LumenLux

The AGP version does better. PteShow H runs perfectly smooth. The PteShow runs with very minor jitters. Do monitor settings, such as screen refresh rate of 60 Hertz to 85 Hertz make any difference as to how PTE 5 may appear?

My mistake. The boot-up screen reads PENTIUM III CPU at 750MHz I have removed the PCI card and will now try the AGP version of the same card. Thank you for the continued help.

No hesitation at start of second loop, but tiny hesitations during rest of show just the same as in first loop.

Igor, here is report: PteShow H runs almost perfect. Has only few tiny "stutters" or "hesitations". PteShow not quite as smooth as H version. "Lightest" version of my own Spirits in the Sky show does not run so smoothly. It hesitates, catches up, not so smooth. TaskManager/Processes/CPU column: Image Name User Name CPU Taskmgr.exe Dad 01 System SYSTEM 03 System Idle Process SYSTEM 93 Anti-virus deactivated for PTE tests. Direct X 9xx is installed but SP2 would never successfully install. (I had mangled the whole system during multiple installation attempts when SP2 was issued. Even Conflow's cautions and instructions posted in forum could not get me through the muddle. I probably ended up re-installing XP without SP2.) Thanks guys for all ideas. Is anyone else with such slow processor having "total" success when graphic card is powerful enough? And any knowledge on the AGP card vs PCI version of same card?

I have one old PC that I am still trying to "empower" for using PTE 5 Beta. PC is P3 780MHZ 768 MB ram. Newly installed GeForce FX 5500 PCI graphics card. PTE Beta is still not smooth. Therefor the following questions: 1. The GeForce FX 5500 card is also available as a AGP card. To my surprize, this old PC does have an AGP slot. Would the AGP card produce better results than the currently installed PCI version? Both cards have 256 MB DDR. 2. When using this PC with Windows XP (SP1), the Windows Task Manager shows CPU usage bouncing between 19%- 34% - even when "nothing" is running! I thought PTE Beta results might be improved if I could close what ever is causing the high "use" of the cpu. I have run Enditall and it shows Windows Explorer as the only thing running. What is causing the CPU usage to stay so high, that is 19 -34%? Or is that an expected number because of the old slow 780 mhz processor?

For those that have trouble downloading from Ken's Yahoo Briefcase - The problems are not universal. I often do not have to "refresh" or "try again." Usually I am using Firefox. Ken, your clever exercise again points out (to me) how one idea (like yours) provokes many more ideas. Every time I view a demo, many ideas spring forth. It will be interesting to see how many ideas become tools and how many will live only as ideas or demos. I've been a little away from the Beta pursuit as I've had several opportunities to be photographing lately. The photography is still my main game if you will, but I admit to have been sometimes thinking of Ver5 potential on some of the photos as I formulate them in my viewfinder. I still have much to work out in my own mind as to how I am going to use this powerhouse. Meanwhile it sure is nice that there are people having fun and sharing the fun.

Andy, I too saw the narrow horizontal white band as Ken experienced. Do you know what that is? The show ran smooth on all effects in every direction. The sound sync was precise on the single viewing I made. I had to tie my pc up for a complete disk image backup so have not let your show run multiples yet. As we all get a little further along, I hope you might elaborate on the above quote. In contrast to you, prior to Ver 5, I have not been dreaming of what I want in presentation software. I am now looking forward to having some good discussions about how to utilize the power we are about to have. You know, the abuse of power, etc. Really, the creative minds will have eager audience as we develop the use of what Igor has produced.

It seems to me that only the most complicated animated gifs could not quite easily be constructed by PTE V5 O/A facility?

I think the only problem is we don't always see the "Add Reply" option as it is listed only at the end of all entries to the topic. The quote option for reply is available at the end of each and every entry to the topic. I admit, I have forgotten this many times. The above comment is intended for Brian's comment only, not the virus software problem. We can all be greatfull if Igor can somehow solve that one.

Gary, I think you have sometimes expressed your appreciation for someone saying something more clearly than you thought you did. But I think your description above is a "very well said" version of thoughts I have had on Igor's ability to anticipate so many eventuallities.

"... has encountered a problem and needs to close." This the message I get when I try to run your Test Sync.exe I have re-downloaded with same result. I have tried to run on the same two PC's that do seem to handle Beta5 just fine. Does anyone else get this result on your show? The "drifting" of the sync that Al reports is what I "expected." My experience is that even with a Ver5 show that eventually runs ok on two different PC's, it will start differently as to when the sound starts relative to where the first slide/object starts. For example, a title rising from screen bottom to top, will be complete two seconds before the sound track is evident. On a different PC (or with a different size files), the sound may start while the text is just beginning to travel the screen.

Thank you Brian for the link and Igor for the info. I understand that Igor is focused on making sure Version 5 will work with Vista. Just to clarify - Is it correct that Vista will not "enable" any features or advantages of PTE Version 5 that will not be available in Windows XP?

Thank you. I like the concept - especially the under layer movement below the route arrows.

Ken, a question regarding your use of Gaussian blur with PTE5 Beta - Is your method currently to use two photos, one at "sharp" and one at "full blur" and then use PTE "fade" transition and O/A opacity to evolve as desired? And if no gradual "evolvement" is wanted, what benefits do you like using the O/A window vs. your past (PS) method? And by the way, your cat examples don't seem to lack anything! Very good.

Family photo time again. Airplanes delayed, two people missing from last evening's group photos. Has anyone tried using PTE Version 5 to insert a missing person into a photo? I'm thinking it could be done with Beta5, but I have not experimented yet. With all the exciting explorations going on, who has tried anything in this direction"? Lin, Ken, .png experts and fans ?

Seems that Igor with Ver5 has a product that may turn much of the animation world on it's ear! I really would not be surprised to see some expensive professional applications replaced in some circles. ( I know nothing really, just I am so impressed with the expandability of the Ver5 functions.) Now, seeing your suggestions, which I like, starting with Gaussian, and some thoughts of my own, - even Adobe may be scratching their head. It does seem there may ultimately prove to be several Photoshop functions that may be done as well and possibly easier right within PTE. Once Igor perfects all current features, he may indeed need something to keep his bright mind and team busy.

You're right Ken. To protect you, I will make a much higher bid to scare off other bidders. Then after auction close I will default, leaving you as the winner.

Not a bug, Igor's intent for this Beta stage. When working on a slide's O/A screen (objects & animation), is there a way to "cancel" latest changes to that screen? Often I have a lot of o/a work doing fine on the slide but decide I want to add something or change something. In the process the o/a screen ends up with all kinds of things I don't like. How do I get rid of the "mistakes" and revert to the slide as previously used? This seems like such a big and common problem, there must be a simple answer I am missing at the moment? If I am not missing something, then I hope Igor it might be possible to implement a "cancel" or "revert" button?

Regarding use of the "rectangle" on the object screen. I admit to some confusion with this and the copying of keypoints and their actions. Say on slide #1, in the O/A screen, on the timeline, I have 18 key points in the last half of the slide's duration. Is there a way to copy the 18 keypoints onto Slide #2? In this case, slide#2 would be the same photo as slide #1, but I want slide #2 to not have the first half actions of slide #1, but have only the 18 keypoints duplicated from Slide #1.

Igor, I would say Lin's idea would be much appreciated by many if it is possible.

This becomes a little difficult to know if we are all understanding the same thing. Al's logic I think is agreeable. I think maybe Igor, the most clear way to have it is : Have the button do only one thing. Do not have the button open a window. Just have the buttn evenly space the keypoints that are on the timeline at the moment the button is pushed. Then the timeline and project settings and all are not confused nor is the priority of user actions. Does that make sense to everyone? I think the "spacing button", while potentially useful, should not be a major event in the heirarchy on each slide.

Igor, I think a button would be better, and "safer". It is nice now to be able to highlight and drag a single keypoint. That capability should be left as is. A button, "Equalize keypoint distribution" (or similar) could then also be sometimes useful.

I have not noticed what you experienced. As I have tried things, the music plays the same from the timeline, the Preview button, and plays also (from the music start) by pushing the "bread slice" icon in the slide window. Maybe we are both unaware of a setting or you have found a bug in certain circumstances.

Yes Ken, that is the card. It does have 256 meg memory, and requires slot of at least AGP 2.0. The pins on the card are different configuration than the 8 mb card that was in my pc, but it fits and works. Two employees at CompUSA confirmed it can be returned within 21 days even if has been in my PC. The subject PC is running XP SP2 with 384 mb ram. The card box states compataibility with Windows 98, W2K, ME, with 128 mb ram. I'm not sure I need it but it seems to do the job if I decide that machine needs the PTE power. I have another 750mhz pc that I still use a lot but it has only PCI slot, so this card would not do there. But I noticed cards for about half the price (on same shelf) for PCI with 128 & I think 256 mb.

Today I bought (with assurance I can return it if necessary) a GeForce 6600OC. I expect the specs are very similar to your 6600GT. I have a "business" pc here that has Athlon 1.2 ghz processor and a graphics card with only 8 mb of memory! When I tried to play my own "Spirits in the Sky" on this machine, the picture would never appear. Tonight I installed the new 6600 OC and the show runs smooooooth. Perfect. Two things you might consider on your setup (if you have not allready returned the 6600. 1. The quick install instructions emphasized to remove the drivers of the old card before installing the new card. So before physically removing the old card, I un-installed the drivers of the old card. This left my monitor showing some very basic (400x800?) windows screen. I then turned off the power, removed the old card. I inserted the new card into the AGP slot, attached pc powersupply cable to the card (for the fan on the card?). I booted up the PC, cancelled the Windows XP offer to install the new hardware, and then inserted the Ge6600 CD and installed the drivers. I then started with my show's easiest (smallest) version and played up to the original 109 mb version. All were perfectly smooth. 2. My GeForce 6600 has a tray icon for Nvidea Settings. This opens to offer choices to set the card image for emphasizing between "Quality" and "Performance". I found even the highest "quality" setting still handled my most demanding show version with silky perfection. Also, the viewable quality of the photos themselves is definitely better than with my previous "spreadsheet/word processor" card. But I had allways thought the photo quality was just fine. Just for comparison and curiosity, the card I bought today was from CompUSA's ad, price $120 after rebate of $30. The shelf price was $180. How does this compare with prices in your region?