LumenLux

I'm not sure anyone has answered the most important part of Speedy2' question. If he just want's to start composing a new, first time, show, how does he make PTE work when he can't get PTE to move beyond the "expected" files?

I think Michel that this is the way that was requested and decided upon in earlier forum discussions with Igor. I think it was concluded to be the safest way to protect against overwriting by mistake.

Possibly from a PTE sequence by Ken Nickles. Are you still here Ken? Maybe you could email him and ask.

Ray, hopefully you can tell us what type of production you are doing that will be 90 minutes! Sincere interest here.

What helps me, when I need a reminder, is simply take any photo file that shows up as 72 dpi. Use any edit software to change to 400 dpi, and do a "save as" File 400dpi. The "resized" file saved at 400 dpi is same file size, (say 3 meg) as the original 72 dpi file.

Ken, remind me, can the NTSC, and PAL versions be put on the same DVD?

Patrick, I too want only to tell you what a fine sequence you have produced. It is very effective. Thank you.

Ken, you pack a lot of information! A credit to your organizational ability - I'm not sure if I got all of what you were sharing. But I got enough to make it interesting. A couple of comments in response - As to the 72 dpi, I think Walmart probably attempts to keep it simple by advising print sizes based solely on digital photo dimensions, ie 480x640, 1024x768 etc. (expressed by them as 3 megapixedl, 4 megapixel, etc.) Probably an attempt to keep it simple. I guess you were asking also about the masses. I know only that the masses are indeed growing rapidly. I am a long-time fan of Costco for any printing that I do not do myself. The offload terminals for digital have become very busy. One Costco photo manager of many years tells me he could easily justify doubleing their digital capacity. My first photo CD's from Costco were in 2000. Though I liked the technology, the on-screen quality from my processed films was already then quite inferior to the then top-of-the-line Nikon consumer digital when put similiarly on CD by Costco. I seldom used the CD offering of any store. I continued film as my main medium until the convenience, quality, and price of digital cameras and "processing" took clear advantage for my use. Knowing you as an old friend, long-time photographer, and early-adapter of PTE, I am interested that you are apparently still using film as your primary method. Care to share more of your thoughts on this? My first serious digital printer was an Epson Photo EX for which I paid about $600. One (or two?) years ago, I impulsively bought an HP photosmart 7960 on a Costco deal/rebate for maybe $150. This printer is purely an off-the-shelf consumer printer. To test this "consumer" simple printer, I plugged it in and printed a few photos without any tweaking of photo or printer or reading of any instructions. I think I even just stuck the memory card in the printer and pushed "print." I immediately compared the home-prints with the same photos from my digital camera that I had just printed at Costco. I was astounded that the home-prints were much sharper and over-all better than the Costco prints. Every person I have ever shown them to agrees. Even so, I continue to use the Costco when I know I want more than a few 4x6 prints for general use. When it comes to enlargments, I know the Costco price is the best around and as good as any other retail outlet at twice the price. I do some enlargements on my own. I have long since quit trying to keep track of my cost of printing ink and paper at home. I think my home printing is still more expensive even if I leave the cost of the printer out of the picture. Maybe your well documented experiences could shed some light on this too? I too would be interested in how many PTE forum members generate some income from their PTE sequences. I do not. I think there are a growing number of paid photographers who are using PTE and other sequencing programs to expand their saleable line.

It could work as .exe file, but many people can't download an exe file because of the virus potential. By including your .exe file in a zip format, it can be accepted by more people.

Chad, can you make a PTE slide show that will play on some DVD player? If you make a DVD that plays on some players, but not on others, that is most likely a problem between the specific player and the type of DVD you use. My experience, is that the DVD-R will play on more players but not necessarily all players. I think some people find the Re_writeable DVD's play on more players, but I think the brandof Re-Writeable also makes a difference.

Thank you Steve and Andrew. Your comments are very much appreciated. Often, comments point out things that the photographer/author has indeed considered and it is nice to hear viewers reaction to those things. I like to respond and sometime generate further informative discussion. My only hesitancy, is that sometimes a response seems to pre-empt comments from others. I hope this is not the case this time. Steve, I too questioned the long black screen. Originally, my "scripted" vocal intro was about 4.5 minutes long! I realized that would never do! When I chucked the scripted intro and free-winged it, the result was still almost a minute and a half. I decided to try the "technique" of few slides and dark time to build a little anticipation. I guess it may have worked in your case. I hope no viewer gave up before the action started. I'm glad you both enjoyed sharing the experience of the hike. That is a compliment to me, as I really like others to have even a taste of what I feel are great experiences. As you suggest Steve, such experiences are maybe enjoyed most by those with similar experiences as you have, but may also stimulate other individuals to do "something" they enjoy. Personally, my own shows are a great reminder to me that there is always a reward when we make an effort. I think you are right too Andrew, about many authors having a particular "skill" or technique. I always remember certain "highlight" skills from your presentations. Some of your transitions blend great photos in amazing ways, etc. re: length of show and (over?)use of certain similar photos - Once again, both of these concerned me, but were done anyway. My actual "target" audience is typically very small, that is maybe only the event (hike) participants and possibly their families. For them, the twenty minute length is "bearable" and is really required to adequately document the experience of the participants. It is a satisfying bonus if this larger audience of PTE users can also enjoy and comment. As for the multitude of similar shots of the second waterfall - I at first intended to use only 3 or 4 "frameable" best of the bunch. But my experience at that water fall was extraordinary. I found myself extremely energized by the scene. I was intensely drawn to the power and the beauty of this, as you noted, unusual, waterfall. I wanted to run all around, experience the falls from every angle. And the spray would drench me and my camera and just make me want more. I was just totally taken in by the personality of the scene. At last, I decided the large number of shots, with fairly short screen time each, might best convey something similar to what I felt. Whether this worked, only helpful viewers like yourselves can tell me. "climbing the snowfield in soft-soled shoes with no ankel support - a definite no-no where I come from" Where are you located Steve? I suspect it is a definite no-no here too. Much of the time, I was too afraid to look anywhere else but at the shoes in front of me, so I noticed, not only soft, but wet, etc. I noticed the same thing when I looked at the photos to which you refer. Actually, your observation leads me to want to tell the "rest of the story" which would take another 20 minutes. But briefly here is a 30 second version. As you probably noted, we had hidden our backpacks near our over-night camp and then made the snow-climb and summit with small fanny packs. The remaining snowfield was not only expected, but needed, to get us over some of the boulder fields. But I had not envisioned how steep the snow climb would be. Didn't look bad from the distance, but once on the ever-steepening angle, I was very concerned. It would not be stretching the truth to say, for me, it was a prayerful climb. After the snowfield, I found the remaining boulders to be preferable. At least I felt my own caution and skill might have a more direct bearing on my safety than when I was on the snow. After reaching the summit, I had to break it to my fellow hikers that I just did not feel it wise to attempt going down the same route. Our only alternative was to go down the other side of the mountain which meant abandoning our back packs we had cached near our previous camp. We made it safely down the mountain Saturday night, but without the packs. I had a day of rest Sunday while I convinced two new hikers to hike Monday with me back up to our camp and bring back our packs. So, I got another 5 miles without packs, another 5 miles with packs and another couple of hundred photos. As I excitedly looked at the "rest of the story" photos, I then told my self, "no, have mercy, end the presentation, abruptly if necessary. Maybe I can pull an old hollywood trick and offer a sequel.

And where friend, is the vacation? Can we start anticipating a fine visual accounting of your fun?

Already 80+ have downloaded this presentation. I would invite comments from anyone, please. Warning, this AV of a recent adventure runs almost 20 minutes. This is a large file, but on a fast server. The download speed on broadband seems to be usually more than 400kb / sec. I hope some can enjoy it.

That's nice Bill. Thank you, and Igor and Ken. And thanks for all the "good" people who appreciate what you do.

This does sound like fun Dave! Thanks for mentioning it here. The only trouble is - if you get 100+ entries from PTE users, my chances of winning the $ will be slim. But then the fun is why most of us do this AV stuff anyway.

Is this product still alive? Back in May, I downloaded and posted a reference and link to earn a free serial #. I did not ever receive any response. In the meantime I tried to use the free version but could not get rid of the grid lines on the "denoised" files. Latest attempt to pay at reduced rate (for reference and link), also has produced no serial number or response from the author/seller.

I thought this had been answered but I can not find the thread. Ken, you will probably be able to find it, but I can't locate it. I have a PTE show converted via PTE to DVD. I want the DVD to play repeatedly without user intervention for maybe three hours. Do I need to do something with the authoring or burning software to do this or is the ability to loop a DVD dependent on the DVD player. I have burned the show to DVD without any menu. I can currently then set the DVD player to "repeat title" and it will loop endlessly as desired. But I don't know if the DVD player that will be used at the wedding will have the same capability. Hope someone can direct me a little further on this one. Thanks.

If your burner is capable, I would try burning the same show on -R, +R, and RW DVD's. Also, if the computer seems to indicate the the burn was successful, try the DVD's on different DVD players.

Thank you Daniel for sharing it. I liked your smooth panorama. I have not carefully followed the discussion of techniques that have been explored for pans. What technique have you used to have such a smooth and seamless result?

Ken, make sure you use a fast shutter speed!

Amen!

I think it is a very good idea. A courtesy for sure. It would be nice if the duration could be listed before downloading. Short of that, but still helpful, is a one line readme file to be included in the zip file that contains the show itself. If we remember to do so, probably most of us are willing.

Bart, good to hear from you! Thought of you just recently and am glad you came on even just to say hello and let us know you are still on a course to return in full when you can. Best to you and Cindy.

I concede Peter, it is interesting. I'm not sure what it means. Although I am interested and asked those questions of Jeff, I am not sure I would want him to include the information in the sequence itself. I would like to know the information, and you would like to know. But the "message" that the artist intended may be better conveyed with just the photos. (?) The issue continues to be of interest to me and I will get back to you over at CreatingSlideShows.com. Just so much going on - but that is what we live for, eh?

This topic has caused me to view again the excellent demo by Marco. Now I am wondering if there are some shows I have missed where PTE users have really utilized Marco and Granot tools effectively in actual presentations. I expect there are some good ones I have not seen or maybe have been done but not shared. Anyone willing to share some more of your success with what Marco has shown can be done?