mhwarner

Ok. Not sure what the problem was here, but I went through and resized all of the files in my slide show from 5184 x 3456 (default from Canon 60D) down to 1950 x 1300 (an odd size, I know, but I wanted some extra for zooms and pans). Anyway, this time the executable was created and the progress bar worked just fine. Apparently it was a memory issue of some sort. Odd.

Thanks Dave! I had already looked through the Settings\Preferences dialog as I knew from beta testing that it was possible to turn things on or off but I somehow missed the vertical scrollbar in the "Toolbars" section that allows us to add or remove things from the status bar. Checking the "Size of EXE" checkbox did the trick!

First off, the counter that displays when you create an EXE file starts at -1% and goes to -140% (at least for the show I am attempting to create). How can you have -140% progress? Also, it appears that there is a progress bar, but the bar is empty and there is no colored slider to indicate progress (assuming that there's supposed to be one). The big showstopper for me however is that I am using a copyright logo for this show. The specified file for the logo is actually a .png picture frame which overlays the entire show. The file is there. It shows up in the mini-preview. It shows up in the fullscreen preview. I have created a DVD of the project as well and the overlayed image shows up fine there. I just cannot create an .EXE file from the project. When I open the EXE, I get the big blue missing file screen and the show doesn't run. If I remove the logo completely, the show is created, but when I play it, there is no longer any music! (And just for the record, I did nothing to alter any of the music files -- just added about 8 mp3 audio files under project options.) Again, the music plays ok in the mini preview, in the fullscreen preview and in the DVD. Update: The show in question was created entirely in 7.5. I just loaded a different project with the same sort of logo (frame overlay) created in 7.0something and it created an executable with no problem. Also, the progress bar displays properly with the correct percentages and a green slider bar. Any thoughts? THIS PART OF THE ISSUE HAS BEEN RESOLVED: Also, where is the number on the main screen that tells how large the created EXE file will be? I just noticed that it now longer displays and there doesn't appear to be a menu option to turn it on or add it in. That was a nice option to have when attempting to create a show to fit on a CD or to fit within a particular size range. Guess I should have looked more closely at the betas and reported it missing. Or maybe it was purposely left out?

You can download a USER Guide PDF in English from the WnSoft site. Just open PTE, click on "Help" and then choose "Download User Guide in PDF". It has lots of good information on the new functionality (as well as everything else in PTE).

Thanks to all for getting it fixed!

I am assuming it will be obvious to one of the moderators, but there are a bunch of php messages at the top when it loads and while the search function seems to work, all of the resulting links open totally blank pages.

Turbo chap, Works ok for me. Direct link to the templates: Dom's templates

For myself, I never use the DVD. The quality just sucks so badly! I make EXEs of everything and simply attach my laptop to my TVs or those of my friends or family where I am visiting in person. I don't mess with the other output options very often because it seems to me that it takes much longer to "publish" the output than creating an EXE. Maybe I am misremembering. Unfortunately, I sell quite a few event DVDs and would hate to see the capability disappear. Also, when I want to share a show with others that I need to send, I need to create DVDs. I agree with JEB and Dick LeBleu. Many people are clueless about video stuff and can only manage to pop a DVD into their set-connected player. Maybe in two years it will be a different story (and maybe I will be retired and won't be selling event DVDs).

Beautiful photos, Lin, and the music was well chosen. The Bryce Canyon photos were spectacular. You seemed to have caught just the right light. My only negative comment would be that as someone who has visited these areas many times (I live in northern Arizona), I found it a bit disconcerting jumping back and forth between Monument Valley and Bryce. I agree with your comments about Monument Valley. I have gone into the back country on some week-long horseback trips and it is so much more pleasant not to have to deal with what we called the "shake-and-bake" tour trucks. Thanks for sharing.

Nicely done, Patrick! Lovely photos synchronized appropriately with the music. I really liked the way you did the ending titles. My only negative comment would be that I would have liked to see the waterfalls taken at a much slower shutter speed to make them more "silky" and smooth. But maybe that wasn't possible or maybe that is not your preference for waterfalls. In any case, thank you for sharing. You have made me want to visit there someday.

Jean Charles, What a joy to watch. The photography is superb and the music was most enjoyable. I felt as if I were drifting about the world in the basket of a balloon (minus the wind and the noise). Thank you!

Sorry, Eric. Would love to watch it (and some of your other recent shows, as well as a few others posted by Goddi) but 130 MB is about a 3-hour download for me. I am on a wireless broadband card so I'm not usually willing to go over about a 75 mb download at most. Unfortunately, that has limited me on some of the newer shows using large video clips.

Maureen, Well done .. as usual! The photos were nicely blended with the music and I especially love your detail shots. Gorgeous colors. You were fortunately to have had such nice weather. Another keeper. Thanks for sharing!

From my perspective, tutorials and templates are the best means of learning to use the more sophisticated features of PTE (or any other program for that matter). But consider Photoshop. It comes with a manual (Help file/system). Actually, the latest version doesn't even include one in the download. It's online only at the moment with a downloadable version "coming in June" (maybe late June?). But I digress. That's pretty much all that you get from Adobe included in the cost of the program -- a program I might add that has more features and can do more things with pictures and other graphics than most of us can learn in our lifetime. However, there is a huge third-party market (some free, some not) providing books, classes, tutorials, actions, templates, etc., not the least of which is NAPP -- an entire empire built around teaching Photoshop. If you just want to edit a picture, resize it, sharpen, color correct, etc., you can find that in the Adobe manual. If you really want to learn how to do something more sophisticated, you're pretty much on your own, but you can usually find the answer somewhere on the internet or in one of the many books or tutorials. I think it's the same, on a much lesser scale, with PTE. I think the manual gives you enough details to create a basic slideshow, include a video or two and do some animations. Beyond that, you either need to experiment or spend some time here reading the postings and downloading the templates of the very clever people who have taken the time to learn these tricky things and are willing to share their knowledge. Or buy some of Dom's templates, or purchase some of Barry's tutorials or download one of the tutorials from Lin's site. Obviously, I wish it were easier to learn some of this fancy stuff in PTE, but I don't think we could ever expect Igor and his team -- for the small price of the program (which many of us paid once 10 or so years ago) -- to provide this kind of technical documentation. I'm not opposed to paying for it personally, but I just wish more 3rd party technical tutorials were available for download on demand.

Les, It looked like a really fun trip. I just loved the elephants. The sound effects were most suitable as well, although I think I might have added a bit more soft music in the background overlayed with the sound effects. Thanks for sharing this trip of a lifetime!

Just for the record, I have been playing with the video editing capabilities of the new Photoshop CS6. While probably not as sophisticated as something like Adobe Premier (don't know about it, haven't tried it), they are quite easy to master and splitting clips is a piece of cake. It certainly isn't worth paying $699 US (or whatever the full price is), but if you are considering the upgrade from CS5 and you are getting into video, it would be worth your time to look at it. There is probably nothing there that you couldn't do with PTE, but it sure is a lot easier and more intuitive (your clips come in as layers and you can rearrange them by rearranging the layers) and you can then export the finished clip/movie for use with PTE. You can insert fades and cross-fades and trim and you can even add and edit a soundtrack. Oh, and you can even apply adjustments (curves, levels, etc.) and layer styles to your clips. You can also add stills to the mix and there is some limited key framing to add pan and zoom to the stills. Very cool and way easier than some of the other video editing programs I have tried. If you are at all interested, there are several videos on youTube that demonstrate the capabilities:

Paul, What a lovely location. Very nice photography. Would love to visit there some day. Thanks for sharing!

Maureen, What can I add to all the compliments that have already been given? This -- and the first Venice show -- were well done and most enjoyable. Each had it's own merits and I loved them both. I especially loved the music in this latest show, though. Your photography is stunning and you have become a master at selecting images and putting them together. Thanks once again for sharing them with us!

Jean-Charles, Another fantastic show! Thank you for sharing it. Outstanding photography, appropriate music and a well put-together show. I had never heard of this area and had to go look it up on Google. How lucky you are to have been able to visit such an amazing place. This is another show I will keep and add to my collection of shows created by you. I look at all of them periodically for inspiration.

Gary, What a huge mistake! I watched this video before lunch while I was hungry and by the time it was over, I was drooling and felt like I was starving. Seriously, though, great job. I really liked the concept of the overlayed videos. Any chance you would share the PTE file minus the videos? I'm thinking I could use something similar for my rafting videos. Also, just wondering ... do you buy the food there to take home and cook or do they cook it for you and you eat it on the spot? I did try not to think too much about what our local health departments might think of the operation. Anyway, thanks for sharing.

Although I expect Ken will probably move this since he doesn't understand or chooses to ignore the difference between importing video clips and outputting video movies of various sorts, my question is related to getting video clips into PTE. I have about 40 short AVCHD clips from a Panasonic TS3 that I took on a Grand Canyon rafting trip. The file extension is MTS. PTE doesn't seem to be able to read them. They are pixelated and have strange looking gray blobs when viewed. Using the video converter doesn't seem to help. Yet I have several other AVCHD clips from a Panasonic DMC-ZS3 that seem to work fine. The software which came with the camera allows me to convert them to MPeg2, but that sort of defeats the purpose of capturing HD. Assuming it is just a problem with PTE not supporting the file type (why does it support one and not the other), I would appreciate it if anyone could suggest a free or relatively low cost coversion or video editing program that would allow me to get these clips into a format which PTE actually understands. I am attaching a very small clip (actually one I plan to trash)in the hopes that one of you video experts might have a suggestion for converting it to something useable00028.zip. Thanks in advance.

Wow! It's so hard to pick. There have been so many great ones -- Maureen Platt's shows, those by Patrick Bantzhaff, the American Southwest shows by Cagney and the narrated Norway costal voyage by Mark Allen, to recall a few of my favorites. This one, however, made a big impression the first time I watched it and it is one I have gone back to from time to time for inspiration. I can't even imagine the amount of work that went into putting it together. La Creation by Jean-Charles Pizolatto: http://diapositif.net/forum/viewtopic.php?t=32386 (click on the "Telecharger" button to download).

I would agree. Either the author of the show's description is intriguing enough to make you download it, or it's not or not. When you start the download, it tells you how big it is. If you're now willing to download a show that big, stop the download. I admit to stopping most downloads above about 70MB unless I have previously downloaded shows that I like from the author or unless it sounds like a really interesting show. If the slideshow is great, I could care less about the details other than where it was taken. My two cents, but I really think some of you folks need to get a life. And Ken, you really need to quit shouting. I thought this was a civilized forum.

And I would like to point out that if you use Bill's site at all (posting or downloading), there is a button at the top which allows you to easily make a donation of any size via Pay Pal for the maintenance and upkeep of the site. If you haven't ever contributed, think about doing so. We would hate to ever lose this excellent resource! Thanks again Bill for keeping it going!

Hi Dom, I enjoyed your show and I really liked the presentation style. My only comment is that I did not feel like the reflections enhanced the show and found them a bit distracting. Thanks for sharing.