Lin Evans

I put the stopwatch on and created a brief demo using two videos, pan, zoom, 3D transform, text, borders and included an animated GIF. It took exactly 7 minutes! To do this with my video editor would have taken me several hours and it wouldn't have been nearly as good! I can see this new feature of PTE being really well received by videographers as well as by the slideshow enthusiasts. Just the other day on a video forum, the question was asked about how to include multiple videos on a single screen. PTE now makes it a simple matter of drag and drop! Here's a link to the sample: PC format only - zipped exe file of about 40 meg.... http://www.learntomakeslideshows.net/demo/videodemo.zip Congratulations Igor - You and the development team have added a whole new dimension to capabilities!!! Best regards, Lin

Fantastic Igor! This will make soooooo many people happy!! Best regards, Lin

Hi Carol, Sorry, I misunderstood and assumed since we were talking about cubes that you meant the Christmas cube with snow. Actually, it's very easy to substitute any image for the one in the template. Just do as I suggested before and extract the template into its own folder. Then proceed as follows: 1. Open PTE 2. Navigate to your folder where you extracted the files and open Project1.pte 3. Click on the slide to select then on the Objects and Animations tab 4. Click on the slide in the (girls2.jpg) list on the right above the mask object 5. Click on the "Properties" tab 6. Click on the open "folder" at top right in the "Picture" block 7. Navigate to the folder having the image you want snow on and double click on the image This will replace the image "girls2.jpg" with your new image. If the size is different, you will need to first adjust the new image in the size that you want to fill the screen, etc. Next, adjust the "Mask Rectangle" (not the mask Container) to fit the screen area of display. Doing this confines the "snow" to the screen so it won't appear outside that boundary should your show be played on a display with a different aspect ratio than the one used for building the show. You can "distort" the Mask Rectangle so that it properly fills the screen by holding down the "Shift" key while dragging the rectangle via the little squares. For example, if it is too short to fill the screen in the horizontal aspect, just hold down the Shift Key and drag it first on one side then on the other until it fits. Likewise if there is a misfit on the vertical aspect. What this mask does is control the area on the screen where snow falls. If you change the time of the display from the default of one minute, snow will fall either faster or slower depending on which way you go. The timing was set for a one minute display via the keyframes and snow.png files..... Don't forget to "save" your work under a different name to avoid permanently overwriting the template. Best regards, Lin

Hi Carol, I'm not certain what the problem is, but it "appears" that perhaps you have the wrong template. Follow the instructions below and hopefully it will work out correctly for you. Here's how to go about it. 1. Create an empty folder 2. Go here and download #19 "second link" and "extract" it into your empty folder 3. Open PTE and load the PTE file contained in the extraction (Christmascubefortutorial.pte) 4. Rename your own six square images to "side1.jpg.......side6.jpg" 5. Copy these six renamed images into the folder and when prompted, agree to "overwrite" the existing six files 7. Open the Christmascubefortutorial.pte file and test It "should" work fine unless the size of the six images was different that the size of the ones in my original. Each slide "should" be 800 pixels. This is somewhat critical until you have a good feel for what will happen with different sizes. Essentially, the mask must be adjusted to accommodate other sizes. It would also be a good idea, if you haven't already done so, to download the AVI tutorial (link one on # 18) and watch it to get familiar with the reasons for various interactions and to see how to turn off snow for one or more sides of your cube. Hopefully this will help you get started on the right track... Best regards, Lin

Hi Howard, What a miserable day to have to have a flat!! Nice use of the video simulation - works perfectly for me. Yes, this is a perfect example of when a little video clip could be nicely integrated to help tell a story. Thanks! Best regards, Lin

Hi Carol, Once you have done a few and get the "formula" down in your mind, they will become really easy and quick to make. The really great thing about PTE is that you can then add amazing animations to any (or all) cube "face(s)" Very soon, when version 7.0 beta 1 is released, you will even be able to place "video's" on a cube face. Here's a little sample I made a few weeks ago which demonstrates some possibilities: http://www.picturest...sleep-aid-cube/ Over the years I've placed some cube samples on the forum which have variously, snow, 3D transforms and other animations. Also, If you go back through Dom's posts he has some "internal" cube views, etc. Other geometric possibilities exist as well such as this: http://www.picturest...at-new-clothes/ http://www.picturest...mplatetutorial/ Best regards, Lin

Hi Richard, The first thing which came to mind when I read your post was a question about your hardware. PTE uses something referred to as "hardware rendering." Essentially, this means that the GPU (Graphical Processing Unit) on your video card is used for most animation. This is a two edged sword. First, it is tremendously advantageous in that the CPU is freed up to do other processing and the GPU allows complex animations with incredible smoothness. However, the other side of this sword is that if your video card is not up to the task, you may have the kind of issues you are describing. Also, if your video card drivers are not current, this can also impact the usability. There really is no incompatibility of any kind with borders and animation. Any issues you may be seeing are undoubtedly hardware related. If you could reveal the type and model of your video card, perhaps I could make a suggestion about a solution whether driver or hardware centric. You can go to the "Start" "Run" and then type in "dxdiag" and you will be able to run a diagnostic which will give all relevant information. This would be very helpful in diagnosing your problem. Best regards, Lin

Hi Carol, Probably, your best bet is to email Dom and I'm certain he will be happy to help you learn to use the template. Perhaps there is something you are missing in the instructions which is causing this issue. You may want to download and look at my video tutorial on cubes which "might" help you discover where you are going wrong. Here's a link: Go to # 18. If you have problem with the AVI file, download and install the freeware player Kantaris Media Player Best regards, Lin

Just a little show I did for a friend. She loved it - so that's all that's important. Little "skin" but nothing to hide from the kids.... http://www.learntomakeslideshows.net/debbie/myattemptatart.zip (about 10 meg) PC format Lin

Hi Barry, Looks super to me! Beautiful place and lovely presentation IMHO. Best regards, Lin

Hi, Beta 1 of Version 7.0 of PTE (which all registered users will be able to use, and is a functional version) will be posted for download any day now. With this you will be able to drop in video clips which run seamlessly in the same slideshow. You will also be able to rotate, apply 3D transforms, use borders, use masks, have multiple video clips on the same screen and other things not possible with competitive presentation slideshow software. Follow the link provide by Dave for a thread explaining, etc. You "should" get the deluxe version to have all the neat features such as saving your shows to mp4, output to native MacIntosh executable format, etc. Best regards, Lin

Hi Vince, From your description, I'm not quite sure what you mean by "open it." Do you mean that if you open PTE and load the "filename.pte" that images are missing? If by "open it" you mean "play" the executable, the basic images are contained in the PTE executable code, but intermediate images for pan, zooms, etc., are created on the fly by the computer using the original jpg's or png's as starting points. The best way to transfer PTE files from your other computer is to use the ZIP function. "File " "Create backup in Zip" then copy the zip file to the new computer where you can "unzip" and extract the entire set of images, sounds, objects, etc., contained in the original show. It sounds like you have not copied all the files you need to create or manipulate your original show. If you could explain in more detail it would be helpful. Best regards, Lin

http://www.timeanddate.com/worldclock/converter.html Lin

Hi Kim, There are some very powerful new features just now being added to PTE. Some of these will shortly be available to all users via beta 1 of version 7.0 which may be available this week. One of the beautiful things about this product and this company is that all registered users have the option of working with the nearly fully functional beta versions. There are major changes being made presently which not only consist of additional and very useful functionality, but also cosmetic and interface changes. The problems associated with documentation and support of a rapidly changing product are many and varied. Jeff and I chose a point in time when PTE had made a major change to try to offer supplemental support via the "unofficial user guide." We were planning an upgrade to cover new features and changing menus, but the changes kept coming at a rate faster than we felt we could keep up with. I haven't spoken with Jeff for some time now, but I've thought that perhaps a complete re-write of the unofficial guide may be in order after version 7.0 is released. Of course one of the issues we face is that Jeff and I are English speakers and our user base is world wide. So what we do needs to be translated into multiple languages for optimal benefit. One of the issues facing the developers (Wnsoft) is that they are a relatively small company with limited resources. They actually have made great strides in the past few years just in being able to produce a user guide, which is, as you note, still rather skeletal in nature. We hope, as do the developers, that this deficiency may be rectified in the near future. There is a need to rethink the "method" of producing a guide or manual, and perhaps a change to a "modular" approach rather than a unified document as we did in the past. It's perhaps easier to keep up with incremental changes and updates this way. I've discussed this with the developers and they are planning to try very hard to keep up with documentation and support for the new features. Of course, the features must be implemented and in their final or near final format before it makes sense to do this. This is why Ken mentioned that for optimal success with this program, it's a good strategy to check the forum regularly, because this tool is much larger than any of us, so we cooperate very closely with one another to try to help new users with understanding the myriad features and power of this amazing tool. One of the very useful tools which is available is the "Frequently Asked Questions and How To" section which Peter Appleton has championed - link here: http://www.picturestoexe.com/forums/index.php?showforum=18 This section is kept current and there are many helpful hints there. I glossed over a great deal in my previous answer to you, but there is "so much" that this program can do, it's very difficult to try to explain some of the functionality in a brief answer. In addition to pan, zoom, rotate, opacity, etc., which can be programmed with or without parent/child relationships, there is also the entire area of 3D transform with X, Y and Z axis features which also have the same functionality. Then there are features unique to quasi-video modes such as animated GIF and with the advent of version 7, now video clip inclusion. All which can be programmed with the aforementioned functionality. It's really an amazing product which, as a programmer, you will come to appreciate even more as you work with it. PTE is more akin to a low level language which one can use to build magnificent structures with. As you noticed, many competing products are "pretty," but functionally bereft. PTE is that tool which one can use in innumerable creative ways to build amazing shows. Rather than have lots of "canned" themes and templates, it lets one build their own on a "nuts and bolts" level. Perhaps in the future, Wnsoft will offer templates of their own, but right now you may want to look at those offered for a very reasonable fee by some of our members such as theDom here: http://www.thedom.fr/ You can always find some useful links on one of my sites here: http://www.learntomakeslideshows.net Go to the "links" page.... Hopefully, you will find the answers you need for your project and quickly learn the intricacies of PTE. If you have questions, just post them here on the forum and someone will quickly try to help you solve any problems you may encounter. Best regards, Lin

Hi Kim, Layers and Parent/Child are not the same concept at all. When you go to the Objects and Animations screen, the slide which appears in the Main slide list is on layer one. Any photos you add from Objects and Animations go in separate layers. It is possible to insert these additional photos as "children" of the original slide or as independent slides without interdependent relationships depending on whether the original slide was selected at the time of insertion. They can also be children of each other, or you could add additional objects such as frames or rectangles which could be variously parents or children of other objects. You can move these "objects" from layer to layer in Objects and Animations by selecting then using various keystrokes. The transparency of each is 100 percent adjustable. The concept of parent/child relationship is more complex and it is going to take you some time to learn how it all works. Again, I would suggest you download "all" the tutorials and start with the first and go through them methodically until you understand them or you will probably get totally confused. If you go to number 26 on my series of tutorials you can download an entire set of tutorials which will explain most of these terms in some detail. What you are looking for in terms of "start, finish, duration" are called "keyframes" or sometimes called "keypoints" depending on which version of PTE historically. Keyframes are points on the timeline represented by small blue rectangles. Each slide or "object" (the term for additional slides or PNG objects placed on separate layers via Objects and Animations) automatically has the first keyframe inserted as the "start" position on the timelline. You can then add unlimited new keyframes for each object or slide and control the position of the slide or object between any two keyframes visually by dragging the image to the new position while the relevant keyframe is highlighted. The movement can be linear or it is possible to program it on a curve via techniques explained in my tutorials. This motion can consist of variously pan, zoom, or rotate or any combination of the three. Also transparency may be changed between keyframes. I believe you will greatly benefit from taking it one step at a time because there are some very complex relationships which "can" be programmed, but you must understand the interdependency and parent/child relationships first in order to not have unexpected results. Also there are programmable "types" of movement including linear, smooth, etc., which also require a bit of study to get a good handle on. Two things I would suggest. First, go through the series of tutorials. Next, also download and read the "unofficial" user guide I co-authored with Jeff Evans. This user guide was written several generations of PTE ago, but it is still very relevant for background information about particulars which have "not" changed between PTE versions. Your progress and understanding of how to use this program will be greatly accelerated once you understand these basic concepts. Unfortunately, not all the terms we commonly use to describe various features are found in the official manual. Partly this is due to differences in languages. PTE is definitely an "international" tool and we sometimes have to refine the terms we use to describe various features and approaches to program use. I use the term "layer" because it is more widely understood due to the common understanding of Photoshop and other relevant tools. When you place objects in the Objects and Animation screen, they actually go into separate "layers." Each object occupies its own layer. Best regards, Lin

Hi Kim, What you're trying to do must be done with one "master" slide in the slide list, then all other slides are added on layers in Objects and Animations. You must keyframe each slide and position it via keyframes to get the effect you are wanting. The start and finish times and positions must be set via keyframe for each photo in Objects and Animations. Probably it would be a good idea to download and watch some of the tutorials to get a handle on how this is accomplished. Here's a link to the articles and tutorials section where you will find lots of demos and techniques: http://www.picturestoexe.com/forums/index.php?showforum=8 Best regards, Lin

Hi Michael, It's a really simple thing to do. Just highlight the text in the Objects and Animations screen. Size the text using the mouse then drag it down underneath the viewing area. You may need to change the view from the default to something like 25% so you can easily see the active area of your monitor. Next, go to the timeline and click on the + sign next to where it says "tools" on the bottom right of the screen. Another keyframe in blue will appear. Drag this keyframe to the right near the end to the time when you want the text to scroll off the screen at the top. (assuming you want it to scroll from bottom to top). Next, with this second keframe still hightlighted, use the mouse to drag the text off the screen to the top of the viewing area. The text will appear at the bottom of the screen and scroll upwards and off the screen during the time the slide is displayed. You can adjust the timing by moving the first and last keyframes appropriately. I would suggest going here and looking at my tutorials - you'll find a text tutorial as number 15. They are in AVI format. If you can't see them using your current player, just download and install the free Kataris Media player. here's the link for the tutorials section: http://www.picturest...?showtopic=7901 Best regards, Lin

Hi Greg, Though having images in separate folders is undoubtedly a good practice, sometimes it doesn't work to my advantage because I often use full original size images for deep zooms and smaller versions for single display. For example, I may begin with slide one as say a 1920x1080 view then later need to do a closeup of some feature which is best done from the full sized perhaps 24 megapixel capture. One might argue that why have a smaller version when a single large version would suffice for multiple purposes, especially when there is no memory or resource "hit" from duplicating the same image? My reasoning is that for deep zooms I often use antialiasing and mip-mapping while zooming or panning, and sometimes apply sub-pixel gaussian blur to certain areas on the original sized image to prevent shimmer which isn't sufficiently handled with PTE's anti-shimmer feature. But once those operations such as zooms or pans have been completed, I then like to sometimes zoom back out and display a very crisp 1920x1080 without area treatment. This then means that I would have to duplicate the huge original which "would" have a resource hit, or, just insert a downsampled and sharpened version. This is a rather convoluted way of saying that I have good reasons for having both the large original size and downsampled versions conveniently placed in the same folder. Of course I could simply change folders to pick up the one needed, or simply have both available with a close-enough file name so that they stay in proximity in the same folder and right click the thumbnail to get properties and find which is which. It is certainly possible to work without the Classic View, but it is quite "convenient" for some of us who are used to using it on a regular basis. Loosing it won't be the end of the world, we will just learn to change our work-flow a bit. By the way, I'm not completely clear on what you are referring to with : "keeping everyone on the same view?" Actually, there are three views presently available in most recent versions of PTE (horizontal, vertical and classic) or four if you count the full screen as a "view." Best regards, Lin

Hi, Actually, they "should" upgrade to the latest version of PTE Deluxe which is 6.5 with the first public beta of Version 7.0 (For Registered PTE Owners) due out very soon. The easiest way for them to proceed is to create an MP4 h.264 then they can take that to any PC via USB thumbdrive or even one of their SD or CF cards and upload directly to Youtube, Vimeo, Facebook, etc. Upgrades of the main program are free for life. Videobuilder, which is an optional, but fully integrated portion of PTE has a two year upgrade cycle. You buy it and if you want whatever new features are out in two years then you just pay the nominal fee for upgrade of videobuilder. The version you originally buy will always work as it did when you purchased it, but new features, etc., will be added on a regular basis so after two years if you see new features you like you just pay the upgrade fee and start another two year cycle. The "Deluxe" PTE means "with Videobuilder." Videobuilder is necessary to produce MP4 h.264 format but the regular PTE can produce AVI's which can also be uploaded to Youtube, etc. Best regards, Lin

Hi Igor, It's a "no win" situation. You can please "some" of the people all of the time, all the people "some of the time," but you can't please "all" the people "all the time." What's truly important is for you to do the best you can, and eventually we will all agree that it's in the best interest of both Winsoft "and" us. We "will" be happy with what you do. Just go ahead and do it and apologize later - LOL Best regards, Lin

Hi Igor, Perhaps I am conditioned by my years using and programming for "DOS" applications, but I still find very good use for having the old "Classic" view available. There are times when I like to be able to see the "size" of files and quickly scroll through the list to find a file name without having to look through hundreds of icons. If you could at least preserve the "option" of having the Classic view - even by means of a keystroke, it would be helpful I believe. I know that the present generation of young users are "visually" oriented and I can understand that approach to building slideshows via the "lightroom" - but there are many times when I find it "much" quicker to find a particular slide by quickly scrolling through a "list" than looking at thumbnails. For example, I may have several slides which "look" very similar but one could be a "huge" original and another a 1024x768 version and both in the same folder. With the "classic" view I could easily choose the correct one but in the thumbnail views or lightroom views it is much more difficult. Just some way of having the "Classic View" preserved would be helpful. Best regards, Lin

Hi Mark, Cut,. wrap, it's a take! I don't think it needs any more refinement - looks (and sounds) great like it is. Anyone who can make dead fish and bell peppers look great has my vote as a photographer! Best regards, Lin

Hi Maureen, There are insufficient superlatives in the English language to describe the beauty of your presentation. The photography, presentation “and” subject matter are breathtaking to say the least. Thank you for letting us enjoy this incredible journey with you! Best regards, Lin

Hi Mark, Perhaps we should not limit this particular "part" of the forum to a critique and "help" session. Though I totally agree that when the poster solicits C&C that your comments are spot on; sometimes people post shows for totally different reasons. Many are interested in improving their skills as audio visual producers, but other create shows to simply impart information about a particular subject, or perhaps to demonstrate a particular technique or ask for help in trying to achieve a specific effect. Maybe the suggestion could be made that if one wants constructive criticism they should say "C&C welcome" at the end of their post or link. This is a common procedure on photography forums. Then if this isn't done, the assumption could be made that the poster isn't interested in opinions about what other think about the technical or artistic aspects, but was just imparting information about their subject matter or demonstrating a special effect. The issue is, that it's very difficult to understand the myriad reasons why one might want to post. Photographers may just want to demonstrate their art or craft. Educators may want to present information. Technicians may want to demonstrate techniques or effects. Fortunately, we have all of these different types of personality on the PTE forums. It could be that the forum management might want to consider splitting the "Slideshows Created in PTE" into two parts: one for comments, suggestions, criticism, etc., and another for simple demonstrations or educational purposes were viewers would be welcome to comment on those specifics, but not on the "artistic or creative" aspects of audio visual presentation. We could go off for hours on rather controversial subjects such as, whether or not to include portrait versus landscape orientation, borders, multiple transitions, include video - all things which are, in the opinion of many, simply opinions based on personal preferences rather than "cut in stone" rules and regulations.... Just some food for thought.... Best regards, Lin

Hi Jose, Since PNG files are uncompressed, they have full quality just as an 8 bit TIF format might. The "advantage" which PNG has is that you can have transparency. For example, when you create a transparent layer in your editing program such as Photoshop, then "paste" a jpg image on top of the transparent layer, you have the ability to use various tools such as the "eraser" tool to erase any parts of the image which you don't want to show. Let's take an example: let's say you have a 1024x768 pixel jpg file which consists of a portrait of someone's face and they are standing on a street corner with buildings and traffic in the background. Let's then say you want to use only the "portrait" of the person and you want it to appear somewhere on a different background without the original background. You can simply "erase" the background using the eraser tool or select and delete tools to remove everything "except" the person in the picture. So all the traffic, buildings, etc., are now gone and you have left only the person surrounded by what appears to be a "checkerboard" appearance which is the way various editing programs portray transparency. So if you were to "copy" then "paste" this on top of some other image - such as perhaps a woodlands or mountain scene, you would have this "portrait" appearing with a different background. The important thing is that all that "checkerboard" portion of the transparency is still data, even though you can see through it to the layer beneath (which you pasted it on). So if you use the crop tool or the selection tool then crop this transparency portion which looks like a checkerboard so that only the smallest rectangle of "checkerboard" remains surrounding the portrait, you have effectively removed a great deal of the file size. It's unimportant if you "flatten" the result in your editing program because this removes all unnecessary transparency and makes the whole image into a one layer whole. But if you are moving or animating the transparency over an existing opaque jpg, then cropping away excess "checkerboard" greatly affects file size. A few years ago, I created a slideshow "puzzle" with about thirty pieces which I then moved all over the screen and rotated, etc., Each of these puzzle pieces consisted of the visible puzzle "plus" the full transparent "checkerboard" background so that each was a file of about 1024x768 pixels. So to make the 30 piece "puzzle," there were thirty uncompressed PNG images, each 1024x768. If you do the math, that equals 1024x768x30 or 23,592,960 bytes. This for one single "image" which was only 1024x768 pixels in appearance on the screen. Over 20 megabytes of data. Next I used the crop tool on each individual puzzle "piece" and cut away all the excess "checkerboard" transparency surrounding each puzzle piece. The overall image when the puzzle pieces were "assembled" now was only marginally larger than the 1024x768 area it occupied on the screen. I had effectively reduced the total size of the puzzle by about 29 times to less than a megabyte. The trade-off was that to properly "position:" each puzzle piece took lots of time. Using the much "larger" files complete with "all" transparency made it quite simple to "place" the pieces in their proper locations because when each 1024x768 rectangle was properly "centered" on the screen, each puzzle piece assumed it's proper and original position since they were all "cut out" from an original image of the 1024x768 pixel dimensions which was overlayed onto a 1024x768 transparency. The essence of this is that you can stack "layers" of PNG files with transparency and as long as the "transparency" portion of each layer coincide, you can "see" through any number of layers to whatever is "opaque" on the bottom of the pile. But when you have lots of "tiny" png images, you can lay them beside one another and the fact that small "pieces" of the surrounding transparency overlap has no effect on the "appearance" of the whole. So whenever you create a PNG file with a transparent layer, if you trim as much of the transparent (checkerboard) away as possible, you will dramatically reduce the file size. A PNG file will "always" be much larger in terms of "storage" than a same dimension JPG file because the JPG file is compressed. Once the files are loaded into memory in your computer, the JPG "expands" to its full uncompressed size. Where the advantage comes in using PNG versus JPG for certain operations is that you can have objects which appear to "float" like animated GIF's. One then might ask why use PNG when you could use GIF with transparency. The answer is that GIF files are limited to 256 colors while PNG files enjoy the full color spectrum. There are plenty of uses for PNG's, especially for animation. If you saw my little "eagle" fly across the screen, that was an animated GIF, but when you see my snow animations or waterfall animations, those are PNG files with transparency. I hope this makes sense. If there is any part which doesn't, please tell me and I'll try to explain further. Best regards, Lin