truly awesome!! All the pictures are perfect!!

But I have to tell you...if you are ever in Houston... I wouldn't bring those pens.....I would seriously want TO STEAL the Cigar Rebar Rollerball and the Panache Spinner.:biggrin::biggrin::wink:. 
Regards, Doc


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## Fireengines (Mar 1, 2012)

Google has already picked up on his book.


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## jeff (Mar 1, 2012)

IPD_Mr said:


> Jeff - When will there be a link to view the different FlipBooks?  Right now the only one that I have been able to see is Doc's.



Now that the Bash is over, we can move on to projects like this.

I'm working with TomW on the best way to index these.


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## IPD_Mr (Mar 1, 2012)

Sounds great Jeff, I look forward to seeing these, I think you are doing a great thing offering the drive space to showcase the books.


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## Fireengines (Mar 2, 2012)

One feature of this software is the ability to place your book on a bootable CD. This would be a great tool to hand out at shows or give to customers.

Again, you can add the book to your social media page or email the link directly from your book menu.


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## maxman400 (Mar 2, 2012)

Fireengines said:


> One feature of this software is the ability to place your book on a bootable CD. This would be a great tool to hand out at shows or give to customers.
> 
> Again, you can add the book to your social media page or email the link directly from your book menu.


When I get time I will set down and figure out how to attach it to face book.


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## Fireengines (Mar 2, 2012)

It is pretty simple to share your book on Facebook.  Just click on the "Share" icon (in your book the word icon), log into Facebook, write something, and your done.  The link is placed on Facebook for you.


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