LumenLux

Yes, Michel your photographic presentations are very good for helping many to discover beauty around us. In some way I think that is what much of our photographic effort is trying to do. Sometimes we may not recognize even our own underlying motivation. When I climb a mountain do I do it to photograph the view from the top? If so, do I do it to prove I was there. Maybe if the feat itself were so great, that would be ok. In my case, it is usually to help me recall the view and the feeling and share it with others who can then choose how they want to experience the beauty. As with any attempt to portray beauty, we are successful to varying degrees. You do very well in sharing the beauty you experience in life. By the way, I was not trying to "pin you down" about the connection of your PTE show to Unesco. I was just wondering if perhaps you had been inlisted by Unesco to use your talent in their behalf.

yea right, and we expect to see the fully documented results in the form of some PTE shows. I do not use the G3, but my neighbor loves his G2. I notice that Michel (author of many very nice photos he has shared, most recently his PTE "Cinque Terre") tags at least some of his work as being done with the G2. So you see what you have gotten yourself into - no more excuses for anything less than great photos! Really though, I appreciate you shareing your decision to buy the G3. I remember (I think)when you first joined the forum, you shared some careful comparisons and thoughts about digital camera models. So, if that is the case, then I find it meaningful that you have now chosen the G3. If my memory is out in left field, then thanks anyway for sharing what you have decided. I expect even your "high demand" approach to av, will be quite well fed with your new toy.

Greetings Michel! On your suggestion, I have visited the Unesco World Heritage site. Thank you. Now, tell me please, does your PTE presentation relate to the Unesco site, or just the region "Cinque Terre" relate to the site?

Thank you Igor. That "simple" method would make things simple for many of us. And maybe not real tough for you?

Sure Granot, I will take a further venture with your programs. I think there ought to be several others among us who want to try them and report there experience and ideas if any. I will make sure I dl the latest versions and then give them a go.

Michel, superb! Prima! Wonderful photos, astounding scenes, great use of stereo sound and very good show plan. You are an artist for sure. Thank you.

Well Granot - old or young - you are FAST! I think you understood quite well my suggestion. I will try your instant revision as soon as I can. For alas, I am not quite as old as Guido and not quite as fast as you.

I wonder why Guido calls you "old" Granot I just tried your AutoCD utility. It is nicely simple and works just fine. Here is a thought for improvement, IMO - When the install option is used, it would be nice if the show could still be run from the AutoCD screen. This would mean an additional button such as "Run INSTALLED show" or such. Presumeably your program is to help many computer users who are not well acquainted with even how to go find and run the show from the directory where it is installed. Of course the read-me file on the logo screen could give instructions - but that then somewhat defeats the nice simplicity of your AutoCD run or install. What do you think?

Yes Granot, your short description is enticing. I recently sent two CD's overseas: one to run show, the other to install PTE show onto hard drive. I spent a fair amount of time building a custom instruction PTE show to explain all the choices to the recipient. It sounds like you may have just the tool to simplify this type of offering and have it make sense on just one CD. I will need to give it a try. Thank you for your enthusiastic creating and sharing.

Igor, I think both of these are wise choices. Thank you.

Skipeye, if you have the projector option, that should certainly get your point across. On the rare occasions that I have had use of a projector it is great. Size can really make a difference- for fun for sure. I would recite here the usual cautions: If you run the projected show on a lap-top, be sure to run the exact show on the exact lap-top ahead of time. Perhaps it is mainly older laptops, but they seem to be more finicky than desktops when it comes to this type of work. There have been some dismayed or at least sweaty presenters of PTE shows when the furnished lap-top does not perform as expected.

Renato, thanks for your thoughts on work flow. I like to learn from others so I don't have to figure out every single thing by trial and error. If I understand correctly, you (batch) resize before doing any touch up or tweaking of the photo. I had thought maybe it was better to work on the full size file and then downsize it. I realize any given process may go quicker if working on the smaller file. But are there some photo adjustments that can be better made on the original full size file?

That is an interesting observation. I wonder if some of our "techie" friends here could explain what you have observed? Switching gears here - Where are all the normally-abundant great comments in the forum? Since Friday eve (normally a slow time on the forum) it has not awakened. Is the whole world caught in the grasp of spring fever? Maybe everyone is out taking great photos. But that would not account for our friends in the southern hemispere. Personally, this is my busy time of year and I might more wisely not check in so often. But now, when I do check in for my PTE/social fix, I leave with more wonder than awe. Even Guido was barely here during the last few days. Good thing you are still here. Now if we can just get a spring shower of new shows to enjoy as a product of the time people are not devoting to the forum. What ever the cause, I hope and expect the condition is temporary.

Interestingly enough, the "offending" XP machine is 1.4 ghz and the "composer" machine is only 750mhz. The XP does have only 128 ddr ram. I think, from prior discussions and this problem, that it has to do with the XP handling of sound players(?).

Thanks, now I am with you. You explained perfectly. Now I can go to bed with one less question.

Guido, where is "list" mode ?

If you are using Windows XP, I would love to hear from you about the Prime for Prom presentation. I think someone had similiar problems a few weeks ago with XP, as I now think may exist with this show. I have just today tried to run the show on a pc here with XP Home version. The show as it is on Beechbrook, will not run on this XP system. It juggles the first couple of slides around and seems to then just not go further. The nature of the music makes it hard to tell what is happening with the sound, but it does keep playing. I just now, created a version using PTE's INTERNAL sound player. On the same XP machine, the show now seems to run. The sound does skip a time or two near the first and then the presentation runs ok to completion. If you have tried the show on XP machine, please share your experience here. I would like to know what is happening and perhaps Igor might also like to know. He has for the version or two, specifically aimed at making PTE in the XP style. And he may have said something about re-writing the current internal player. So, your experience may help us all, for a one machine sample is not too useful.

I guess I have never recognized the "automatic" part of the icon process for PTE. My normal procedure is to use Irfanview to make my icons. Many months ago, I wrote myself the following instructions. (Just in case my memory should somehow waver.) Open photofile in Irfanview (matters not if jpg gif or bmp) Save as desiredname.ico (must select to save as .ico, not just type in .ico Open the now.ico file of the photo Crop it to square, any size, but EQUAL number of pixels both directions. Save the square cropped file. Use RESIZE feature to enter pixels, ie 32x32 or 16x16 After resizing, use feature to REDUCE COLOR DEPTH to 256 for 32x32 or 16 for 16x16 The LAST thing to do before saving the icon that will work, is to reduce the color depth as stated. If you reduce the color depth earlier, it will change to possibly a higher number when you resize the image. The color depth MUST be the last adjustment made before the final SAVE AS .ICO Otherwise the icon will not be accepted by PTE (Pictures to Exe) Also - Apparently in PTE where you choose to use own icon, you should insert both a 32x32 AND a 16x16 as apparently, depending on the settings in windows, ei set to large or small icons, it will then use which ever it needs if I have inserted both in PTE. You can tell Harold, that some of the above may not be necessary or even true. What I do know is that after previously have troubles, the above procedure has not failed me. I hope it may help you do what you want.

Harold, I don't really recognize the behavior you have experienced in the past. When I made a show yesterday, the icon process worked the same as I thought it has before. On Project, Main, I ask the program to add a 32x32 icon. Then I ask it to add the 16x16 icon. It even worked first try. (In the past, I have often made faulty icons that PTE would reject until I re-made them. What worked for me last night - is that what you are doing? Or are talking about not using your own icons at all?

Thanks for so many good approaches. I have tried a few so far. None of them deeply. So far, ACDSee seems quite intuitive with the sort function and I like the speed with which it takes drag & drops. It is nice that the default sort is indeed the "custom" sort. I wonder how hard it would be for Igor to have PTE's main screen slide list be able to accept drag and drop from explorer or even from the custom sorted screen of say ADCSee?

Seems like things have been just a wee bit slow with new "shows" posted. And I thought we also should make use of this new section of the forum. So, here's the story - Friday we all had so much fun watching the teenagers get ready for the prom I decided why not a little PTE to share some of the flavor. Actually, considering how much harrassment the young man had to endure ( with parents, siblings, in-laws - and cameras - all watching), he did pretty good. For some of us, this could test our memory - the nervousness of the guy having to go encounter the parents. The excitement of the girl - to have everything just right. See if your memory is longer than this minute and a half reminder. Of course, especially with this new forum section, ANY feedback is encouraged. Oh yes, the show should be on Beechbrook.com as soon as Bill has a chance to see it. Title: Prime for Prom

The recent answers re Irfanview, suggested a new topic for this very old subject. What I am really trying to find is the "best" software that anyone uses to VISUALLY arrange slides in the order you want to use them in PTE. I expect the interface would be very similiar to using an old "light table" or "slide sorter" for transparencies. (slides, dias, whatever) Simple: thumbnails on screen, drag a slide to where you want it to show relative to the other slides. Thumbnail size should be a choice to allow smaller or larger number of slides on screen at once. When slides have been dragged and dropped into position, the slide order should be able to be saved on-screen for later re-working. Most importantly, it should have system (batch renaming?) to save the final order so that the slides will be in the same order when imported by PTE. Yes, several programs do this. Yes, there are other methods of sorting that work for some of us in certain circumstances. I will list here a couple of mentions in previous thread. I invite everyone to add to this list any programs that you like to use for the VISUAL sort described above. Irfanview - can not do this. ACDSee - reportedly can. I have not tried yet. Thumby by boxig - I don't know yet, thanks Granot for mentioning, I will still look or you can tell me now with the more complete description I have given above. Breeze Browzer - please someone confirm if this works this way. FixFoto - Tripstrilles, please confirm if this uses the described method. MGI Photo Suite - I think I used this in the past. Anyone using this? Is it "slick"? PhotoShop Elements 2 - Seems like the browser function could, but I haven't learned how? U-lead Photo Explorer - anyone know if this now works as described above? THE perfect slide sorter - Who can tell me which one this is?

On the synch time line, see if those problem slides are overlapping. The underside of the time line shows a gray line which represents the transition time for each slide. If those gray lines overlap or even nearly touch, move one of the transition points to give a little room and see if that does it.

Greetings Mark, the first thing I would try is with the synch timeline in view, start the music and then click to add the "missing" transitions. Do these attempted transitions now show up for the last 13 slides?

Haven't looked at ACDSee for several versions. Thanks.