Lin Evans

I wasn't sure whether to put this post in "Software" or in "Video" but here goes: If you want to embed MP4 files directly on your website there is now an easy way to do it. A new software "Xara Web Developer" ($49.95 USD) allows you to "VERY EASILY" build a web page and simply drop in Flash SWF, Flash FLV or MP4 files which are streamed from your server rather than downloaded to the host computer on a hidden folder and run from there. I tested it by loading some decently large original images into a PTE slideshow then using the PTE Create function to output an MP4 at 800x600 resolution to a web page which took about 3 minutes to create in Xara Web Developer 6. The software puts a player right on your web page which allows volume control, start, pause and rewind, etc. You simply drag the dimensions when you construct the page to make the show any size or place on your page. I use Xara Web Developer to develop websites for clients and find it to be exceedingly easy to use. It has a WYSIWYG interface and lets you do things which most web development tools (even really expensive ones) would throw up trying to accomplish. For example, you can drop a movie or image in the middle of text, tell the program to "repel" the text, give it the number of pixels to separate the image from the text and drag the image anywhere through the text and watch the text flow around it. Use any font you wish and the program can easily (two clicks) convert it to a graphic representation of text which you can edit directly just like text. Have text run sideways, follow a curve, etc. The only down side is that if you need web forms you will have to use something like Coffee Cup to create your forms but they then drop in perfectly and Coffee Cup is really inexpensive too. Here's a link to a the sample slideshow. If you have a really slow connection you may need to let it run a minute or so and start over to stay ahead of the flow because of the size of the images used make the show. http://www.learntoma...t/mp4/index.htm Note the text at the top which mentions Flash - Actually in this sample it's the embedded MP4. You can also embed Youtube, etc., just as easily. Note that the black bars on top and bottom of the player can easily be eliminated by choosing the exact pixel aspect ratio when you output your mp4 from PTE. I just didn't bother for the test. Also, if you have lots of toolbars, etc., at the top of your web pages - You can just press F11 to play any web page full screen. Moving the mouse cursor to the top of the screen will return your control task bar. Best regards, Lin

Hi bjc, One other quick observation. Since PTE now supports animated GIF files, it's quite possible to use tools such as Xara 3D and Xara Xtreme to create really neat animated 3D text for headers, etc. Of course if you have Photoshop CS5 Extended you can also extrude text to create 3D and do the same, but Xara 3D is very inexpensive, has three adjustable lights, an amazing array of fonts and exports animated GIF as well as PNG, etc., so a great tool to take advantage of this new feature. Best regards, Lin

Love it! Nice job of Animated Gif creation and presentation! Best regards, Lin

Hi Tom, Thanks!! It's hard to say what Igor has in store but I've heard that it's working really well in alpha testing... Best regards, Lin

Hi Xaver, Note from Igor's Post: Important Notes: We didn't finish work on this version yet. ------------------------------------------------ I believe it is possible to compose a soundtrack as shown in the attachment with PTE now. The difference is that there is no "visual" representation as in your sample. Right now PTE has multiple tracks, the ability to fade in and out, cross fade, add silence, adjust volume etc., on each track. Though it is nice to be able to see a visual representation as in your sample, as far as I can see it would not be difficult to duplicate the visual representation you have shown with PTE right now. PTE has the ability to put these various tracks where you wish in terms of real time. Click on a song selection and go to Customize and you have a full selection of controls by time. Best regards, Lin

A brief new tutorial on how to place objects in a single PDF file for animation with the new beta 6.5 feature added to the PTE Made Easy series here: http://www.picturestoexe.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=7901 Look for #24

Wow! Nice work from Igor and the development team. These are really useful new features and very well chosen. Thanks!!!! Lin

Hi Erik, Just about any resize tool will handle that job pretty well since it's not a "major" increase in size. Whatever you are using right now as an editing tool should suffice. There will always be a bit of softening so a resharpen in the process may be necessary, but if there are artifacts of compression, etc, sharpening will make them more visible. Even though I have a number of good image editing programs (Photoshop, Picture Window Pro, etc.) I generally use IrfanView myself to do such a task because you can "easily" (it CAN be done with Photoshop, etc., but it's much "easier" with IrfanView or Fastone) batch resize and rename if you wish simultaneously. You must remember that your images "may" have jpg artifacts so making them larger may reveal these. If image quality is paramount, you might want to look into one of the products which ameliorate jpg artifacts such as TopazDeJpeg Both IrfanView and Fastone are freeware for non-commercial use. Here are links: http://www.irfanview.com http://faststone.org/ http://www.topazlabs.com/products.html I don't know whether these support 64 bit or not, but they do work with Windows 7 Best regards, Lin

Hi Eric, Yes, unfortunately they have not yet (but will soon be supporting 64 bit) supported 64 bit systems. That isn't too uncommon among various software developers. There are some significant programming steps necessary to support 64 bit systems and even the "big boys" such as Adobe have had some problems. I guess that the price one pays for being at the leading edge of the technological curve. Best regards, Lin

As suggested in the Photoshop Plugins, here's some of my favorite Actions for Photoshop. Please add your favorite actions: I'll post a link to the site where I find some incredibly useful actions. These are written by an old friend, Noel Carboni. Noel is a Photoshop Action guru in my estimation. His action sets at ProDigital Software are useful, work very well and quite flexible. The two I use most are DSLR Tools (a set of actions) and StarFilter Pro. DSLR Tools consists of a set of great tools for the photographer. StarFilter Pro (there is a Lite version also) is a unique, one of a kind, tool which allows the photographer to simply eliminate glass star filters. This action allows the user to not only place reflection stars on highlight areas, but actually use areas "created" by the addition of a 255, 255, 255 "spot" where the photographer chooses to place a star. The stars can be adjusted for the number of points, size, rotation, rainbow effect, etc., etc. When you consider the cost of a good glass star filter and the limited control one has with it which includes the limited versatility for multiple lenses, this photoshop action is a "steal." Obviously, not all photographers care about star filters, but those who shoot jewelry or custom automobiles or even highly reflective surfaces frequently like such a tool. I also use the Genuine Fractals sharpening action, but this requires the user to have an installed copy of Genuine Fractals (which is not inexpensive) on their system. The sharpening is incredible with this tool but unless one owns Genuine Fractals, it's of no value. Here's the link: http://www.prodigitalsoftware.com/ Lin

On of my favorites is Focus Magic. Focus Magic acts as a combination tool which does convolution (actually achieving better focus by moving pixels) which allows correction of motion blur as well as improved focus. Depending on the amount applied, it does also add a bit of USM so it's best to use it with care and judiciously applied generally only to selected areas. It works both as a Photoshop Plugin and as a stand-alone product. Here's a link: http://www.focusmagic.com Lin

Hi John, Do you want to limit this to "plugins" or do you want to include very useful Photoshop "Actions?" Lin

Hi, The only way right now which we are aware of is to use a screen and audio capture tool such as BRS Screen Recorder. There are also a few free screen recorders, but this one has been tried and appears to work best: http://www.bsrsoft.com/ Best regards, Lin

Hi Andrew, Your very welcome - glad it worked for you. Best regards, Lin

Hi Andrew, It's not quite clear whether you mean that the slide itself is in the top left position on the screen and you wish it to rotate on its own center in that position or whether you wish the center of rotation to be in the top left corner of the image. If you want the top left corner of the image itself to be the center of rotation so that the rectangle which describes the image rotates about the corner as if you were to take a piece of paper and place a thumb tack in the top left corner and spin it, then you must move the "center" to that top left corner before setting up the rotation. You can do this visually by first highlighting the initial keyframe then by holding down the keyboard "shift" key and clicking and holding the left mouse button on the small dot in the very center of your image in Objects and Animations. While holding down these keys, drag the small dot to the upper left corner. Then you can position the image on the screen where you wish and do the rotate via keyframes. As an alternative you can place the values -100 and -100 into the two spaces provided for "center" values. Best regards, Lin

You won't be able to copy and paste the music so that will have to be entered manually after stringing the slideshows together. To do that, open the slideshow you want to copy. Go to main menu and select all slides. Do not "close" this slideshow but rather just do a "file" "open" and open the slideshow which you want to add to. Paste the copied slides in the main slide list and all slides, animations, etc., will be there when you save this show. Next add the music tracks and save again. Repeat by opening the second slideshow you want to copy from.... Lin

Hi Jean, Absolutely fantastic! A work of art! Best regards, Lin

Hi Iougarou, There are some free ones, but I "think" you can get a free trial to the "Rolls Royce" of screen capture tools here: http://www.techsmith.com/camtasia.asp?gclid=CNqU5Iqfk6ECFRBLgwod0Q6YNA You might try it and see how successful it might be... Best regards, Lin

Hi Iougarou, That is not so easy to do. If you have the original PTE file then it's very easy, but converting an executable format to video as far as I know would require you to play the executable slideshow and use a screen capture program which also captures audio. There are several of these available, but the "quality" of the capture will vary depending on your hardware. If you have a "very" strong computer with lots of RAM and an excellent video card you "may" be able to get a decent AVI capture which could then be converted for your DVD. The probability of success is low. Best regards, Lin

Hi Joe, Before you get any more confused; there are several ways to enter text in PTE. The way Peter suggested has absolutely "nothing" to do with the Comments section or the Comments Tab in Project Options. First: If you do it like Peter suggested, the word "Text" will always appear as a default "until" click on the Properties Tab in Objects and Animations and change the word "Text" to whatever you wish to write. You can also change the font, color, drop shadow, etc. at the same time. Second: If you want to use the Comments feature in Project Options you have the "option" of having the identical comment appear on each slide by clicking on the "Set for Existing Slides" button. Doing this will place the same comment on every slide which is not what you apparently want to do. Third: On the Main Slide List (not in the Objects and Animations screen) at the top of your screen, you can type in a comment which will appear on the currently selected slide. The big advantage of doing it as Peter suggested is that you have complete control over where, when and how the text appears. You can use keyframing to make it scroll horizontally, vertically, etc.; you can rotate it, use 3D transforms, make it zoom, pan, and even appear and or disappear anywhere you wish. I would strongly suggest you read the "Unofficial User Guide" which can be downloaded from the link below. It was written for version 5 of PTE but the section on "text" is quite applicable. Also visit the Tutorials and Articles section of the forum where there are numerous AVI tutorials to help you with various features. http://www.picturestoexe.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=7202 Best regards. :om

Fantastic Igor! You've been busy!!! Best regards, Lin

Hi Glenys, You can edit the path in "Customize Slide" so that it simply says "\executablenamehere.exe" (place the name of the executable application where I have typed executablenamehere) and be sure to place that executable code in the root (not in a folder) on your pen drive. By taking out drive designators, PTE will simply look for the executable code on the same device it is being played on. This "should" solve your problem and allow PTE to find the external application. I would test the program on another computer to be certain that your syntax is correct before the real event. Best regards, Lin

Hi Jose, Could you tell us which version of Windows you are using? If you go to the command prompt (dot prompt) then navigate to the folder where your PTE file is located and type "edit ptefilenamehere.pte" Windows has a built in editor. Perhaps if you are not familiar with DOS commands and navigation, you could post your PTE file and one of us will check it for the file names and find out exactly where PTE thinks this duplicate file is located. Then we can determine the exact nature of the problem. Best regards, Lin

Hi Jose, Open the PTE file you are trying to backup and carefully check your spelling wherever this file name is being used. What it sound like is that perhaps you have called the file in question from more than one place (folder location) in the slideshow or possibly changed the name by substituting another image. You could also open the PTE file (copy it first to a different folder) with an editor and search for the file name and see where it is located. PTE will allow you to call a same named file from several locations and the show will run, compile and execute fine but a backup will not work unless any duplicate file names are in the same folder. I would be careful about using dashes (-) in a file name as well because this might create a problem with some systems. Best regards, Lin

Hi Carol, Thanks! That answers lots of questions. So the issue with smoothness is quite probably directly related to bitrate as Ray suspected. What isn't yet clear is why playing the mp4 h.264 directly via a high speed hdmi cable results in less smoothness than after conversion to BluRay. It perhaps means that the system playing back the h.264 can handle real time rendering and display even at 60 or greater frames per second better than it can display 25 frames per second of video from an h.264 file. This may have implications about the h.264 encoding. The increased jaggies on the BluRay can likely be explained by the great differences in frame rate between the executable and 25 fps rate of the BluRay. As the image moves, being refreshed at over double the rate probably fills in the "gaps" left by the lower frame pulse rate. What we then need with PTE in the future is the ability to directly burn to BluRay and perhaps something which Igor has been working on for some time now, a leading edge blur for video display. With time we can probably equate video with real-time rendering. As a side note, I am also testing the freeware MakeInstantPlayer which transforms video into executable format. I've noticed that when I convert the mp4 h.264 in question from video back to executable, the playback is much smoother than with the h.264. It's not as good as the original executable - it still has micro "jumps" rather than completely smooth rotations, etc., but it is visibly better than the h.264 it's derived from. Here's a link if you would like to try this converter: http://download.cnet.com/MakeInstantPlayer/3000-2064_4-10759598.html Best regards, Lin