TonyFalla

Thanks Lin, easy when you know how Tony

Looking at JPD's templates several of his images have two or more masks in the same Mask Container. Can somebody explain to me how this is achieved? I cannot find out how to do it, if I select the mask container or the mask and then go into Add Mask it creates a new mask container. I have also tried adding the mask image and then adding the second mask to that with the same results. In addition I understood that you could use gif files if you typed the file name in. I have tried this but find that the results are inconsistent, sometimes it opens OK, other times it comes up with an image load error. Anybody else having this problem? Tony

Eric I was interested in Bill's reply as I have never wanted to use this feature but always like to add to my knowledge of PTE. I was curious as to what "permit Control of Show Using Keyboard " did. I see that this uses Page Up / Page Down to move between slides the same as PowerPoint. If you use this facility then the projectors remote should be able to control the changing of slides. Tony

I haven't used it myself but isn't that what the Navigation Bar is for? Tony

I have to admit that the only thing I ever produce from PTE is exe files, I did a couple of years back produce a couple of DVD's but when I played them on my, admittedly ancient TV, the quality was so poor that I haven't bothered since. I must be getting to be an old fuddy duddy because when I first used v5.6, I had to look and see what some of the options in the Create Menu were. I agree with others that as PTE was designed to produce exe files, (clue in the name) then it should be at the top of the menu list with the others being specified as other creation options. Tony

Could agree more with the comments made, absolutely beautiful photographs, the simple fade in / fade out treatment is all that is needed. Tony

I think Colin is making a good point about Frame Rate, it is something the TV manufacturers make a big thing about. I notice that Sony say that some of their latest TV's have a frame rate of 200. I find that information for this is difficult to find for Monitors and Projectors. I suspect however that a Monitor will have a high frame rate like a TV, it may be that a projector has a much slower frame rate so if your monitor changes the picture lets say 75 times in 1 sec, but the projector only does it 25 times in 1 sec, then movement shown via the projector is not going to be as smooth as the monitor Tony

Sorry Dave I hate to admit this but my TV is at least 12 years old and definitely not LCD. I’m afraid I am not much of a gadget man and don’t have a lot of up to date electronic gadgets. My PC is the only thing that is anything like modern and that is now 18 months old. From what you are saying it looks as though I will also have to explore getting a new Laptop as well, I will have to see what her who holds the purse strings says!!! I don’t understand your comments about seeing the background, does projection do something different? When I run a 1024 x 768 PTE Exe on my desk top the 1920 x 1200 monitor the AV fills the height of the screen with a black border each side. I experimented and create a small PTE AV with 1920 x 1080 images and ran this on my 1024 x 768 laptop, the AV filled the width of the screen with a black border top and bottom. In both cases the 4:3 and 16:9 format were retained. Maureen I will have a look at the Optoma Projector at the next WAVS meeting. I agree with Dave’s comments I would be interested in learning what you need to do set up the laptop and projector so they are compatible. Tony

In some ways this post has just shown up my ignorance of how PTE software fits in with the various pieces of hardware. I am beginning to see the point DaveG is making about 1920 x 1600, if I have this it means that I get better resolution even if I did stick to 4:3 format. By the way Lin on this side of the pond I can only find one 1600 x 1200 projector, its not very portable weighing in at 35.5 Kgs (78 pounds) and costs just less than £20000!!! I suppose I had never thought about it until I started to look at this subject, but if I play an AV on my desktop the screen is filled, with, if necessary, black bands either on the sides or top and bottom. I presume something generates the extra pixels. I thought the same would happen if you played an AV at a lower resolution something would loose the extra pixels and it would still fill the screen. Until the other day at a club meeting we had an AV that was 1280 x 1024, when it was played on the laptop parts of the side of the images were missing, with the results mirrored on the projector. The resolution on the laptop was set at 1024 x 768, resetting the resolution to 1280 x 1024 and the AV played fine on the laptop screen and appeared to be working fine on the projector. Until I looked closely when I noticed that although on the Laptop the 5:4 was displaying fine, the projector result still showed the full image but in 4:3 format. The projector is an XGA Epson EMP83. This has raised with me the question what is controlling what we see from the projector, is it the PTE software or is it something in the set up between the PC/Laptop and the Projector. I ask because if I did take DaveG’s advice and get a 1920 x 1200 projector would I find that a 4:3 AV show would be projected at 16:9. What do I have to take into consideration when buying a projector to avoid this problem? Dave - Any idea when this new Optoma will be released? Tony

Dave Is this the Optoma HD800-X you are talking about which has a brightness of 1200 Lumens. What were the light conditions in the room that the test was carried out in, ie with ambient light or darkened. I have looked at this, it is one of the lightest 1080p projectors but is still 4.5kgs, I also have concerns that Optoma have only got a 12 month warranty. I am coming to the conclusion that a 1080p does not fit my purpose as they are not portable, I haven't found one yet that comes with a carrying case or offers one as an extra. AV is only part of my use of a projector, a lot of it is Powerpoint Presentations, Demonstarting to people how to use software for which I wouldn't have thought HD was a requirement. As I said when I first raised this topic I still do my AV's at 1024 x 768, I don't think I have ever seen a HD AV so I don't know what the difference in quality is. I also have to admit that personally I am not that keen on 16:9 format one of the reasons I have never done an AV in this format. From what you are saying it looks as though I would be best to save my money at the moment and buy a straightforward XGA projector and perhaps consider HD when, or if, they become more portable. Tony

Thanks for all the advice the information provided has been really useful, I can see the point that DaveG is making and would have to take that into consideration if I decided to move to a 16:9 format from my current 4:3 format. I found the link that Yachtsman provided very useful, their advice explained to me why whenever I was doing a search on the web for HD projectors I kept getting taken to Home Cinema web pages. Another very useful part of the site Yachtsman pointed me to was their price list. It is very simply laid out, something useful for a somebody like me, with a section for each manufacturer showing model, brightness, contrast, resolution, weight and, of course price. What it basically came down to was if I want a 1920 x 1200 projector currently they do not fulfil my needs. There are 2 main problems as I see it, these projectors have been designed for Home Cinema use therefore they tend to be heavy, I think the lightest I saw was 5 kgs (The projector I use at the moment is 1.9kgs). The second problem is that they are designed for use in a darkened room and so the basic models are not very bright, 1200 – 1400 lumens. There are brighter models but they are even heavier as well as costing more. From what I can see there are very few projectors that are of the 1400 x 1050 format that DaveG mentioned, mainly from Canon. They are still heavy but are brighter, however I have a recollection of problems being mentioned on the Forum with these projectors when running PTE AV’s. It therefore appears to me that currently I have a choice of two types of Projector a XGA (1024 x 768) or a WXGA (1366 x 768), the majority of which appear to be both light and bright. If I do go for WXGA then I can experiment with a 16:9 format at 1366 x 768. Again thank you all very much for your advice it has been most helpful, I will now investigate XGA/WXGA projectors taking into consideration such things as Bulb Life / Cost, Warranty, Price, etc. Tony

I would like some advice on the points I need to consider when purchasing a projector. I have looked at the web but the majority of sights seem intent on selling me a HD projector to watch movies not what I want. Let me explain my situation, I have a desktop PC with a 1920 x 1200 monitor and an oldish Laptop with a 1024 x 768 screen, I also have access to a 1024 x 768 Projector. Unfortunately in the near future I will not have the use of this projector so I am considering buying one for myself. I use the projector when I am giving talks to various clubs / societies, usually PowerPoint Presentations, demonstrating how programs work, e.g. Photoshop, PTE, etc, and PTE AV’s. Up until now all my PTE work has been done with 1024 x 768 exe files so I have had no problems. I keep hearing and seeing comments that say I should be getting ready to go HD. I would hate to buy a new projector and then find that everybody says “you would have been better with a ****”. Obviously price will be a consideration but I would prefer not to consider that initially, look and see what I should be aiming for and then adjust my aspirations according to price. Can anybody given me any advice or point me at an articles which discuss this subject with respect to AV? Regards Tony

Hi All Thanks for the replies, my wife always says I haven't enough patience and as you have guessed I did not let JPD's Catalogues run through to the end where as Barbara quite rightly pointed out you can download the masks. Not only that, but the PTE project is also there, which has greatly helped my understanding of this subject. I can see that what Lin says is correct that masks are individual, but the way JPD has done it is to expand the number of transition effects you can have in PTE. It appears to me that the use of masks is far wider than I first thought, there is the way it is used in the PTE Example that only affects a part of an image or the full image transition that JPD has demonstrated, and I suspect that this is only the tip of the iceberg. Just goes to show how powerful PTE is I look forward to exploring more Tony

As usual I am behind the times and have only recently downloaded 5.6 and have spent the last couple of days trying to come to grips with masks. My question concerns whether or not you have to create your own masks or is there a file of “standard” masks somewhere? I ask this question because my reading of the User Guide and comments on the Forum suggest that you have to create your own. I have looked and the only ones I have found are the two in the example that comes with 5.6 and some on the The Dom’s site. Yesterday however I downloaded 2 shows by J P Dollangere from Beechbrook Cottage called Mask Effects - Catalogue 1 and 2, which illustrate a large number of different masks. Are these masks in a catalogue, if so where, or are they individual masks that that he has set up? Tony Falla

Thanks for that Peter, just what I needed, Don't Use Auto-Scroll, simple when you know how. Mine had Auto-Scroll - Type 1 turned on, same thing happens with Auto-Scroll - Type 2. Tony

I have a query on something that happens when I am using the timeline view which I find very annoying and frustrating and wonder if there is something I haven’t set that causes the problem. If I have a slide on the timeline near the right hand edge of the screen for which the transition (i.e. the grey line) is not completely shown, if I click on the slide number oblong the whole timeline moves along and the pointer is placed at the end of the transition for the slide selected at the left hand edge of the screen. I have clicked on this slide because I want to do something with it, I would expect if anything were to happen thet the slide number oblong would move to the left hand edge of the screen. It is especially annoying if I have selected that slide to drag along the time line as I then find I am dragging the wrong slide. Am I missing something? Tony Falla

Hi Bart Tried again and got it to work this time, weird effect but I wonder why it was done in the first place? Tony

Sorry Bart but your link doesn't like me it asks for a usercode and password. Tony

Doesn't do anything for me, if I copy the whole script for some reason, when I paste I just get "Code:" put in the Address bar and then I get an unfound page, if I leave out "Code:" and copy just the Java Script, I get a message saying Windows cannot find the Java Script. If I copy and paste just the Java Script and then put "Code: " before it, my PC just sits and thinks and doesn't do anything. Tony

Igor What you say in your reply makes sense, the project that I did about 3 years ago, which the template had lost some of my images, was the one I was attempting to open when the Floating Point error occurred. In that I simulated what you can now do in O&A. I had a series of 15 - 20 images of the same picture which gradually got smaller. I then ran these very quickly to give a jerky movement effect. This meant that each of these slides was only on the screen for a fraction of a second, about 10ms. It still works but not as intended due to the lost images. Do you want me to send you a copy of this project? Tony

Igor I'm afraid I have tried several times since and have not been able to reproduce the problem. I suspect however that it may be something to do with the other problem I reported that same day. The project I opened after I had run the preview was the project that I later discovered had lost some of the image files (see Template Problem started 2 Nov), but even opening the same projects I know I was running, I am unable to reproduce. If it does occur again I will let you have the info you require Tony

Xavier Thanks for that, it shows that PTE has been updated and no longer allows this problem to occur Tony

The problem is nothing to do with keeping Templates too long the fact is that when I created a template all my images both in the main folder and in the sub-folders were all combined into one folder. Any images in different folders where I had used the same name were not put into the template. I have been working with computers for over 40 years and know all about backup. I have numerous copies of this template on both external hard drives and CDs / DVDs, the problem with the templates is that they were not created correctly in the first place and I was stupid enough not to check that the backup had been created correctly. My question was does anybody know if this problem still exists or am I the only one to use images from several folders for one project? After spending several hours searching through the various backup CDs / DVDs and being unable to find my original PTE, I did however find that I have loads of copies of the original layered TIF file from which I created the JPGs. I can therefore recreate my images fairly easily. I have to agree with Peter that the term template is misleading and this has been there since the first version of PTE I had. For a long time I thought it was a method of loading an Outline / Skeleton project which you could then add your own images into. It was only when browisng the forum one day that I discovered it was in fact an archiving or backup routine. Tony

Hi Brian Thanks for that, what you say makes sense and explains why I can't reproduce the problem Tony

It is just not my day today, I made a sequence about 3 years ago and backed it up by using Templates, not sure what version of PTE I was using at the time. In it I had attempted to do some of the things that can now be done easily in O&A so I decided I would see how easy it was to update. When however I loaded my original PTE I found that some of my images had been lost. I know why and perhaps other people know of this but I didn't. I had the majority of my images in one folder but I then had 4 sub-folders within that folder that contained my images that I used to recreate an O&A type movement. What I did is that within each of these subfolders I called the images Pic1, Pic2, etc. When the template was created all the images were put into 1 folder and only one Pic1, one Pic2, etc was retained. I have never seen anything that says all the images should be in one folder (the original worked as I wanted it) and hadn't realised until today that Template didn't recreate the sub-folders. Does anybody know if this still applies to the latest version of PTE? Tony