Lin Evans

Hi Andrew, In some of the newer dSLR cameras there is a sensor which detects when the camera is used in the "portrait" position. This "tags" the image so that when it's displayed with various photo editing software when this "tag" is detected the image is automatically rotated 90 degrees for viewing. The "assumption" is that it would be rotated counter clockwise assuming that the photographer held the camera so that the shutter release would be on top rather than on the bottom. This has created some confusion when software automatically rotates the image because the rotation is normally only for viewing and the file isn't automatically saved in the rotated position. So even though it appears rotated for the purpose of viewing, when the same file is placed in another environment which is not sensitive to the "tag" it appears in its original orientation. Obviously for print purposes it doesn't matter but if the file is manually rotated and saved then the problems begin. Assuming the tag isn't removed when the file is saved, then other software sensitive to the tag sees it and rotates it 90 degrees counter clockwise it's once again misoriented for viewing. It works well for people who have a fixed workflow but can be annoying for those who use a variety of software. Lin

Hi Igor, I think she means to select from a list of fixed font sizes in pixels or "points" as in a word processing document. Of course one can select with the "slider" now from "15" upward as a default, but I think Silvia means that if a fixed font size were selected it would be constant across all text for the display. It's very easy now to visually set size then check reference number by slider and repeat for other text. Best regards, Lin

Alain, Click on the object in the objects list to highlight. Next click on the "Common" tab and click inside the "transparent to selection" block so there is a check mark there. If you follow the SWF tutorial I linked to per your question about how to do the XY & Z axis from the sample you see how I used it in the helicopter rotor blade example. By clicking inside the transparent to selection block you will be able to easily move the text rectangle with the mouse. Best regards, Lin

Hi Ron, Notice that there is now an additional tab called "common" between Animations and Properties. Inside this tab window is a greyed out "action on mouse click" which will be where you set the attributes for the particular object or button. Best regards, Lin

Hi Peter, Not to answer for Igor, but the blur does work on the text. The rasterize text to png is simply a convenience. What if you wanted to apply the perspective distortion to a png text paragraph to simulate the Star Wars effect? You just create your text in PTE export then open the png file in Photoshop, apply any specialized effects with the layers properties, free transform, transform, etc., and you have saved lots of effort in trying to type in your text and so on in Photoshop. As you know it's very difficult to make corrections on a PNG file once it's been created. Doing the hard work in PTE makes it a snap. Best regards, Lin

Hi Alain, Yes, the effect is done by using the parent/child/grandchild relationship using two rectangles and the object to be manipulated so that rectangle one is the parent, rectangle two the child and the object to be manipulated on the XY and Z axis the grandchild. After setting up the relationship and creating the animations, the two rectangles are made invisible by setting their opacity to zero. A while back one of our forum members wanted to create an effect where he had a helicopter flying across the screen. The problem was how to make the rotor blade rotate in a horizontal fashion. It was easy enough to separate the main rotor blade as a separate png object in Photoshop thus having the helicopter body and tail rotor as separate png files, but the issue was how to make the main rotor blade rotate horizontally rather than vertically. Jean-Pierre (JPD) devised a very interesting and useful way by taking advantage of the fact that PTE allows parent/child/grandchild relationships. By rotating the child rectangle about 52 degrees inside the parent rectangle, then by using the available independent XY axis (change zoom independently) it became possible to not only distort the perspective of the main rotor blade so that it appeared to lie on a horizontal plane, but also when rotated using the regular object rotation feature, the rotation as a child of the "child" rectangle, maintained the perspective distortion thus allowing horizontal rotation. This was not easy to explain in words, and JPD is a French native speaker, so I made a little AV Flash Tutorial on how it was accomplished (link below). The brief tutorial is in Flash 8 SWF format. If you don't have a Flash 8 player you can use the latest version of IrfanView which can play it. It's in a zipped format so you can download and play the tutorial on your own computer. It's in English - possibly somone who speaks other languages could translate. It demonstrates the use of this principle which I also used to do the little demonstration with the ship image. If you follow the tutorial, it will be easy to see how I used the same principle for the ship. http://www.lin-evans.net/p2e/rotorblade.zip Best regards, Lin

Hi Ron, Though I don't think the buttons are yet linked to the various functions, you can indeed create "invisible" buttons. As objects, the buttons can have any attribute just as any other object. So to make a button invisible, just decide what area you wish to cover, size the button accordingly and set the attribute for opacity to zero and the button becomes invisible. Best regards, Lin

Hi, and welcome to the forums! An interesting suggestion which has been discussed previously. That works well when you have only a few objects, but what happens when you have perhaps 20 objects? Then you must have a scroll bar on the time line and some means of switching the view between seeing object one and two, object 4 and 16, etc. If you allocate more space to the time line to see more than two objects compared, then there is less space to see the actual images in relationship to each other. It can get very complicated as with some video software where the "preview" area becomes tiny and too much space is allocated to time line observation. Then there is the issue of seeing multiple sound tracks as well. It's not a simple decision. Right now you can see the relationships by checking the "Transparent to Selection" box in the Properties (Common) Tab then observing the bounding rectangle. The idea of having multiple time lines visible appeals more to those who work visually while using the physical timing numbers appeals to those who visualize the relationships and see the effects by moving the small green arrow along the time line to "step" through the actions. I think the utility of this idea is more of a "comfort" level of how one is accustomed to working rather than a necessity for achieving precision in animations but it is something worthy of discussion. Best regards, Lin

Do you mean in the "objects and animations" window preview or on the "timeline"?? The late betas have sound in the Preview mode on the objects and animation page. Now the "timeline" view - I don't know about... Lin

I think yes...... Lin

Hi Dom, Just a suggestion. It sounds like a security issue with the provider. I would demand my money back and use a different host. I might suggest you have a look at 1&1 which has very low prices, excellent service, excellent security, huge storage for the money and are very helpful. I get 350 gigabytes of storage 2,500 gigabytes of monthly transfer bandwidth and lots of other bells and whistles for under $100 per year. Here's a link: (note - corrected bytes to gigabytes) 2,500 gigabytes per month not 250,000 gigabytes - LOL) I notice that the storage for $7.99 per month is now 250 gigabytes and for $14.99 monthly you get 300 gigabytes storage and 3,000 gigabytes per month transfer. The number change every so often, but it's still the best deal going I think.... http://order.1and1.co.uk/xml/order/Home;js...e=1176507054031 And a review: http://www.realmetrics.com/a/shared-hostin...d1-com/beginner Best regards, Lin

Fantastic Igor!! Thank you! Lin

Hi Jon, Let me try to explain. PTE can handle any resolution. If you have an image which is 1024x768 and you apply pan, zoom, rotate, etc., you will get an output in movie type of executable at a resolution of 1024x768. If you have an image of 1600x1200 and apply pan, zoom, rotate, etc., you will get an executable movie file with 1600x1200 resolution. If you have a file of 3200x2400 resolution and you "feed it" to the PTE engine you will get an output movie of 3200x2400, etc. With other software, if you have an image of 3200x2400 and you apply pan, zoom, rotate, the "movie" is created by downsampling to about 800x600 to create the pan, zoom, rotate. Then if you ask for an executable file with the output resolution set to 1600x1200 the 800x600 resolution movie is "rendered" by software interpolation back to 1600x1200 making a very soft and mediocre quality slideshow. So PicturesToExe uses the "hardware" (RAM, Video Card, etc.) to create a movie of the same resolution you give it from your input files. If you give it low resolution images then the slideshow will be of low resolution. If you give it 9 megapixel images, then the slideshow will consist of 9 megapixel movies. Because it outputs high resolution images from high resolution input, if you were allowed to simply drop low resolution video clips, there would be a substantial drop in image quality which would be very noticeable when the video played. With some other companies who use low resolution for everything regardless of what resolution your original images were, there is no huge visible change from a low resolution video to the low resolution rendering for pan, zoom, rotate from still images. PicturesToExe is, at present, the only known software which uses hardware rendering to create high resolution executable slideshow output with pan, zoom, rotate, etc., effects. To put it simply, PicturesToExe's output for executable files are equal in resolution to the input files. Other companies lower the resolution of input to about 800x600 automatically to make their pan, zoom, rotate effects. Then if the user asks for higher resolution executable output they must upsample to get more pixels. The process of downsample then upsample takes a toll on image quality. Best regards, Lin

Hi Jon, There is no direct way to import video files with PTE. Video is low resolution, even at the best it's not much more than 1024x768 from high end video cameras. Unlike competitive products which use low resolution software rendering, PTE uses high quality hardware rendering which means that the files created for an executable slideshow reflect the input resolution. High quality images in, high quality executable output complete with pan, zoom, rotate. If you need to use short video clips, the easiest way is to use a video decompiler and break them down into individual jpg frames. These frames can then be used in the slide list with the transitions turned off and speed set to about 75ms. Some frames may be dropped, but generally you won't be able to tell at all and the effect is just about the same as playing an AVI or MPEG video clip. You probably will want to set the parameters for display to native size rather than automatic screen fill to keep the appearance of image quality for the video segment. There are a number of inexpensive video decompilers available. The one I use is from OneStopSoft.com http://www.onestopsoft.com/ It's $20 U.S. and does a great job. Lin

Hi Jean-Pierre, Please rest and recover - we miss you greatly on the forum but your health and well being are all that's important at this time. We will look forward to the days ahead when you have completely recovered - until then find time to enjoy some fine French wine and relax and enjoy the beauties of nature. Best regards, Lin

Hi Peter, It's illogical to use the term "vaporware" when referring to PTE 5.0 because a very useful version is already available for you to use as you see fit. As I said earlier, "when" a product is called a "release" is an arbitrary decision at the sole discretion of the developer. Would you prefer that the developer tell you that the product will be "released" in 60 days then at that time call it a release? There are many, many unhappy people using a competitive product which was "released" then plagued by over 300 "fixes" in the following three months. By the way it's sill not functioning well as evidenced by the complaints on one of the more popular forums dedicated to it. Bugs may not be more important to you than features, but tell that to the users of this feature rich product who can't get real work done with it and perhaps they may convince you othewise. I've used PTE for many, many years. During that time I've also used numerous competitive products - most of them actually. I've never had any concerns that PTE would not continue to evolve and improve since that's been the history of this product. On another forum you expressed your reluctance to use a "beta" product. Why is that? Are you concerned about "bugs" or about a lack of features? If it's a lack of features then why don't you list the features you need and perhaps it would then be easier to address your temporal concerns. If you are overly concerned, and you appear to be so, with the financial future of Wnsoft, then perhaps this isn't the product for you. Earlier and on another forum you mentioned that you felt it "couldn't" be that great because of the low price. Are you still trying to convince yourself that you were correct? It seems you are interested, but not enough to invest $24. Maybe paying ten times this for a "released" product which may or may not function properly for you would be more comforting? The bottom line is that version 5 will be released when the developers deem it ready. Beta releases have happened on a fairly regular time table and the developer has been more than responsive to suggestions by users for improvements and additional features for consideration. The present beta is quite capable of being used to create superior slideshows AND DVD's. Would I like to see features of 4.48 implemented in version 5.0? Of course. And this is happening with each new beta release. Is it a deal killer that a projected timetable for release isn't accurate? Absolutely not because that's the nature of software development. I was a successful software developer for many years myself and I fully understand how it must proceed. People tend to get impatient because things are not progressing fast enough - then when and if a developer releases a product prematurely and it doesn't function correctly they are upset. The developers of PTE are very competent programmers. They don't need your help or mine in making decisions about how and when to implement features and when to call their product a "release". As users, we can either accept this or find another product which suits us. I know which way I will go - LOL... Lin

Hi Ray, It's difficult to say without looking at the files, but the first thing I would suspect is that perhaps in the conversion from wav to mp3 or such you may have bitrates which are set too low or too high. Have you changed software for converting or are you using mp3's which have worked correctly in the past? If they have always worked (the same mp3's) then suddenly started having issues, there may be some conflict with other software. If you could zip up one of the pte projects along with the sound files I would be glad to have a look for you. Best regards, Lin

Hi Mike, Unfortunately there is no way for you to have executable quality without actually having your customers run an executable file from their own computers. The overhead is far too large for web streaming. The way to do it is to zip the executable then simply post a link to it so the user can click on the link, download the zip file and run it (the executable) on their own computer. The other way is to post an AVI or MPEG 2 file which also won't be up to executable standards but is better than Flash. The down side is that there is no streaming technology yet to allow that so the entire file must download to the user's site before playback begins. That could take a long, long time. Best regards, Lin

I discovered that it will not bog down the system to add cloud movement to my version but can easily be done via a simple mask and an additional PNG. In my original, I didn't bother to straighten the horizons on the individual frames but rather just rotated them in each frame. I'm going back and straighten each individual frame to make the mask more accurate and will have the cloud movement added to the demo. I look forward to seeing other approaches to this interesting challenge. Best regards, Lin

Hi Peter, PicturesToExe has a very long history as a presentation slideshow program having begun with version 1.0 and now at 4.48. Each iteration has been welcomed because it's one of the most stable and usable products available. Many of us who use this product are professional photographers and PTE has wide acceptance and use among professionals so to refer to is as a "no go" for professional work is an oxymoron. It is and has been used by many professionals who deem image quality to be much more important than "flash". It's understandable that your personal needs include things such as pan, zoom, rotate and one can appreciate your desire to know when a release product will be available, but even the developers do not know precisely when that will happen. Version 5 betas are, as you know have been and are available to make presentation slideshows with. The next beta to be released (beta 9) will be out soon and have a majority of the features of the release version 5.0. Many very fine professional slideshow presentations have been created with PTE "betas". If you are familiar with software development, you will realize that it's an ongoing process, an iterative development of features and refinements which is never really "finished". Some of the "competition" has recently "released" a new version which has had over 300 "fixes" in the past few months. Though no software is "bug free" the developers of PTE have always tried to produce the most stable and usable product they can make. Rather than release what is obviously a "beta" as a product, they allow their users to have full access to the process complete with suggestions and recommendations, many of which end up as features in the produce. Versions 1.0 through 4.48 "happened". Version 5.0 will "happen" and most assuredly numerous versions after 5.0. Unfortunately it's not possible to give a specific time frame because development and testing is ongoing. All that can be said with assurance is that version 5 is much closer to completion than to the start. Right now this product as a beta can do things which other presentation software can not do. It has tremendous power and animation capabilities as evidenced by the numerous demonstrations and presentation slideshows already created with it. As a "beta" it's miles ahead of other's "released" products as far as stability goes. Personally, I have no qualms about recommending it. There is no magic about a "release". It's simply an arbitrary point where developers say that they believe the product is sufficiently feature rich and stable enough to be a useful tool for the majority of users. There is no "vaporware" here. It's already a useable product which is being refined and having additional features added. Whether it is useful to you, only you can decide. Best regards, Lin

Let me get this straight, you want PicturesToExe "Free" while everyone else pays like they should? What is this your "birthday" or something?? Get your mother to buy it for you..... Software developers don't work their behinds off to "give away" software, especially software as inexpensive and useful as PicturesToExe. Please pay for it or simply use the limited 10 image free demo. Lin

Just had a chuckle when reading something one of the competitor's users was trying to figure out from a little Youtube show they had seen. It was something which seems not possible to do with their software but is easily accomplished with PTE so I made a tiny little sample showing rotation of an object in 3D space with perspective distortion and rotation along XY AND Z axis - nothing special.... http://www.lin-evans.net/p2e/dimensions.zip Lin

Hi Mike, Yes - but this feature is not yet turned on in the present beta.