Lin Evans

Hi Dave, I'm not quite clear on what you do to the text in Photoshop to get "separation" between moving text and background slide? If you could clarify this, I might be able to comment better on the possibilities within PTE. As for video, it doesn't have to add a great deal of bulk for this type application. In my last real slideshow, (Almost Lover) the video for effect was a Flash FLV file of only 3.1 megabytes. When used for effects such as this, the file can be greatly compressed and have no real disadvantage. Since the video would be running within the narrow confines of text borders, it could be even smaller and would generally add no more "bulk" than a small mp3 audio file. I just modified the demo (same link) with a video behind text - now less than 5 megabyte download..... Best regards, Lin

Hi Eric, There really isn't much detail because the leaves on the Aspen trees were too thick and too large to fit into the letters correctly - really a "quick and dirty" example to just give the impression of movement in the letters. The "ideal" way to do this particular effect would be to have a short video of the Aspen leaves "shimmering" as blown by the wind. They call them "Quaking Aspens" here in Colorado. The video would simply take the place of the still image and there would be no need to "animate" it because it would already have all the motion necessary. Actually, the effect works equally well without motion with certain types of backgrounds and the more "blocky" the text, the better it works. I didn't take too much time with this one, just wanted to present the "concept" so Igor could see one reason why we might want to keep this feature..... Best regards, Lin

When one chooses "Rasterize Text to PNG" there is a message which states that it is no longer necessary to do so, and for "most" purposes that is true, however, there are times when doing so can be useful I think. For example - If I wanted broad text with images inside the text itself. Of course this would be easy enough to do with Photoshop or other software, but how nice to be able to do the whole process in PTE (and easier, I might add). O.K., this is not a "sterling example," but you can get the idea. I created text using PTE and it was very easy to see the text and pick just the perfect one for the example because I simply scrolled through and observed the text on the screen. Next I wrote the text (using the default "white color") I wanted to use then saved it as a PNG using the "Rasterize to PNG" feature of pte. Ignoring the message, I went ahead and gave the file a useful name and saved it. Next I created a mask using the white text as the mask and simply ran an image with aspen leaves inside the mask with a little animation. Very easy to do and "could" have useful implications for some titles, etc., I think. Here's a quick and dirty sample: http://www.learntoma...pentextdemo.zip (less than 1 megabyte) NOTE: modified by using video behind text - 4.7 meg download now Best regards, Lin

Hi Adri, A couple suggestions: perhaps a bit of text either before or after (in any language which the viewer could translate with Google translate) to explain the significance of Brugge for those not familiar with European history could be helpful. The dark and somber mood with b&w images suggests several things depending on the orientation and knowledge of the viewer. I believe you could resize these photos to something like 1600x1200 or so and shave off more than half the file size without any effect on the quality of the images in the presentation. The photography was excellent, but the mood and darkness might confuse some viewers unless there was some explanation either before or after the presentation. Best regards, Lin

Hi Mick, I think it's fine just as it is! A wonderful sojourn through time and beautiful scenes captured perfectly - what else could one ask? I would love to visit this if I'm ever in Kent. Sherry and I visited several Bavarian castles such as Neuschwanstein and Hohenschwangau but never got the chance to see many in the U.K. - it was a pleasure watching. Best regards, Lin

Nice Sheila! You've discovered that there's more than one way to "skin a cat" - LOL Best regards, Lin

It was just a five minute quickie - If I get time, maybe I'll make a real one with a more accurate mask, etc... Best regards, Lin

Hi Again, You're doing fine and with more experimentation will find lots of neat things to do..... Here's a quick and very "dirty" example of a video running in the pyramid. Notice that as the pyramid rotates, the video has disappeared and been replaced with another "kitty" triangle. This was done simply by having "two" options on that pyramid face. #1 was the video running inside a triangular "mask". Then as that face goes out of sight, it is keyframed to zero opacity and the second option is keyframed from zero opacity to 100% opacity while it is still invisible because of its position. By this "video" method, you "could" have one of your slideshows running on a face or even on each face of your pyramid, etc. There is no "resource hit" for running the same video on all sides so you could simply replace the pyramid faces with the video running inside the mask and have your video running concurrently on all faces of the pyramid. This same "principle" could be used to create a rotating object (pyramid, cube, whatever) which changes images each time a side faces the audience. Simply using multiple "options" on each face and keyframing them to be visible or invisible would allow some multiple variations and keep the animation interesting. I didn't take a great deal of care in creating the mask so it's not "perfect" and just picked one of my videos as a quick example. I made it very small (400x300) to keep the size down but it's sufficient to demonstrate the possibility. If you watch, just let it run long enough to see the video and for that side to come up again - it ends abruptly at 3 minutes because I didn't try to "polish" it - just a quickie..... http://www.learntoma...yramidvideo.zip (about 18 meg) Best regards, Lin

Hi Sheila! By golly you're getting the "hang" of it pretty well - LOL. It's fun playing with the possibilities, isn't it? Keep at it and you will find other creative ways to use animation. You might think about creating a triangular mask and putting a video on one of the pyramid faces just for fun. Put the video in the mask and treat it just as you would a still image ...... Best regards, Lin

Thanks Igor! It's a wonderful feature which you and the team have given us to use. It's up to the users now to use it wisely... Best regards, Lin

Hi David, Thanks! A fun little show for an old girlfriend whom I dated just before I married Sherry. She and Sherry were good friends and we've kept in touch for over 33 years. After Sherry died, I have been chatting with her on facebook and trying to help her with her photography. She and her girlfriend of 30 years live in the far northeast and she's invited me out to climb a mountain with them next Fall and promised me that I'll be able to get some great photos of moose. I'm looking forward to that... Best regards, Lin

Thanks Roger, She is, isn't she? Best regards, Lin

Thanks Xaver, I made some minor changes such as using a fade to black before transition to avoid the white line on the image with the sunset and used some black masking rectangles to equalize the framing on some images to minimize transition blunders. I decided to keep the brush, but I did improve it a bit, I think so that it looks a bit more "realistic." In all good suggestions, thanks! I'm a bit out of my element doing these types of slideshows, but it was for a good friend who did apparently enjoy it. I uploaded the changed version on the original link... Best regards, Lin

Thanks Davy, You noticed, of course, that she "lost" the dress at the end of the show - LOL Best regards, Lin

Thanks Paul, I changed the paint brush a bit and uploaded again - it's a little more "realistic" now... Best regards, Lin

Thanks Charlie! It was a fun project which I did for an old friend... Best regards, Lin

Thanks Colin, It was fun trying to get creative, even if it's not really in my blood - LOL Best regards, Lin

Hi Ron, I'll try to do that some time this week. It's actually pretty simple - just insert the clip in the slide where you want it to start then set it as "Master." Copy and paste (use Ctrl V) to subsequent slides as many times as you intend to have slides. If they are not already marked as "Linked" do so (they probably will automatically link) then add your slides and adjust them and the video for size via Objects and animations. Divide the video time in seconds (assuming you want the entire video) by the total number of slides and use this value for each slide via (Customize this slide). Don't try to set transitions except fades or the video "and" the slide will perform the transition together. When you set either the video on each slide or the still to the increment of time of video time divided by number of slides, the other will automatically pick up this time. It's only necessary to set "either' the video "or" the stills. You can fade in or fade out the stills with opacity. You can flip them with 3D transform, pan them, zoom them or rotate them. Just don't apply transitions other than "quick no transition" or "fade in fade out" or the video will also do the same. That's about all there is to it. You can also put borders around the video or slides, etc. Best regards, Lin

Hi Sheila, Entertaining, informative and educational !! Very nice! Best regards, Lin

It just takes a few seconds - use CTRL V and you can paste to 150 slides in a couple seconds.... Best regards, Lin

Just playing with ideas. O.K., I'm not creative so no promises - LOL... http://www.learntomakeslideshows.net/demos/almostlover.zip (about 14 meg) Lin

Hi John, Historically, one of the biggest "mistakes" a company can make is to mess with recognized branding. It causes confusion in the market and serves no practical purpose. Rarely, has name changing of an established product resulted in success. PTE has been around and recognized world-wide by its name for nearly a decade. My opinion is also - "if it's not broke; don't fix it." All the hoopla about dangers in executable file format are primarily the construct of the anti-virus folks. PTE has, to date, "never" had a single authenticated case of producing a trojan, virus or any other kind of malware infection. Executable file format is not going away anytime in the foreseeable future. Your operating system is resplendent with .com and .exe format files - it's the way we make computers work. It's far easier for hackers to infect the operating system with its many thousands of exe files by mimicking one or more than to bother with a few products which create executable code and are used by only a tiny fraction of the huge market for operating systems. It's as easy to write malware for video files as it is for executable code if you know what you're doing. Folks who use MacIntosh systems frequently say that they do so because of their "immunity" from malware. This, of course, is a false security. It's as easy to write destructive code for the Mac as it is for a PC, but those who get their kicks from creating virus and trojan code have little incentive to do so for Apple systems which have less than a 10% market share. The bottom line is that PTE has a very good reputation and the market share is growing steadily. Why risk that momentum or a branding change which would then become yet another of the hundreds (do a Google search) of relatively unknown presentation slideshow products trying to establish themselves in a crowded software arena? Best regards, Lin

Hi Patrick, Nice! Like being there. Looks like you and Catherine had a great time on holiday. One thing you might consider is getting one of the freeware video editors which has anti-shake filtering. They greatly reduce the "bumps" caused by the road when filming through the windshield. I like the music - it was very well suited for the presentation. Best regards, Lin

Hi Paul, Had me rolling on the floor!! Good one!! Best regards, Lin

Hi Colin, I liked that - a lot! Both the background music and the images are peaceful and soothing. Something about symmetry is just "right" and leaves the viewer in a relaxed and peaceful place. Best regards, Lin