AVMaestroFRPS

In answer to Leo Palmer's original query, I do this quite often using the programme "Sy(P)" (PTE organiser) This is a very useful tool for editing PTE programmes via a spreadsheet, and for changing the path to sound and picture files e.g. when using a different computer Download v1 for PTE 4x Download v2 for PTE 5x Available from the French site: http://www.diapovision.com/articles.htm

No need to shout DG (he's probably upset because Wales lost the Rugby)

That's a great improvement Jill, thank you. Unticking "hardware acceleration" gets rid of the flicker, replacing it with a quick cut to the first (BLANK) slide - much better, but I would still prefer to have a fade! I followed the links suggested by "Nobeefstu" but I'm afraid I didn't find most of them very helpful - just because some people don't use a feature doesn't seem a good reason to deny it to those who do. I didn't understand Lin's suggestion to "use a mask and various black or color jpg's to simulate a "wipe" and do a fade in using transparency change" - is there a tutorial on this anywhere on the Forum? That's another problem I have: every time I try to search for a topic, such as "how to mask", I get an error message telling me my keywords are below 4 characters. Regards, Malc -----------------------------------------------------------

My Menu is a PTE project saved as an executable file, consisting of a single slide, to which I add the required number of buttons for each sequence to be triggered. Each button is given the properties under "Action on mouse click" of "Run application or open file" where the path to the relevant exe file is inserted. At the end of each sequence it returns to the Menu. I do it in 4.48 of course, because I like the gradual fade down to the first (BLANK) slide, and the gentle fade back to the menu from the last (BLANK) slide. The transition depends on the mood I wish to create, fast or slow, but typically I use 2-5 seconds to fade down to Black. In the sound track I insert an appropriate length of silence before the music starts. I think you can do this in versions 6 and 7 under "Objects and Animations" but only with the abrupt flicker problem described. Regards, Malc

OK, forget the reference to "desktop" and substitute "menu". Like Peter, I always make a front page menu from which to start every sequence, and at the end of each one it returns to the menu. And yes, you can shut down the computer after you have powered down the projector so the audience never sees the desktop. But you still get the horrible flicker and abrupt lurch into the first slide.

One of the most professional looking features of a PTE presentation used to be the ability to have a gentle fade down from the desktop to the first (BLANK) slide. And at the end of the last (BLANK) slide in the sequence, it was possible to specify a similar gentle fade back to the desktop. This gave a very professional looking feel to the whole show, and is the reason why some of us stick to version 4.48. This feature disappeared for some reason from version 5 onwards, to be replaced by a FLICKER CRASH BANG WALLOP effect at the start of every sequence, which is most unpleasant. I really feel this should be a priority for the developers to get right in the next update.

Thanks Jill, that's very helpful. I've tried leaving just a 1/10th second gap between transitions and it works fine on my computer. I need to try it on somebody else's (slower) machine to be absolutely sure. The other comment about slide "duration" is not relevant to this query.

How much time (or more to the point, how little time) can I leave between the end of one transition and the start of the next one? In the early versions I used to have to leave at least 1 second to avoid "looping" when played on somebody else's machine. Later versions seem better, but I would like to reduce that as much as possible to achieve a smoother flow of images. Can I reduce the gap in fact to zero?

Thanks, that is helpful. But it would be better if you didn't have to click "Play" first as I would have thought that most people would want to select the point first and "Play" from there. Welcome to the forum, You are right in what you say, so far - it's one of the quirks of PTE. However, if you click "Play", then "Pause", then hit the spacebar or hit "play" again, the small preview will continue where it left off. You can then "Pause", re-position the cursor, and it will begin playing from the new position when you hit the spacebar or "Play". You have to remember however, not to click "Stop", or everything will start all over again from the beginning. The spacebar always imitates the last button you pressed. You can also preview the show from a specific point if you highlight one of the blue rectangular transition markers and press "Preview". Hope this helps!

I'm using version 4.41

Clicking on the timeline places an arrow at that point. Pressing "Play" starts playback from the beginning, not the arrow. Spacebar has no effect. Clicking on a transition point highlights it and places a dotted line at that point. Pressing "Play" starts playback from the beginning, not the transition point. Spacebar has no effect. Pressing "Play" and then clicking either the timeline or a transition point starts playback from the desired point. BUT, only then can you use the Spacebar to pause or restart. What I want to happen is to be able to playback and pause from the cursor position on the timeline, both by clicking "Play/Pause" and by pressing the Spacebar. It's very annoying that the cursor keeps jumping back to the start.