Lin Evans

Hi Dom, No doubt that the PS3 has been tremendously successful. I'm glad to hear that component and manufacturing costs have now dropped to the point where Sony can recover early losses. Bluray player prices continue to drop in the U.S. so that now they are becoming very popular, but since the PS3 offers Bluray playing as well as so many other features, it seems logical that it would be the better value. It seems that Bluray has won the battles of HD output, at least here in the U.S. we rarely see HD DVD's available at video stores for rent. The Bluray section of one of our larger video stores in my area carry perhaps 1,000 movie titles in BluRay. Actually, a few weeks ago I rented five movies for $1 each and accidentally picked up three Bluray's which I had to return and exchange for standard DVD's (I don't have either a Bluray player or HD TV). It would be great to have a PS3 but prices are still pretty high here. It seems that the PS3 with larger hard disk drives are "much" more expensive here than ones with smaller HDD's. The price seems to be way out of proportion to the actual added costs of the HDD itself. Perhaps that's where Sony is making up for earlier losses. It's good to know that the PS3 has so many features other than just to allow game playing. Though I knew that you could play Bluray discs on them, I didn't realize that you could use them for slideshows, etc., as well. It seems they are quite versatile! It would be nice to know if the face recognition feature is strictly software in the PS3 or tied to the firmware/hardware. This feature has been available in several digital cameras now and was developed, I believe, by Hewlett-Packard, but is now featured by Sony, Fuji, Casio, Pentax, Samsung, et. Best regards, Lin

Hi Dom, By PS3 to you mean the Sony Play Station 3? If so, it's quite an expensive piece of equipment. I think it would be even more expensive if Sony were not "dumping" - selling way under costs. They have put lots of work into this and probably will eventually make up the deficit, but here is an interesting tidbit from Wikipedia: ----------------- The PlayStation 3's initial production cost is estimated to have been US$805.85 for the 20 GB model and US$840.35 for the 60 GB model.[72] However, they were priced at US$499 and US$599 respectively,[73] meaning that every unit was sold at an estimated loss of $250,[72]fiscal year ending March 2007.[74] In April 2007, soon after these results were published, Ken Kutaragi, President of Sony Computer Entertainment, announced plans to retire. ------------ I haven't seen the PS3 in operation, but I suspect Sony may have firmware links to the software features which allow face detection, etc. I would be good to know for sure.. Best regards, Lin

Hi Guys, I think Ron didn't realize that the button size must be large enough to accommodate the text or the text "must" change size or it won't fit within the button space. As long as the button is large enough, the text will not change size as I understand it... Best regards, Lin

Thanks, that's kind of what I suspected. Having that alpha layer might be too much to expect. I'm download the 30 day trial version - can't afford to purchase it yet - and maybe will learn more tomorrow. Even being able to output a single color background will be a big help. What I have in mind is to be able to create the video with transparency as a background. With a solid color I can always write a Photoshop action to subtract the background from individual frames which is what I eventually need to plug into my template to simulate the video but have much greater control over size, placement, etc. 08/09/09 Install failed twice - will have to give up on CS4 Extended until I talk to Adobe.... sigh... Best regards, Lin

Could anyone tell me if it's possible with CS4 Extended to output a 3D video with transparent background or with a solid background like white, green, etc...?? Thanks, Lin UPDATE: It's definitely possible to output individual PNG files with alpha transparency (transparent backgrounds) so I assume it's possible to also output 3D video with the same. I haven't yet tried doing this but I see no logical reason why it wouldn't work. It's also possible to output a solid background of your choice! Lin

Hi Mike, I "think" the problem may be that you have not "extracted" the PTE file from the zipped file I sent you. Even thought you may be able to "see" files within a zipped archive, they are not available to PTE until they have been extracted (unzipped). Sometimes you can even run zipped executable files without unzipping (extracting) them, but to use the PTE file and associated files I sent you, they "must" be extracted from the zip file. Not knowing exactly what you have on your system in the way of zip/unzip utilities, why don't you download and install the following and use it to extract the PTE file. http://www.trans4mind.com/personal_develop...pper/index.html I think this may solve your problem. Best regards, Lin

Hi Peter and Barry, Thanks much - that's great news and easy to do. I haven't yet decided which shows to send my MacIntosh friends, but when I do I'll post a link for you to try! Best regards, Lin

Hi Bill, and welcome to the PTE forums! In regards to your comment below, PicturesToExe already does a "lot" of things Proshow Producer can't do. First, it gives you the ultimate image quality using GPU hardware rendering both in the executable slideshow as well as for rendering DVD's. PTE has sophisticated parent/child/grandchild nesting, it has real working off-center rotation, much more sophisticated and much better and easier than with Proshow Producer. It has optional mipmapping, incredibly smooth vectorized text at any zoom size, one click rasterize to PNG, allows complete manual control as well as autorun for slideshows, will seamlessly run foreign executable code and return automatically to your show. With parent/child/grandchild relationsips, PTE has the ability to manipulate horizontal rotation on the "Z" axis. The soon to be released version 5.7 will have 3D object transformation, adjustable internal masking, will create native MacIntosh executable code, output to dual monitors, etc., etc., and registered users can already use most of these new features in the 5.7 beta version. Proshow Producer can not do any of the above, that's why PTE is the overwhelming choice for a reasonably priced presentation slideshow tool which is greatly revered among international AV competition participants. One rarely hears of Proshow Producer being used in serious AV competition. Auto pan and zoom have been discussed a number of times but is not something which the majority of PTE users have expressed a desire for. The feeling is that each slide is a unique entity and to try to automate this simply does not make good professional sense. One size simply doesn't fit all, even with the latest face detection algorithms, etc. There are many other areas where the program can still be improved and software such as Proshow Gold and Producer already have auto pan and zoom and no one here is tremendously impressed with what they do with it. Perhaps in the future when technology improves something like what you suggest might be feasible, but it's not a primary consideration at the present time as has been expressed by the developers. Best regards, Lin

Hi Mike, It was posted before I posted the message above??? Lin

Hi Mike, Sounds like that one would work well and be more stable than a regular monopod. On the video, please go to the Video section of the forum and read my last post there... Best regards, Lin

Hi Mike, You're making it much too hard. From your description it sounds like you are trying to add each decompiled image as individual slides. This is not how it works. The PTE file I sent you actually already has all your decompiled images in it in the proper order and all contained in a single slide as objects. All you need to do is place the zip file I linked you to into a folder of its own and extract the PTE file into either the same folder or another. Next, open the PTE file with PTE with your choice of PTE versions (use 5.7 if you want). You will only find one slide on the "main" menu (don't need to go to Objects and Animations screen). Right click on this one slide which will both select it and bring up a drop-down menu. Left click on the first choice at the top "copy slide" - this puts the entire sequence which is contained as objects of this slide onto the clipboard. Do not close this PTE file but now click on "File Open" and navigate to and open the PTE file you want to add the video sequence to. From the main menu simply go to the place in the slide list where you want to insert the video sequence and right click. From the drop down menu, left click on "Paste". Your video sequence is now added to the new slideshow. You can move the position of the video sequence in the slide show just by moving the slide just as you would move any other single slide. All the video sequence is contained on one slide. That's all there is to it. You must then save this change in your show. I would suggest saving under another PTE name. Best regards, Lin

Fuji has also offered some revolutionary technology with 3D stills and 3D movies from this: http://www.fujifilm.com/products/3d/camera...ions/index.html Think of a PTE show in 3D on one of the new 3D monitor with 3D stills and 3D movies?? Something to think about! Lin

Hi Peter, Just got you message below. I suppose to get it to my server in the easiest way and to avoid any antivirus interference (maybe not applicable to the Mac) I will zip it and upload. I'll let you know how it works out! Thanks, Lin

Hi Peter, Thanks! I have to upload the files to my website and give the Mac users the link so assuming that it should work this way, I would just zip the "ptedemoshowfull.app" folder and when they unzip it they should see only ptedemoshow? If so, it is indeed incredibly easy. I "wish" I could hand them a memory stick, but they are all over the world so I have to upload it to the web. Best regards, Lin

Would it be possible for one of the MacIntosh users to write a quick tutorial on just how to export, save and zip up a PTE show for the Mac? I have friends who use Intel based MacIntosh computers and I would like to send a few of them some of my slideshows samples to see how well they work on the Mac but I'm uncertain of what to send them exactly. If I create a folder to put the MacIntosh output in, I get a total of 9 folders including the one I create as seen below: I assume all are needed, do I just zip the folder and which one?? Best regards, Lin

Hi Igor, Thank you for the "fix" - it works great now with parent/child/grandchild just as before without upsetting anything else!! Best regards, Lin

Beautiful photos Davy, and beautifully presented.... Best regards, Lin

Hi Mike, Here's a link to the zipped PTE file with the video embedded. Just unzip it in a folder of its own and then you can copy the slide and place it into any show you have using Hawk's method. Just open the mike.pte file and copy the slide. Without closing mike.pte, open your slideshow where you want to use the video clip and paste it and save. You may want to extract the sound from your original video and add that to the slide. Use the second rectangle down on the objects list to size and place the video clip wherever you want on the screen. http://www.learntomakeslideshows.net/mike/mike.zip Best regards, Lin

Hi Barry, Just a couple questions - I assume you mean 1920x1024? Was wondering if you meant DVD or Bluray DVD? Best regards, Lin

Hi Mike, Yes, it's not there so an empty file. Go ahead and try to email it and I'll see. Worst case is I won't be able to receive it so give it a try. Best regards, Lin

Hi Mike, There are several options at Mediafire - but for now just open Mediafire and right click on the link there and a drop down menu will appear. Copy the link and paste it in a reply here. Best regards, Lin

Hi Mike, Try uploading the original file to Mediafire.com without zipping or changing. Notice that the zip file you have created only has the envelope, but nothing inside (see the byte size). Unfortunately my email will only accept up to 10 megabyte file size. Best regards, Lin

Hi Mike, A "three leg monopod"? Wouldn't that be a "tri"pod? Is that the one with the folding base which makes it into a tripod? Best regards, Lin

Hi Mike, Zipping is actually just using a program which is included with "most" computers today, but if not, you can always download a free zip program to use. What it does is envelop the file or files content in a protective compression which is more palatable to antivirus software. For example, many antivirus programs simply will not allow downloading an executable file, etc. Using zip allows you to place not only one file within this protective compression envelope, it allows you to place numerous files within one zipped file. When the recipient downloads this zipped file, they then use the same software to "unzip" the file or files and then have them on their storage device just as the originals before zipping. In PTE there is a feature which zips the PTE file along with all the images for storage or transfer to another computer or storage device or via download to another person. The wmv you have created is of quite low quality (play it back for yourself). If it is as good as you want, then let me know and I'll decompile it a place the images into the template for you. However, if the quality isn't up to what you expect, you may just try to right click your mouse on the original avi, etc., and see if you find a drop down menu which asks if you want to "zip" the file. Best regards, Lin

Hi Eric, You're absolutely right about that - they simply don't make movies like they used to in terms of the thought behind the content. It's absolutely amazing how many really good movies were made and done so quickly. Of course they had their share of "stinkers" too! The major studios created a movie a week on average back in the 40's and early 50's. Of course Casablanca was most unusual because it was actually written during production! The poor actors didn't even know how it was going to end until after the last scene was done. Bogart was called back a couple weeks after the filming was finished to retake the last scene and poor Ingrid was thinking about her next film (For Whom The Bell Tolls) during the entire movie. Casablanca wasn't "supposed" be a real blockbuster, and everybody in the industry was surprised when it turned out to have academy award quality. In fact, it's said that the fantastic performance for Ingrid was, at least in part, the result of "not knowing" who she was really supposed to be in love with! None of the actors knew how it was to end or even what was to be from one scene to the next. It's truly one of the best, or better movies made. Of course Gone With the Wind ranks right up there too as do other classics you have mentioned. Two of my favorites are little known but very well done: Home from the Hill with Robert Mitchum and and Eleanor Parker and The Ballad of Cable Hogue with Jason Robards and Stella Stevens. Today it's all special effects and such and I sometimes believe that often only the small, underfunded studios, can now produce really seriously good work. They try harder I think. Best regards, Lin