tomg

Saving as a zipped backup did the job ! Thank you John and Wideangle or suggesting it.

I have all my PTE files on hard drive F. I want to make archive copies on hard drive G. So I began by copying and pasting the first AV. The problem is that when I came to test out the AV that is now on drive G, all the slide references are to drive F. How can I quickly convert all the references to the sub files in drive G ? TomG

I have found the answer ! I made the transition a "page effect- from left to right" . This had the effect of moving the text from left to right, just like handwriting.

Peter, The text doesn't pan. It is static on the page. What does pan is the opacity of the text. Initially the entire text is zero opacity. Gradually the text becomes alive across the page from left to right. If I set the first keyframe at zero opacity and the second keyframe at 100% opacity the complete text comes alive in one piece. That is not what I want. How do I achieve a "panned opacity" effect ? Tom

I have been looking at a PTE AV that I made back in 2006. In it there is animated text that flows across the page from left to right, just as if I were writing it. I can't remember how I did this. Any Ideas ?

The second part of Stardealer's post solved the problem. As soon as I had keypoint 2 set to linear it became operational. I am grateful for the advice and can now get on with things. Happy new year to you all, Tom

Hi Stardealer, After adding keypoint 3, image1 is in the centre of the background but then, at keypoint2, image 1 has shifted back to a position part way between keypoint 1 and keypoint 3. If I now delete keypoint 3, then image 1 at keypoint 2 reverts back to the centre position. What effectively happens is that when keypoint 3 is added keypoint 2 ceases to have any function. Tom

I am having a frustrating time in trying to apply multiple keypoints using PTE 6.5. I have a background image and in the objects and animation window I bring image1 onto the background image. Image1 starts just outside the background ( keyframe 1) and 4 seconds later it finishes in the middle of the background ( keyframe 2). Now I want image1 to stay in the same place for a further 4 seconds. So further along the timeline I right-click and add keyframe 3. I make the time of keyframe 3 four seconds more than keyframe 2. But when I play I find it doesn't work. Instead of image1 stopping at keyframe 2 and remaining in the same position for 4 seconds until keyframe 3 is reached what happens is that the movement is continuous from keyframe 1 to keyframe 3. Keyframe 2 is ignored. So what am I doing wrong ? I hope someone can help. Best Regards, Tom

Thanks Dave and Ken, It looks like I am able to burn a CD or DVD but not simply create an AVI file on my hard drive ? Dave, I am unfamiliar with the term ISO. What is it ? Tom

I used PTE 5.5 to create a pte file. I then clicked on the video tab and transformed it into an AVI file. A message in the pop-up window told me to use "special software" to burn the AVI file to a DVD. I didn't want to do this.I simply wanted to save the AVI file to my hard drive and play it in WMP. I left the pop-up window in place, minimized the PTE programme and found my way to where I had saved the AVI file. I was then able to play it in WMP. I restored the PTE programme and clicked "finish" in the pop-up window. I then went back to where the AVI wa stored and it had disappeared ! How can I simply save the AVI file on my hard drive ? Tom PS What is the "special software" referred to in the pop-up window ?

Hello Peter, My projector and computer are set at 1024 x 768. The AV I refer to is about Autumn trees. It contains about a dozen images, some 2000 px by 1000 px and some in portrait mode 1000 px by 2000px. The durations vary but average 12 seconds with transitions of up to 7 seconds. Animation is mainly panning in various directions but with some zooming and occasional rotation. As each image ends, the following image emerges through its transition. So the images blend from one to the next. Animation is either “smooth” or sometimes “slow down” and mipmapping is applied to all images. Best Regards, Tom

Thank you , Yachstman, your instinct seems to have been correct. Turning off the laptop screen has cleared up the problem. The sound was also stuttering and that has recovered. Tom

I've made AV's in PTE that use large images to facilitate smooth panning from one image to the next. It looks fine on my Acer laptop set to 1024 x 768. But when I connect the laptop to a Benq projector that has a native resolution of 1024 x 768, the panning movement is jerky when projected on a screen. What is wrong ? I am giving a presentation at a camera club next week so I need to sort this out. Help ! Tom

Thanks, yachtsman, No I haven't done a search - I'll do one. The Netbook I have in mind does have a VGA output and 1Gb of ram. That should be enough with Windows XP. It's just the resolution I was concerned about. I think the Netbook would downsample the AV while maintaining the aspect ratio i.e. 4 /3. What I am unsure about is whether the projector will restore the resolution to 1024x768. Regards, Tom

I make my PTE AV's at 1024x768 and show them at various camera clubs via a digital projector with a native resolution of 1024x768.I am thinking of buying a netbook to take with me on my travels. The AV's would be transferred to the netbook via a pendrive and the netbook would feed the projector. But the netbook has a resolution of 1024x600 and I am wondering whether the 1024x768 resolution will be maintained on the screen. Regards Tom

Will PTE work with Linux ? Tom

Lin, Your road map tutorial was excellent ! Thank you. Tom

Lin, Your Frames demo was just waht I needed . Many thanks for that. I have been looking at your demo AV - "road to cimmaron" . How did you create the movement along the road ? Regards, Tom

Thanks Lin. I've downloaded your example. Best Regards, Tom

I have quite a good grasp of animation techniques but I wanted to learn more. So I started reading the Evans Bros PDF tutorial. It is very good but early on in the animation section I foundered. The Evans Bros say a few things about "Frames" but how do you actually use "Frames" ? I need a practical demonstration. Can anyone help ? Best Regards, Tom

DaveG - can you give me a link to the Evans tutorial ? Tom

Hi All, The PNG files were discreet i.e. not children of the base image. I'll try out Davegee's suggestion. I have actually completed the animation by taking on an earlier idea of staggering the animations over a few successive base images. But I still want to discover what went wrong with PNG 1 in my early effort. Thanks for all the help. Tom

Hi All, The PNG files were discreet i.e. not children of the base image. I'll try out Davegee's suggestion. I have actually completed the animation by taking on an earlier idea of staggering the animations over a few successive base images. But I still want to discover what went wrong with PNG 1 in my early effort. Thanks for all the help. Tom

Hi Folks, I got started on the animation project but almost immediately had problems. I can't get past the introduction of PNG 1 ! I am preparing an AV about a mountain walk that began at a Campsite on a farm. The first image is a white blank that quickly fades into an image of the farm. The default image size is 1024 x 768 but the farm image is 3000 x 2000 to allow for animation. The farm image comes on at full size and remains on screen for a few seconds before the word “Campsite” ( PNG 1) floats into the sky at the top of the base image. As soon as PNG 1 is settled in position, PNG 2 starts to float in from the right hand side and settles down alongside PNG 1. PNG 2 is the words “at Bridge End Farm”. PNG 1 and PNG 2 remain on screen for a few seconds before floating off the base image. Then the zooming in of the base image begins, settling down in a position where my motorhome is clearly visible in the farm. At this point PNG 3 enters from the left. This is a circle that settles down around my motorhome. Finally, PNG 4 floats in from the right and settles down beside the circle. This is the words “Tom's Motorhome”. After a few seconds the whole scene fades into the succeeding image. That's the storyline but the animation is proving to be difficult. The base image comes on screen at Timeframe 1158 (I'll refer to “Timeframe” as “TF” ). and stays on screen until TF 27500. PNG 1 starts outside the image at TF 1720 and it reaches its settled position at TF 4891. So far, so good, but this is where the problems begin. I want PNG 1 to stay in position until TF 8988 and then float offscreen and be out of sight by TF 15360. To achieve this I introduced a new Keyframe point at TF 8988 and I set its zoom and pan parameters exactly as the PNG 1 settings at TF 4891. So theoretically the pan and zoom settings at TF 4891 and TF 8988 should be the same. But when I clicked on the little arrow at TF 4891, PNG 1 had shot up the base image ! What is more, PNG 1 at TF 4691 was locked and unable to be adjusted. I seem to be all at sea in my basic understanding of animation. Where am I gong wrong ? Am I being too ambitious in trying to use several PNG images on the base image ? Regards, Tom

Thanks Peter and Lin for your quick responses. You've given me something to work on. I'll report back. Cheers, Tom