Lin Evans

Not really. There is no way a single text message can span multiple slides unless those slides are objects with a main slide as the master. You can easily do this with keyframing which is what I "think" you are referring to. Put all slides you want to have the text scroll across in the objects list on the Objects and Animations screen then create your own transitions between these objects. It shouldn't be that difficult to do synchronization to music using the timeline, but perhaps I'm misunderstanding your design? Best regards, Lin

Hi Dave, That's quite normal because fonts are not embedded but are called from the computer the executable is played on. Obviously then if these fonts are not resident Windows will substitute. In a future version of PTE plans are to change this but the present solution is to simply click on the "Rasterize Text to PNG Image" choice in the Properties Tab of the Objects and Animations screen. This creates text then as a graphic and it will be identical on any system. Should you need to alter the text, simply uncheck, make your changes and recheck. Best regards, Lin

Hi Paul, LOL - I wanted to play the sound track last night for our little Halloween Trick or Treaters but we live on a ranch in a very rural area and only had four little neighbor children from two families stop by and they were so young I decided it would not be wise to frighten them. We have enough normal nightime howling from local coyotes, growling dogs, shrieking foxs and lots of glowing eyes from cats, dogs, deer, raccoons, skunks, foxes and the occasional cougar that the little munchkins are already nervous. I was hoping we would have more kids this year but most in our area are now teens and deem themselves much too "mature" to go door to door. Alas, I see five pounds coming from eating left-over Halloween candy.... Yummy... HA! Fortunately, the eye healed up nicely and now rarely gives me any grief. Thanks for asking! It's just a normal aging issue according to my Opthamologist. So now I can see about as well out of either eye and that's a great comfort because for a while It was a real pain. Best regards, Lin

Something new near the start...... just winding down from Halloween - LOL http://www.learntomakeslideshows.net/sample/masks.zip (about 28 meg) and the Vimeo Link for a low res version: http://vimeo.com/2125709 Lin

No, this is not possible. Even with software to decompile the executable code you can't retrieve a project because the project file is only used to program the executable and not saved as a part of the executable code. You "must" save the project file (PTE). Best regards, Lin

Very nice demo Andreas! Beautiful photos and great use of layer masking! Best regards, Lin

The best way to be sure is to try it. In general, there are numerous disadvantages and no real advantages to having greater resolution than that of the projector. The only time you will want greater resolution than that of the projector is if you are doing a deep zoom in where you need to preserve the quality of the subject you are featuring in the zoom. Any time you have a deep zoom you want to zoom no further than about 1:1 so that the object zoomed on does not exceed the size of a 1:1 crop at 100% viewing in your editor such as Photoshop. When you use a projector, the projector will automatically downsample to its native resolution so it takes more resources if you feed it a significantly larger images than necessary. The way most handle this is to create the slideshow at the native resolution of the projector and on only those images which are being used for significant zooms are the images larger than the projector's native zoom. It perhaps helps to remember how an executable show works from the perspective of the computer. Unlike a video show (MP4, MPEG II, AVI, etc.) where there are up to 29.97 images created "and saved" for each second of viewing then saved as separate frames (which makes video files so large), an executable show uses your original photo to create all intermediate photos which make up the zoom or pan. These images are created "on demand" as the executable file instructs the computer. So when you do a zoom or pan up to 60 or more images are created by the computer for each second of show time then discarded. This means that if you feed large images to the projector it will necessarily have to deal with lots of data in a short period while downsampling to reach its native display size. This can overwhelm a projector and result in jerky movement. It's a better use of resources then to only use larger images than the native projected resolution only for cases where it's absolutely necessary to avoid unwanted consequences. Best regards, Lin

Hi Umberto, My guess is he is referring to this: http://www.griffintechnology.com/products/imic And reviews here: http://www.kenstone.net/fcp_homepage/review_imic.html http://www.soundadviceblog.com/?p=430 Best regards, Lin

Download and install the latest version (not beta) of PTE which is 5.52. You will find it as indicated. Just open your PTE file using 5.52 rather than 5.0. Best regards, Lin

Hi Bob, The issue is very likely related to the ability of the laptop to properly render motion because of the video card. Many laptops do not have sufficient video card resources to enable proper smooth movement of pan, zoom and rotate. The next thing I would try is to be absolutely certain that the PNG files containing the hot air balloons are as small as possible in original dimensions. That is, crop all the "checker-board" transparency around the balloons to an absolute minimum then resize the balloon PNG files so that they are only as large as your maximum needed zoom. Of course it's much easier to create these files at full size but it greatly loads the video resources and laptops typically have little reserves in terms of video power. The size of your original jpgs are a bit large for some laptops in terms of RAM and Video RAM but not so much that I would expect to see the video card overloaded. Do the same diagnostic on the laptop and see what type video card and RAM it has available. The Video chipset on your desktop as reported by dxdiag is marginal but sufficient if the video requirements are carefully monitored (I had to actually purchase video cards myself for a couple of my computers which used this on-board Intel chipset). My best guess is that if carefully cropping and resizing the PNG balloon files to get the video loading to a minimum doesn't cure the problem, a different laptop might be necessary to run pan, zoom, rotate on the projector. Best regards, Lin

Hi, Project Options, Main Tab, Click for checkmark next to "Wait for a key press or Mouse Click to show next slide". You can opt for using the Navigation Bar or control via keypad as desired. Note: if you are using Beta 5 of version 5.6 this feature is not yet enabled. If you are using the release version 5.5 it should work normally.... Best regards, Lin

You may be correct about that, I haven't used it myself. Perhaps Brian can comment. After reading several reviews I got the impression it serves both as an external sound card and a filter, audio input and audio line output but my impression may be a wrong interpretation of what I read so better safe than sorry. Here's the review which made me think this serves as a sound card as well: http://www.kenstone.net/fcp_homepage/review_imic.html Brian? Best regards, Lin

Hi Picsel, I believe that what accounts for the difference in what one would "expect" to see in relation to keyframes, non-linear slopes, etc., and the observed reality is the lack of an "anchor" point keyframe at zero time on the timeline for "all" objects. To fully understand how the keyframes are designed to work, the expectation is that each object will have a full timeline beginning with zero time for the individual slide. So to keep things working as expected, do not move or delete the initial keyframe for an object. When you click on any object in the object's list there "should" be a keyframe at the "start" position which is automatically inserted. Though it may be possible to get the desired result without this, it makes it difficult to understand "why" it works or does not work as expected and also upsets the logic. Try doing the sequence again but leaving the default keyframe for all objects at the start of the timeline. I believe this will solve the mystery. As for the reasons for needing to either "glue" or "separate" keyframes rather than have it automatically done such as with linear, the reason has to do with "flexibility". With linear motion across all objects the logic is simple and straight-forward. But when the need is to "mix" linear and non-linear motion, the requirement becomes much more complex. One must specify "when" on the timeline the non-linear motion is to begin and end. In order to do so keframes are inserted at appropriate times for the start and finish times for the non-linear movement. Also the option to "customize" the start and finish curves of the non-linear motion becomes important. The reason for the suggestion to apply these changes to pan zoom and rotate even when perhaps there is only one of these three actually being used is for safety only and to avoid unintended results. Often, especially when using the click and drag to achieve the desired motion effect at a particular point, one inadvertently makes changes to more than one of the three possibilities of pan, zoom or rotate. For example, assume you only want to zoom but you do it by dragging the green bounding rectangle. If you accidentally move the frame only a fraction horizontally from the zero, zero point, then subsequently change from a linear to non-linear motion, if you do not separate keyframes on pan as well as zoom you will not get the expected results. Likewise for rotate. If the frame is even rotated by a degree and non-linear motion is set for pan or zoom the results will be strange if the keframes for rotate are not separated, etc. Since there is no "penalty" for separating keframes for all three possible motions when it's done for one, the suggestion to do it for all three is simply insurance against possible unintended results. Best regards, Lin

Hi Picsel, I believe that what accounts for the difference in what one would "expect" to see in relation to keyframes, non-linear slopes, etc., and the observed reality is the lack of an "anchor" point keyframe at zero time on the timeline for "all" objects. To fully understand how the keyframes are designed to work, the expectation is that each object will have a full timeline beginning with zero time for the individual slide. So to keep things working as expected, do not move or delete the initial keyframe for an object. When you click on any object in the object's list there "should" be a keyframe at the "start" position which is automatically inserted. Though it may be possible to get the desired result without this, it makes it difficult to understand "why" it works or does not work as expected and also upsets the logic. Try doing the sequence again but leaving the default keyframe for all objects at the start of the timeline. I believe this will solve the mystery. Best regards, Lin

Hi Isabel, In the past people have had issues with some anti-virus software such as AVG and I believe one iteration of Kaspersky reporting false positives on PTE executables. In both cases this was reported to the developers and corrected. In the case of AVG it again cropped up and again was solved. It also has happened with AVG with other software so by chance are you using AVG? Best regards, Lin

Hi Daniel, After a quick look - I believe your problem is caused because there needs to be a keyframe at zero time for "each" object. I will investigate further and get back to you later today. Best regards, Lin

Hi Geoff, Laptops are sometimes problematical because anything in the sound circuit chain including drivers and components could affect the proper action. Outside of downloading the latest drivers and testing to see if that helps, the only other logical approach would be to change the sound card. Since sound cards are generally an integral part of a laptop and therefore not replaceable, the next best approach would be to use an external sound card. A while back, Brian suggested people having issues with sound might look into using this: http://www.griffintechnology.com/products/imic This device serves as a USB sound card plus microphone input and has received nothing but rave reviews from users. This "might" be worth purchasing if you don't find another solution... Best regards, Lin

Hi Picsel, If you could create a quick sample and use the "File" "create backup in zip" feature and post the zip file perhaps we can help you with the proper way to set up the non-linear feature which you wish to achieve. In general, you choose smooth, accelerate, etc., then go to "custom" and separate the keyframes which are "glued" by default. This applies the non-linear function to the entire movement for that particular slide. You should do this in practice for each of Pan, Zoom and Rotate because there are often interactions even if not intended. It is possible to separate only certain keyframes in the entire sequence thus applying the non-linear feature to only a portion of the total movement of the object but this can be deceiving and with unintended results until you fully understand how to achieve this. A sample and explanation of what you wish to achieve will help greatly with an explanation. This really has noting to do with "frames" Frames are invisible but real dimensions (like a rectangle with opacity set to zero) the primary use of which is as a "parent" device to control child objects in terms of size, movement, position, etc. By moving or sizing a frame, each child object will mirror this movement or size "unless" you set independent movement or size for the child object. In such case the child will still be affected by the parent frame's motion, size, etc., but also move according to the independent motion you program via keyframe for the child. As an example please look at my AVOI demonstration on Esoteric (advanced) Rotation here: http://www.picturestoexe.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=7901 This will give you an idea of how a parent and child relationship work using rotation in this example. The frame could easily replace the child object and the result would be identical in this example. So a "Frame" is simply a convenience to let you take advantage of parent/child relationships in your animations. It can be used in many different ways as you can imagine. Best regards, Lin

Hi Bob, Without more information it's difficult to be certain but quite probably one of several possibilities: 1. Does this happen on PC or only with a projector (beamer) attached? 2. What Video Card are you using and how much video RAM? 3. What is the pixel size in dimensions of your images? 4. What is the image size in bytes or megabytes? 5. What operating system and revision are you using? If go to start, run (lower left hand side) and type in "dxdiag" (omit quotation marks) then click on "O.K." a diagnostic will run. When it finishes, click on the "Display" tab to see which video card and such you have in your system. Report back your findings and the answers to the questions above and we can give you suggestions for a remedy. Best regards, Lin

Hi Umberto, It looks great. Excellent presentation as well as photography. Very interesting hobby! Best regards, Lin

Hi Peter, I just tried the PTE file and do not see this on my nVidia 8800 GT card with 512 meg video ram so quite likely it does have to do with video memory. Best regards, Lin

Hi Dave, Just for the record. Actually the highest resolution monitor presently is a bit more than twice 1920x1080. I just sold mine a few months ago. IBM, Viewsonic, etc. make a 3840x2400 (9.2 megapixel) display. It works great for still images but not for Ken Burns effects. To drive it requires special cards and a bit of "trickery" on the part of display devices. Before I semi-retired, I had several clients who used these ultra-high displays which produce incredibly sharp images and so made PTE show executables with full 10 and 12 megapixel resolution originals for them. Best regards, Lin

Hey Maureen!, I'm going to stay out of "those" woods - LOL. Works great and excellent choice of background sounds, etc. Happy Halloween to all... Lin

Hi Mary, Thanks! LOL, I think you may be right!! I didn't time the first one but it went very quickly. I added another slide with a "baker's dozen" objects and uploaded the new show to Vimeo to test the speed. It took 2 minutes 38 seconds to render and begin upload. The actual upload took 5 minutes and 57 seconds. Best regards, Lin

http://vimeo.com/2085383 Lin