goddi

Greetings Igor, Best wishes, Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to you and your team. I am just starting to digitize over 8000 slides, specifically to be able to make more PTE shows! This, alone, will make 2021 a better year!!! Gary

Neat, Tom. Thanks... Gary

Greetings Macian, Interesting way of making the slide holder. It does negatives, too. I will have to figure how to do them later. Thanks... Gary

Greetings Macian, Yes, I know about Hamrick.com. My primary point is I don't want use a flatbed scanner or one that does only 1 or 3 at a time. I want to digitize all these slides just to make PTE shows for my personal enjoyment. The flatbeds might make a better image but just too much work. I would have tried getting my old Nikon Coolscan III to work for special images with Hamrick's firmware but the Coolscan uses some old type of connection, don't think I have it anymore....way before USBs became the norm. Your color correction is a bit cooler than mine. I haven't really got into how I want to 'Photoshop' these digitized slide image. It will take many trials to get it right. Then make an Action, maybe. I set my camera to match the LED bulb at 3000K. Before that, they were way too warm. Maybe I can try different such settings. Easier to fix it in the digitizing than latter in Photoshop, for all these slides. Thanks... Gary

Greetings Rosy, You have a point. But my attempts to digitize my slides have been a long and torturous route. Scanning lots of positive and negatives is not a walk in the park. Years ago, my first attempt was to use a Nikon Coolscan III. Its slide holder would allow 3 at a time. Painful. Then Nikon did not update its firmware with a new version of Window so it turned into a brick. Then I bought an Epson flatbed scanner. What pain to have to take out each slide from the Kodak carousels, mount them (correctly), scan them and put them back or somewhere. I think the slide holder allowed more than 3, but not enough. Then, I obtained another flatbed scanner. The slide holder was limited to 3, again. Took just too long, again, to mount in slide holder, digitize, remove/replace...repeat. Each digitizing session took minutes. Here is what I am trying to replicate, but it cost $3495, plus buying a macro lens, so lets say over $4000. Being in the carousels, I save bunches of time. Plus, I can preview them in the Live Mode of my Nikon D7100 camera. So I can skip over any obvious throwaways. Yes, my cobbled unit has its issues. And lining up the projector and camera is a difficult process. But I am working on that. So far, my project has cost about $780, including the 105mm macro lens I had to buy. I would never have the patience to use a flatbed or a device that only did 3 at a time. Since most of mine are already in carousels, why not? And for the one in boxes or sleeves, I've got the Stack Loader. The SlideScan Pro is really impressive and it is automated so, you just press a button and it automatically rotates the carousel and takes the picture, one after the other. But from what I have experienced, each slide needs to be handled and evaluated. Some stick, some need a better focus, some you just don't want to bother with. If I had the money, I might get one...I was about to. But, what the heck. Why not make one myself? I have a trigger to rotate the carousel and one to take to take the picture. Sort of automated but give me full control. Once I get the project and lens registered correctly, It should go pretty fast. Your suggestion makes sense if I had few hundred images to scan. But I could not stand the tedium of flatbed or similar device. Gary

Greetings All, I have, probably, 8000+ slides from many past vacations. Most are in Kodak carousels. I have wanted to digitize them for many years to use in PTE shows but too expensive to send them out and too difficult to organize them before sending them out. After much research, I have cobbled together a very rough setup. If anyone is thinking along these lines, it is not too expensive, except for the Sigma 105 Macro lens, and I already had my slide projector. I also have a Kodak Stack Loader for those slides in boxes or sheets. The hard part is to get the projector and the camera in parallel, lined up, and no linear distortion. I've temporarily stacked up some boards under the projector to get close to the height of the lens. Then trying to aim the macro lens into the projector in a perfect line is really tough. The adjustable Decade Tripod Base is working out. I am going to get a level cube to sit on the camera's hot shoe. That should help. Also, below, here are a couple images that show what I have done so far. I need now come up with a more permanent and less shaky setup. I'll screw the stack of boards (making it neater) under the projector. And, screw down the Decade Tripod Base under the rail. I can make minor adjustments with the rail, up, down, left, right. But I have to start out pretty close. It will keep me busy for a while as I try to figure this out! I removed the 300 watt bulb and replace it with an LED bulb and put a small section of Rosco White Diffusion paper over the projector's lens. Here, also are a couple test images. Not lined up perfectly yet, but close. You'll see some black border edges. Not great quality but will be useful to make my digital slideshows. All the images come out upside-down and I have to rotate the portrait slide to landscape. Maybe, I'll just rotate all of them before I digitize them. Lots of attention is needed. No way can this process be automated because each slide needs attention. Not to mention the ones that get stuck. The triggers to take the shot and to advance the carousel really helps and reduce shake. Image of slide, unprocessed (not bad, but needs some Photoshoping): Then, a little Photoshoping (a bit better?): Image of slide, unprocessed (not bad, but needs some Photoshoping): Then, a little Photoshoping (a bit better?): Hope this gives anyone with bunches of slides a way of digitizing them. I really don't know the best answers to all of this. I am learning as I go along. Gary

Greetings, Here is a screen capture program that I have been using for a long time. You can download the English version (as opposed to the original German language version). Look at the far right of the site to download it in English. (Free) https://www.infonautics.ch/screencaptureprint/indexde.htm Opppsss... here is the English version site... https://www.infonautics.ch/screencaptureprint/ Gary

Yes, Thanks. I understand that PTE can Publish as '4K'. But I was not sure that Dash Cams 4K format can be read by PTE. There are so many different formats I was just not sure if a Dash Cam's 4K would be a 'standard' format and readable by PTE. Gary

Greetings, I am thinking of getting a dash camera. I probably will get a 2k model, but I am wondering if PTE would have any problems with 4K video from a dash cam? Gary

I know nothing about Macintosh's Big Sur, but I got this today from the Tim Grey eNewsletter. Gary ======================= Today's Question Do you feel it is safe to upgrade to the latest Macintosh “Big Sur” operating system? Do the Adobe applications work with this new version? Tim's Quick Answer: I do not recommend upgrading to the new “Big Sur” version of the Macintosh operating system, at least until there is an updated bug fix for the current version. However, the key Adobe applications are compatible with this new operating system version. More Detail: The “Big Sur” version of the Macintosh operating system represents a rather significant update, but it is also an update that has been reported to have quite a few stability and compatibility issues. One of the major updates in this new version of the operating system is support for Apple’s new M1 chip. Some of the newest computers from Apple make use of this processor rather than the Intel processors that had been in use for prior computer models. This introduces some additional compatibility issues for applications. Adobe has indicated, for example, that their applications will not natively support the M1 chip until 2021. The issue of the M1 chip is only a factor if you buy one of the new computers with this chip. However, the Big Sur update also creates some concerns about stability and compatibility. I highly recommend waiting at least until there is a bug fix release for the Big Sur operating system before upgrading. I also recommend confirming compatibility for the software and devices you will be using to ensure you won’t run into any issues there. In short, I suggest not being in any particular rush to upgrade, so you can avoid the frustration of stability and compatibility issues.

Greetings, Not sure if this is in the correct Forum sub-topic. But it has to do with using non-copyrighted music in our PTE shows (if uploaded to FB or YouTube). I have been using the Audible Magic site to upload individual music selections or an entire PTE show to double-check if any of the music is copyrighted. I recently got an error when trying to log onto the site. I asked them what the problem was and I got this response: "Unfortunately, we have disabled our content registration portal and are only ingesting content through our traditional, direct feeds now. If you would like to continue delivering content you will need to go through a distributor or an aggregator such as CI, FUGA, Audiosalad, etc. Please note that although our registration portal is no longer active, your content will continue to be protected on platforms that use our technology." I went to the sites that were mentioned but it is Greek to me. I'd like to know if anyone is using any other site to double-check if the music they are using for PTE shows is copyrighted or not. Gary

And, if we can overwrite the original MP4 file when we re-Publish HD Video and remove the '(2)', it works...but not in Trim/Convert??? Gary

Greetings, Your 'converted.converted' file is only35.6Kb, so that is the 'empty' file, similar to what happens to me. And your original 'trimmed/converted' file disappears. I don't receive the 'Video not found'. It seems to me to be a problem that you can not trim/convert an already trimmed file (.converted.mp4) and rename the '.converted.converted' back to just '.converted'. Seems you have to accept the 'converted.converted' filename and then have to delete the original 'converted' file and then rename the 'converted.converted' file back to 'converted' in a separate step. Does not make sense that you can not just trim/convert a previously converted file and overwrite the filename since it asks you if you want to overwrite it. And why does it put in an underscore in the file name??? Not sure why I have the problem with closing the windows after I try to overwrite the file. I have to re-boot to clear them out. Gary

Greetings Igor, I don't understand that you say I can not overwrite a Converted/Trimmed file with the same name. I want to trim a previously Converted/Trimmed clip and keep the same name. Seems like a normal Windows function to overwrite a file. Why would it give me a useless file with a filename with an 'underscore'? And remove the previously converted/trimmed clip?: When I try to do this, I do get the question if I want to overwrite the previous file. So it looks like it will do it, but it does not: Then, I try to close the window of that appears after the failed overwrite, but it will not Close: Then I tried to delete these two useless files from the PTE File List, but I can not. Says they are In Use. I removed them in the Task Manager App list. Then try to delete them using Windows Explorer, but, again I can not. Says they are In Use. I closed/reopened PTE, and still not able to delete them. There is something not right, I believe. Gary =====================================

Greetings, I found a problem when I try to trim a 'converted' video clip and try to rename it by removing the second 'converted' in filename to overwrite the first converted clip. More details: I trimmed a video clip and saved as 'filename.converted.mp4'. I then tried to trim that clip. The filename would have been 'filename.converted.converted.mp4'. But I wanted to save it by overwriting the previous file so I edited out the second 'converted' to save it as 'filename.converted.mp4'. But the process freezes. This happened twice. And I noticed that the file that is created when it freezes is 'filename.converted_.converted.mp4'. (Notice the underscore). The file is only 262 bytes and blank. (version 10.0.13) Gary

Greetings, When in the Timeline, right click on the audio file and you will get a menu. Just be sure you have first selected the specific slide you want the audio clip to be linked to. And then just select 'Link Audio Clip...'. Then it should indicate that the audio clip is linked to that specific slide. Gary

Yes, if you apply a Style to non-sequential slides, the slides will be regrouped together and the Duration will be set by whatever the author of the style had it set to. So you just have to reenter the Duration you want for that slide(s).

Greetings, It seems you are applying a Style after you have set your slides' durations. If you do that, all the durations will be reset as to what the Style has set as the Full Duration. I have inadvertently done this and had to reset each slide's duration one by one to correct this problem. Just a quirk in the system and I have already asked Igor to fix this issue and he is aware of it. So apply the Style, then set each slide's duration. (If I understand your question...) Gary

Igor, Along with not changing the order of the slides, it would be helpful, also, if there was a choice to retain the Full Duration (FD) of the slide that the Style is being applied to. In addition, I think it has been noted before that even if you change the Style's FD, it does not always give the exact same result. For example, if I have a slide with the FD of 4.088, and change the Style's FD to match the existing FD, I get 4.087. Not a big difference but seems it should be exact. Other times, it does input the same FD. Gary

Greetings Brad, I made a similar suggestion some time ago. Igor mentioned, maybe in Version 11. See below. Gary

Greetings Brad, Very enjoyable show. I like your mix of animations. Kept me interested. Thanks... Gary

I am not sure if this actually answered your question or not. Was it helpful or is there something else that we missed? Gary

Give this a try.... Barry Beckham's video... on keyframes. Gary https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCSRlEl6raTzjc6ju4VvucJA/videos

I haven't used it much since I always have all file in my project folder. But I believe 'File/Create Backup in Zip' will put together all your scattered files used in the project into a zip file. Then, just create a new project folder and unzip in that folder. Others may correct my thinking. Gary

Greetings, I am sure others will have different opinions but I believe that you should have all of your files in one place. I copy all files into the project folder so there is no way of wondering where anything is latter on. Gary