Fried

This is my laptop: Sager NP9262 - Gaming Laptop - $3,067.00 17" WUXGA (1920x1200) Glossy Widescreen nVIDIA GeForce 9800M GTX 1GB Intel® Core™2 Quad Processor Q9650 3.0GHz Processor w/12M L2 Cache - 1333MHz FSB Arctic Silver 5 Thermal Compound 4GB (2 SODIMMS) DDR2/800 Dual Channel Memory (64bit Vista Required) 320GB SATA II 3GB/s 7,200 RPM Hard Drive (16MB Cache Buffer) 320GB SATA II 3GB/s 7,200 RPM Hard Drive (16MB Cache Buffer) RAID Disabled Combo 8x8x6x4x Dual Layer DVD +/-R/RW 5x DVD-RAM 24x CD-R/RW Drive w/Softwares 7-in-1 Memory Card Reader (All versions of MS + SD/MMC) Built-in Intel® PRO/Wireless 5300 802.11a/g/n Built-in Bluetooth Wireless Smart Li-ion Battery (12 Cell)

Great feedback as usual Lin! Many thanks. 1. Compression/resolution confusion. AH HA. Yes, I've been confusing this. I am processing my NEF-->PSD-->JPEG in Bridge+Photoshop CS4. The JPEG I've been creating is 1920x1080 @ 100 Quality for the "day of presentation" show. The 1920x1080 @ 100 works pretty well on my laptop and my Optoma supports 1920x1080, which is awesome. I then have been making a second version in which I reduce the quality to 60 to keep the size down for downloading; the resolution is still 1920x1080 though so the throughput requirement really hasn't changed. Perhaps I should expand my workflow and add making a lower resolution 1080x720 version so users get a smoother experience. That would also make the downloads smaller. 2. I've not been clicking on the "anti shimmering" setting. I'll start doing so. 3. The Mac version... I will try your suggestion later this week. 4. I'll give up on the MP4 versions for now. The thing the really drew me to P2E was being able to precisely control the synch between the music and the slides, etc. I'll not release anything that compromises the quality of that. I was making my shows 800x600 until this year. With my new laptop and projector, I may been a bit overly enthusiastic and made too big of a leap to 1920x1080 for the hardware used by the majority of my users since they're all over the world and run anything from the latest and greatest to the worst of the worst.

Hi Everyone I am done with my slide shows for the year and made use of the pan/zoom as well as the MP4 output option for my Mac users. The following results are based on testing on multiple PC and Mac systems running various versions of OS. In the EXE version of shows the pan/zoom was not smooth at times but if I cut back on the amount of pan or zoom and really dropped back on the quality of the JPEG the usual EXE smoothness was achieved. You can get a good example of this starting at 0:030 in either version of the slide shows. The MP4 versions are disappointing. It seems no matter what pan/zoom settings or options I select in the MP4 creation menu, the pan/zooms are jerky. Furthermore, the latest show is exhibiting an odd artifact: after a high-speed rotation at 6:58, the images increasingly are showing a "paint" effect in their rendering not present in the EXE version and certainly not present in the original images. This effect is seen in the MP4 on both PC and Mac and in all three resolutions of the MP4 available in the creation menu. The shows are available on these links: EXE Version: http://www.friedbits.com/PhotoBits/Sailing/Snipe/2009Worlds/Slideshow/2009SnipeWorlds_v2_EXE.zip MP4 Version: http://www.friedbits.com/PhotoBits/Sailing/Snipe/2009Worlds/Slideshow/2009SnipeWorlds_v2_MP4.zip At this point I don't know what else to try or do. I'm not entirely happy with the pan/zoom performance but I can keep trying to work around it. The weird rendering effect in the MP4 makes it unusable and my Mac users are very vociferous.

Hi Everyone Once again I managed to defy all odds and cranked out another big hit slide show at the Snipe Nationals. Hooray! I cropped all images using 9:16, sized to 1920x1080 Medium Quality JPEGS, created an EXE, and presented it on my new Optoma projector. All was great. After I got home, I created an MP4 version at 1080x720, and it plays well on PC and Mac. You can download either version from my Snipe page under 2009 Nationals. http://www.friedbits.com/PhotoBits/Sailing/Snipe/index.php QUESTION How do I now make an iPhone version given that I made the original at 9:16? It seems to only make 3:4.

Thanks Dave, that is what I will try when I get the "final" version put together. For those of you interested, here is a website that guides you through the process of converting your Windows Server 2008 to a Workstation. http://www.win2008workstation.com/wordpress/ I'm double-checking the Fine-Tuning Services page now... http://www.win2008workstation.com/wordpres...uning-services/

Thanks everyone, all good pointers. I've got enough to play with when I get to the event to see what will work. I usually have intermittent Internet access at the venue so I wanted to get your feedback before I got there. Oddly enough, I didn't notice the problem when I started with a larger (9600=5x1920 pixels in the horizontal dimension) image. But I added some stuff, which allowed me to reduce the size to an "odd" 7900 or so pixels thinking that would make it, in effect, pan slower, and then the problem appeared. I'm running Vista 64-bit MS Server reconfigured as a Workstation. I'll ask my IT guys if there are any Services that could be preempting that would cause the glitches. The "Workstation" configuration is supposed to give Service priority to any use app but who knows what is really going on under the MS hood. As a parenthetical comment, Vista 64-bit, Adobe CS4, mega dollar laptop... Other than a lot more pixels I don't know if anything is any better as far as effective usability is concerned. I really wish the computer industry would quit putting us through this rigamarole. I'm running the show on an Optoma TX1080 projector. I like it!

Hmmm... Okay. At the event, I eventually will be placing photos in the places currently occupied by the blue squares. If I'm still having the problem I'll adjust the quality of the JPEG downward. It appears more noticeable in the music version than the silent version. My laptop (where I first noticed the problem) is a SAGER NP9262. Sager NP9262 - Gaming Laptop 17" WUXGA (1920x1200) Glossy Widescreen nVIDIA GeForce 9800M GTX 1GB Intel® Core™2 Quad Processor Q9650 3.0GHz Processor w/12M L2 Cache - 1333MHz FSB 4GB (2 SODIMMS) DDR2/800 Dual Channel Memory (64bit Vista Required) 2 X 320GB SATA II 3GB/s 7,200 RPM Hard Drive (16MB Cache Buffer) Combo 8x8x6x4x Dual Layer DVD +/-R/RW 5x DVD-RAM 24x CD-R/RW Drive w/Software 7-in-1 Memory Card Reader (All versions of MS + SD/MMC) Built-in Intel® PRO/Wireless 5300 802.11a/g/n

I'm saving it at the minimum size needed to cover the pan for the projection resolution. I am also saving it as a very high quality JPEG. It is 1.4MB in size. Concerning the system-related issues, I've ran the EXE on a wide variety of systems here in the office and it seems to glitch at the same places. Some are full-blown workstations we use for video editing, etc. I'll go through all those system-related points if there isn't an obvious issue otherwise. Attached is the EXE file. 2009SnipeNationals_v1.zip

The JPEG being panned is approx 7600w X 1080h. Presentation is 9:16, 1920x1080.

Hi Everyone Working on my new annual presentation and using the pan and zoom features for the first time. PROBLEM: Starting approx. 30 seconds into the attached presentation, I am panning a large (1.4 MB) JPEG (Credits_Montage.jpg) left-to-right for approx 20 seconds. In both the PTE Preview and the EXE version, the pan exhibits small but disconcerting glitches and catches. I've ran both the PTE Preview and the EXE on my laptop as well as my high-end workstation and it is consistently present. QUESTION: Before I try a bunch of random experiments with the artwork (I really don't want to change the animation too much), is there a simple explanation for why is this happening and what can I do to eliminate it? Is this file too big to pan? If so, what are the guidelines for that? I'm having difficulty attaching the zipped EXE. Let me know if you need it or anything else. Appreciate all the help! Fried

Does anyone know of a comparable scheme or arrangement in the US?

Hmmm... okay now I see what I did wrong. I should make the image be the final "full" size, then set the zoom on the FIRST keypoint to the desired small starting size. If I make the background blank field large enough I'm good. Thanks!

I've created my first pan and zoom effects. This is going to be so nice! I think I have the hang of how it works. Very nicely done on the UI. QUESTION Suppose I have a graphic object (like a logo) embedded on an otherwise blank field, created in Illustrator and saved as a GIF. I'd like to create an animation that starts with the logo very small and centered and then zoom in on it until it almost fills the screen. I made one version that starts with the logo at 50% in size of the desired end size and then applied a 200% zoom. It starts to look a bit fuzzy near the end. How would you do something like this for a logo that starts at 10-20% of the final intended size?

Okay, thanks Dave, we were typing simultaneously. Hmmm... how now to get a smoother transition than that harsh jump cut to a totally black screen...

Using v5.6, I've opened an old P2E with the desired opening transition and the opening transition is not the same as in previous versions. Help!