Lin Evans

Hi Peter, Sorry, I misunderstood what you wanted to do. That was a utility written by Granot (Boxsig) and I have emailed him to see if it's still available. I'll let you know if I hear back. I suspect you need Flashme 4. Ken "may" have a copy in his archives - we'll have to wait and see Best regards, Lin

Hi, Could you give us some more information. What version of PTE are you using, what is the drive designator where your jpg file are located (C:, D:, F:, etc.) and which operating system and which platform. Does the version of PTE you are using recognize "any" files? PNG, GIF, etc.?? Best regards, Lin

LOL, I resemble that remark but still enjoy some of the foibles of my youth! Lin

LOL - Welcome aboard the PTE forum express! Nice use of some great captures and music synchronization. Here in the states, especially in the cities, graffiti is everywhere. Some is "legal," but most is not but it's here to stay so we may as well embrace it. I'd rather see the kids spraying old buildings, railroad boxcars and such than sniffing the paint fumes. In one of our towns in Colorado (Pueblo), an entire concrete "riverbank" has been devoted to graffiti art. It provides a creative outlet for teens and is actually a tourist attraction there. Thanks for the show! Best regards, Lin

Hi Peter, PTE doesn't have a Flash converter. To convert to Flash there are several options. First you can simply upload a PTE mp4 h.264 file to Vimeo or Youtube and there they convert it to Flash. You can then easily embed the Youtube or Vimeo file on your website. Your other choice for Flash is to use a third party software which converts Flash to either Flash SWF or Flash FLV. For larger shows, Flash FLV is a better choice. Flash SWF runs out of steam at around 16,500 images (frames) and will not reliably support audio sync beyond a couple minutes or so. At about 30 frames per second, a Flash show will have about 1800 frames per minute. At somewhere less than 9 minutes Flash SWF quits. Flash FLV has the advantage of no time or frame number restrictions, no issues with audio sync and provisions which let you do pseudo streaming so a preload can be established and your viewing audience can enjoy the full show without starting and stopping, etc. So when choosing a Flash converter to convert either a PTE AVI, MPG II or MP4 h.264 to Flash, it would be wise to choose one which can convert to Flash FLV with Preload and a Flash PLayer included. Flash converters can be free (usually only lower quality Flash output and smaller image sizes), inexpensive or quite expensive depending on features, iteration of Flash which the conversion is made to, etc. Check the web for "Flash Converters" and find a few which fall into your budget then report back and perhaps someone on the forum here can help you decide which to use. Best regards, Lin

Hi Dom, I only wish my French were 1/30th as good as your English! It's very difficult writing in a foreign tongue and when only a tiny difference in spelling can make a big difference in meaning it's especially difficult. I believe you are doing a stellar job and commend you highly for your continued contributions and great talent with PTE! Best regards, Lin

Hi Dom, I like the effect, but I'm confused by the title. Do you mean out of "Bounds?" or out of "Bonds." Out of bounds photos are when a portion of the photo extends beyond the border and appears to be "coming out" or going into the frame of the image. I'm not certain what an out of "bonds" photo would mean exactly - perhaps a language barrier or did you really intend something different? In any case in a very nice effect! Best regards, Lin

Hi Mary, It was a beautiful way to end the decade wasn't it? Well done! Best regards, Lin

Hi Andrew, Looks like you've got the hang of it, even the 3D transform working for you! It will come quickly and you will begin to experience even greater command of the program with a little practice. Be sure to check the box for "edge antialiasing" in the Objects and Animations screen "Properties" tab when you do the 3D transforms. If zooming on objects or images having fine detail, check the "Anti-shimmer (mip-mapping)" box as well. Good Job! Best regards, Lin

Hi Dab, Assuming you have created a PNG file of the Propeller, there are two possibilities for issues. First, be absolutely certain that you have cropped the image so that the "center" of the file is the center of the hub for the propeller. If you have done that, then the next issue is to be absolutely certain that you do not have a difference in pan values from one keyframe to the other. If you have satisfied these two conditions, the rotation should be dead center assuming you have not changed anything relating to 3D Transform. If you would zip up the PTE file and post a link for me, I'll be glad to have a look and maybe see where the problem lies. Best regards, Lin

Hi Moe, Of course you can transfer your software to a new computer. When you buy the software, you receive an unlock code. Just copy this unlock code to other media such as a CD or DVD or Memory Stick and when you get your new computer, just install the program by downloading from the website. After you do this, you just use the unlock code just as you do for the initial installation. The unlock code is read by the Windows registery and stored there so that as you download new upgrades (the main program has lifetime free upgrades) they are automatically detected as registered to you. You might want to think about getting the deluxe version which includes Video builder. The upgrade portion (Video Builder) has a two year upgrade cycle. What Video Builder allows is output to mp4 h.264, automatic uploads to Vimeo and Youtube, creation and burning of DVD's with menus, chapters, etc., It also allows output to native MacIntosh format and is really worthwhile I think. Best regards, Lin

Hi Marco, That's great news - problem solved. Thanks for the update. We can add to the records that a firewall might prevent completion of the mp4 h.264. Best regards and Happy New Year! Lin

Hi Peter, That's probably possible. I almost always use multiple files to simulate different sized flakes, distance, speed, direction, etc., but if you can email me perhaps I can look at the sequence and tailor the snow just as you like. It's not difficult for me because I do so much of it. Email me at: lin@learntomakeslideshows.net We can discuss the details. Best regards, Lin

Hi Dick, You're quite welcome and no need for credit; glad it helped! I'm working on a tutorial now for a new method of not just creating the snow effect, but of building up snowfall on the scene gradually and mirroring a real snow scene. This one has snowfall, buildup, and cloud change/movement. If you haven't yet seen it, here's a link: http://www.learntoma...ringsnowspc.zip (Windows) http://www.learntoma...ingsnowsmac.zip (Mac) Best regards, Lin

Hi Peter, I can help you with that. If you will tell me how long your sequence is, I'll post a link for you to a short animation you can just copy and paste. Best regards, Lin

Hi Marco, It does sound like a resource issue of some type. When you make 1920x1080 slides, even when highly compressed, they expand to their full size in memory while encoding. At 60 frames (60 new images) per second on your MP4 means that you are creating a total of 3600 slides per minute. For a show which is about 17.5 minutes long you will have approximately 63,000 images. If you multiply that number of images by the average size of each image it will give you an idea of how much storage space will be required for storage alone. It really sounds like it may be an issue with either available storage or temp storage during construction. If each image were, for instance, one megabyte, you would need 63 gig of storage space plus work space. If it creates the 100 slide version, you can be pretty certain that it's a resource issue of some type. If you take a look at the average size of each image, you can get a rough idea of how much space you might need free to create the file. Best regards, Lin

Hi Andrew, The time for slide display in PTE includes the transition time. If you set "quick, no transition," or turn off the transitions in Project Options, the time you have chosen for a slide will be identical to the time your slide remains completely on screen. If you have, for example, a three second transition into and out of the slide then the time the slide remains on screen will be affected by that transition time. You can overlap into the next or preceding slide if you wish - it's very versatile. There is no difference between Proshow Gold, Proshow Producer and PTE in the number of slides in a show for a given time duration, just a difference in the way they are represented on the timeline. To understand this, create a PTE slideshow with only four slides. Set the timing for each slide to 10 seconds and turn off transitions and time the show with a stopwatch. You will have precisely 40 seconds of slides. Now set a fade for each slide for three seconds and time the four slides again and you will have precisely 40 seconds. Each slide will remain on screen for seven seconds and be in transition for three seconds, etc. You can actually overlap slides by pulling the transition beyond the end of the timing set for example, slide one and into the fade-in time for slide two while pulling the display start for slide two back into the ending time for slide one. PTE gives you some versatility you don't have with Producer or Gold this way for specialized effects. Best regards, Lin

Hi Marco, Try to create a two slide mp4 show. Just open PTE and your PTE project. Delete all slides except the first two, save the project to a new name so you don't affect your original slidshow. Get out of PTE and reopen PTE which should open this two slide slideshow. Try again to create an HD mp4 using the same settings and let's see if the mp4 is created. This will eliminate all the time you are spending waiting for things to happen and determine whether the problem is the creation of an mp4 or whether it is something related to system resources. Best regards, Lin

You do this right in PTE. When you choose "Create" from the main menu, then choose "DVD Video Disc," then click on "Next," one of your choices is to "Create ISO image." Just put a check mark in the box and if you don't want to burn a DVD uncheck that choice. That's all there is to it! This is assuming you have PTE Deluxe with Video Builder. Best regards, Lin

Hi Jose, Yes, what I meant by paying attention when making a DVD is that you must plan for the DVD by paying attention to having everything within the TV "safe zone" when creating your slideshow if the DVD is to be the final display. Unfortunately, you are correct that it's not possible to have the show with no black borders when you are displaying on devices at different resolutions and specifically with different aspect ratios. To display properly on the different devices requires preparing the same slideshow differently for the different display devices. Yes, if you create at 4:3 then you will "usually" have all content at 5:4 or 16:9 or even 16:10, but there will be black borders. If you create at an aspect ratio where part of the content is near the borders (such as titles, text, etc.) then subsequently display your slideshow on a device with an aspect ratio which cut's off that border portion, you will loose part of your text, etc. Some televisions have settings which "force" all the image within the borders. This is what I meant by "distortion." For example, if you have a DVD formatted for a 4:3 display and display it on a television which has a 16:9 aspect ratio, depending on the individual television and setting chosen by the user, the image may be "squashed" vertically and possibly still have black borders on either side. So you can't "depend" on all the image being visible if you create it at 4:3. It depends on the settings and the individual television. Unfortunately, they are not all the same and you can't be certain how the user has their television set up. It would be great if all were standardized, but unfortunately there are too many variables to be absolutely certain. The best way of getting it right that I've found is to format your slideshow for your intended audience. If it is to be played on a wide variety of output devices, then "better" to make several versions than try to depend on one version being adapted for all devices. However, in the case that you already have the show created, the Pinnacle zoom solution may be your best option now for insuring that all parts will be visible on most devices. It's always a learning experience when trying to create a slidshow for many different display possibilities. In the future, you can create multiple versions of the same show, then burn these multiple version on a single DVD with a menu for choice. It's like the commercial DVD's which have you choose "wide screen" or "normal" from your menu before playing your DVD. When you choose "wide screen" and you display it on a 4:3 aspect ratio TV, you have a black bar at the top and bottom, but you see all the show undistorted. When you choose "normal" you actually loose that portion of the image on the left and right, but are usually unaware of not seeing everything because the movie fills your viewing area and the "cropped" portions are not the main subject. When commercial movies are made, they usually confine the scrolling text, etc., to the portions which would not be cut off on a 4:3 or 5:4 viewing area because they realize that when it goes to DVD it will be formatted both ways. Another possible way to deal with this problem is to create your slideshows with a "border" and the main content of the slides within that border. Rather than just having black, you could use a background color. Then keep all content within a smaller viewing area so that when portions are cut off, it won't be the actual content of your slideshow, but rather the background. Here's a link to a site which you may find useful for learning about various aspect ratios and how different systems might be configured: http://www.nobell.org/~gjm/pc/aspect.html Best regards, Lin

It appears that your best bet right now with the time constraints is to go with Pinnacle and edit the video. I believe your mistake was in using the 5:4 aspect ratio which is going to be wrong for HD television which almost all have 16:9 aspect ratio. To get it right you would need to make your original slides cropped to 16:9 and then pay attention to the safe zone when creating the DVD. Sandard DVD is either PAL or NTSC format and neither will play with the correct aspect ratio on an HD tv or monitor set at other than the 5:4 you created the show with. If your friends have older televisions playing at NTSC or PAL resolutions, then you would normally be O.K. with the 5:4 and the safe zone. On the other hand when you try to play a DVD made this way on your Plasma monitor or on an HD TV and change the aspect ratio, you will be distorting the image and not get the proper aspect ratio thus loosing your carefully crafted work. Merry Christmas to you and your family as well! Best regards, Lin

Hi Lennart, It would appear that you need to output a "custom AVI" file at 800x600 resolution and use a DivX 4 or 5 video codec. You might try a custom mp4 with the same 800x600 resolution via the SD 800x600 link and see if that works. If it doesn't, then you will need to download and install a DivX codec if you don't already have one for the AVI. It does sound like perhaps the MP4 h.264 would work if you output it at the SD 800x600 resolution. Best regards, Lin

Hi Peter, It seems that's part of the issue indeed. There are many variables which appear to react in different ways to complicate trying to unravel this mystery. Best regards and Merry Christmas, Lin

Hi Luc, Thanks for the report - it's a bit taxing on some video cards. I toned it down a bit, but still pretty heavy on the graphics. Best regards and Merry Christmas, Lin

Hi Gilio, And a Merry Christmas to you and your family also! That snow seems to be traveling around the world. A week ago we had lots here in Colorado, but now it's moved East and the eastern part of the U.S. is buried in it. Stay warm my friend! Best regards, Lin