Lin Evans

Actually, it synchronizes perfectly without any changes - that's why Igor did it. PTE removes the video without affecting the audio track. Best regards, Lin

It does in the latest beta versions, but you have to choose "video files" from the arrow drop down to get to them - it's not "automatic." On 7.0 if you want to see the video files you will need to do it as outlined above which will work with all versions including the new betas. Best regards, Lin

Hi John, There was an announcement by Igor a few weeks ago on this. What you do is first mute the video (objects and animations property tab), then "add the video" to the sound track. If you don't know the name by memory, just remember the file extension and use the DOS wild card to see all the videos in the folder. For example let's say your video has a long file name so after navigating to the folder where it resides, just place the following: *.extension name (such as Star Dot FLV or Star Dot MP4) and the program will show all videos with that extension. Then simply choose the video and the audio will automatically be perfectly extracted by PTE and you can use all the normal audio features to control it. This includes the waveform, fade-in, fade-out, offset, etc. The audio will sync perfectly with the video and no third party software is needed. This works in 7.0 as well as in the 7.5 betas.... Best regards, Lin

Hi Ray, It would be much easier if you would just post this link in the Tutorials section. If you post it there it will appear under your name. If one of the moderators posts it there it will appear under their name. Just click on the "Tutorials" sub link under the category you have it in now and repost the info below: We can't move just this part - would have to move the entire discussion. Best regards, Lin

This morning, the double emails stopped - everything is back to normal there. The jury is still out on the double posts. We'll see what happens over the next day or so.. Lin

LOL - no glasses, possible recent blows to the head (can't remember) and definitely too many margaritas last weekend! Best regards, Lin

Hi Igor, I'm using Google Chrome with Windows XP. Perhaps the two issues are not related, or could be due to something odd in my system, but I doubt that email and the browser are related issues. I'm still getting two email notifications for each post. Oddly, I did not get double emails for Peter's latest post, but did for all the others - see below: I get the double mail whether using Microsoft Outlook or Thunderbird, and only from the PTE forum. Best regards, Lin

When I post a response to another's post, I get two identical posts and must delete one. When I get email notification that there is a response to a thread I'm following, I get two identical emails.... Hmmmm Lin

Hi Gary, I think you missed it. That's essentially what the entire explanation was about..... What happens in terms of change happens "between keyframes." If the "distance" (which represents time) is further, the effect change will be slower. If the keyframes are close together in terms of "time" (not necessarily position) then the change will happen fast. If the two keyframes are one second apart, the change will happen in one second. If they are 20 seconds apart, the change will happen gradually over the 20 second period. Nothing is "instantaneous." If you want the text to "pop up" then you need to separate the keyframes by a tiny increment of time such as 100 ms. Regardless of the actual distance between keyframes in terms of space, what is important is the differences in "time." If you have a long expanse of time represented in a short space as you do for a long video, then a short distance between keyframes may represent considerable differences in time. Remember, changes happen over time. If you want the text to "fade-in" at the beginning of a video, just put your second keyframe at a point in "time" where you want the text to be 100% opaque and set the opacity at the initial keyframe to zero and the second keyframe to 100 percent. Then to hold it at 100% and later fade it out, set a third keyframe at 100% at the point where you want it to start fading out. Then set a fourth keyframe at that point in "time" where you want the fade out to end with an opacity of zero. You may expand the "visual" as I explained with a temporary slide then copy/paste the text to the video slide or do it as Jill suggested which is a bit more convoluted in the end, but works just as well. Yes, it would be nice to be able to expand the "view" to facilitate placement of keframes visually without having to do work-arounds..... Maybe in a later version.... Put it into the forum in the suggestion thread... Best regards, Lin

Hi Gary, Sorry, I've been away from the computer for a day.... Let me see if I can explain how this works. Keyframes are arbitrary points in time "between which" events are made to happen. The emphasis here is on what happens "between" two points in time, not what happens at a single point in time. Keeping this in mind, when you begin a slide, video, etc., you start with a keyframe with the opacity set to 100% by default. This makes logical sense because if it were not so you would not necessarily be "aware" that the object of the keframe existed without actually remembering that you had inserted this object, slide, video, etc. So at the starting point, in the relevant case, you have text appearing. If you then set the keyframe to zero opacity, it will stay invisible without a second keyframe (remember between two points in time) to turn the opacity back on. The distance between the two keyframes determines the amount of time on the timeline for the change to happen. If you place the second keyframe very close to the first, the text will appear quickly. If you place the second keyframe further along the timeline, the text will gradually fade in over the amount of time represented by the distance from keyframe one. Let's take an example: If you start with zero opacity then in 20 seconds you set a keyframe with 100% opacity, the text will gradually fade in for 20 seconds. On the other hand, if you start the first keyframe with zero opacity, then place a second keyframe at 19 seconds also with zero opacity the text will stay invisible from the start to 19 seconds.Of course if you didn't place a keyframe at 19 seconds, the text would still be invisible, however, by placing a keyframe at 19 seconds, you can the place another keyframe at say 20 seconds with 100% opacity and your text will quickly (in one second) appear. So any time you wish to hold some "event" such as opacity, zoom, pan, etc., for a period of time and then change it after that time expires, it will require three keyframes. Let's quickly see how we would zoom a picture then hold the zoom, then continue to zoom some more. First we would decide when we want the zoom to happen and we would place a second keyframe with the initial zoom value (the one at the beginning of the slide) in it. Then we would place a third keyframe where we wanted the new zoom value to temporarily end and place the new amount of zoom in it. To this point the image comes on screen and remains for that period between the beginning keyframe and keyframe two, then between keyframe two and keyframe three it zooms to the new value. If we did nothing else, it would remain at the new zoom until the slide display time ended. But, we wanted to continue the zoom after some time. So we place a fourth keyframe further along the timeline with the same value in it as in the third keyframe. This is telling PTE that we want to "hold" this value for that period of time until we begin zooming again. Then we place a fifth keyframe with yet another value further along the timeline and between the forth and fifth keyframe the image zooms to the new value. If we do nothing further, it will remain at this zoom until the display time expires. So what we learn is that to "change" we only need two keyframes, but to "hold" a change for a period of time and then change again requires three keyframes. The changes happen "between" keyframes and to "stop" and hold a change we need to tell PTE by using keyframes. Years ago, when Igor first initiated keyframes, he called them "keypoints." Then because of the use of the term "keyframes" in the video industry, the nomenclature was changed. Actually, I think "keypoints" were easier to understand for someone just beginning to use this feature. Think of keyframes as a "point" in time and I think it will be easier to understand. Once you thoroughly digest this concept, it will be much easier to get the results you expect. Best regards, Lin

Hi Gary, This is not strange at all, it's the way the program is intended to work. Whether still slides or video, object's life begin at the zero point of the timeline for that particular slide or object. Control the appearance with zero opacity and hold the opacity with a second keyframe. It has "always" worked this way since version 5 when Objects and Animations became possible. This may run contrary to your way of "thinking" but it is perfectly logical from a programmer's perspective. Best regards, Lin

Hi Gary, It would be a question for Igor to answer. Without knowing the internals of PTE programming - I really don't have a clue about using the Shift/Mouse Wheel and setting it to do as you question. As for the iterative approach - that works too, but perhaps would ultimately be more work than using a substitute image and stop-watch to get it precise with minimal "tinkering." Putting text into the middle somewhere is quite easy to do. Remember, the first keyframe is always set to 100% opacity and always at the beginning of the timeline for the individual slide by default. So to achieve what you want, just change the opacity to zero for keyframe one of your text animation. Next clone the keyframe and move it or set it to any point along the video timeline. This will then be the defacto "beginning" of your text animation with zero opacity. Now set the third keyframe for the text animation to 100% and the time between keyframe two and three will be the "fade in" time for your text. Animate as desired with additional keyframes... Best regards, Lin

Hi Gary, The quick answer is no. There is no way to expand the view to make it easier to work with this. If you are trying to synchronize the text effects to correspond to particular frames of the video, it would be very difficult to do visually. The work around, on the other hand is fairly straight-forward, but perhaps not obvious. What I do is use a stop-watch. Inexpensive digital stop-watches are available at places like RadioShack. The work-around is to first time the area of the video where you expect the text effect to happen. If there are particular frames where you want specific things to occur, then write down the specific times from the starting point. Next, take the video out and substitute a conventional image and set the display time to the exact time of your text animation. Now you have an expended view to work with. Do your text animations with the substitute image then "copy" the object. Load your video back and delete the substitute image and paste the copied text object. Best regards, Lin

Hi Eric,You're interpreting my response improperly. This entire post belongs in the "off-topic" section because it is not about PTE at all, it's a question about forum software. There is and was no "put down" implied or intended. You appear overly sensitive. Many of our forum participants are non-native English speakers. It helps to be very clear or we contribute toward confusion. Best regards, Lin

Hi Eric, You mean "the Forum" refused your clip? PTE didn't refuse your clip - just clarity for the record.... Best regards, Lin

Well, "The mystery masked man was smart He got himself a Tonto, 'Cause Tonto did the dirty work for free.... But Tonto he was smarter, and one day said kemo sabe, Kiss my ass I bought a boat, I'm going out to sea" Lin

Here's some results Ken... I could definitely live with this. These were from a Japanese user and are taken respectively at 24mm, 1200mm, (optical) then 2400mm and 4800mm digital zoom. It's the duck standing just in front of the post.....

From coal mining to Egyptology to high tech - cool! Welsh technology is evolving!! Best regards, Lin

The amazing thing is that you don't need a tripod, even though it does have a tripod stabilization mode. That's something new to me. Most of the optical stabilization configurations require you to turn off stabilization when on a tripod. This one has a mode which lets it be used on a tripod. 600mm F1.8 - that's one I'd like to see - LOL. - probably couldn't lift it - HA! Actually, Sigma has a 200-500mm F2.8 which I had a chance to use. It's about $34,000 MSRP - the thing was so heavy you almost need a truck to carry it. (34.6 pounds to be exact) I think the largest lens I've seen was this one which was for sale on ebay a while back. It was made by Canon and is a 5200mm F14 Zeiss once made this 1700mm F4 for a one-off client. This thing weighs nearly 600 pounds and had to be mounted on a truck. I took some pictures of it at PMA in Las Vegas years ago - but I can't find them... Here's a link to some info about it... http://theonlinephot...super-tele.html Lin

LOL - yep, it's difficult to stay up with the new toys. I have actually got decent usable images (seriously) with my little Canon S30IS which goes to optical 840mm at 4x digital zoom. It has allowed me to get wildlife images I couldn't get with my best dSLR's and some incredibly expensive glass. And - hand-held on top of that! Lin

LOL - No, there are no pesky Nikon RAW files but hey, it "does" allow the user to save RAW Canon files which is not possible with some of the earlier super zooms like my S30 IS. 28 to - get this 1200 mm optical zoom and digital zoom on top of that which actually works pretty good - at least it does on my S30 IS. If the IQ at 1200 mm is as good as reported - this will be a tremendous bridge camera. Just to get 1200 mm optical at F5.6 would cost about $84,000 (really!). Canon makes a 1200 mm F5.6 which sells for up to $100,000. They have only made about a couple dozen of these and they have been special ordered by news and sports businesses. To have this magnititude of zoom available in a stabilized lens even with a tiny sensor is nothing short of amazing. I thought my S30 IS with 840 mm zoom was the cat's meow - but this is nothing short of phenomenal if it produces decent images. If this works as well as early users say it does - it's going to make a very big impression on the bridge camera market. Best regards, Lin

http://www.lin-evans.org/deb/horses.zip (PC 27 meg) http://www.lin-evans.org/bob/horsesmac.zip (Mac 28 meg) Lin

Hi Igor, A joy to watch. Moles are almost blind and rarely come out of the ground. They have tiny eyes and ears. This one was probably lost - LOL Perfect music to accompany your video!! Best regards, Lin

Superb! Lin

Hi Igor, Here is a link containing both the original mp4 created with PTE and the Adobe Elements conversion output. http://www.lin-evans.org/igor/testsforigor.zip Best regards, Lin