Lin Evans

Right now I believe the answer may be no - I don't think you can do that yet. The default is zero so one would assume that if anti-shimmer is set on for a particular slide, that when and "if" we can successfully import older shows into version 7, it would correspond to "soft" on the slider and appear that way. The issue with beta software is that all features are not yet "turned on" and if they are referenced in the PTE file, the beta would not properly save the settings. Once everything is up and functional, then importing older shows will "probably" be possible without incident. Best regards, Lin

Hi Tom, I would suggest you go here: http://www.clubipi.1cd1.com/en-test.html Download all four of Jean Claude's tutorials in HD (be sure to click on the HD button on the screen first) and watch them, I think his explanation will get you going on using the sound features in PTE 7.0 just fine. Best regards, Lin

Hi Jean-Claude, Unfortunately, I don't have either an iPhone or iPad, but I did notice that when the mp4's were downloaded rather than played from your link, there was some degradation of quality on my players. I suspect it may be due to compression levels and slight incompatibilities with players. I tried it with IrfanView and with MediaPlayer Classic. It looked perfect on your link, but slightly less crisp when played back with the above players. Best regards, Lin [

Hi Jean-Claude, Your English is perfect and of course, understandable. Also, your explanations are very clear and logical. Thank you so much, and please do distribute them in English as well as in French they will be very well received by both English and French native speakers!! Best regards, Lin

Here's one technique which can be presently used to play slides behind a video. Once the video "tracks" are implemented, then a video will be able to span multiple slides placed in the slide list, but there are still other ways to play slides behind a video. One way is to include slides on the objects list and turn them on and off in sequence with keyframes and opacity changes. This is quite tedious and time consuming and will become obsolete as soon as video tracks are employed. Another way is to place a number of slides under a single parent frame as children. If they are lined up side by side horizontally with each slide touching the adjacent slide, then the entire horizontal "string" can be controlled by the parent frame and two keyframes. The first keyframe to mark the position to begin horizontal pan and the last to stop the pan. One "could" go to a photo editor such as Photoshop and create a single long "pano" type file consisting of multiple images placed side by side then save this as a single jpg and slowly scroll it, but that method requires the user to have a good photo editor such as Photoshop. Doing it the way I did for this demo only requires a little creativity. Because the lowest value in percent on the "View" is 10%, one can't "see" all slides lined up to be controlled with the frame. To get an even smaller "view" it's possible to "type in" a value smaller than 10%. I used 2% to be able to see enough area outside the display to get everything lined up properly. Next the entire "group" of slides is moved into position with the parent Frame so that the pan begins and moves to the left. A "mask" was used over a gradient background to soften edges of the frame. To get a pause on the last frame with a fade to black and avoid an abrupt return to the desktop at the end of the video, HyperSnap was used to quickly "copy" the very last frame. This "copy" was then added as an additional slide with a "quick, no transition" and then this last slide was faded to a black jpg via timed opacity to get a smooth transition back to the desktop. About a 19 meg download: http://www.learntoma...en/pittance.zip Lin

Hi Igor, Another issue of sound disappearing when converting to MP4. This time, a Flash FLV included with still slides and converted to mp4 ends up with no sound. The "only" sound in the test was on the FLV video. If "other" sound is included, such as via "add music or sound" it plays fine. Just take an FLV video and drop in as a single slide then convert to mp4 or try to upload to Facebook with the lower quality conversion - either way the sound is no longer audible in the MP4. Best regards, Lin

Hi Roger, I believe you are mistaken. See this: Best regards, Lin

Hi Robert, Let's try it and see... See your messages.. oops, you're message box is full - you need to delete some old ones - can' t send messages right now. I'll try to email you.. Best regards, Lin

Very nice cooperative effort - love the vocals by the way. Fantastic speaking voice by the young lady!! Good mix of video with masking and still images done in an understated but effective manner. Well done! Best regards, Lin

Hi Tom, LOL - I'll bet they were interested in the "call of the wild" from their country cousins! By the way, if you want to see a seriously nice implementation of video with stills, take a look here at Charlie's Jazz demo: Best regards, Lin

Hi Charlie, Wonderful implementation of masks, video and stills!! Bravo!!!! Best regards, Lin

Hi André, Of course there are always things which each of us would like included, improved, etc., about a software product. Unfortunately software developers are trying to please a very large and diverse audience where there are dozens if not scores of different ways of using a tool such as PTE. The product is constantly evolving and improving and serving the new as well as the old user. But the discussion here was intended to give users ideas of how we might implement this new video feature rather than to debate which other features might or should be considered "before" implementing video. In light of that consideration, I would like to suggest one way in which PTE might be used with the video feature and that is to help tell a story about some social or political item of interest. Ken posted a link and comments about what I find to be a very troubling issue. As a veteran of the Vietnam conflict myself, and having been wounded in battle and having suffered social pressures from citizens against an unpopular war when I returned home in the late 60's, I very much appreciate the actions of Terry Kelly who spotlights the need for society to recognize the contributions of the soldier toward trying to establish order in a chaotic world and preserve the freedoms we deem our right. Sometimes, such a story can be told such as that with the song "A Pittance of Time" by Terry Kelly. But clicking on a website URL and then reading and ferreting through the pages with the option of clicking on the video link sometimes carry less impact than having the items presented in an orderly fashion with a slideshow. With that in mind, I used some of the elements found on the website and the video to demonstrate one way we might use this new video feature of PTE. The web pages links and such were cloned out in Photoshop, then presented in an informational way in this demo: http://www.learntoma...en/pittance.zip And if you would like to see a seriously "excellent" way of using video with masking, stills and creative implementation, have a look at Charlie's Jazz demo here: Best regards, Lin

Hi Tom, Yes, there will undoubtedly be some really neat things possible and I expect to see some of our creative users put these new tools to great use soon. I added an extended version of the video cube with more video viewing time and some recorded vocalizations - only 2 meg more download but about another 60 seconds of viewing time. It's on original post as a second link.... Best regards, Lin

Hi Maureen, Sad news. Peter will be greatly missed by all. His words were a great comfort to me in my own time of grief. He was truly a unique individual and his wit, charm, words and works will live on in the memories of those who knew him and serve to inspire others. My deepest condolences to his wife and family. Lin

O.K., many have seen a similar show I made using animated gif's. This one has a video plus animated gif. The software is still has a few bugs so it wasn't as easy as I had hoped, but once the wrinkles are ironed out, it's going to be really great. My animated gif's kept crashing with 7.0 beta 1. I finally got a couple of them in along with the video on one cube face. So far, the mip-mapping (anti-shimmer) has not been implemented - hoping it will be soon.... http://www.learntoma...lfvideocube.zip (about 33 meg pc format only) http://www.learntomakeslideshows.net/demo/wolfvideocube2.zip (about 35 meg pc format - extended version with more video time, etc.) Best regards, Lin

Hi Phil, I hope to get a tutorial out by the second or third Beta release when the features are more fully implemented. Essentially, the videos are treated just like any other objects (images, etc) and can be simply dragged and dropped into the slide list or added to the Objects and Animations list. They can have most all the attributes of any image, that is you can pan, zoom, rotate, add borders, adjust opacity, do 3D transforms, etc. They can run on top of background images just like you would add a picture in a picture, etc. I believe either PAL or NTSC video is perfectly acceptable. Soon there will be a video "converter" built into the next Beta release which will optimize for PTE. Right now the various formats are being tested and details and bugs ironed out by the developers. The best way to find out if it works as you have them is to try. If they don't work right now, then convert them to MPEG II, etc., or even Flash FLV which cuts down a good deal on storage and upload size. The larger HD (1080p) format works fine on the web as long as your audience is willing to start the video, then pause it long enough for buffering about half the show for average broadband systems. 720P is a bit better, but still requires a wait time. One way to see these formats is to go to Vimeo where they are fairly common and see how well they do on your system. If you are uploading to Facebook, etc., then 800x600 is usually pretty good. If you need wide aspect then 720p works well. Facebook will somewhat "downgrade" the quality, but there isn't much we can do about that. It's a little tough right now to have both really great quality "and" reasonable playback without interruption unless one is willing to wait. Unfortunately, there is no "preload" capabilities for most formats other than Flash FLV as far as I know. This then places the burden of "waiting" on the person who wishes to see the slideshow. It's a bit awkward, but the only way I know to do it is to start, then pause the show and wait for the loading to get ahead enough to avoid interruptions. Best regards, Lin

LOL - beats chasing cows and stepping in you know what!! Best regards, Lin

Hi Dan, Thanks! I'll try to do that once Igor has a couple more beta's released so all the bells and whistles are in.... Best regards, Lin

Hi Tom, LOL - probably tomorrow! I just need to find or make some "square" aspect videos to avoid using masks which would bog things down for the "equipment challenged. Best regards, Lin 7:05 pm Mountain Time - Video Cube is up and running - just a few "tweaks" and I'll post it Tom... Lin

Hi Paul, Thanks - just a quickie and you're right; the potential is mind boggling indeed! Best regards, Lin

Hi Ron, Thanks! I'm sure it won't take long! LOL I think that PTE will soon be very competitive with Producer and it's already surpassed Gold... Best regards, Lin

Hi Dave, I do. It played fine in the "Preview" - but was very jerky in the executable. The MOV was made with my Canon SX30-IS. I converted it to an MPEG II with Power Director and it played fine that way. Something not quite right about the direct MOV file.... Best regards, Lin

Jill, Tell Igor some details - what type video (FLV, MP4, MPEG II, etc.) and do you see the Navigation Bar on your video? If so, click on the far right on the little "speaker" Icon. This can also kill the sound... I first thought you might have confused the new feature "offset" for sound clips, but I see now that the offset for video doesn't appear to work. It's either a feature which has not been turned on or it's a bug.... Best regards, Lin

Hi Dave, It's a Beautiful Day is a Flash FLV and the other is an MP4. I've just tried mpeg I and mpeg II and they work perfectly as well. Best regards, Lin

Hi Igor, It's incredible! You and the development team have given users something that many have been wanting for a long time and it works really well. I was able to create a little demo in exactly 7 minutes which uses two videos, pan, zoom, rotate, 3D transforms, text, and even an animated gif. I created a similar show with my video editor a few days ago and it took several hours to get it half-way right. With PTE's new video clip drop in, it was as simple as falling off a log!! I believe this will definitely help elevate PTE to the number one desirable presentation slideshow package. I think the ease and power of the video features will not only appeal to those who create presentation slideshows, but also to video enthusiasts who are struggling with convoluted video software and just want to present their video's and have the kind of features PTE now offers without all the huge learning curve of dedicated video presentation software. PTE is, of course, not a video "editor" but shines already as a video "presentation" tool. Thank you! Best regards, Lin