tom95521

Nice video. That young lady was worried but did great. How do they recover people after the jump? Do they lower them down the ground/river or pull them back up? Thanks, Tom

Hi Alan, How is the performance of the converted Windows slideshow compared to a native Mac slideshow? If you convert a .exe into Mac format does the file size grow by a large amount? Wine must support DirectX version 9 which is good news. Thanks, Tom

Hi Eric, Android has a couple of lightbox apps. https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.whimsicalotter.lightbox.free&hl=en https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.sfxbros.lightbox&hl=en Tom

Hi MUR, Very nice. The only problem I see (that might be easy to fix) is at time 22 seconds with blue (azul) and purple (morado) color mix. I think it would more purple and less blue. Having 3 or more objects/layers mixing together is complicated to follow even when using video toolbar. I like you method and will try it in the future. Thanks, Tom

Hi MUR, Interesting. Could you post the project file? Maybe Z order keyframes are not required to do layered transparent objects. I thought they were because of the way colors mix together. Thanks, Tom

Hi MUR, It may not fix your 99% directory problem but I would upgrade to the latest version of PTE (8.0.6). It has an update for DVD playback. Mpeg-2 resolution for DVD is lower than HD video (720 or 1080). Make sure your DVD project bitrate is set to 9800 kbps for highest quality video. http://www.picturestoexe.com/forums/index.php?/topic/17226-picturestoexe-8/?p=119327 Tom

Hi MUR, What version of PTE. How large is your DVD project? Do you have enough free space on your hard drive? Does it work if you create ISO instead of DVD (open ISO with Media Play Classic Home Cinema)? This might help. http://www.picturestoexe.com/forums/index.php?/topic/6880-got-burned-at-99/ MPCHC http://mpc-hc.org/ Tom

Hi MUR, From my limited understanding there are various methods to simulate correct Z order such as show front side only (rotating cube), switch transparency on/off, and multiple slides. It is hard to correctly display semi-transparent objects on one slide without drawing the objects in the correct order. Thanks for your demo slideshow. It is much more sophisticated than my versions. Tom

I use a MacBook Pro with parallels/win7 and it works. Do you have hardware acceleration enabled? http://download.parallels.com/desktop/v5/docs/en/Parallels_Desktop_Users_Guide/22986.htm What happens when you run dxdiag? http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-vista/run-directx-diagnostic-tool Tom

Hi Ray, Are you connecting your video camera to your PC using firewire (ieee1394)? I don't use firewire now but when I did I found that scenalyzer (now free) did a great job for importing video to the hard drive. I payed for it when it was a commercial program and it was very reliable and easy to use. Limited to SD video (not HD). http://www.scenalyzer.com/ http://niftyvid.blogspot.com/2007/08/software-review.html Thanks, Tom

Hi Gary, Very nice. The video tutorial for Respeeder also appears to show video stabilization capability. I will put it on my wish list. Thanks, Tom

It would be nice if we had a new keyframe property to move layers up or down. This would be a manual method of adjusting for hidden surface removal without requiring Direct3D or hardware graphics function. It would be compatible with all operating systems that PTE supports. It may not fix all Z order problems but it would fix the simple ones like the one in the video below. The demo slideshow utilizes 4 slides to simulate layer moving at keyframes. I have not tested to see if it accurately models transparency but in theory it should since the layers are in the correct order. Thanks, Tom z-order.zip Update: Z-order transparency test. It appears to be accurate. z-order_transparency.zip

Since PTE slideshow objects follow a fixed path (not random) maybe it's possible to replace 3D graphics API and graphics card firmware with PTE code for hidden surface removal with transparency. Maybe by creating a custom lookup table for each slideshow generated with depth and transparency data including timecode which is then compressed embedded into slideshow. During playback it would be decompressed into memory and provide the data required for hidden surface removal with transparency. Lookup tables are not cpu intensive because the data has already been calculated. Then it would work on everything from XP to Windows 8. Tom

My guess is that 4K UHDTV are currently for files already encoded in video format instead of display mirroring due to the GPU requirements. I am sure that will change as new GPUs that are smaller and faster with lower power requirements. The 8 MP screen resolution should make video slideshows look great. Of course professionals can buy hardware (current gen Mac Pro) that can easily drive a 4K monitor. I often watch PTE exe slideshows on my HDTV using my desktop PC over wireless (chromecast desktop). It's not bad but not 4K! Also tablets are really getting powerful. 64 bits, quad+ cores. 10K photos a year? Amazing. Thanks, Tom

Hi Gary, I will have to experiment with hyperlapse. It reminds me of stop motion claymation but with people. Maybe I should get a good monopod first instead of a ball head video tripod. Thanks, Tom

Hi Judy, Cool. I am hoping the Panasconic FZ1000 with 5 axis stabilization will help reduce vibration. Thanks, Tom

Hi Barry, Yes. I learned a lesson. It is important not to crop the subject too tight when you are not using a tripod in case you want to use video stabilization software. I wasted about an hour of time trying to do video stabilization in PTE by adding keyframes and selecting a fixed object on the screen near the border of the image (rotation near center is very hard to detect). The lower frequencies were easy to remove but the higher frequency vibration is very hard to remove by manual keyframe pan/rotate adjustments. It takes math and a computer to stabilize video. Tom

Barry, It was a topic about 9 months ago. Hidden Surface Removal Lin has an example with PTE source here. The green floor should cover the red and blue squares when it is above the center of the screen. Apparently newer versions of Direct3D support hidden surface removal. Tom Lin's Example.

Hi Eric, About a year(?) ago DG tested 3D X axis perspective correction with good results. I think he was testing just images but it seems to work just as well with video. I did not find a How To for perspective correction. Probably a good idea if DG or Lin have time to add an example under 3D parameters or the How To section. I am a terrible writer. Tom

Currently Color Adjustment is limited to Original, Grayscale, Sepia, and Custom. It would be nice to have another option for White Balance. When selected a color picker would allow you to select an area on the image or video and set the reference white/gray neutral color. The color temperature would be adjusted based on the white area you selected. Thanks, Tom

Hi Lin, I'm sure you have used the Photoshop method for variable rotation using click and drag to create a reference horizon? I may be wrong but I think the click and drag between 2 distant points on the image (to establish either perfect horizontal or vertical) is faster and more accurate that manually using the rotate with grid option (which is awkward to fine control rotation even with keyboard). I find the "Photoshop" method intuitive for fine rotation down to .001 degree. The click and drag function already exists in Pixbuilder Studio so the source code could probably be added to PTE without much trouble. An even more advanced option would include 2 almost parallel lines and the software adjust the image so that they are exactly parallel (by auto adjusting the 3D X/Y axis). Thanks, Tom

Just playing around with Mercalli 2 Rock-Steady Camera option (stationary hand held capture) and PicturesToExe 3D Rotate X for perspective correction of building. The combination works great together. For still photo perspective correction you could use PicturesToExe 3D X rotate, Photoshop, or the free German software ShiftN. Tom

Like Photoshop and many other image editors it would be nice if we could click and drag a line between 2 points (vertical or horizontal) on image or video object to auto rotate image. I know some people think ALL image adjustments should be made outside of PTE but for beginners who just want to import some photos and create a slideshow a simple image rotate would help. The existing method of manual rotation using the alignment grid is not as accurate or fast as click and drag a straight line. Auto zoom to fill in rotated background would be nice too. Thanks, Tom

That would be fantastic if objects includes hidden surface removal. I hope it happens in a future version!Thanks, Tom

Maybe you could export slideshow using page curl transitions as 1080p and then import video into a slide. Tom