mhwarner

Bill and Igor, Thanks to you both for making this new site possible. Registration was quick and easy and downloads are also quite fast (even on my not-so-speedy wireless connection). I like the design of the site and the ability to add comments. Bill, I would especially like to thank you for your time and effort (and $$) over the past years to provide the Beechbrook site. It was much appreciated and I know that we can look forward to the same kind of quality support and efforts from you in the coming years. THanks again!

Sorry, I assumed you were just telling me to go search in those other threads. I didn't interpret it as an offer to pin this thread. "Best Practices" probably belongs under the "Frequently Asked Questions" area but I would see it as multiple topics which could be easily found, not just a single thread containing many posts, some possibly unrelated, where people would still have to search for relatively quick answers to common problems. I guess we should see if there is more interest and see if others have some suggestions on where we put it or how it is organized.

Sure, I can search here using "screen settings in show for HDTV. And the result is ... wait for it ... "One or all of your search keywords were below 4 characters or you searched for words which are not allowed, such as 'html', 'img', etc, please increase the length of these search keywords or choose different keywords." So I can go back in and enter just "HDTV" and get 5 pages of results, of which the one Dave has referenced here "MPEG4 Files for HDTV" is #20. And then I have to scroll through the entire thread to see if all the other posters (including Igor) actually agree with Dave's solution. Not exactly quick or easy. All I'm saying is, I've been here a long time and I'll figure it out eventually but it is not exactly easy for newcomers or people running the program in trial mode attempting to figure out if they want to buy it to find some good solid "Best practices" or "how to do it" information. Also, many of those "FAQs" and "Tutorials" are at least 2 years old. I suspect that there could be some updates based on the current version of the product. But nevermind. Sorry for offending those who know so much more than I do. I'll keep my thoughts to myself next time.

Here's a link to a thread from a couple of years ago with a suggested screen recorder solution (BSR Screen Recorder). The product is still available and looks like $49. Not sure about a trial. And it appears that you would have to convert to AVI and then run the AVI through Pictures to Exe to create an MP4. I haven't tried it, but it seems like it might be worth investigating http://www.picturestoexe.com/forums/index.php?/topic/13797-convert-exe-to-mp4/page__view__findpost__p__90164

Does anybody else think this would be a worthwhile thread or topic (maybe pinned for ease in finding it)? I would love to see some definitive comments on things like: What is the best setup in Project Options for a show to run on an HDTV or computer screen (yes I know it depends on the actual desired output), but do I want to set "Aspect Ratio"? What are the best choices under the "Screen" tab? Should I set "Size of Slide" or check "Fixed Size of Slide" (in pixels)? Is it really necessary to resize pictures to minimize the size of a slideshow (unless you want to crop them to a certain proportion)? I did some quick preliminary testing and it didn't appear to make any difference but others with more experience might disagree. What is the best size and format for videos to be added to shows? Is it really necessary to allow PTE to reformat videos? What is the best size and format to avoid that? What about audio? JEVANS posted some info about creating shows with voiceovers in another thread and that along with other suggestions in the thread might be helpful if we created such a "collection" of Best Practices. Should I create and use a default template. Yes, we can read the manual and experiment with PTE until we come up with a result that pleases us and we can search through the forum and maybe we might end up with some different opinions, but it seems to be that it would be helpful to find that information here in one spot, particularly for newcomers or those of us who only make the occasional slideshow. I realize that both free and paid tutorials are available, but again that requires searching. If anyone else thinks this would be a worthwhile thread, it could even include links to such tutorials, particularly the free ones. Anyway, in view of the recent effort to "push" PTE to users on the dpReview Retouch forum (referenced in another thread), and all of our desires to see PTE become even more widely accepted (and more successful so that Igor and company will continue to provide us with such wonderful updates), I thought that at least some of you here might consider this a worthwhile effort.

I would agree on the size issue. I am on a wireless broadband USB card connected to a booster and also a roof antenna to get a signal. It took me several hours to download the Iceland show but I persevered (and I am glad I did!) because of the positive comments in this thread.

I have also added my 2 cents to dpReview!

Jeff, A masterful job. Your narration was "spot on" and the maps were quite useful in following the journey. Loved the integration of the waterfall videos. No matter how great a still shot of a waterfall is, a video really provides the experience of being there. The only tiny criticism I have is that a couple of water shots might need a tiny bit of straightening the horizon. This is definitely a show to add to my "KEEP" collection! Thanks for sharing.

While I have tried to follow all the details of the new additions and changes to Pictures to Exe 8 here in this forum, I know I have missed some things and probably not quite grasped the meanings of others. Barry, I really appreciate your efforts to simplify those aspects which many of us are most likely to use in your downloadable tutorials. I have sampled the free ones and purchased several of the others and look forward to watching them and applying the included tips to my work. I am especially glad that they are downloadable and I don't have to wait to receive a disk in the mail. The price is quite reasonable as well. Thanks again!

Igor and Team, Congratulations on a job well done! I have been a Pictures to Exe user since version 1 and I am so impressed with how it has evolved into such a great piece of software over the years. With version 8, you have outdone yourselves! While it has always been possible to create sophisticated and impressive slideshows, it did take a bit of work and some serious research into the more techincal aspects of the program. But with version 8, it has become extremely easy. I had the need to create several slideshows quickly during the last few days. With only a few clicks and drags I was able to apply some of the new included slide styles to easily animate my slideshow. Not only that, I was able to add a music track and trim, crossfade and precisely position the songs without ever leaving the timeline. Fantastic! I created some reasonably sophisticated slideshows with a minimum of effort. Thanks again for a wonderful product and for giving us the opportunity to upgrade at a reasonable low price!

Dom, You are amazing and very creative! Can't wait to get the template!

Mark, Great selection of beautifully composed, sharp pictures. You captured some incredible lighting. The simple, gentle transitions were most appropriate. I especially liked the rocks with all of the erosion holes and lake in late afternoon light. Reminded me a bit of some of the formations in the US Southwest (minus the water, of course). Thanks so much for sharing!

Manuel, Nicely done! I would love to have a template.

Once again, Maureen, a most enjoyable show! Excellent photography by your son and a beautifully created slide show by you. Thanks to both of you for sharing!

What he said!!!

Peter, This is not as elegant as Dom's and you might have to play with it a bit depending on the size of your slides, but I did post a page flipping transition here: http://www.picturestoexe.com/forums/index.php?/topic/15631-flipping-book-page-transitition-could-we-have-a-new-section-for-custo/

Maureen, Just beautiful! Your work on the transitions was quite masterful. They are very subtle, but very effective. Of course, the photography was just fantastic. I loved the castle! To be honest, it almost felt as if I were watching some sort of "fairy tale" movie. Thanks again for sharing!

Technically, they are not free. Adobe says they only posted to help legal owners of the software after they deactivated the registration server. You should read this explanation first and decide if you really want to proceed: http://forums.adobe.com/message/4974662#4974662 Of course, at this point, I'm not sure there's much they can do about it. And the question is then whether they will hassle folks who actually download and register the software using the provided serial numbers even though they never purchased it.

Just a quickly put together wish to all my fellow PTE forum friends (not the fastest server so best to download first) ... http://www.mhwarner.com/fireworks.mp4 Right click the link and choose "Save" to save the file locally.

Absolutely incredible! Not only am I amazed that this show was made with PTE, I am also totally impressed at your wonderful imagination to have created such a thing. And I have to admit, the little matchstick girl/doll part brought tears to my eyes. Thank you for sharing this lovely creation with us!

Ken, Is this directed at me? If so, I took the "plunge" back at PTE version 2 or so. I have been making and selling slideshows using PTE for well over 10 years now -- using my own and other's templates. I was just trying to offer a simple custom transition here that somebody might be interested in.

Indeed he did, Ken. In fact, he has 4 or 5 of them for sale in his store. I think I have purchased all of them. The only problem is that to use any of them templates, it is necessary to rename your slides to fit his scheme, or go in and edit every single object animation to load your own files. Also, there is quite a bit of overhead because there are masks and secondary pages and covers, etc. etc. While the end result of using the templates, which I have done on many occasions, is quite elegant and professional, I have been trying to come up with somewith quick and easy which gives a similar effect and can be implied as a simple transition. Anyway, maybe somebody will find it useful.

My attempt at creating a flipping book/page transition without masks or auxilliary files. The edges of this look strange if your slides and your project aspect ratio don't match. When created I didn't resize my slides and my aspect ratio was set to 16:10; the edges of the "pages" were the thickness of the black margin at the right side of the screen. When I changed the aspect ratio in the project options to 3:2 to match the slides, the edges of the turning page were more or less paper thin. Was just wondering if we could have a section somewhere to share these custom transitions so they would be easy to find and share. Marybook1.zip

Well, I rafted the Colorado River through the Grand Canyon last April and we had some pretty good rapids, but I don't think any of them were quite like the ones in your video. Very cool! I hope you weren't one of the people who fell out of the raft. Thanks for sharing. Can't believe you went back and did it a second time. Good for you!

Gary, That was amazing! I thought I was watching Animal Planet! You were so fortunate to have been able to witness that spectacle in person. And it is so great that you can now easily view your old movies on the computer or TV. The clarity was great at the small size and not all that bad if I made it full screen (and probably even less noticeable at a distance from a TV). The little cubs were so adorable -- especially the one who walked beneath the big guy and attempted to play with his leg. I did almost puke when then big guy was eating the intestines. And I liked the nuzzling between the lionness and "The King". Regarding the show itself, I did find the white shadow effect a bit distracting and I would personally have used a colored background instead of black (maybe some sort of beige paper-looking graphic). With that small size video I think it would be less distracting, but of course, that's my 2 cents. I'm guessing that you have lots more movies where this came from. Can't wait to see some of them!