JudyKay

Thanks Dave. I am using one of Barry's "Edges." While the dimensions are huge (for scaling) the file size is quite small at 575 Kb. Here is a sample:

I am trying to create a style with a specific mask file. I see others have done this, so I am missing something important. What is it? I cannot make the style use a specific file as a mask. Instead, I get this. I have played with Image indexing, which I don't think is relevant, to no avail.

I love your work, your gifts to the rest of us. Always breathtaking. Thanks.

Very interesting interview. Thanks.

I had no trouble downloading it just now. Try again?

So glad you finished it and thanks for sharing those beautiful images. I love the gentle-spirited Inuit people having interacted with them many years in Alaska.

1. I would like to make another appeal that When right-clicking an image (from almost anywhere) we have the option to "Open Folder" or "Open Explorer" or "Open Path" like Adobe and most other image-processing softwares do. That us a missing feature over which I stumble every time I use P2E. Maybe open the folder location in P2E explorer window (with a "BACK" button). 2. I wish there was a way to drag and drop "Favorite" transitions, and styles quickly onto slides. 3. Will we eventually be able to manipulate audioform in O/A?

The dark theme is good.

Great tool. Great tutorial.

Very nice.

Definitely nice. I have more heart than ever in your country, though I've never been there. Yet. We have several very close friends from there (expats working other places) and a sort of adopted daughter (we call her that) who moved there. So one day, by God's grace, we hope to come!

And I wish Lin a speedy recovery as well. And...I just got out of the hospital and am having a speedy recovery

Wow! That was a helpful thing to learn. Thanks.

I have at least a dozen (I think without counting) that are over 45 minutes, although I have created each of those as standalone and as shorter sections as well. I likely have (guessing) 30 or so that would be 20 minutes or more. All the rest, (quite a few) are 3-10 min--most being closer to 3 than 10. My personal attention span for things that do not grip me is ridiculously short, so I strongly favor short shows. I am, however, like a monkey drawn to shiny objects, easily gripped by good shows. Not once has anyone gone to sleep or mentioned a word about length of my 45+ min hows other than asking for more shows. All but a couple of these longer shows also include a fair amount of video (10-20%??). I do not present to camera clubs. That is not my thing. But in my experience, ideal show duration is a function of the following considerations: 1. Is the show sizzle-whiz-bang entertainment using startling photography effects, photoshop drama or amazing motions or illusions? Then you have 3-5 minutes. I may or may not close it sooner, although I have a childlike weakness for spinning cubes, falling snow and other special effects produced by some forum members--I watch them with autistic interest, however long they are. 2. Is the show artistic photography (such as photography clubs)? Then, duration depends on artist skill and audience interest in the subject. You have 5-10 minutes. 3. Is the show instructive or educational? Then you have as long as you need to tell how to do something. You have 1-60 min. Less with only still images. 4. Is the show telling a story of a documentary? Then the subject, content and audience are all factors but you likely have 5-90 minutes. 5. Is the show an advertisement such as listicle, aggregator, countdown, essay, gallery, etc? Then you have 10-90 seconds. 6. Is the show a diaporama? Then you have 10-90 min. 7. Is the show a background, for example, a wedding reception? Then you may have 3 hours. (I made one of those a couple years ago) For the record, I hate arbitrary (personal whim) rules. I love what works--what brings happiness or call-to-action or inspiration to people. I

I will probably in my life, never burn another optical disk.

I have and use (or have used) about every combination and here is my conclusion. Size: A very large monitor is useful for storage space in the periphery, but in reality, unless you get way back, you can't take in such a huge amount of real estate all at once. I suggest a large screen, but not huge--whatever that means for you personally. Use 2 monitors. if you are a nerd, but you can use 3 monitors, but better is to switch screens (Win+Ctrl+r/l arrow. I forget on a Mac.). Resolution: Doesn't matter a lot so long as it is at least 1920X1080. Unless you wear microscopes on your nose, you can't detect anything more than that anyway unless you are dealing with huge screens. Yes, you may detect some slight difference in smoothness, if you compare side-by-side and up as close to your nose as you can still focus; but we don't look at images that way or if you do, you might want to discuss the matter with your therapist. Color Rendition: Yes, you can get a Datacolor Spyder5Pro for $150 but avoid monitors that take you to extremes. Ever look at an OLED and not think "That's a little overkill?" Just get a good monitor like some described above and you will be fine. Here is the deal--the human eye and mind adapt a great deal to colors and brightness--far more than the narrow precision offered by specialized equipment. The simple fact is that unless you are way off plumb, human eyes adapt to fix things. Of course, you don't want to be sloppy. Be as reasonably accurate as possible, but perfection happens in the eye, not on the screen. How people feel about an image is far more important than pixel precision. Caveat--if you are doing specialized copyist/print work then disregard the above because your eye doesn't matter. What matters is that your screen matches printer output regardless of your eye. That is more of a math game and less of an eye game. Conclusion: Don't be careless and do get advice (like you are doing) so you don't get a lemon--I got one once. Don't stress about perfection on a screen because that happens in the heart, not in the pixel. Dell U2717D is wonderful for what you describe doing.

I use both. Each is best at different things. That provides a better range of opportunity. Just yesterday I was taking some long exposures with my iPhone in heavy snow falling among pines and gazeebos. My phone provided quite nice images that my DSLR couldn't begin to produce. The night before I was shooting fireworks. The DSLR performed stellarly (if that wasn't a word before, it is now). So, know both tools until you are confident using either, and then use the tool that gets you the image you want. Further, I do a lot of street photography where I prefer to stay inconspicuous. Yea, I can stand in shadows, I've smeared black marker haphazardly all over the lens of my 80x200mm which sneaks into crowds, but most of my best shots in tough places have been while "checking email" on my iPhone. But then on the other hand again, I was recently in a difficult situation with my DSLR and iPhone (in some un-named, far-flung country) and a herd of police descended, wanting my devices. They deleted my iPhone pics (the ones that were not hidden in my special folder), but found nothing to worry about on my DSLR. Why? It is possible with practice to perfect the technique of swapping out cards in seconds. One has a lot of random images on it. The other is slipped into a carefully cut seam of a backpack. Some people can do that all one-handed while the other hand gesticulates in confusion. So have a brain and use whatever works best.

I am using PTE extensively right now and just have to say one more time what an incredible software this is, how well designed, how it just works when I am doing a lot of hard work fast over a long time. Igor, thank you!

Thanks for the link! I remember that now Something to look forward to in PTE 10!

When I select non-contiguous slides and apply a slide style (designed for a single slide), the order of slides changes, placing the selected slides together. I think the behavior should be that the slides stay put in the original order. My present situation is producing a slide show with photos organized by day (my own PCT hike many years ago). I have non-image slides with text indicating dates such as "May 15." I do not want the style applied to those slides, but only to images so I do not select those. Does that sort of make sense? Any ideas are welcome.

Great story and video, Lin. Thanks.

Individual attention spans do vary. I remember back years ago having dinner with Galen Rowell and then watching his slide-projector presentation which I believe lasted about 1.5 hours. No one present that night went to sleep.

The audience and presentation vary of course. A quality presentation properly done can certainly capture a delighted audience for more than a few minutes. For my applications which are also largely documentary, I break them into 3-8 min segments and lean toward 3-4 minutes. Now, back to EXE's. In the past, I created menu's to access the various shows since my audience (clients) are highly likely to view them many times over. Although not elegant, most people can figure out how to create playlists of MP4's and accomplish the same thing. [Note: I have no idea how the "2's" above got posted or how to remove them]

Which my explain why it looks so good.

What are we losing by using MP4 instead of EXE? Anything discernable? Smoothness of transition/movement of high-quality images? Does it matter anymore? We lose the functionality of password protection, time limits, hotspots, links, menus, interactions and such. Honestly, I rarely use those features, probably none of them in a couple years. So...just maybe we don't need the focus on the exe part. I have not exported an exe in a couple years. Most recently, a couple years ago, I created several series(more than 20 series) of highly interactive EXE shows sets. I had 100's of hours of work in that. They were really cool, but my clients' computers would barely run them. So...I converted them to non-interactive MP4's and my clients LOVE those. They have them on phones and iPads and PC's and Macs. All my work was really cool, but not what people actually found most useful on their devices today.