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Add my vote in the positive on this one. The top priority for enhancements to PTE for me is the audio area, but as you say Peter this would be the logical next step to take following the audio improvements.

No problems with having both Barry. Your suggestion of using a key combination is OK with me. EDIT: PS Barry do you think you should change the From: field in your profile?

I also agree with ADB, Ralph and millan on this. This is not a solution it is a "work-around". I would defy any new user to work this out without some guidance or help. That is not good programing. Peters suggestion to use a black or coloured jpg is what I currently do as I suspect most would end up doing. However while not a "deal-breaker" it would be a useful addition/improvement to PTE to have this function. It gets my vote.

I like nobeefstu solution best (post #7 here). It suits my way of working, allows the user to see all slides used and unused with the used ones clearly marked and above all it doesn't add more buttons to the main screen, which should be kept as simple and uncluttered as possible.

“…..Once more into the breach my friends……” Let me first say I do not want a fully fledged Sound Editor in PTE or for that matter the vast array of sound tools as in many other AV software products, (no names mentioned Peter). I wish to see the audio side of PTE made simpler and more intuitive for the user. I believe this can be done along with the introduction of some audio adjustments that would improve the software at the same time and thus everyone benefits. Following are some cut & pastes of my previous posts on the development of the audio side of PTE along these lines……… Also The addition of one interactive audio timeline would be a vast improvement, two interactive audio timelines would be all I see required to fully develop these functions. Hope this is what you are looking for Peter.

Lin, It's my understanding that Igor has indicated it is not only technicaly possible but that he was going to introduce some functions to the audio timeline back in v5.1 or v5.2. Link… http://www.picturestoexe.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=6806 Also Link... http://www.picturestoexe.com/forums/index....ic=8203&hl= This has not happened and Igor has made no future comment on the development of the audio side of PTE. This may be because he found he was wrong and it was not technically possible, he may have been too busy or maybe he just forgot. I think it would be very timely for Igor to make a comment on this and if he intends to pursue this area of development or not and maybe save us all more frustration and time.

Peter, Your post is like an echo from my past. For several years I have been requesting, advocating and lobbying for the audio area of PTE to be rationalised and improved and apart from one promise from Igor that some minor sound adjustments would be added in v5.1 I was meet by a resounding silence from Igor and a general negative response on the forum. By the way the promised additions have not been added and we are now at v5.6. Eventually I got tired of banging my head against the wall and late last year I moved to using "Wings" to meet a deadline on the production of an AV for a customer that was running a music festival. This proved to be an eye opening experience as you have said Wings is indeed light-years ahead of PTE when it comes to the audio side of AV production and is as good as PTE in all other areas. I was able to produce the audio part of the AV in 20 minutes something that would have not been possible with PTE and a sound editor in several days. The biggest drawback of Wings is the price, but then we get what we pay for, it also, (like Photoshop), offers many more functions than I will ever use. I still use PTE to produce a quick AV that has basic or no audio and drop by the forum occasionally as I have fond memories of many discussions here and like to stay in touch with PTEs development as I feel it has the potential to be the best AV product on the market if the audio problems were ever to be addressed. Now I demonstrate both Wings and PTE in lectures I give and will recommend either depending on the requirements of the audience. I wish you the best of luck Peter but am not confident you will get anywhere with this request. Yachtsman1 I'm surprised you have not heard of Wings as it is and has been for years regarded in the world of AVs as the "Photoshop" of AV software. Perhaps you should get out more. The PC I run Wings on is nothing special and is 4 years plus old it is the same one I run PTE on. I have not needed any extra hardware or special add-ons to do this.

Great idea, anything that involves food and wine count me in!

Igor, A small change to the layout of buttons in the main screen that would help simplify and make their use a little more intuitive would be to reposition the O&A and Project Options buttons as shown in the attached screen shoot. This would group the advanced area buttons and the Options buttons together. Also renaming the Customize slide to Slide Options would match the Project Options button. Or rename the Project Options to Customize Project, either way but as long as they both match. It may be possible to do this now while v5.6 is in beta.

I agree totally with Peter, Umberto, Xaver and others on the need for audio adjustment in the timeline it is the highest priority with me. When I talk to groups about AVs and the tools they can use I always feature PTE as the program of first choice and the most negative feedback I get is on the lack of any real audio adjustment in PTE when compared with its competitors, wings platinum, m.objects, Proshow producer and others. Eric, We are not asking for or talking about audio editing in PTE it is about audio adjustment like we have for image adjustment in the timeline, there is a big difference. Just because another program can do something is not an argument to not have it in PTE. Would you remove DVD burning, making text images, publish to Youtube and so on from PTE as other programs can do them equally as well?

This is an important and timely subject Igor, it is very difficult for you to cater for the needs and please all levels of users, (beginners or new, intermediate and advanced). The obvious answer is to have two versions of PTE, (Basic and Advanced), as in Adobe Photoshop elements and Photoshop CS. However if this is not the philosophy of WnSoft and you wish to keep just the one level of PTE then the following are some of my thoughts with this in mind. A general principle of PTE should be to keep the main screen as simple and uncomplicated as possible. A user should be able to build a basic show with the tools offered only from this screen. That is a show with basic transitions, standard timing, very simple audio, no PZR effects, no complex adjusting images to sound, and so on. This will allow a user to simple build a show first time quickly and easily thus giving a positive impression of the program. As the user becomes more experienced and their demands for more complex AV production grow they then can use the O&A and Timeline areas to use the more creative functions in PTE. To answer your questions-- There are no features/places in PTE I would rate less than High and none I wish to see removed. Simplify the main screen and use more consistent naming of functions/buttons. Also as has been mentioned by others above a keys function should be the same across the entire program. An example is the DEL key in the slide-list/timeline. All the functions it performs are important and none should be removed but the DEL key should Delete and the other functions should be assigned to other keys or combinations thereof. It is vital for PTE to develop and grow with new professional features added when needed, I cannot say this strongly enough. Can you imagine PTE without the O&A screen? without the timeline? or the video builder? I doubt if PTE would still exist today if these advanced features had not been added as most users would have gone elsewhere to other programs to find these functions. They will not complicate the program from the users point if they are placed in areas away from the main screen therefor only seen when needed by the user. With the exception of one area, (audio adjustment in the timeline), I think there are no major areas that need to be added to PTE at this point in time v5.6 is well developed. Yes this is true Igor. I hope this has been of some help and remember we all appreciate all you do for us users, (beginners and advanced alike), Igor.

The two portraits you posted Tom were very well done. I am looking forward to your show on the American Civil War re-enactment as this is also a subject I am interested in from an historical point.

An interesting idea Mark, however I do agree with Patrick as an old "petrol head" I also assumed your show would be on the great 911 Porsche and was a little disappointed. The idea was a good one but as others have said a little too fast in execution.

Garry, your problem with the "Arrange All Points" is indicative of a larger problem that exists for most users, (new and experienced alike), of PTE in the audio area. However I do not see the answer is to add or move yet another audio function button to another part of the program. The answer as I see it is to simplify the audio area by bring all the audio functionally into the one area of PTE where it then sits in-front of the user and becomes intuitive in the relationship of one function to another and to the images. At the moment we have audio functions and/or options scattered under the Project/Main, Project/Music, Customise Slide/Music, Timeline area, Main Screen/Add Sound, Menu Bar and others areas I haven't remembered. This simplification could be done by making the audio timeline interactive and placing all the audio functions on or under it. This would be available to the user from the current "Display Audio Timeline" button. If the user has no need for the audio functions then all of this area remains out of the way and simplifies the program for them, (just as the O/A area is for PZR functions). If the user wishes to add/manipulate audio they simply click the audio timeline display button and have all the audio functions and the audio timeline there in one place. In the past I have proposed this and received favourable feedback, for more details see -- http://www.picturestoexe.com/forums/index....50&hl=audio the 11th post down from the start. I hope Igor will consider it.

Eric I think the debate was on my part at least never about adding a Sound Editor to PTE but to have basic audio file adjustments and to bring the audio functions that already exist in PTE into the one area, the result would be to simplify the program for the user, not complicate it as some feared. This was part of my suggestion---

Brian is quite correct I have been using the H2 for about 18 months and find that considering the cost it performs very well in the field if some care is taken with the input levels and positioning of the unit in relationship to the sound source. O/B recordings for use in AVs is the reason I purchased the H2. In fact the H2 will pickup more than required in most cases. Last weekend I was recording vintage cars arriving and leaving a display and found when I listened to the files on my PC I had in the background yapping dogs, bird song, aeroplanes flying over and more crowd noise than I required, (a conversation between 2 people on the other side of the road which I could follow easily). However most of this can be removed with a good sound editor and some time. There are definitely better recorders on the market but considering cost and the use of the resulting files the H2 has been a good purchase for me. On the subject of voice recording, (which I don't do a lot of), I purchased a Griffin iMIC again on Brian's recommendation on this forum some time ago and it beats the H2 hands down for this use. Although I am still looking for the "perfect" microphone to use with it which is not too expensive.

G'day Eric, Yes I also have been driven up the wall trying to get synchronisation of a number of audio tracks and a complex number of images using PTE and a audio editor. When it becomes possible to match the audio tracks to the images accurately within PTE I think I will throw a party!! Adding this function has been discussed before on the forum and Igor has express favourably comments on adding this function to PTE but as yet nothing has been forthcoming. See-- http://www.picturestoexe.com/forums/index....50&hl=audio and http://www.picturestoexe.com/forums/index....ic=8203&hl= We can only hope.

Peter you are not the only oldie here, I learnt to play bass guitar from Mary Ford, (well from her instruction manual), back in the 60s. It's great to see her name mentioned again, brings back lots of wonderful memories of her and Les Paul's music, not to mention what Les did for the guitar.

Peter you raise a number of interesting points in your post. Lin has already addressed the technical comparison very well so I will look at the others. There is a debate raging at the moment in AV, or more correctly Digital Image and Audio Presentation DIAP, circles here on the question of mixing the type of shows we currently make with PTE and video/movies. It runs something like this-- When a DIAP made of still digital images, (with PZR effect if desired), and audio contains a section of video it becomes a different medium, in effect a movie with still images. This is then a different area in the AV spectrum and the two should not be mixed. On the other hand a artist/maker should be able to display their work in any form they wish and this mix should be allowed to sit beside the current style of show. I will not comment on either side of the debate at present but would be interested in what others think. The other question, the modification of PTE to allow adding/editing of video, is also interesting. There are a number of very good products on the market that currently allow this, two I am familiar with are Pinnacle and Sony Vegas. I'm not sure if PTE should venture into this field, maybe if the demand is big enough, what do others think?

I would suggest you now download Lin and Jeff's excellent "PTE USER GUIDE" PDF document, which you will find under the Tutorial section of the forum. It will answer all/most of your questions and save you hours. http://www.picturestoexe.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=7202 The official PTE Users Guide can be found here: http://www.wnsoft.com/apr/help.htm

Well said Ken I totally agree. Don't stop putting your point of view Gayland, maybe next time consider your choice of words more but keep giving us all your messages.

Bobo An original idea and nicely executed. I enjoyed the use of B&W and would agree with Tom a touch of red here and there would be a good idea. However a small word of caution don't overdo it!! The soundtrack and timing was just right for me and if you do slow down the pace, (I don't think you need to), just a little would do. Better to have your show a little fast than a little too slow. Be watchful for the highlights burning out on your images, this is often not noticed in colour but when converted to B&W becomes very noticeable. One or two of your images suffered here. I agree with you about Ansel Adams. I liked the opening title with the tent, and the "knocking" sound with the same image at the end, however the last title image dropped off very abruptly at the end. Perhaps a slow fade would work better. The viewer needs to relax, draw breath and consider what they have seen before being thrown back to the desktop. This need only take two or three seconds. It really depends on the subject and the mood the maker is trying to establish. The sweet spot will depend on this as there is no set amount of variation, (or lack of it), that is the standard even on the same subject two different artists will use different amounts and still achieve successful results.

I am with Barry and Peter 110% on this one. This is an AV forum/site, or more correctly a Digital Image and Audio Presentation (DIAP) forum/site, and PTE is primarily an AV production tool, if we want to view still images and study them, or movies, DVDs and so on then there are many, many other sites that cater for this. I except that an author will decide how his/her work will be presented and the viewer can except this or not as they wish. As Ken said I will not change my screen resolution for anybody either, and as Barry said as viewers we always have the Escape key. Now back to reality- David I enjoyed your show, thanks. The range of subtle colours reflected in the ice and the almost monochrome effect of the light in some shots was beautiful. Fading in the penguins on the iceberg and the use of the poem at the end were nice touches. I was happy with the music the mood matched the location, although I agree with others the editing of the sound track could be cleaned up somewhat. Barry Yes you can do Antarctic trips from Australia. Friends did one on a converted Russian ice-breaker last year from Hobart and although it was expensive they had nothing but praise for the company and the trip. They came back with some stunning images. I believe there are also trips from New Zealand available.

Love it.

No John your not alone here. I do all my text work in Photoshop and then import the text images into PTE as either JPG or PNG then use these in the O&A screen if required. The problem where text is lost when the EXE is run on another PC if it is not one of the standard Windows fonts and your problem with positioning, (along with several other minor text problems in PTE), have made me avoid the text function altogether in PTE until these problems are rectified.