Lin Evans

I think which to use would depend on the nature of your project and how it will be played. If it will be played on a PC computer under Windows, the executable format is by far the best assuming that the computer it will be played on has a decent graphics card and sufficient resources for the slideshow content. If it will be "projected" with an LCD projector, then don't use any higher resolution images than the resolution of the LCD projector unless you have deep zooms then on the slides where this happens use higher resolution original slides so you don't exceed the appearance 1:1 as you would when displaying the slide as an individual jpg under Irfanview at full resolution. If the final output will be DVD or if you have movies mixed in with the PTE content then you have no choice but to either create a DVD using Video Builder or output MPEG II or AVI and take it into Encore, etc. The only way you can mix movie formats and PTE output in PTE is via Video Builder and not as a contiguous show. That is it would be broken into the PTE part then the movie part, etc. If you can tell me more about the project, how it will be presented, on what media, etc., maybe I can give you some more suggestions. Best regards, Lin

PTE in executable format or 'preview' which is essentially a temporary executable file is in full resolution mode. This means resolution in equals resolution out. If you feed the program a four megapixel image you get a four megapixel image on the slideshow. When you use "any" movie mode such as AVI, MPEG II, etc., you will get less image quality. Even the very best high resolution television is 1080p which is 1920x1080 pixel resolution or about two megapixels. This, of course is not nearly as good as full resolution executable. The bottom line is that when you use a movie mode you loose image quality when compared to an executable mode. This is one reason PTE doesn't support native AVI or MPEG drop-in movie clips - they degrade the overall quality of the slideshow unavoidably. MPEG II will never look as good on your computer as it will when you run it on the television or when burned to a DVD then run on a DVD player connected to a television. Movements will not be a smooth on your computer as on the television. On mpeg II: First, the User Guide was written for PTE 5.0 and you are now using 5.1. PTE 5.0 exports AVI format so you won't find anything about mpeg II in the User Guide yet - 5.1 has just been released and Jeff and I haven't had time yet to write an addendum, but you can create MPEG II files from your slideshow just by putting a check on the Create MPEG II block in Video Builder. Be sure to uncheck "create DVD" unless you also want to burn a DVD. Best regards, Lin

You are confusing issues. The issue under discussion is whether or not there is a virus in the downloaded code and most assuredly there is not. No one is being complacent, just discussing oranges and apples. The "trojan" people are detecting when opening the site is not a "virus" - they are different animals and different subjects. The OP said, and I quote "I downloaded a Virus from Apr.exe". This is a known false positive from AVG which has been repeatedly proven false, fixed by AVG then "unfixed" apparently. Best regards, Lin

O.K. guys, here's a link to the tutorial on how to manipulate the rotorblade on a helicopter into a horizontal position for rotation rather than the default vertical position for object rotation. A similar method of distortion using two rectangles was used for the distotion effect in my sample of the Volvo car. I can't give you a step-by-step because there are so many variables. In the case of the Volvo I applied the rectangles distortion to the entire image rather than to a png object, but the essential permise is that you can manipulate the shape of any object in compound ways using the two rectangles which will eventually be made invisible via the opacity control. To do a really good vertical flip will take lots of work and even then may ultmately not be as good as what you are looking for. Perhaps eventually PTE will have true "Z" axis manipulation such as you can do in Photoshop but for now this is as close as I can come to approximating what needs to be done. Essentially you are making a "square" into a "pyramid" in the ultimate distortion. Of course it's not necessary to go to that extreme, but that's the general approach. Perhaps when JPD (Jean Pierre) has sufficiently recovered from his medical woes he can shed more light on this type of animation. He's really the master at this type thing but has not been able to post for some time. I understand he is recovering nicely from his coma and perhaps will be able to join us some time in the new year. We really miss his insightful thinking "outside the box".... Best regards, Lin Here' the link to the AVI: http://www.lin-evans.net/tutorial/rotorbladeavi.zip

Hi Kipper, AVG is notorious for causing false positives with several types of code and has been problematic with PTE files in the past. There has "never" been a virus attached to a PTE executable yet AVG has reported and even "erased" perfectly good PTE executables. The AVG developers were informed and they "fixed" the false positive but it's apparently back in your case. There is no "virus" with the PicturesToExe code, of that you can rest assured. Best regards, Lin

Hi Tony, There is no good way to accomplish this type effect with PTE. You can flip an object by holding either the X or Y coordinate constant in size while decreasing the opposite as in my "Morgan Dollar" filp example. I used a side to side but it would have been just as easy to go top to bottom, etc., but there is no accurate way to distort completely an object at the top while holding the bottom constant. That would require "Z" axis manipulation. Actually, it is possible to "somewhat" manipulate the "Z" axis in PTE but it's not simple nor is is simple to explain. It's done with the parent/child relationship and rectangles. I used this abiliy to rotate a helicopter rotor blade in a horizontal direction and also to simulate the "Z" axis distortion in a sample. Here are links to three examples of axis distortion: first a "Z" axis distortion simulation: http://www.lin-evans.net/pte/distort.zip next the horizontally rotating helicopter rotor blade: http://www.lin-evans.net/p2e/helicopter.zip finally, the Morgan Dollar flip: http://www.lin-evans.net/p2e/dollar.zip Let me know if you would like a link to one of the AVI tutorials I made on how to do the horizontal rotation of the helicopter rotor. This will give you an idea of how the "Z" axis distortion was accomplished. Best regards, Lin

The reason I asked is that I can't reproduce this problem. I've converted to greyscale with Photoshop CS and Photoshop 7 and both produce normal images in PTE 5.1. Best regards, Lin

It would be ever so helpful if you could tell us which version of PTE you are using. Best regards, Lin

Hi Dave, I just tried that with NOD32, PC Tools PC Doctor, ParetoLogic, Uniblue and Adaware and none are reporting any virus or trojan. I'm begining to think that there is a bug in some virus detection software because I've also run all these on my system to look for trojans, virus, worms and spyware and none are reported. Best regards, Lin

Hi Corbin, To make the slides and music correspond perfectly click beside "auto spread slides along music" The only other way to be certain that they perfectly correspond is be certain that the length of the music equals the length of the slides and effects. In a case where you want different lengths of individual slides, it's sometimes necessary to use a stopwatch to time the slideshow then either adjust the length of some individual slides or take your music into an editing program like the freeware Audacity and add or delete some time or use additional music. The "easiest" way is to check the "auto spread slides along music" which will perfectly synchronize the music to the slides and effects. Best regards, Lin

I just got an email from Ron - he's confined to home with assistance from family and nursing care. He has some significant medical issues but hopes to perhaps participate some in the coming year. I'm sure he would appreciate hearing from his old friends here at PTE! Lin I haven't seen any posts from Ron Wilkinson (from Sutton Surrey, UK) since about June. Has anyone heard from him?? Lin

Hi Fred, I think I have a solution for you. Go here and download this free program. Check the web for PDF documentation. This will allow you to create a realistic simulation any way you want and then capture it as an AVI which you can then decompile to use in PTE. It's a "very" sophisticated program and extremely interesting. I haven't had time to thoroughly digest it yet but I'm confident that it will do what you need. http://www.shatters.net/celestia/ Best regards, Lin

Hi Fred, It won't be an easy animation because you will either have to do it with a decompiler or perhaps make your own AVI then decompile it. The easiest way I can think of would be to use a globe and take multiple frames with your camera from a tripod. It would be easiest I suspect if you use a smaller sensor digicam rather than a dslr for greater depth of field. If you take about 60 photos at 6 degree rotations you could get reasonably smooth animation. Alternatively, if you have a digicam or digital video recorder you could have someone spin the globe, take a few seconds of video then use a decompiler to break it into jpgs. You won't need much more than 640x480 to get a realistic effect. I know there are globes available which are three dimentional and very representational. Perhaps you could find one at a store and talk them into letting you photograph it? Perhaps this weekend I may try this with one of my globes and if it works out I'll link the files for you. Best regards, Lin

Hi Dmitry, Could you by any chance have clicked "blur" in the Objects and Animations window Properties Tab? I'm not seeing what you are - mine are identical. Otherwise there must be some explanation which involves some differences in your hardware because no one else is seeing this that I'm aware of. Best regards, Lin

If you could post a link to this sound track as an mp3 some of us can check it for you and perhaps come up with a solution. Best regards, Lin

Hi Mary, It's definitely the monitor. There is no "blur" when doing a pan of panoramas with PTE. The aforementioned "sparkle" is only an issue for zooms not for pans (unless there is a simultaneous zoom) and can easily be ameliorated by using the blur then duplicating the image after the zoom has ceased using a sharp vesion in a duplicate slide with a 1500ms fade in/out. The pans on large panorams are perfectly sharp. I do this all the time and use both CRT and LCD monitors. But as Tom suggests is an issue with some LCD displays. You will also see this as a "trail" following rapid mouse movements with some LCD's. With CRT's which use electron guns and triads of RBG phosphors there is a "persistance" or decay time of the illuminated phosphor which smooths out rapid changes but LCD monitors work entirely differently and this definitely can blur a pan especially if the speed of the pan exceeds the ability of the monitor to refresh. And just for the record, executable shows created with PTE are every bit as good or better than shows created with m.objects or Wings Platinum - I know this because I use all three. Best regards, Lin

Hi David, The bottom line is that it's a virus software issue, not a PTE issue. Actually you should be talking to the folks at McAfee. Probably they are running the entire large executable through the virus detection. There is really nothing that can be done from the PTE side to prevent or control how they use their virus protection software. The only work-around I can think of would be to use a utility to copy the EXE to the hard disk and perhaps their virus detection would work faster there. Best regards, Lin

Hi Mike, That won't work if the original began at zero. You will have to slide the keypoint start to four seconds for the pasted animation and extend the time for the slide to the same duration from four seconds to the end of the animation as it occupied in the original. If it's a complex animation then each keypoint will have to be advanced four seconds for the pasted slide. Perhaps you might suggest to Igor that he consider a way to "lock" the keypoints so in future versions simply sliding the first would maintain the timing relationships between all the following keypoints? Best regards, Lin

Hi Mike, I'm a little unclear on exactly what you are doing. When you "copy" something you end up with the object as well as the animation not just the "settings". Are you trying to copy the objects "and" their animations? That is you can't copy just the keypoints and timings and apply them to another object. Perhaps if you can post the zipped PTE file it would make it easier to understand what you want to accomplish? Best regards, Lin

Here's a little experiment for you: Download the file linked below and "FIRST" use IrfanView to check the User Description and Comment. You will find content. If you have your browser set up to read EXIF information you will see the EXIF content of the Image Description field in the browser as well but the Comment reads as "not Defined". Now try it with other software. It always works. Now try to pull the content using PTE's macro call and see if it works for you. It does not work for me yet other images I add content to in exactly the same way work fine. So the question is why can other readers read "both" the description AND comments while Foxfire browser finds the comments "undefined" but reads the Description and PTE won't read either? Is there something which is less rigorous in other readers which allows some leeway which PTE doesn't? If so what and why? So the bottom line is we still need a "reliable" way to write so both fields can "always" be read by PTE. Perhaps that's EXIFER - I don't know but I do know we need answers..... This is the problem. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. With some images it does and with others it doesn't - no rhyme or reason.... UPDATE: EXIFER can read this file's comment and description - PTE can't. If I open the file in IrfanView and save it to a new name, PTE can read the comment and description. Obviously something is not right with the file, but other software can read the EXIF description and comment while PTE can't. Something about the read capability of other software is more robust and forgiving of problems in the EXIF field than PTE..... http://www.lin-evans.net/p2e/IMG0298.JPG Let me know if it works on your computer.... Best regards, Lin

Hi Al, Here's where we are. It works for "some" all the time - for "most" some of the time and for some "none" of the time in PTE. On my development system I can not get Description to work at all and comments sometimes works and sometimes doesn't. On Jalbum, Irfanview, Opanda Power Exif, Proshow Gold, and numberous other programs which display EXIF data the identical images "always" display the EXIF data. This leads me to believe that the problem essentially lies with PTE. Something in the way these EXIF data files are being called is not quite right for Description and Comments. On the other hand all the other EXIF data called by the macros "always" works perfectly in PTE. That it works perfectly from the identical images (multiple images) with many other programs and not with PTE means that something with my system and PTE is causing the difficulty. But because it "does" always work with these other programs from the identical computer and with the identical files makes me believe that it's something specific to PTE which is ultimately causing the problem and that seems to be the case for a number of other users as well. We do need to get to the bottom of this issue and find out how other programs are successfully reading and displaying the identical EXIF data all the time. Best regards, Lin

Hi Steve, That's the problem - sometimes the comments field works and five minutes later it doesn't. It's not a procedural error - I do it exactly the same way each time and it "always" shows up in IrfanView, Jalbum, Photoshop, and other software programs. The Image Description as entered with Opanda works perfectly in other software and my other slideshow programs (other than PTE) have no problems at all displaying these fields so that leads me to believe that the problem is PTE specific. I too see no problems in using these fields, we just need to get to the bottom of the bug which is causing so many to have issues with this. I'll try playing with EXIFER and see what the results are. Best regards, Lin

Hi Brian, To call Image Description via macro in PTE is a "feature" which the developers have presented. As such it either works or does not work. Presently, it does not return the values in that field so is of no use and either should work or should be omitted. Image Description is used by a large number of photographers presently to briefly give a description of the place a photo was taken or brief information about the photograph. Legal issues about EXIF information are largely moot in the photographic industry. Any number of programs including Adobe Photoshop quickly and easily strip the EXIF header completely which is the ultimate in terms of "modification". Any program which modifies these fields may or may not be in violation of copyright laws but the salient question goes much deeper than this. Does "anyone" have the right to attach something to my photo which I do not wish to be there. I own the copyright to my photo and that trumps any copyright someone might have to a file which is attached that I did not authorize. Bottom line is that this is a highly "grey" area of law to begin with. Any number of existing programs including freeware such as Jalbum, Irfanview, etc., display the values in the Image Description field just as they have been written by the photographer. If this is not possible with PTE then that field because of licensing agreements or other reasons then this field should be omitted as a macro call. If it is possible then it should work properly. However, we must keep in mind that the competition easily displays all standard EXIF fields and some extended EXIF fields. Whether this takes an expensive license for commercial use or not I don't know, but I do know that it's very important to photographers and if PTE wants to court the photographers business it is an issue which needs to be addressed. Perhaps this is the best argument for Mary's position that IPTC metadata may be more prudent to use and give the developers a work-around for any potential legal conflicts. Best regards, Lin

Mary is correct in that there is vast confusion about the EXIF information and it indeed does not yet work correctly for Image Description. What we need to do, to simplify this for new users of PTE is to find an EXIF writing tool which allows access to both the comments and image description fields and which is easy to use. As powerful as EXIFER is, I find it difficult and confusing to use to write EXIF data and personally much prefer Opanda Power EXIF for EXIF editing. I can enter information in the Image Description field using Opanda Power Exif and it appears in that field using IrfanView and other viewers, but it "will not" appear with the macro call in PTE. I can enter data in the User Comment field and the PTE macro call will retrieve it. We do then appear to still have a "bug" with PTE so Mary is correct. If someone more familiar with how to easily use EXIFER to modify these fields cares to write a brief tutorial then perhaps we can recommend this or another tool which can write to these fields so we can add this information as an addenda to the User Guide. As is confusion still exists and it's going to until we can standardize answers. If someone has been able to get the Image Description feature to work I would be very happy to learn how! Best regards, Lin