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Remembered Today:

The Battlefields Of The First World War


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John,

If you work out just how to do it please let us know. I have been trying to do that for a little while now without success.

Andy

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John and Andy,

I've been playing with Photoshop CS and its photomerge facility. Although I have not had a lot of time to play with the CD I have found that the images can be taken into Photoshop and merged. It is easier if there are recognisable features but I think the method shows promise.

Kevin

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Ordered. Don't tell my wife...

Bernard

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Worth every penny. I also like the Arras shot taken from the chimney; if only because it helps me see what my Great-granddad saw before he jumped out the trench and raced towards Tilloy-lez-Mofflaines during the Battle of Arras. Brings it home.

LIT

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Kevin,

Thanks for updating us, hopefully it will work. Let us know.

Andy

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Are the CD-'s obtainabble separately. I do have the dutch language version.

Gilbert Deraedt :angry:

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Have had my copy for a couple of days. The section on Loos/Lens is absolutely stunning - this was the 1st section I checked out as I was on the Leger trip a little while ago & I wanted to bring it to life while the memory was still fresh. The Hill 60 panoramas were also brilliant - this was one of the first places I ever visited on the Western Front. I personally can recommend the book to everyone on the Forum - it is better than expected - even better than the recommendations on this thread.

All The Best

Chris

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Dear all,

I have been experimenting with the picture files on my Mac. Under Virtual PC, they work as they should, if a bit slowly, in the program provided. In Mac mode, you can see all of the folders and jpgs which make up the panoramas. I tried Photoshop CS but the images I looked at have virtually no overlap so the merge function does not work. You can, however, stitch the images together in a drawing package like Adobe illustrator CS and it looks like you could reconstruct the pictures almost to original size. If you look at the folders, for example Chapter 5_sub01_pano01 on CDROM2 you see a list of files with numbers like 5.0.0jpg. All the files are there to create the magnification effects you see when you run the program under Windows. The different sizes have increasing prefixes 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5. To see the panorama of La Bassee Canal and Brickstack which is in this folder, create a new document in Illustrator. Set the page to landscape and the size to about 300mm wide and 2500mm long. Open file 5.0.0 and place it in the top left of your page. underneath it place 5.0.1, then 5.0.2 then 5.0.3. This is the first column of the panorama which continues for 27 columns, the next being 5.1.0, then 5.1.1, then 5.1.2 then 5.1.3. The images join each other at the edge with no overlap. The picture is built up like this, in 4 rows, the top row always made up of image sections numbered of the type 5.0.0, 5.1.0, 5.2.0 and so on. All of the images I've looked at so far seem to reconstruct the same way, not that I've looked at everything. The book only got here on Tuesday. The finished image looked fantastic and if you had a good enough printer and paper....

Apart from the fun I've been having with images, the book itself is excellent.

Regards

Kevin

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I am enjoying this book immensely. Not only is it highly useful in its own right, all the old battles can be fought through again with new insight. I have one minor quibble. The titling of the photographs is extremely confusing. There are some to which I have not found a title at all. Call me oldfashioned, but I like illustrations to be clearly captioned. That said, the book is worth every penny. The CDRoms are just great.

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  • 3 weeks later...
Are the CD-'s obtainabble separately. I do have the dutch language version.

Gilbert Deraedt :angry:

Only the English language editions contain the CD's I'm afraid. Not sure exactly why this is so I havent asked the publisher but I am certainly aware of this. It could be a licensing issue let alone thoughts on potential translation problems.

Regarding the panoramas themselves I did mention it would be good to purchase these in varying sizes as finished items but the IWM hold the rights to these and the publisher of this book was unable to take advantage of this.

Perhaps in time the IWM will begin to offer these super images for us to decorate our walls with, much better than wallpaper!

Cheers

Ryan

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I have one minor quibble. The titling of the photographs is extremely confusing. There are some to which I have not found a title at all. like illustrations to be ... ...That said, the book is worth every penny.

I agree with this statement as that was one of the things I noticed on my first scan-read of it. Also, there are some incorrect captions (not so much of the panoramas but more of some of the "items" shown eg. "trenchmaps").

Then again, no book is 100% perfect and it's a first rate buy anyway.

Dave.

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Does anyone know whether or not Ribecourt-la-tours in area attacked in November 1917 is included? If so, it'll be Amazon time... (HOW many birthday pressies have you bought yourself, young man?)

Adrian

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Only the English language editions contain the CD's I'm afraid. Not sure exactly why this is so I havent asked the publisher but I am certainly aware of this. It could be a licensing issue let alone thoughts on potential translation problems.

Regarding the panoramas themselves I did mention it would be good to purchase these in varying sizes as finished items but the IWM hold the rights to these and the publisher of this book was unable to take advantage of this.

Perhaps in time the IWM will begin to offer these super images for us to decorate our walls with, much better than wallpaper!

Cheers

Ryan

Just to let you know that the author is frustrated that the Dutch version does not contain the CD-ROM's. He would have liked them in there (as they add so much to the book) but the Belgian publishers (not Constable Robinson) decided that the book would be too expensive with them and that, because of this, it would not sell. I would recommend any Belgian or Dutch pals buy the English version (if their English is up to scratch) as this is the whole package.

Also, a quick note for Dave and others that have minor irritations regarding missing or incorrect captions - can you post them or PM me with them and I'll pass them on to the author who will ensure these are corrected for further print runs?

Many thanks

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  • 4 weeks later...

I am amazed at the amount of pictures other than panoramas I had not seen before such as the 51 Div man with the 80 + year old Frenchman with a rifle.

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Hope you all received many of these for Xmas! and to make it a really merry xmas & happy new year - watch out for more companion volumes from 2006 onwards covering The Somme, Passchendaele & Vimy/Arras... :)

Cheers

Ryan

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Have to confess I hadn't been thinking about buying this - until I went into Waterstone's in Winchester today with my Xmas book tokens. Now, £30-worth of book tokens, plus a £4-off voucher leaves a shortfall on £16.

Good job Mrs B was in a Chrismassy mood when i got home...magnificent. The book's good, too :D

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Hi All, :)

I am delighted with my copy. Really excellent stuff !!!!! :D

Cheers

Tim.

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Oi Salient!

U telling me there's MORE on the Somme?

Gimme a break, I usually settle for socks and jocks and the odd bottle of after-ming. Wait till at least May!!!! Pass it on to the punters wot are working this fing.

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Steven - appreciate that Amazon don't take book tokens but for other potential buyers, they stilll have the book at £35 with free delivery. WH Smith online also have it for £35 post free if you collect from a store but again no book tokens/vouchers acceptable at this price it would seem.I suppose a real bookshop somewhere may have it a similar price and accept book tokens as well.

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I`ve borrowed a copy of this book from the library. A sticker in the front says £50. Do libraries have to buy books at RRP or can they shop around? I know it`s only ratepayers`/taxpayers` money, but it could be bought for about two thirds that price! Phil B

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Steven - appreciate that Amazon don't take book tokens but for other potential buyers, they stilll have the book at £35 with free delivery. WH Smith online also have it for £35 post free if you collect from a store but again no book tokens/vouchers acceptable at this price it would seem.I suppose a real bookshop somewhere may have it a similar price and accept book tokens as well.

Ian - as I ad the £4 token (one of those little booklets you get from Waterstone's before Xmas and never use), I thought that a net price of £16 was good going.

Plus I didn't have to argue with Mrs B - I just bought it and took it on the chin like normal ;)

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Steven - yes, I agree with this book, you grab it , throw down a handful of cash and then run for the door to enjoy it all the quicker. As you say , it cost you £16 !

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Oi Salient!

U telling me there's MORE on the Somme?

Gimme a break, I usually settle for socks and jocks and the odd bottle of after-ming. Wait till at least May!!!! Pass it on to the punters wot are working this fing.

Ah fraid so - more to come :) - Should be out around July strangely enough.... I will have more detailed information early March to share with you

And for those querying libraries, well they will be purchasing the books not far off what Amazon are selling it at as they buy in from suppliers who "service" the books for them ie. do the jacketing, barcode, security tagging etc.

Cheers & happy new year folks

Ryan

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