davegee

I did a quick experiment last evening and found that a DVD burned from an ISO file would not play on my HDD/Recorder. However a DVD burned from a FOLDER created from the PTE worked OK. (I never burn directly to the DVD). I used a DVD+RW for the experiment . Personally I could not see a dramatic difference from a DVD burned the old fashioned AVI route. More experiments today. DaveG

Bill, Apologies - I did not read your reply to Ken correctly. Jason is correct in that you will need another programme to author the DVD, such as Sonic MyDVD or Roxio etc. Nettleton, Whilst Sonic MyDVD has never failed me when writing to a folder before burning the DVD, Roxio will also do almost the same thing by writing an ISO file to your hard disc for future burning. If you have a bottomless HDD you can keep these folders or ISO files for burning DVDs without having to resort to creating the AVI from PTE every time you need another copy. DaveG

Bill, The following may be of help: If you were doing it the other way around i.e. creating the DVD in a DVD Recorder then normally an "un-finalised" DVD would NOT play on your computer. If your computer software gives you the option to finalise then I would definitely finalise. Another tip: When doing trials use a Re-Writeable DVD for your tests - it saves a lot of anguish and not a little cash! You can always erase and try again if something goes wrong. If it works then make the DVD. Another thing - I have noticed that both of my DVD players seem to like DVD+R better than DVD-R. I use a programme called SONIC MyDVD which allows the writing of the Movie to a folder - the logic being that if writing to the folder is successful then you can go ahead and make a successful DVD by writing the data in the folder to a DVD. I hope this is of SOME help? DaveG

I plug PTE at every opportunity at the www.NIKONIANS.ORG site in the Postprocessing section. If any of you are Nikon users the site is a good source of info about all matters relating to Nikon equipment and the Postprocessing section is a good place to browse for info on Photoshop and Nikon NX RAW Conversion software. The question of which AV software is best crops up from time to time and I would appreciate some back-up when I recommend PTE. Thanks, DaveG

Hi Nicky, I have just checked my Help file and the USER MANUAL is not there, probably because it is a BETA version. However there is a guide to creating DVDs. Look in the forum for some of the independent tutorials and download those. You could also download there most up-to-date Version 4 in which there will be a User manual albeit that the new features in Version5#6 will not be there. Your version 5 key will also work with version 4. dave

Lin, Are you speaking for Igor, or just expressing an opinion?

In my case it was simply a matter of re-installing (an earlier version of) Roxio. All is now well. One thought - does the Codec reside in different places in different versions of Windows XP i.e. Home, Media, Pro etc? DaveG.

I think that I have the same problem. My method of creating a DVD in the past (on my Laptop running XP Home....) has been to create the Temp file, open ROXIO 8 and then create an ISO file from the Temp file for later burning to DVD. This always worked successfully. On my new desktop (running XP Media .... and everything else the same) I get as far as trying to create the ISO file at which an error is encountered and stops the process. I can play the Temp file but cannot create the ISO file. Any help greatly appreciated. DaveG.

I think that you will find that a PNG file created in PP will not be transparent so there is little point in that. Just go with the JPG option. DaveG

Powerpoint will allow you to save slides as JPEG or PNG but unless I am mistaken they will not allow transparency in the PNGs. If you make the PP slide white text on a black back and use black as b/g in PTE the white text will appear to animate on the black b/g. It might work.

Lin is correct, The Left/Right arrows on screen allow navigation between keypoints but the Left/Right keys on the keyboard only work after you have mouse clicked on a keypoint. The strange thing is that once you get the Left/Right keys activated they work for all slides in the show not just the slide you were working on (if you use the Next/Previous slides arrows). However if you come out of O&A and return you have to "Activate" the Left/Right keys again. DaveG

If your Keypoints are in the right places then you should see the "outgoing effect" merge with the "incoming effect". Give the guys here more detail? DaveG

I'm With Al. Show by default. DaveG

Forgive me if this has been covered elsewhere - perhaps I missed it. I think that I know all of the different ways in which I can distort an object/image in the O&A dialogue (except one). Is it possible now or will it be possible at some time to be able to control each of the corner points of an object/image independently of the rest so as to produce perspective effects? I am thinking of turning a rectangle into a trapezium (or vice versa) while zooming in or out. This type of control would need three variations, I think. a. Completely independent control of each of the four corners. b. Control of two corners in the horizontal plane c. Control of two corners in the vertical plane. Something for Igor to consider, or is it possible now? DaveG

Hi Igor, Many thanks - that worked. You were correct that I set Windowed Mode when I created the Beta 2 show. I will await Beta 4 for the reinstatement of Windowed Mode and synchronisation of music functions. I looked at all of the new features and agree with Jeff about the renaming of "Ignore Objects Not Selected". I will find this more useful than the "Transparent for click" but I can see a use for both. I quickly found that some of the new features (e.g. file names in Objects Pane) are not applied when opening a Beta 2 project in Beta 3 but apply to all new additions to the project. In the "Project Options" there is some loss of text in the line: "Permit control of show …" The Time Range is a very useful feature but gets a little difficult to interpret toward the end of a long show. Could it read out in Minutes / Seconds and parts of a second? Thanks for all of your work and long hours (!). DaveG

Hi Igor, Regarding Windowed Mode - I guessed that it was not available. But why is my show appearing at the TOP of the screen with no black line above and WIDE black line below. It was not this way in Beta #2? The show appeared in the centre with the same thickness black line top and bottom. Why has this changed? Will I have to go back to Beta #2? DaveG

Hi Igor, In Beta #2 when running in "Windowed Mode" and a 1280x853 show my show was displaying full width in the centre of the screen with black line top and bottom. In Beta#3 it is showing full width at the top of the screen with a large black line at the bottom. This does not look right????? Also I cannot select "Windowed Mode". My show is Custom:1.5 and 1280x853. Is this a problem? Is there something I have missed? DaveG

Hi all, I have posted a Photoshop Action which will cut up any image into 10 equal parts so as to allow the Venetian Blind effect. It works for both horizontal and vertical blinds. You can download here. Please let me know of any difficulties downloading or using the Action? DaveG

Doesn't the Synth have a different volume control in the MASTER VOLUME display? It is possible that Ken and Ron's Synth Volume is down in the Master (compared to the rest)? DaveG

In the OBJECTS window in O&A right click on the image you want to change the order of then click on ORDER and all of the options are there. DaveG

Thanks Barry, Quote: "However, it may be simpler to say that, if you intend to pan or zoom an image the picture needs to be bigger that the rest to allow the quality to be retained during the movement or zoom". I merely quantified, to the best of my ability, what you choose to generalise on. DaveG

Hi Igor, I am not sure what you are proposing along with Al and Ken, but please remember that some, myself included are quite happy to proceed with what I proposed when I started this thread i.e. the combination of "Fit To Screen" and "Windowed Mode" which would allow for the playing of ANY aspect ratio on ANY monitor. DaveG

The whole subject of Aspect Ratio / Image resolution / Zoom Degradation has provoked a lot of debate in various threads here over the last week or two. I have given my thoughts on Aspect Ratios and one possible way of approaching them. A question was posed regarding the correct/best Image Resolution and Zoom Ratio to prevent image degradation. The way I see it there is no single definitive answer because it depends on a number of factors: Where you are starting from: Camera resolution? Purpose of show: Your own monitor or everyone’s monitor? For example: A D70 camera produces a 3008x2000 pixel file while a D200 file is 3872x2592 and the Canon 30D is 3504x2336. It is immediately obvious that zooming into a 1280 pixel wide image from any of these involves different percentages of zooming. Also different monitor resolutions mean that the figure you are trying to achieve is different for each case. The “norm” these days is anywhere between 1024 pixels and 1600 pixels wide. I have attempted below, to produce a table which shows these differences. The figure given in each case is the Maximum Zoom possible from each of the camera files and for each monitor pixel size. Definition: Maximum Zoom is the zoom amount beyond which some interpolation is required by PTE to fit the image to the monitor pixel size. It is assumed that some degradation of the image to some degree will take place beyond this maximum zoom figure. Monitor Width: 1024 Pixels 1280 Pixels 1600 Pixels 3008x2000 (D70) 293% 235% 188% 3504x2336 (30D) 342% 273% 219% 3872x2336 (D200) 378% 302% 242% Taking the full-size D70 image on a 1280 pixel wide monitor with a 3 to 2 aspect ratio and providing for the maximum 235% zoom would require a 3008x2000 pixel image which is at least a 1Mb JPEG file at compression 8. (The same figure for the D200 file would be 1.5Mb). For PTE 4 the same full-size D70 image on a 1280 pixel wide monitor with a 3 to 2 aspect ratio would only require a 1280 pixel wide image whose file size at compression 8 would be just 215Kb. (The same figure for the D200 file would be the same – 215Kb). The file size required to perform these extreme zooms is at least 4 times as big!! The above table assumes that the show is being produced for use on the producer’s monitor. If the same show is uploaded to Beechbrook then the producer has to assume that someone, somewhere, is going to want to download and run on a 1600 pixel wide (or bigger) monitor. If this is accepted then the producer has to forget the figures for the 1024 and 1280 pixel wide monitors and work to the figures for the 1600 pixel wide monitor. Let’s turn it around a little bit. If it is known that the zoom ratio required is going to be less than maximum, what effect does this have on pixel sizes and file sizes? The table below shows the pixel size and corresponding file sizes for D70 images which are going to be shown on a 1280 pixel wide monitor and subjected to the zoom percentages shown. Zoom % 120% 150% 200% 235% Pixel width required 1536 1920 2560 3008 File Size 304Kb 456Kb 750Kb 1Mb I think it is clear from this table that if keeping the file size of the final file to a minimum is important then tailoring the image size to suit the amount of zoom to be subjected to it will assist. So what’s the conclusion? The producer will have to prepare his/her own table of Maximum Zoom percentages based on his/her original image size and the purpose to which the final show is going to be put. A spreadsheet or table with all possible combinations would be a job for someone with much more time on his/her hands than I have. DaveG Sorry about the justification of the tables but I think it is still clear what the figures are.

Al, Re: Windowed Mode. In my examples, if you change the values in the "Windowed Mode" box your Black Background or Canvas in the O & A window changes to suit. Therefore, by my definition, "Windowed Mode" works. I suppose though, that it is the LINE around the images that defines the "Window" in my examples. While I'm on definitions, can I give you my definition of "Fit To Screen"? Fit to screen means that if I create a 5:4 show it will "Fit To Screen" on my 1280x1024 monitor with no black bands around the image. The same 5:4 show will either fit to the height or width of any other aspect ratio monitor. DaveG

Al, I was away all day yesterday and unable to join in but: Please FORGET about image pixel sizes. How can anyone possibly get a 1820x1024 image to "FIT" a 1280x1024 screen - it is NOT possible. But it is possible to create a show on a 1280x1024 screen which will show on any aspect ratio monitor albeit with some black banding somewhere. However, by putting a line around your show the banding becomes less obtrusive. Re: Windowed Mode not being active? I'll get back to you. DaveG