Lin Evans

Yes, the aspect ratio is fine and the blanks should be the same size as the other photos. If you make the blanks with Photoshop, etc., you don't need to save them at a low compression because they are only backgrounds for the text. Just save them at about compression level 4 to save storage space. Once you get the show completed, then creating a DVD will lower the quality of the display a good deal because NTSC resolution is much lower than your computer screen resolution. If you can give some more details about your project and physical proximity to where the show will be seen, there are some other ways of showing your slideshow depending on the type of display, television, etc., which will be used. For example, it's possible to make a high resolution show, put it on a USB storage card and display directly on some modern flat screen LCD televisions which have provisions for such. It's also possible if the show is to be seen on a computer, to just send a PC or Native MacIntosh executable format show. More details will help us give you better suggestions. Best regards, Lin

Hi Ian, Igor has indicated that there will soon be some changes made so that the timings will make more sense. There will be an iterative release of version 7 soon with improvements to the slide timings so that they will be much more predictable. Best regards, Lin

Hi Jerome, What you want to do is pretty straight-forward, but there may be a little learning curve so let's break it down into basic blocks. First just put all your slides into the slide list and they will automatically be assigned a display time of about 5 seconds. This can be changed later either individually, or as a group. Next create the number of blank jpg's in a solid color or gradient to use as text slides between the groups of slides. On these you will write the text (story) before each group of photos. You can either create these in PTE or in your favorite image editor such as Photoshop, Elements or even the very excellent freeware PixBuilder which you can download from the wnsoft.com forum. Add these blank slides at the appropriate position. You can drag and drop them where your wish. Next decide on approximately how long you want each slide to be viewed. Multiply this by the number of slides including the spacer slides for text and you will have approximately the number of minutes of background music you will want. Select the music and add via the Project Options Music Tab. Just add them, don't create new tracks. Put them in the order you want them to play. Next go to the Project Options Main Tab and click on Synchronize Slides and Music and Auto Spread Slides Along Music. Next click on the Timeline Tab at the bottom right of your screen. Next click on Timed Points and then click on Arrange All Points. At this time you will have a slideshow with random transitions which you can either change universally or individually. Personally, I think for a first slideshow I would use all Fades and let PTE put the time in. These things you can always fine tune later. To get out of the Timeline, click on the Slides Tab. Now you can go to Objects And Animations and use the Navigation Arrows in the top right corner to go to your blank slides and enter Text. You have a wide choice of fonts, sizes and such and all text will be automatically rasterized so that on any system whether or not that system has the font you chose, the correct font will appear because the "text" will automatically be changed to a graphical representation. Text is treated like any other object. You can make it larger or smaller either by changing font size or by simply dragging the surrounding text box to fit and place it. It can be made to scroll if there is too much to fit the space. I'll provide a link to tutorials a bit later. Once you have the text as you want it. The final step is to decide whether or not you want navigation controls. Since you indicated that you will probably put this on a DVD, you may want to omit navigation controls because once you create a DVD there is no "computer brain" to allow the navigation controls used in executable slideshows. The tutorials can help you easily learn to zoom, pan, etc., Here's a link: http://www.picturest...uously-updated/ (these are AVI video tutorials) If you don't already have it, you may want to download the freeware Kantaris Media Player. Kantaris has all the necessary codecs to play the tutorials. You can download it here: http://www.winportal...0Media%20Player I suggest you start with PZR (Pan Zoom Rotate) and this will probably be enough to get you through this first slideshow. Don't be afraid to ask for help if you get lost somewhere - there is always someone on the forum to help. Another suggestion is for you to first create a little show with about four slides so you can get used to all the features before you embark on the big project. I think this will help you greatly and it will make the large show "much" easier once you are comfortable. Best regards, Lin

Hi Gary, After the developers corrected the false detection, the anti-virus program would no longer tag your executables as having malware, but the file placed in the vault would still be there unless you removed them or copied them from your backup. In general, when a fault with an anti-virus program is found and corrected, there is no remedial action by the anti-virus program. Things which were quarantined would still be gone unless you take action yourself. Best regards, Lin

Hi Gary, I'm not objecting to your discovering Avast's solution, but you said: --------------------------- -------------------------- The "virus" didn't "attach exe files created by PTE - the antivirus software reported a false positive and quarantined perfectly good files. It's important to recognize the difference. Best regards, Lin

Gary, If Avast found a "solution," logic should tell you that it wasn't a virus with PTE. If it were, how could Avast have a "solution?" In such as case, were it a true virus, Wnsoft would have to have the "solution." You send your exe files through multiple other anti-virus programs and no problems are found, ergo, Avast has a problem. The fact that after AVG removed two rootkits your problem went away should tell you that the "problem" was two rootkits not the "59" pte executables which were quarantined, right?? Best regards, Lin

Gary, It's not a virus - it's an Avast problem with a false positive. There is no virus.... Didn't you read what Igor just said??? You may have had a "virus" but it had "nothing" to do with PTE. Avast may have simply looked for executable code and made an incorrect "assumption" that this executable code was the culprit. If AVG removed rootkits they were not associated with PTE. To date, there has never been a PTE file infected with a virus of any kind that anyone is aware of. Each and every occurrence has been false positives caused by faulty anti-virus software algorithms. Lin

Hi Eric, Thanks for that! I hadn't seen it, but very nice and some great sunset photos as well. I didn't realize there was such a large tide there - that does make getting in and out a bit problematic. My sailing experience is limited to the North Atlantic, Caribbean and coastal Florida. I've never had to deal much with tides other than keel clearance getting into and out of the slip in Clearwater, Florida. The water is quite shallow at low tide and the channels constantly shifting so that getting high centered is quite common. We have a term for the "remedy" called "kedging" which you seldom hear any more unless you sail in Florida. It consists of launching the dinghy with an anchor aboard, rowing to the length of the anchor rode, dropping anchor by hand then using the winch aboard the yacht to help pull the keel off the sand bar. Sometimes it takes two or three times and can get exhausting - LOL. Best regards, Lin

Hi Ian, Unfortunately, once the files have been moved, there isn't an "easy" solution, but for your reference in the future; when you want to move a PTE creation to a totally different location, use the internal Zip feature which gathers all necessary files into a single zip archive which can then be unzipped on any drive and on any folder within that drive and PTE will not give you an error because the PTE template file itself is then modified and aware to look for the necessary file within the folder where the archive is placed and extracted. It is possible, with a text editor, to modify the .pte file to the new file path, but since you had your originals in numerous different locations, that creates a situation where there is probably no real advantage in doing it that way. As far as I know, there is no way to "replace" a music selection keeping the waveform, envelope, etc., as it was. That's one other good reason right now to use the Zip or Template feature to insure you will always have the files necessary so this won't happen in the future. Perhaps in a later revision, Igor might consider a "replace" feature fro music similar to the one presently available for images. You said that in some cases you had "zipped" the "project" then moved it but subsequently PTE couldn't find the files. Did you use the internal Zip feature, or did you use an external zip program such as PK Zip? If you used the built-in Zip or Template feature PTE "should" be able to find the files with no problems. Best regards, Lin

Nice one Eric! Excellent images and nice background music and commentary! It immediately brought back memories of the 60's with Gerry and the Pacemakers singing "Ferry Cross the Mersey" - LOL. Did you have a chance to try out the very excellent movie mode on the SX30 IS? Best regards, Lin

Hi Harold, Use Drop Shadow, Customize Angle - Doesn't matter - any setting Set Distance to Zero Set Size to 3 Under Spread Choose "Ring" or "Double Ring" That's as good as you can approximate a "stroke" in Photoshop with PTE This will outline your text - be sure to use a contrasting color. Best regards, Lin

You're right - it indeed does work that way. That could be very confusing. Saving, closing and reopening between changing the durations and the effects seem to put things in proper order, but it seems there should be a way to program around this or it "could" get complicated. Best regards, Lin

I don't believe it's working correctly guys. If you place two slides into the slide list, set the custom time for each to 10 seconds and set the transition to "quick, no transition," the total display time "should" be 20 seconds. Instead the total display time is 18 seconds. Best regards, Lin

Hi Jim, Could you be more specific about "can't get VideoBuilder to work?" What happens - error messages, etc., and when? Best regards, Lin

Hi Jim, Yes, it's actually easy to do this. It can be a little confusing but I'll explain. First, the "start time" for music is how far into the music "selection" you want your sound to begin. For example, if you wanted to start a three minute song at two minutes into the song, then the "start" time would be two minutes. The "offset" is what you want to deal with. Go to "Project Options" - "Music" - "Customize" and place your 4 minutes 18 seconds into the "offset," leave the start time alone and you will have what you are looking for. Best regards, Lin

Hi, All these are ways you can do it. Beechbrook will be easiest because you can just zip up your executable and place it there with a description and send people you want to have look at your show the link. Facebook is an easy way but you have two disadvantages. First, the output will be much lower quality and second, if you use any music which is possibly copyright, Facebook may stop you, warn you and if you do it again, kick you off. Youtube is the same way - they like to "police" everyone. Vimeo is more tolerant, but the quality is not as good and you would have to upload without help from PTE because they really don't want "slideshows" on their site and refused to let Wnsoft or Photodex, etc., have their API codes so things could be automatically uploaded. They even insultingly tried to hold up the presentation slideshow people by "charging" them a fee for this. I strongly do not recommend Vimeo myself..... If you want your shows on your own website, you can either purchase a low cost converter to convert your mp4 file output from PTE to Flash, or you can buy a website program like Xara Web Designer (relatively inexpensive and a dynamite program) which will automatically convert and you can just upload the provided code and give folks a link to your own website to see your shows. Best regards, Lin

Hi Barry, I suspect Igor may not easily understand "exactly" what you are getting at. Let me try to paraphrase it. You would like to see PTE have the ability to clip off then save a portion of the full sound track. Did I get this right? You are saying that you greatly reduced the number of slides, but that the sound track was, of course, the original size which greatly affected the exe size even though the slide portion was greatly reduced? . Even though PTE, using the envelope, can stop sound at any place, it doesn't actually "edit" the sound track but simply mutes it as desired? So what you are suggesting or asking about is whether in a future version PTE can actually "edit" the sound track for the exe file yet "save" the full sound track in the PTE file? If I've got this wrong, please explain exactly what you would like to see. Best regards, Lin

Hi Frans, To my knowledge, the video converter has "never" automatically started, but has always been an option. If you select the video then right click the mouse, you will see the option to convert. Best regards, Lin

Try clearing you cache - could be leading you astray? If not, download it from the forum instead of the main page.... Best regards, Lin

Hi Jed, Use the PTE "Zip" feature to move your file to your main drive or you are likely to have issues with finding files, etc. If you go to "File" then choose "Create Backup in Zip" then all necessary files will be included and you can simply create a folder, extract the zip to that folder and everything will work fine. Without doing it this way, PTE will not likely be able to find all the files, especially if you make later changes to your external drive. Best regards, Lin

HI David, Are you by any chance trying to change the image from monochrome to color or vice versa? It sounds very much like perhaps you are bringing the monochrome image in as a "child" of the other file. This could account for a change in relative size. If you want both images on the same page but in different levels so you can fade one out while fading the other in, then be certain that before you load the second image you do not have the other one "selected." You can tell if it is selected by whether the image is selected in the Objects and Animations screen by the color of the file name. If it is "blue" it is selected and you need to click outside the file but in the white area just beyond to "unselect it" before importing your second image. If you already have a number of them imported as a "child" of the first image, you can simply use the right click to then choose "cut" and then unselect the parent and "paste" the cut image back as a separate item. Best regards, Lin

Hi Andrew, Beautiful presentation! I spent a wonderful week in Barcelona about eight years ago. I spent lots of time at the beach across from the Olympic Village ;-) Best regards, Lin

Hi Eric, What would be your solution? Best regards, Lin

Hi David, I understand your reasoning and the value of learning how to manipulate PTE to do various 3D animations and I quite agree with you. Xara, at least the version I use for text, isn't designed for general purpose 3D animation. It's value is only for quickly creating and manipulating 3D text. So if you just want to create flashy 3D animated text, then it's definitely easier and faster to use it and export as Flash or animated Gif and use it with your show than to build the alphabet in block geometrics with PTE. On the other hand if you want pictures, photos, etc., to be part of the text as in your sample, then using PTE is the solution since Xara, at least as far as I know, doesn't have that capability. What it does do, however, that you can't do with PTE, is create the animated text using multiple fonts, three color user adjustable lighting which changes as the characters animate, and a wide choice of templated animations. To learn about what it can do, follow the link and watch a few of the demos. I think that the beauty of PTE is that the power is there for those who want and need it (and are willing to devote the time necessary to the learning curve), and the simplicity for those who don't. Also the 3D transforms add to the utility of programs like Xara because you can further manipulate the already impressive animation using PTE's own impressive tools. PTE is a bit like Photoshop in that it has something for everyone. People such as Jean Pierre (JPD) who was miles ahead of the rest of us, and was able to extract the maximum from not only PTE's internal tool kit, but by using outside software (Excel in his case) to make it jump through hoops even Igor and the development team didn't know it could do! Then there are those who just want to output a simple slideshow with nice transitions and background music and/or voice narrative. It works for both! Though I personally have always loved animation and use it often in demonstrations, I rarely use it in the same ways in my own slideshows for friends or clients. Sometimes subtle is better and sometimes "in your face" animation is desired. I think that a tool which can do both as PTE can, is the ideal choice for those who enter competitive events. I don't believe that having the "potential" for creating amazing animations is wasted with PTE in any way. Few Photographers ever learn the "depths" of Photoshop's power, but it's there if they need or want it. Graphic artists often do things with Photoshop which amaze those of us who rarely need or even see some of the more esoteric possibilities. PTE is similar. We have photographers, artists, AV competitors and a host of other specialists all enjoying these features in varying degrees. It's all good in my opinion. Best regards, Lin

Hi Dave, http://www.learntoma...dave/pixels.zip That's true - they are small, and it's fun doing them. However, Xara 3D is "so fast" for doing animated text, it's hardly worth the time it takes to construct in PTE. This one took 12 seconds to make. It took longer to zip it and upload than it did to make the 3D text. It's an inexpensive and "very" powerful little program which lets you output to Flash, animated gif, etc. They have lots of great programs - one of the best web creation software packages around..... This one is low res and slow frame rate, but you have total control over that. A large number of fonts can be used, you have control over lighting, extrusion, texturing, etc., etc. Here's a link to their site (They are a U.K. Company). http://www.xara.com/us/products/ Best regards, Lin