alrobin

Hi, Joe, welcome to the Forum! You have probably experienced a quirk of PTE whereby (in the versions prior to version 5) the positions and sizes of objects added in the Object Editor are affected by the resolution on which the show is being displayed. So, to adapt the 1280 x 1024 show to a 1024 x 768 monitor or projector, you will likely have to go in and change the position of any text you added in Object Editor. If you are not using version 4 or earlier, please let us know and provide more details as to how you are adding the text in question. In Version 5, beta 4, unless you choose "original mode" in "Objects / Animation", this problem will not occur. However, objects other than "rectangle" and "images" are not available yet in the new version.

Ralvis, I've driven by those formations many times, and this is the first time I've seen them from above. Next time by I'll have to stop and explore them a little more thoroughly. Thanks for posting the show.

Hi, Andrew, I have posted a short test show on my website that illustrates the difference in timing that I'm seeing between the timeline sync and the "preview" and created "exe" show in PTE v.5, b.4. It can be downloaded from: http://www.alrobinson.com/sync-check.zip . The file is only 400 kb in size, and contains the project files as well as a created "exe" file. Have a look at the timeline preview, and you should find the synchronization bang-on. However, I find that the images are late by a fraction of a second when I view the finished show, and also the preview from the main pte window. This test show may be useful for anyone else who wishes to play around with the settings and check the effects of different settings on the synchronization, or compare sync mode with timed mode, etc.

Larry, A good place to learn about AVI (and MPEG) formats is this Wikipedia site and also this special Audio-Video site. See also MPEG-2. In short, "avi" is an older "container" format which uses any number of different compression technologies, and "mpeg" is an attempt by many countries and manufacturers to standardize different levels of audio and video compression, depending on what the use is (e.g. mp3 for sound, and many combinations thereof). Mpeg files can be either larger or smaller than their equivalent avi files, but typically they are more highly compressed than is accomplished by other equivalent older coding technologies. I have had avi files up to a gigabyte in size, whereas the "equivalent" mpeg file was less than 100 Mb. We are more familiar with sound files; mp3 files are typically 1/10 of the size of the files used for CD's.

Harvey, I did some more tests, and I have come to the conclusion that you are on to something here. I found a similar anomaly when I changed the slide duration from 15 sec to 4 seconds, and found that the end keypoints for all of my "O/A" objects are missing. However, the "pzr" effects are still there. Igor, perhaps you need to look at this and re-think the treatment of keypoints when slide durations or transition times are changed. The end keypoints should at least be moved back in time so that they still appear on the "O/A" timeline when changes are made.

Well, not exactly. Only if you adjust everything by the 1-second or so difference between the "timeline" and "preview", as the finished "created" show behaves the same as the "preview". However, that is easy to do once the show is set up.

Andrew, It seems to be consistent for me. Fast slide changes also match the desired beats in the waveform view. However, the timing is off by about a second in "Preview" mode compared to timeline playback mode.

Igor, What was the reason for leaving out the "cut" transition from "Project Options / Effects"?

Dusty, I just watched your show, and enjoyed it very much - you seem to have captured and portrayed the spirit of the event very well. It must have been even more enjoyable to have been there in person. We need more events like this to counter all the grief there seems to be in the world right now.

Harvey, If you change a transition duration, then you have to go back into "O/A" and modify the object timing accordingly. PTE is pretty "artificially intelligent", but it can't be programmed to second-guess the author's wishes for all other related times. For example, someone might want the object action to start at a fixed time from the start of a transition, and others might want it to not start until the end of the transition, in which case there might not be sufficient time left between slides for the object action to complete satisfactorily.

Tom, Beta-4 installs into a separate folder, "PicturesToExe 5", located inside the folder you directed it to when you downloaded it. Try double-clicking on the file "apr.exe" inside that folder. If that doesn't work, then you probably haven't installed it correctly.

Bravo, Igor! Everything works fine so far. Thanks again for all your efforts.

Jim, Use the new "zip" option, "File / Create backup in zip" - it's much handier for preparing and sending copies than "template", and even better for saving backups for your own use, as it "zips" everything up in a neat little package. See, you can teach an old dog new tricks!

I have used the autostitch software to stitch together Google Earth images for panning purposes, but the problem with this is that each new image from Google Earth is taken from a different vantage point, so the results are skewed, and some detail at the "joins" between the images does not match up properly. To work effectively, all images should be taken from the same position, so that the result is as if the panorama were made with a super-wide angle lens, even though the individual images may have been made with a telephoto. However, if you are prepared to do a little patch-up work in Photoshop to make the joins match, Google images can be used fairly effectively.

Igor, Sorry for the confusion - I had checked "Ignore not-selected objects" in "Tools", and that is why the other option didn't work. I had forgotten that they are supposed to work together. Everything is fine again. Your progress is good news. PTE is a great program, and soon will be even better. Good luck in the rest of the design effort. We eagerly await testing it for you!

It actually works out quite well when you get used to it. One usually wants to play from the beginning the first time through. Then, you just have to remember not to press "stop".

Paulo, Create the title in PS starting with a transparent background, and save the file as a ".png" or ".gif" file instead of a ".jpg" file (no need to "flatten" it).

Steve, You are 100% correct - this has been pointed out by someone already, and Igor will probably be making some adjustments in future releases of PTE. However, PTE is an application, not a programming language, so doesn't necessarily have to follow all the usual rules of inheritance, etc. Glad you solved the mystery of what was happening in your show. I am sure that all of the operational features of v.5 will be thoroughly covered in various tutorials and explanations on the forum once the design is finalized, likely in a few months' time. Steve, I have done tests with specially constructed grids to test the linearity, and I can agree with Lin that the actual 2-dimensional "velocity" of any "movement" on screen, whether due to panning, zooming, or rotating, is perfectly linear. Any 3-dimensional perceptions are therefore psychological.

Steve, I'm not able to reproduce the effect you describe. Could you please either send me a copy of your ".pte" file, or download this Test Example (only 5 kb). Or, set up your situation in my test example and email it back to me. My home address is alrobin@alrobinson.com . Could it have something to do with the parameters you are using in "Proj Options / Screen / Aspect ratio"?

Igor, "Transparent for click" in beta 3 doesn't seem to be working properly. It doesn't seem to have any effect on the ability to click on an object to highlight it and pan, zoom or rotate it.

Welcome to the forum, You are right in what you say, so far - it's one of the quirks of PTE. However, if you click "Play", then "Pause", then hit the spacebar or hit "play" again, the small preview will continue where it left off. You can then "Pause", re-position the cursor, and it will begin playing from the new position when you hit the spacebar or "Play". You have to remember however, not to click "Stop", or everything will start all over again from the beginning. The spacebar always imitates the last button you pressed. You can also preview the show from a specific point if you highlight one of the blue rectangular transition markers and press "Preview". Hope this helps!

One nice feature of this method is that, because it uses layer masking, it is "non-destructive" and completely "un-doable", using the technique that bjc describes above in his post.

See HERE in Igor's description of beta 3. It's to make it possible to move objects by clicking on them, without requiring them to be in the "front" level. If this option is selected, then the only way to select an object is to select it's name in the object list.

That's wierd! Glad you got it working OK, however, and didn't lose your PTE file.

I would guess that that is a good assumption.