alrobin

Thanks, Fromatoz! And thanks, Jim, for the plug. I was beginning to wonder whether anyone was finding the latest addition useful. Glad you appreciate it! I will be taking a little holiday away from programming for a while, but hope to get back to working on it and adding more features in April. Let me know if there is anything in particular you would like to see.

Deep6, Are you able to listen to mp3's other than through PTE? What happens when you double-click on an mp3 file outside of PTE? Windows Media Player (or some other player designated as default for mp3's, such as the one which came with your sound card) should open and play the music. Maybe the problem is with the player you have selected as the default for mp3. Try making Windows Media Player the default if it is not already.

There's something basically wrong, anyway, with a voting system where you can only vote for one item, when there will be more than one item selected eventually. To understand the fallacy in this, imagine the situation where one or two of the options are absolutely essential or much more important than the others - then everyone will vote for them, and we will be no further ahead!

Rudi, Right now there are 123 separate threads in this forum. All I'm proposing is to add a bit of structure to them - I don't think 10 or 15 sub-categories is too many, as they would all fit on one page, and the topics are very diverse, so will be difficult to catalogue, no matter how many or few categories we have. Maybe we should start with 6 or 8 and add to them as required. As long as we are not locked in to whatever we choose to start with. Most of the suggestions so far have been technically oriented (either features, or how to use them). I believe we have room in the forum for some topics on show-creation, special effects, etc., that address the end product of our creative endeavours. (like your ingenious "Juke Box"). After all, that's what it's really all about!

I'm with Ken on this. A "general" category is needed, or people won't bother to post if it doesn't fit in with the other categories. We want to encourage participation in the forum, not discourage it. The problem of too many posts in the "general" category would be partly solved through the use of more categories. I feel 4 is not sufficient, and there is certainly room on the front page for more than 4. Some additional suggested topics are: - special effects - techniques for effective slide shows - notification of new shows produced - digital AV news, interesting web sites, competitions - discussion on new versions of PTE. - suggested new features and modifications. - other useful software - use of objects There will always be the problem of overlap between topics, but it is easy to check out a number of topics to see if there is anything of interest. The forum will naturally be amorphous, and ever-changing in nature, subject to the whims of the participants. A few polite "flames" now and then should keep people using it according to the original intentions, and new categories can always be added, if warranted, according to the number of posts on different topics. Just my 2-cents-worth.

Ken, That's exactly what I had in mind!!

If we're limited to only 4, I would like to see: 1. Images (technical discussion, problems, etc.) 2. Audio (technical discussion, problems, etc.) 3. New Member (questions, tips, advice, etc.) 4. General (comments, social, and everything that doesn't fit under the above.) (sort of in order of importance) Also, Igor, as well as having sub-categories, can they be organized in two layers, not like the two categories we now have, with both on the same page? What I visualize is a system such that when you click on one of the new main categories, you open a separate page of different threads (or sub-categories) relating to the main category, similar to what we have now with only one category. Then, as now, clicking on a thread would bring up a chronological sequence of messages pertaining to that thread. Otherwise, there won't be room on one page for all the threads open under any particular main category. This way, there would still be room for your "pinned" category, plus any links leading to general information about PTE, and a link leading to the archives, as Ken suggested in his posting.

In the PTE script, as you know, "opt_fx_time=" refers to the default transition effects duration, and "EffectTime=" reflects the transition time for each customized slide. Could you not please give us two text boxes in the timeline dialogue area which would show these two parameters when a slide number is highlighted, and allow us to change these two parameters, only, as a temporary measure, until you have time to add the more sophisticated and user-friendly dialogue capability later on, which would recognize effect types, etc., as well? Surely, this cannot be so difficult?? This is such an obvious and important feature!

I agree with Harold and Cici. IMHO, this is the most pressing new feature for PTE. The one which affects me the most, anyway. Are you listening, Igor?

I have uploaded a new beta for the PTE Adjustor Model , version 2.07. The new model includes a "Dark-Table" where images can be moved about as on a "light-table", previewed, etc., and then the new order put back into a PTE-compatible file. It is simple to operate, particularly if you are familiar with spreadsheets. The main controls for the images on the "Dark-Table" are as follows: - select a slide: "left-click" with the mouse - select a number of slides (at random, if desired): "shift-left-click". - preview an image in small format: "right-click" with the mouse. - preview in large format: "shift-right-click". Everything else should be self explanatory. If not, a short text file is also provided. Please let me know of any problems - due to different configurations of Excel 97 and 2000, a few people may have problems in opening and running it in their present configurations. For the others, I believe you will find this simple spreadsheet helpful in organizing and editing your digital shows. Please contact me if you need any assistance in operating it. Enjoy!

Ken, I was wondering the same thing. Glad to see you're still here. Maybe everyone is saying as little as possible so Igor has fewer requests to monitor, and therefore more time to spend on new PTE features

Hi, George, No, for sure, that's not how it's supposed to be. One of the attractions of PTE is the smooth dissolves (and other transitions), even in the preview mode. It's difficult to diagnose your problem without knowing a little more about it. (e.g. number of slides, length and type of the music, default transition times, size of image files, "horsepower" of your pc, how long you allow for startup, etc. If you have a fairly recent pc setup, then I would first check to see that the transition times are shorter than the average time allowed "on-screen" per slide. Then, try different preview-start points, and try to diagnose the problem from there. Don't hesitate to write back if you think it's none of the above. Someone will undoubtedly come up with the solution.

lavocat, It should be possible for Igor to provide another option in the "Comments" menu to enable a custom message. Then it could be designated to appear on each slide, and where it was not wanted, this could be indicated in the "Customize" section. Although it is not entirely what you are looking for, it might help to meet your requirements at least part way. The comments can be sized and positioned, but unfortunately are limited now to "file name", etc. By the way, your English is excellent!

RWAV, Another possibility, although it may not be suitable for your application, is to design a short non-synched introduction slide show with your introduction slides and an object on the last slide which when you click on it, will start the main synched show. Many requests have gone in to Igor to have the capability of automatically starting a second application at the end of the first. This feature would make this method even more viable Also, it is possible to have two pieces of music in the playlist, the first one being the silent piece. This, too, may not work in your situation, as some people have been complaining about unreliable timing with more than one music selection.

Lavocat, If I understand what you are looking for, you can do it easily using the Object Editor. Any text that you add will follow the same transitions as the slide with which it is associated. If you want the image to stay on the screen while the text changes, then just add a second appearance of the same image, and put the new text on it. If you don't want an image, but just text, then use "black slides" as the base, and put the text objects on them. PTE is very versatile! (still won't make cappuccinos, though ) Hope this answers your question.

Igor, That looks fine now. However, there is one case where the problem still exists. If you set "quick", or "no-transition" as the only selected transition effect in Project Options / Effects, the grey horizontal bar still shows up for those images which are not customized, unless you also change the default timing to 20 ms. Not a major problem, but enough to make someone wonder why they are seeing a grey bar when there should be a "cut".

I'm with Harold. Even if Igor starts by just adding a little text box for inputting a revised time for a customized transition when the presentation is paused and that slide is selected on the timeline, at least that would be a start, and would be so useful!! However, while he is at it, I agree that it wouldn't be all that difficult to add in the ability to select a new transition. Changing a "default" transition to one which is "synchronized", from the timeline, would be a little more challenging, but, again, we're not talking about "rocket science" here!

Yeah, that too! I'm not up on all the technology re hi-fi like I should be - I have a hard enough time keeping up with pc's and one step ahead of my wife!

Guido, My LP player doesn't have a line out. Needs to go through an external amp. It's an old one - like me it needs an extra boost!

OK, now I understand! I'm a little dense sometimes. If it helps, I'll add my vote for it too! Doing animations this way would have one great advantage - you wouldn't have to use up a lot of file space with different images. It's getting into the realm of video, but you could even extend the idea to having the program fill in intermediate images, sort of like the "tweening" process in "Flash", only in slower-motion, to preserve the smooth transitions.

Sorry, Michel, I'm not making myself clear. I meant to say: do you want to use it for "pseudo-animations"?

This would be handy for doing pseudo animations. Of course, you could set this up ahead of time in Photoshop and achieve the same effect. But being able to do it in PTE would make adjustments easier to achieve the desired effect. Is this the purpose for which you want to use it? Or do you have something else in mind?

Guido, I think you are right - I only have the problem with my laptop. The desktop soundcard seems ok as far as line-input is concerned. And, I have all the systems at max on the pc mixer controls, too. Pete, I should have mentioned re the LP recording that I run everything through a mixer so I can control and mix various inputs (microphone, CD, MIDI, TV, radio receiver, and 2 pc's). Then I have one output going to my stereo setup, and the other output to the pc. (I have to remember to turn down the pc outputs when I'm recording! ) You may have a problem with the correct input levels from an LP player, if you're going directly to the pc, unless you have some kind of a pre-amp.

Not sure I understand you, Michel. Do you mean having images appear in different positions on the screen as the slide show progresses, and be able to control this in the object editor? Sounds like an interesting feature.

Posted new beta 2.06 at 4:30 AM, Igor's time.