Lin Evans

Nice one Johnnie. Just like being there except no insect bites! They look like they take good care of their elephants and their tourists as well! The little S1 IS is a great camera for this type record.... Best regards, Lin

I have uploaded a PTE created AVI video duplicate of my early PTE Demo show made with Beta 5.57 of PicturesToExe which is commonly used to test video cards in executable format. This video uses the XVID codec.The "exe" version really challenges the video card, while this video version should play perfectly on almost any system. Making the original was quite a challenge. Video clips were not a feature then and the Earth's rotation on its axis while rotating around the sun was accomplished entirely with multiple keyframed png transparencies (over 640 individual png files) and thousands of keyframes. The sun rotation simulation was done with a method suggested by Dominic (TheDom) using mostly "smoke and mirrors" - LOL. Actually - masking, shadows and a "flat" Sun surface were involved. The components for the "wrist watch" were generated with one of Panos' (of PanosFX) amazing Photoshop actions. If you have Photoshop or Photoshop Elements, I would suggest going to the PanosFX site (http://www.panosfx.com) to learn more about these amazing actions which can greatly enhance your shows. The watch was generated in Photoshop then the individual components were isolated and animated in a late PTE 5.7 beta. Even though it might not be apparent in the short one minute the watch is on screen - all three watch "hands" (sweep second, minute and hour) are all moving and keeping perfect time. I generated this video at 720P (1280x720 pixels) @60 fps (59.94 fps precisely). The video runs perfectly on a USB stick on my Samsung 40" HD (1080p) television. It also runs perfectly using my default player (Kantaris Media Player) on my computer. I am still amazed at the video quality which far exceeds what I have been able to accomplish with mp4 h.264 output from PTE. All animations are butter smooth, no jerky motion of any kind. The images quality is excellent and frankly, I can see no difference between the created executable and this AVI video. For anyone wanting to download and try it on their own suitable television or on their computer (you must have the XVID codec installed on your computer) here's a link. The file is zipped and is 280 meg... Download XVID Codec for PC here: http://www.xvid.org/...loads.15.0.html Download my file here: http://www.lin-evans...howwide_vid.zip The show is in 16:9 aspect ratio. Best regards, Lin

Hi Keith, If you mean a pointer which is somehow actuated by external voice command, no - that's not possible. If you mean an animated "arrow" or such which is synchronized with an audio track at a specific time, yes. That's very easy to do. If you could be specific about exactly what you want to accomplish, we can show you how to do it. Best regards, Lin

Hi Tom, Thanks! I thought it was a problem with his Mac and it's confirmed. He signed up for the Adobe Cloud and downloaded and installed all the CS6 suite software and since, has not been able to play the PTE output for Mac. His system just freeze frames at the opening. He just had it checked by Apple and they didn't find a problem, but it will have to go back I think. I had him go back and try to run other downloads which originally ran perfectly and most of them failed.... I'm not sure what the problem may have been with download speed. Normally it's average. This morning I downloaded the file in 85 seconds so whatever was causing the bottleneck is apparently resolved now. It could be the host was doing some maintenance... Best regards, Lin

Would appreciate it if someone with a Mac could try this and see if it runs.... I have a friend who has had failure with my last two Mac based videos and I'm suspicious that it may be an issue with his system. This is just a little test - not a "slideshow." No need for further downloads and tests - confirmed - problem with friend's Mac.... Thanks! http://www.lin-evans...mo/tigermac.zip Thanks, Lin

Hi, If you could use the "File" "Create Backup in Zip" function to create a PTE plus other necessary components zip and post a link to it, one of us will be glad to help you get this working. There should no issue if you have the image properly coded for a hyperlink, but to help you we really need to see the construct. Best regards, Lin

Hi Brian, It's really a strange issue that I see with the MP4 h.264 version which doesn't happen with the XVID avi version. In the opening scene, when the snow scene is rotated on the horizontal axis, there is a bifurcation of the image edge. It appears as if there were two images made into a "sandwich" and they separate slightly as they rotate. I see this on each MP4 that I create regardless of size or quality setting and regardless of single pass, double pass or bitrate. I put a copy on all five of my systems and it happens on each which all have different video cards and are either Win 7 or XP driven. The XVID AVI is perfectly smooth just like the executable. I uploaded the XVID version to Youtube and when it was transcoded by Youtube, it developed the same issue. The strange thing is that the MP4 h.264 version plays properly for you and for Colin as well. To further test this, I loaded it on a USB card and played it on my Samsung 40" LED 1080p television and had the same issue. I also loaded the XVID AVI and it played perfectly on the Samsung. I'm at a loss to explain the different responses which we are experiencing with the MP4 version. On my systems, it just isn't satisfactory. Tis a mystery! Another similar mystery related to video is the difference on my development system (I haven't tried on my other computers) between the "Preview" mode and a created EXE file of video taken with my Nikon 1V1 camera. The videos are HD in MOV format. They play perfectly when I drop them in and use the preview, but when I create a sample EXE they are very "jerky." Even when I run them through the PTE converter they are jerky in playback in an exe format. The question arises as to the difference between the Preview mode and the created EXE file??? Best regards, Lin

Hi Jose, Thanks! I'm not sure what the "tax" is for - that's much more than normal "sales tax" in the U.S. Ten percent tax would only be $3.50 so that must be some kind of VAT? If they charge that much "tax" for a United States sale, I wouldn't buy it because that's 20% and there is no state in the U.S. which charges that kind of sales tax. In Colorado the "state" sales tax is only 2.9%. Yes, I remember about the Alpha channel and it has been discussed with Igor. I don't know what might become available in future versions of PTE, but it's "possible" to get excellent chroma key extraction with the right software. Even Adobe Premiere Elements has excellent tools for doing really good chroma key extractions - perhaps Sony isn't as good. Several years ago I had the top Sony product (over $1700) but I lost it when my hard drive crashed and never bothered to re-install and look up my unlock key (I think that was also lost), As I remember, it was difficult for me to use it (not intuitive for me) and since video was not yet available in PTE, I just didn't pursue it. Maybe we will get lucky and have some of these features in a future version of PTE.... Let's hope... Best regards, Lin

Hi Brian, The one which works perfectly is the XVID version which you can download here: http://www.lin-evans...tingPTE_vid.zip The one which was uploaded to Youtube by Wnsoft is here: You will need the XVID codec to play the first one, but the difference is remarkable. The MP4 h.264 version just doesn't cut it... Best regards, Lin

Hi Tom, I was just going by one of the review comments by a user who said "forget about trying to use images with it." Perhaps it's been improved in that respect since that particular review comment. I suppose the only way to know is to download and try it. EDIT - I just downloaded it and I see no problems with adding images. You can't type over them in layers as you can with a desktop publishing software, but not a problem to center, left or right justify image and type above or beneath it. Who knows - Igor has said he has some "surprises" for us in 7.5 so we will just have to wait in anxious anticipation to see what happens in the beta - LOL. Best regards, Lin

Hi Tom, Looks like a viable solution if one has a video editor which does chroma key. I couldn't find any information about the price for Atlantis. Do you happen to know what it costs? I saw something on a review which indicated $35 but couldn't find a link on the Atlantis site to confirm. I guess they would prefer you download and install first. The only thing which would prevent me from buying it is the lack of support for adding images to the document. That's something they need to add to make it a real value for publishing. Most "Ebook" presentations have lots of pictures as well as illustrations, so something like MS Publisher seems to be necessary. The rather unique thing is the sounds and ability to change the color of the background. I see how this would easily facilitate chroma key. Chroma key is one of two important features which the competition has that PTE lacks which makes it possible to do many things with Producer which are difficult with PTE. With PTE it takes the extra step of doing the chroma key extraction and video recode outside using 3rd party software. Hopefully, Igor will be able to implement video masking and chroma key extraction - both are possible with Producer. Best regards, Lin

Hi Xaver, I don't keep up with what Youtube is doing in terms of format - the last time I downloaded a Youtube video it came to me as Flash FTP so I assumed that's what they were still doing. Apparently they haven't changed older uploads to an AVC/H.264 format. Whatever they are doing, it destroys the smoothness of the uploaded XVID AVI and the transcoded result looks very much like the MP4 h.264 created by PTE. Excellent for stills, but for complex animations, not so much. Best regards, Lin

O.K., I've clearly established for my purposes that the XVID codec with PTE creates a much better original AVI than the MP4 h.264 output from PTE, or the conversion from MP4 to AVI from the PTE output. It plays perfectly smooth on my systems as well as via a USB device on my Samsung 1080P television. However - and it's a big HOWEVER, neither play correctly when uploaded to Youtube. The Youtube conversion has the identical issue as the MP4 h.264 played on my systems or on my television. Something in the conversion destroys the smoothness of playback on complex animations. I uploaded the perfectly smooth XVID AVI to Youtube and the conversion looks essentially like the MP4 h.264 upload. It has the same issues so though there is a very "big" advantage in my experience with smoothness in play on my computers "and" on my television with the XVID codec, the improvements are lost when Youtube converts to Flash. Best regards, Lin

Hi Gary, I see the difference but I can't account for it. On all five of my systems the output from Kantaris is perfect. There are lots of potential variables and it's difficult to know exactly what might cause the differences. Perhaps there are system issues which make a particular computer more compatible with one or the other player. Best regards, Lin

Hi Xaver, I don't think it's a resource issue. If it's "special HVV support" then that's possible, but here's my experience. I have five computer systems at this location - three running Win XP SP3 and two running Win 7 (one Win 7 Professional and One Win 7 Home Edition). I also have a 40" Samsung LED 1080p Television. The XVID AVI version plays perfectly on all five computers and also on the Samsung. No shimmer, no jerky motion and excellent sharpness and quality overall. Multiple compiles using PTE to create the MP4 h.264 "all" play the same. The opening sequence is "terrible" on each. I've tried various bitrates, single pass, double pass and using PTE to convert to AVI. The playback is identical in each case on every computer as well as on the Samsung TV. The mp4 h.264 version uploaded to Youtube by Wnsoft plays the same way on each of my computers. The opening sequence is very bad when the 3D transform rotates are done. The 3D cube rotation is not smooth. With the XVID codec version it is perfect. This is what leads me to believe that the XVID codec is simply superior for animation. As far as still images with minimal animation, the mp4 h.264 images look perfect, however, as soon as any complex animations are used the quality of playback is simply not satisfactory. Whatever the cause - the mp4 h.264 output from PTE needs to be addressed because the output simply isn't suitable for animation. Best regards, Lin

Hi Ken, That's good to hear! It plays the same way on both of my systems (XP and Win 7) so I think it's a wrap... I hope Igor can put it into PTE (it's open source) and if the next version or version 8 has BluRay burn capability, this codec will provide far better performance than MP4 h.264 as it's presently implemented. The difference is like night and day for the opening sequence. With mp4 h.264 the "edges" of the snow scene break into two parts during rotation. It's as if there were two separate images "sandwiched" together front and back with a separation between them which is "visible" during rotation, but not really there because when I do a screen capture it's clean. It almost looks like a dropped frame situation during the 3D transform rotate. The problem is that Youtube, Vimeo, etc., only accept MP4 h.264 and Flash as far as I can determine. I'm going to try to upload the XVID to Youtube later this afternoon and see what happens. Best regards, Lin

Hi Ken, The latest XVID codec is for all current Windows versions including Win 7, XP, Vista and 2000. The video file is not the same one you use to test with, it's the one which you can access via Youtube or download in exe format from the Wndoft site, but the one with XVID codec is only on the link here. You have to have the XVID codec or it won't play. Here's a link to the one I just installed on my Win 7 notebook - it works fine: http://www.xvidmovies.com/codec/ Best regards, Lin

In searching for a solution to render a video which plays back virtually identical to a PTE executable when using complex animations, I have been disappointed with MP4 h.264 as a solution. MP4 simply doesn't encode some complex animations smoothly. I created a PTE demo show which uses some of the opening sequences from my original PTE demo from a few years ago which is commonly used to test video card response because it has some complex animations which really challenge the GPU in many systems. This latest demo runs beautifully as an exe file, but the opening sequences which consist of a snowfall scene which is rotated and subjected to 3D transforms fail badly as an mp4 h.264 output. In a search for a solution, I've tried high bit-rates, double pass encoding and myriad other combinations to try to find a video solution. This morning I tried creating AVI files with various codecs and found a solution which creates a video virtually identical to the exe file in quality. By using the XVID MPEG-4 video codec with XVID high def, single pass profile, target quantizer 4.00 at max quality, I was able to create a video output virtually identical to the EXE file when played with the Kantaris Media Player. This video will not play smoothly when dropped directly in PTE, but will undoubtedly allow burning a PTE show to BluRay and probably to AVCHD which is virtually identical to the EXE version.... Anyone who would like to test this - here's a link to the video. You will need a suitable player. I suggest Kantaris Media Player (free) and also the free XVID codec which can be downloaded here: http://www.afterdawn...codecs/xvid.cfm (older Windows versions) or here: http://www.xvidmovies.com/codec/ (Win 7, Vista) http://www.lin-evans...tingPTE_vid.zip (about 123 meg download) Best regards, Lin

Hi Jose, Yes, that's the "not perfect part." Video masking has been discussed and Igor is thinking about how it might be implemented. We can only wait and see... Best regards, Lin

Hi Jose, I've been thinking about it, and "maybe" there is an easier way. It's not "perfect," but it would be very easy to do and very quick. Here's how to proceed - also I have included a little sample PTE file for you to look at - link below. What you do is go into Photoshop or other editor and type in white letters (255, 255, 255) on a black background (zero, zero, zero) so you type your entire text that you want to appear as type. This will become your mask. Then you place this over your video and adjust the position and size to size and position your text accordingly. You will be able to see the white letters on the black background. Next you choose the color you want for your text and create a solid color jpg which will be panned as the "image" inside the mask. You will set keyframes to determine the speed that the "text" appears and the text color jpg will be "dragged across revealing the text in that color as it crosses the text mask. You then adjust the speed of the reveal of your text to correspond with the typing sound you use. The letters of your text are revealed then sequentially. It's not "perfect" but as you can see in the sample, it's easy, quick and may be sufficient. http://www.lin-evans.org/demo/typing1.zip Best regards, Lin

Hi Lee, Learning the possibilities which are latent in PTE can be an intriguing pursuit. It does take time to learn many of the techniques, but there are myriad helpful tutorials available and also lots of "templates" both free and inexpensive which can help the new user of PTE quickly produce some very sophisticated and impressive results. The first thing I would suggest is that you avail yourself of the free tutorials which cover the vast majority of possibilities from simple pan, zoom and rotate through very esoteric things such a creating three dimensional rotating objects. Let me give you two links below. The first is to my own site where I keep my free tutorials which are also available on the PTE forum at the second link. There are numerous other tutorials available as well. Browsing through these may save you many hours of "head scratch" and frustration when trying to achieve your presentation goals... http://www.learnpte.com (click on the tutorials link) http://www.picturestoexe.com/forums/index.php?/forum/8-tutorials-and-articles/ Best regards, Lin

Hi Jose, Unfortunately, it would not be a solution for what you want to do. In the case you described, the only way I know which might work involves creating your text in one of two ways, The first way would be to create the text as a PNG file with transparent background, then move a mask to reveal the characters one at a time. This would involve extensive coordination of the mask movement via keyframe. This method would work well for a small amount of "type" but probably would be too labor intensive for any lengthy paragraph. The second way derives from the first and that would be to create individual characters as PNG files in the same manner. Then reveal the individual characters via opacity keyframing. Best regards, Lin

Hi Jose, I "think" this was where I downloaded it: http://www.fonts101.com/search/astoria+titling.aspx The important thing is that you have one which works now!! Best regards, Lin

Hi, I downloaded Astoria Titling and it works correctly for me - I didn't convert it, just installed it. I'm using Win XP home edition, SP3. I'm at a loss to explain why it isn't working for you... Here's a link to the one I downloaded - see if it works for you... http://www.lin-evans.org/demo/astoriatitling.ttf Here's a sample:

Hi Isabel, Actually, there are very few reasons to use an AVI for your shows any longer. It can definitely be confusing because some codecs are fairly "common" and some are not and one is never sure whether the system the file will be played on has the proper codec installed. By using the "Publish" feature and choosing "HD Video for PC and Mac" you can create an MP4 h.264 which will be acceptable to virtually all users whether MacIntosh or Window based. You have the choice of file size and can create anything from a small dimension show to full HD (high definition) such as 1080P (1920x1080 pixels). I would recommend using this feature rather than creating an AVI. The quality is excellent and it's pretty much an automated process. Best regards, Lin