Lin Evans

Hi Mike, That size clip will probably be no problem for my template. If you will zip up the video clip and post a link to it, I'll have a look and let you know how it would work. If you don't have a web site, go to Mediafire.com and upload the zipped clip there then a link to it on the forum... Best regards, Lin

Hi Peter, If you could email me at: lin@learntomakeslideshows.net we could discuss in detail the animation you want to achieve and perhaps the best way to set it up with PTE. From your description I think there may be a couple possible ways to do this and I'm sure we can find a way to code what you have in mind for the best possible effect. Best regards, Lin

Hi Mike, Please see my response in your post moved into this section of the forum below: See Pictures To Exe section thread titled "Rotate/Video Template Available" Lin

Hi Mike, Importing videos is planned for future versions of PTE but is not yet available. On the other hand, there are ways to do it with workarounds if you are interested in trying it. If you read the posts with sample here: http://www.picturestoexe.com/forums/index....showtopic=10243 and here: http://www.picturestoexe.com/forums/index....showtopic=10095 You can see what is currently available via template. How long is your video clip and how large in terms of image dimensions? Best regards, Lin

Hi Nix, Actually, the latest release of PTE is version 5.64 and it shouldn't be any problem at all for you if you just take the defaults. The program will "not" overwrite the older versions of PTE which will remain in your Windows Program Files folder. Just let the newer version create an icon and it will be available along side your earlier version. This way you can test to see if perhaps a file has become corrupted in 5.5. If it doesn't work you always have the option of using 5.5 which will remain on your drive. So let me reiterate that it's quite O.K. to simply "install" the latest version of PTE without uninstalling your current version. Perhaps in the past you may have uninstalled when it really wasn't necessary. Best regards, Lin

Hi Maureen, These are beautiful and inspiring photos and a great presentation! Personally, I agree with you in that I feel that the music was very appropriate for the scenery and settings. Music transcends geographic borders. Though we have become accustomed to identifying breathy flutes with Peru and the Andes, Native American Indian flute with America, pipes with Scotland, the harp and lute with Celtic, etc., I believe it's due time we put aside geographic, ethnic and cultural differences and realize that today we truly have a world audience who can appreciate blends of music from many venues and the feelings these sounds engender, without necessarily identifying the source and expecting to see images from specific geographic localities associated with same. It's simply the "conditioning" we have had from the movie industry which has caused a degree of "bonding" to particular musical themes which permeates our psyche and causes these feelings of appropriateness or not for musical selections rather than listening for the feelings evoked by the music juxtaposed to the images presented. In short, I very much enjoy the show as it is with only the suggestion that you might consider hiding the mouse cursor during the show since there is no real need for it and it "can" appear depending on the particular position the cursor may occupy on one's individual computer at the time the show begins. Best regards, Lin

Hi Nix, Yes, of course there may be other issues such as corrupted drivers, etc. Just to be certain, if it's possible to borrow an external USB DVD burner to burn a PTE show and rule out a mechanical issue with yours, that would be helpful. If that isn't possible, the next thing I would try is to possibly download a free DVD burn software and try burning any DVD or CD to assure that your burner is working properly. If it doesn't work with the other software either, then try downloading and installing drivers for your burner. These are generally available at the website of the manufacturer. A corrupted driver could definitely cause this type error. Best regards, Lin

Hi Peter, Sure, the template is given freely for anyone to use, modify, experiment with, etc. I'm in the process now of expanding it so that in a few weeks (it's a slow process for me) it will be able to handle up to about four minutes of video. Right now I have it up to about 44 seconds. So as to not overload the graphics card, I have settled on 631 frames per slide then using multiple slides. The issue which is taking me much time is manually entering image numbers for each frame. JPD does this with Excel then merges the output into the PTE file but I'm not that confident in my Excel skills so it will be a few weeks until I have finished the complete template. As it stands now, if you will tell me the length of your video clip I will try to post a version of the template for you which will allow that length up to about one minute. To answer your question, the way you proceed is to first decompile your AVI, MPG, etc., into PNG frames then name them in order using IrfanView or other batch processing (Photoshop with and action, etc.) so that the names are image001.png, image002.png...... Place the template in a folder by itself then start PTE and open the videosimulate.pte file (this will be the name of the one I post which is customized for you). From the main menu select and copy the available slides (there will probably be three slides) then without closing PTE, open your slideshow where you want to insert the video and "Paste" the slides where you want the video to appear in your slide sequence. Copy your decompiled video data with the renamed (image001.png, image001.png, etc.) images into the folder with your other slides which will overwrite the tiny placeholder png files included with the template. If you have fewer images in your decompiled video than the default number in the template, simply select and delete the object numbers (image3220.png, image3221.png, etc.) which are superfluous. You can then use the parent frame at the top of each slide to position and size the video. If desired, you can insert a slide as a background. Just place your background slide as the top object above the frame. You can animate this background object or treat it as you would any other via keyframe, etc. You may also have any other objects, etc., in animation around the running video. Experimentation will help you decide. The speed of the video as I have programmed it is about 30 frames per second. If you want to slow it down or speed it up (like slow motion or fast forward) just adjust the slide speed via "customize this slide". Leave the "Scale Keyframes in Objects" checked so that you don't loose any frames and the video will run faster or slower depending on what time you select for the slide. Remember, if you adjust the frame for position or size that to keep this size or position you must copy/paste the pan or zoom values from one slide to the other since there is a transparent slide change between image631.png and image632.png, etc. I would suggest saving your original slideshow to a new name for the purpose of experimenting until you have the show completed with the video addition. Let me know if you have questions.... Best regards, Lin

Hi Nix. First, it would be very helpful and more economical to invest in a small quantity of rewritable DVD's just for this sort of situation. Here in the states we can buy them in quantities of 10 or 15 in a package. This will eliminate your unusable "coasters." Was your slideshow really only 2.9 megabytes, or was it 2.9 "gigabytes?" I assume that it was actually gigabytes. Actually, 2.9 gigabytes is well within the acceptable for standard DVD's and over 140 gigabytes of free space is plenty. Approximately how many DVD's do you think you may have burned on your DVD burner? The reason I ask is that they do have a limited life of about 300 to 400 burns per DVD burner. It "could be" that your DVD burner is responsible for this issue and not a computer hardware issue or software issue. Video builder works quite well for so many and you haven't had problems in the past so the first thing I would do is borrow another DVD burner, buy some rewritable media and try it again. If it doesn't work with another burner then you know the problem is likely a corrupted DVD driver or similar situation. If it does work with another burner it's likely that yours simply has exhausted it's limited burn life. Unfortunately, DVD burners, though they can "read" practically forever, do have a very limited burn life - something that the manufacturers don't tell you. We burn commercially and have replaced dozens of DVD burners from HP, Sony, Plextor, etc., over the past years when they fail. The most I've ever gotten from a burner before failures was 430 complete DVD movie burns (full disk over 4 gigabytes). Best regards, Lin

Hi Ron, Yes - see my post to Gary just above. This can be done with several different software packages. The one I'm most familiar with is Pinnacle Studio Ultimate 12 - Link below: http://www.pinnaclesys.com/PublicSite/us/P.../Studio+Family/ Best regards, Lin

Hi Gary, You can burn MP4's to either BluRay or HD format on "standard" DVD media using several products, but to play them back you need either a BluRay or HD player connected to an HD TV or computer with proper resolution. The software I'm most familiar with which can do this is Pinnacle Studio Ultimate Version 12. Link below: http://www.pinnaclesys.com/PublicSite/us/P.../Studio+Family/ I would suggest calling Pinnacle for more details.... Best regards, Lin

Hi Isabel, Thanks! That's a great tip and an excellent looking product. Best regards, Lin

Hi Igor, That's good to know! I substituted an icon with only 256 colors and it wouldn't work either... Best regards, Lin

Hi Jean, The icon as included in the zipped file is definitely defective, but this isn't the only problem. Even with a good icon 5.7 beta 4 won't run properly so let Igor sort it out. The ico file in your zipped folder does have 16 million colors and is way too large for an icon file. I'm not sure why the original seems to be a defective icon but I couldn't open in Photoshop CS nor in IrfanView. I was able to open it in Picture Windows Pro 3.0 and is shows 16 million colors. However, even substituting a known good icon it doesn't work in 5.7 so there is a problem. Best regards, Lin

Hi Jean, Peter is correct - the .ico file is defective. Windows ico files must be no more than 256 colors or the won't be recognized as such. The file with the extension .ico in your zipped example isn't an icon. Best regards, Lin

Hi George, Thanks for testing it! Best regards, Lin

Hi Mike, That could be an interesting possibility. TheDom has suggested a very good way of already doing this if you are interested in trying it. It consists of using the actual image for the slide you are posting as a background but setting the width to perhaps 5000 and changing the opacity to 50 or 60%..... Here's a link to his post: http://www.picturestoexe.com/forums/index....3&hl=theDom Best regards, Lin

Hi John, It's different strokes for different folks. There are many users who are asking for video in their slideshows. There are also those who would like greater control over audio so it's not an "either/or" situation but rather the developers serving requests for both. I can't personally do anything to change the present audio features, but I can offer and discuss a work-around for those interested in including video, so this thread is about video and not about audio. The best way for an answer to your question or to initiate a discussion about it would be to start a thread about audio or to post this comment in one of the several threads which have already been posted or we get totally off track.... Best regards, Lin

Hi Tom, Essentially the map was overlayed onto a transparency then the eraser tool in an image editor (Pixbuilder or Photoshop, etc.) was used to erase the route. The "cutout" version of the map was placed on layer one with the original version of the map on layer two. This gives the "appearance" of just the map with the road because the portion which was "cut out" is revealed through the transparency of the cut-out on layer one. A red/blue PNG object was moved between the layers along the route and dynamically sized, shaped and positioned according to the requirements of the twists and turns of the road along the route. Think of it like having two identical paper maps. With an Xacto knife cut out the road route precisely on one of the maps. Place the cut-out on top of the original map and align it perfectly and look at it as it lies on a table. To the eye it's just as the original map. Now place a piece of red paper between the two maps and slide the red paper along and it visually creates the route in red. Now assume this was done electronically and you have the method used on that sample. That was done with an early beta version of 5.0 so today there are additional tools which can make it much easier especially if there are reversals in direction on the map. By using masking techniques it can be much easier to accomplish than it would be without, but in essence, the method is quite similar. If you would like to see a sample of how it was done, go here and download the AVI I created in the Tutorials and Articles section. I believe it was number 7 among the various tutorials I posted: http://www.picturestoexe.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=7901 Best regards, Lin

Hi Peter, Quick question. Why do you need the waveform to move slides according to music tempo? By going to the timeline you can see the show on the mini-player and hear the background music. You can change slides instantly while listening to the music by simply clicking on the "New Transition" button at the appropriate time. I understand that the waveform gives you a visual representation of the music, but in the final analysis isn't it the "sound" which you want to set the transition to? I understand the convenience of using the waveform, but anything you can do visually can be done audibly I think. Best regards, Lin

Hi Tom, A frame is really just a convenience rectangle device which saves you the step of setting the opacity to zero if you want to use it to control a child or children. I just posted a simple example here: http://www.learntomakeslideshows.net/sample/frameuse.zip Download and open the PTE file and run a preview. Notice that the two images are children of the rectangle. When the rectangle is rotated or zoomed, the child images rotate and zoom (change size) however, each child can also have its own animation independent of the parent rectangle as you will see by looking at the keyframes for the two child images. Best regards, Lin

Hi Ken, Thanks much for the feedback! The flash appears on some systems with 5.7 beta but not on all - may have to do with individual video card or driver differences. The demo is pretty graphics intensive at that point so the slight jerk is the result of asking for more than some video cards can handle.

http://www.mediafire.com/?sharekey=cfda814...04e75f6e8ebb871 Download the "Planetvisit.zip" file: May need a high-end graphics card..... About 34 meg... Lin

Hi Colin, There are no PTE software limitations, but since PTE uses hardware rendering (it uses your video card to create Pan, Zoom, Rotate images which are the intermediary images between your original and whatever you eventually end up with for a zoom or pan or rotate) there are definitely hardware limitations. Powerful video cards will handle most any size image you use but if your video RAM is low, the power of your GPU processor is weak, or if you (or the person viewing on their own equipment) have less than optimal video cards, then using very large images could be problematic. Let's have a look at your zipped file first, then if you could go to the "Start" "Run" and type in "dxdiag" and click on O.K. we can see what type GPU and power you have in your video system. Best regards, Lin