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guru: the problem appears as soon as I select object editor. at that point I cannot go any further. I can select nothing at this point and can only shut down pic2exe Hawk: I will download your show and give it a try. thank you all for your responses

Al: All the emails we went back and forth about were about helping me set up title slides and the menu. You were very helpful and no the problem did not start right after that. All has been well for at least the last year. when I say I resize the images, I do it in photoshop. they are resized to 1020x760 depending on wheather they are horizontal or vertical. I am trying to make a menu for the show. In the past, I have always used any slide and hit the object editor button and then added my buttons or links. Now when I do that, I get about the top half of the slide showing and it locks up the show. I have to hit alt/ctrl/delete and shut down pic2exe. It's almost like a part of the slide that isn't showing up, would have a button you need to select to move forward, but I can't see it. Like in Photoshop... If a dialog box pops up, you can't work on anything until you make the choice the box is asking you to make. (hope that makes sense). I understand how to make a screenshot... what I wasn't clear on is how to it get the screen shot to appear within my post?

thanks for the responses. I have used pic2exe for several years and this is the first time I have had this happen. just to give a little background... I am doing nothing different than how I have been making the shows for over a year I have 2 gig of ram so I don't think that is an issue Processor speed?? not sure but I Have a top of the line custom built machine (not by me) so I don't think that is an issue. all images within the show get resized to 1020pixels I have rebooted many times - does not correct the problem - downloaded the new beta - still no help. I get the same problem regardless of what slide I select or how big the show is what I am trying to do is to use a slide as a menu. by selecting object editor and adding buttons that will take the customer to specific areas of the show. Al - maybe you remember you helped me with this a year or so ago with many, many emails and tutorials. I'm not sure I have tried shutting down all other programs but I will give that a try, but have my doubts that will change anything. I can try on another system but I would image that would work fine if the computer is different. I think it is something to do either with my system or how I am doing it. I could attach a screen shot of how it looks but I am unsure of how to do that. appreciate any help

I wish someone would reply to this. I keep trying the object editor but with the same results each time. I just downloaded the beta 6 version but it made no difference. Can anyone offer a suggestion??

All of a sudden I have a problem with the object editor. I have created a generic title slide that I use for all my wedding shows. It is the only slide in my wedding template show. I then add all the other slides and set the presets for the buttons. Now, when I select object editor, I get about 1/2 of the box and everything locks up. I have to restart the program. I tried this with other slides and get the same result. I tried rebooting but with the same results. I downloaded the new beta version again and installed it, but still have the same problem. Other than that, the program works fine. I am using windows 2000pro Any thoughts???

Fred: thanks again for your reply. It is a trial version of ulead movie factory 3 but it is supposable a full working version. The file size is well below the 4.7 gig allowed on the dvd. I think the error message comes into play well before that time. I don't know what MF3 or MF2 is? Can you explain a bit about that and why I need to know about it? I will check out the link you supplied. Any other thoughts come to mind - please post' thanks again

I have tried several times and get the same error each time. I'm not sure what addtional details might be of saome help Fred, you mentioned to be sure I was pulling in the correct file.... when I get to the point of selecting the file to burn, only the one shows up. Is there more than on file created? thanks

I am trying to burn my first dvd with no luck. I have downloaded ulead movie factory3 I can create the avi file in p2exe - when I open ulead I select "create video disc" then new project add media-add video files (and the project I created in p2exe shows up) when I select it and go to the next screen, after a few seconds I get this error "DVDMF.exe has generated errors. you will need to restart the program" I was unable to find any prior post regarding this error Any suggestions????

I am working on a presentation that has about 475 images. it is sync to music that is about 13 minutes using only the fade effect. It is a quick transition but has worked fine. I tried to add some additonal images (which were just copies of some of the images already in the show (with changes like converted to black and white) that were saved as copies. Now when I run the show I get a dialog box with the message EF open error in module when it gets to the spot where I inserted the new slide. I also get the same message with the slide that follows it. If I remove the following slide the error will go to the next slide in order. this happened in every spot I inserted a new slide. Can anyone help or is there additonal info needed?

When the output to dvd becomes available, will this in any way stop the issue of copying the files to make prints? Or is it the same as the .exe file in that regard?

I think I now realize why I wasn't seeing what you all are trying to tell me. When I was changing the dpi in photoshop, I had the resample box checked. So when I was changing the dpi, I was also altering the document size. That must be what was messing me up. If I took an 800x600 image and changed the dpi to 10 (not resample) I now see that it doesn't affect the image. If I check the resample box, the file size changes. that was what I was baseing my testing on. Thank you all for bearing with me. All of a sudden it make sense.

Al: I guess I am still not grasping this whole concept of how the pixel size of the image and dpi are related but am going on the prints I made from test files. If I make the image size 1024x768 and leave it at 300dpi I can make a very nice print from this. even when I made the same image 600x400 and left it at 300dpi it makes a good print. When I kept the image the same size but reduced the dpi to 150 it was still an acceptable print in my opinion to someone who could get it for free. When I resaved the files at a compression of 5 in photoshop I felt they then did not make a good print but were still ok for a show (just ok, not good) Certainly someone can import an image into photoshop - that starts out at 10 or 100 or 200 dpi and make it whatever dpi or file size you wish, but the results from interpolating up an image will be of poor quality. Is this not the case? I don't mean to dwell so much on this dpi issue or make you think I am loosing sleep over someone stealing my images, as I don't think this happens that much. It's just that all my weddings are presented with pic2exe shows and I want make it more work than it's worth for the images to be printed, yet make the best show I can.

I want to thank you all for the responses and links to all the great info. I spent yesterday making prints and shows at different sizes and resolutions and feel I have found what will work for me. I know you are telling me to stop thinking in ppi/dpi terms but I do feel that is a consideration. My question all along was not what is the best file size for a show, but what is the best size for a good looking image for a show but not good enough to steal for printing. (perhaps I didn't word it clearly in the original post) . I can make the image quite small by pixels but if the dpi is left at say 300, the image can be made much larger in a program like photoshop and a good print can be made. Reducing the dpi, but keeping the overall size to 800x600 (or smaller) seems to be a good middle ground. What seemed to work best from my tests was an image of around 500x350 @150dpi (I know, here I go again) and saved at a jpeg compresion level of 5 (in photoshop) and use the fit screen option in pic2exe. would you think these choices are not good? Another point to Think(box) ... you can make an action within photoshop that can resize the image and tell the difference between a vertical and horizontal. Under file>automate>fit image will keep proper porpotions. (another thing I learned yesterday)

I guess I am to used to ordering prints from the lab and can't seem to get away from the dpi mentality. I should be talking in ppi not dpi, right? I have been watermarking the images, but don't want to end up with a copyright symbol over someones face. If I put the watermark out of the way, it can be cropped out. I guess I'm looking for an easy answer that doesn't exist. Perhaps I am getting too hung up on worrying about the few who would steal the images? thanks to all for the info... I shall do some reading

If I understand this correctly... then the image that looks good on the screen will be small in size however making it larger to fill the screen will make it look of poor quality? We are talking about the same file here, correct? If that is the case, is there no point at which the image will be of good or at least decent quality in the show - generally filling the screen with the image, but not be of enough quality to make it worth while to screen grab and print?

thanks for the info - I will download irfanview and give it a try. Perhaps I am a bit confused about the image size/dpi issue? should I not be at all concerned with the dpi? I have resized my images to 72 dpi and created a show. I must say the image quality is very poor. So poor that I'm not sure I want to give this to my customer. If I resized the images to1020x680 and compress the jpegs (and leave the dpi at 300) will this result in an acceptable image for the show that would not be a good print if someone did a screen capture?

AL: If my goal is to prevent someone from stealing the images to make their own prints, wouldn't I want to reduce the dpi down to 72? I don't think separating the vertical and horizontal prints would be my best choice as a typicall wedding show could contain 500-600 images. That could be quite time consuming to do that. I have never used IrfanView. Is this the answer? What about the option of fit image to screen? Is that not recommended?

I am trying to create an action in photoshop to resize my files for a pic2exe presentation. Little did I realize how easy it was for someone to steal the images from a show. Now that I know better, I am taking the advice I have read from this forumn in the last year or two to protect my bottom line. I am using kodak's photodesk as an image editor and my jpeg files start at 300 dpi. If I change the resolution to 72 dpi, the image becomes quite small so I am wanting to increase the image size to 1020x680 without changing the dpi. (or is this step not necessary?) It is easy to create an action to do this but how can I make an action that tells the difference between a vertical image and a horizontal image? If I just say make all the heights to 1024, I makes the horizontals too large. I also wanted to add a watermark that was a line of text (studio name repeated 3 times) which I was going to place across the bottom and across the top (harder for someone to crop out but not appear across someone's face). when I make this action and use a horizontal print as a template, the line of text will not be in the proper place on a vertical image. Maybe I just need to forget the second line of text?

thank you both for your replys. Yes indeed, now I understand. I did do a search prior to posting my question and did not find the answer. I also did go through the help files. I do think the help files are a bit vauge about some topics - as much as I hate reading a manual or going through page after page of documents, it can be most helpful. Of course the trial and error method is a good way to learn, but can be a bit frustrating. I apoligize for asking what may seem to be silly questions but none the less thank you for your answers

I did do a search for print screen and found several threads. However, I still don't know what the tab: allow to restore pictures via print button on nav bar means? I'm not sure if you answered that and I just didn't understand or what?

alrobin: thanks for the speed reply. good point about saving the menu as a .pte file so I can modify it for future shows. Am I correct is thinking that I should save it as a pte file untill I have customized for a specific show and then save it as a .exe file for use in that show only?

could some explain the features found under the advanced tab of project options that are titled: don't allow <print screen> to copy pictures allow to restore pictures (via "print" button on nav bar) I guess the first one seem obvious that this would not enable the print screen button on the keyboard to function... is this correct? what does the second one do?

I have been trying out your suggestions and have met with some sucess, but more important I know think I understand a feature of pic2exe that I had not used before. I do have a couple of question though... If I were to use boxigs suggestion and create thumbs and link them to the larger image, wouldn't that mean setting the properties to link to the larger image for every one? With a show of 500 images this would take a long time wouldn't it? Is there a simple way to do this? I have been working with splitting the wedding into 4 or 5 sections and linking the section to a button on a menu or home page. I understand how to make the buttons (within pic2exe) and link to a slide in the show, but am having a problem with creating a template of this menu that I can use for each wedding and adjust the properties of the buttons for each show. I tried making a separate .exe show - 1 image (the menu) that I could include in each presentation but when I reopen the show, the buttons are not there. I saved the show - what did I do wrong? Is this the way to do this or is there a better way? I would like to make a nice title (menu) page to reuse to save the time of creating a new one for each show. I noticed shows that have buttons created in programs outside of pic2exe. I downloaded some buttons to use and they are now .gif files. How do I get those buttons onto my menu page, and how does pic2exe recognize this button?

Hawk (and others) thank you... that is just what I needed. Now I understand the concept, I still have a few questions I hope someone can help with. If I am understanding this correctly... I would separate my wedding images into catagories (lets say 4 or 5) and make a separate exe show for each catagory. these would all be burned to the cd along with a menu page for navagation? I would not use music or transitions for these shows but would need a file number to show plus a nav bar. I'm not clear on the menu page... was this created in a different program such as photoshop? how are the buttons linked to the separte .exe shows are the buttons themselves created within pic2exe? Thanks again for all the help... I think this is the answer to my problems

Nobeefstu or Boxig: Is there a show posted somewhere on line where I could see an example of what you are explaining to me? I get the idea but I think I would understand it better if I could see it