Lin Evans

It would be difficult to not see the text through the parchment because the unrolling is done via the transition Unroll From Top set to a 5% radius and 3 second duration. This works "because" of the black background. The "background" is also unrolling but it's invisible because it's black. The only simple way to make the text disappear during the unrolling would be to make the "back" of the unroll a solid color, but then the whole screen would be this color during the transition and it would spoil the effect. The only other ways I know to make the text disappear would be to either make the entire text set to zero transparency for the period of the unroll (you would not see it on the face side either) then turn it back on or fade it in with opacity change over the unroll time or to try to mask that portion of the scroll with a portion of yet a third scroll.png. Actually, I think better to leave it as is rather than try to get too fancy with perfection because then it would get too difficult for most users to follow the logic and use it in their own presentations. It "could be done with two black jpg's used to mask the right and left side of the scroll perfectly then a parchment color match for the color used on a colored "back" rather than natural, but I'll leave that to someone else who wants to tinker because it presents all kinds of issues in perfectly matching the uneven contour of the side of the parchment and matching the color for the back. Only if we had a "custom" feature for the backs on the roll/unroll transaction including texture would this really be worth the additional effort I think. Ideally one would not want to see the text on the "back" of the roll but I'll just pretend that the ink bleeds through - LOL. Best regards, Lin

Hi Jeff, You have to play the "preview" to see it unroll because: The scroll unrolling is done with the transition "Curling of Page - Unroll from the Top" set with a 5% radius. . The time is set for 3 seconds. Check the transition in Customize Slide. It works because the background is black so you can't see anything other than the scroll itself unrolling even though the black background is also doing the same. Also you must leave the "back" natural rather than change the color. By the way, the link is now updated so that the scroll2.png has semi-transparency under the shadow. Best regards, Lin

Hi Jeff, Sure, here's the PTE: http://www.lin-evans.net/pte/scrollpte.zip It actually a very simple one. Go to the PanosFX site and register then download his free Scroll action for Photoshop to create the scroll.png (or just use the one I created then placed in the pte). I copied the oriiginal then pasted on a transparent layer and erased the center portion. Next open in PTE and place the original with the duplicated scroll on top layer. Create text as a PNG in Photoshop and animate to suit by placing the text between the two scroll png files. Use black rectangles to mask the text on top and bottom so it doesn't appear after leaving the scroll. To make it perfect - as JPD suggested, it would be better to make that portion of the scroll with shadows under the top and bottom facing the scroll surface semi-transparent. This could be done in Photoshop by carefully masking off only those shadows then using about a 20% opacty on a very large brush and clicking once over the whole scroll area. This would result in those masked shadow areas only being semi-transparent so that when the text scrolls out of or into this area it too would be naturally shadowed before disappearing. The pte I just posted has the shadow area totally transparent, but I'll re-do it later today as I have explained and re-post but this will get you started. For JPD I added a quick jpg frame before the scroll begins to unroll then I divided the long png text into two segments and made the second one a child of the first. This lowered the file dimensions to accomodate a 32 meg graphics card and the frame at the begining of his version "jump" starts his card which for some reason doesn't like an immediate large animation with png movement. The unrolling of the scroll was done easily by changing the radius on a scroll-down from the top from the default to value 5. Best regards, Lin Hi JPD, Excellent idea! Later today I'll make that shadow area semi-transparent and re-post it. Best regards, Lin

Hi Jean-Pierre, Please try this one if you have time. I've added a quick jpg to the front and broken the large PNG scroll file into two segments. http://www.lin-evans.net/pte/jpg.zip Best regards, Lin

How about like this?? http://www.lin-evans.net/p2e/scroll.zip Lin

LOL - I wish! Lin Hi John, That seems logical, so done... Best regards, Lin Hey Dom, Yes - on the roll direction, but unfortunately too much text to just open to the full amount but that would work fine in some cases. Thanks! Lin

Hi Gilio, Beautiful images, blends and sequencing - works very well the the music too! Best regards, Lin

Hi Ken, Try it again (the download). I've made a couple minor changes which might be nice for an eventual template. Best regards, Lin

That's definitely the problem because the text PNG is 2491 x 4944 at 300 ppi. A work-around then would be to create several smaller text files and run them sequentially rather than one large scrolling text block. Something we can keep in mind for future text generation with PNG. I assume that several smaller PNG files would work much better. That would also be true for snow animations or other animations which have lengthy sustained scroll actions. Best regards, Lin

Hi JPD, It begins with PNG text scroll so probably too much for the 32 meg graphic environment but to have an opening screen in front destroys the aesthetic of a scroll as an opening segment for a show. There are two PNG files of about 480K plus a 3.4 meg PNG text file. The two PNG files are both loaded immediately along with the scrolling text file. The only way I know to make the text file smaller would be to loose a good deal of text resolution by enlarging a smaller text file. Actually the original is enlarged to about 150%. I put a jpg in front, try this one and perhaps it will load? http://www.lin-evans.net/pte/jpd.zip Hopefully, with the release of beta 9 we may see some way to avoid this issue for systems which lock up. Best regards, Lin

Just thought folks might like to have a look at another of the PanosFX fine actions animated through PTE. http://www.lin-evans.net/p2e/scroll.zip (about 5.4 meg) Best regards, Lin

There's actually an easier way but Ray's method will work. Just do as he suggests and find the first file in the slide list which you don't want then hold down the shift key and find the last file and click the mouse. This will "select" that entire group of files. Then simply click and hold down the left mouse key and drag the entire group to the left off the slide list and let go of the mouse key. That's all there is to it. Best regards, Lin

Hi Dom, I think I misinterpreted what you wanted to do. I was assuming you wanted to only rotate the reels with the projector at the approximate 45 degree angle as in the second image. I think JPD has correctly assumed that it's the projector you wish to rotate? Or perhaps have the reels turning while the projector is rotated? In any event, as JPD says you will need three images to do this plus the separate PNG files for the reels. That's going to be a very tricky (difficult) animation but probably very nice once you accomplish it. The calculations for the projector work very much as with the reels in that the appearance would begin with the "flat" 180 degree view then for each degree of rotation of the projector increase in apparent view by the percentage per degree until you reach the final rotated point. So you would want to measure the final width across the top and calculate it in the same manner in that when the projector is rotated 90 degrees (so you would be looking at the back) the "width" across the top would appear 100 percent. So at 45 degrees it would be half of it's full width in appearance. You can probably best experiment first with a simple rectangle and rotate it over time to 90 degrees with the X axis and perhaps check the numbers at 45 degrees manually with the slider to get some idea of what to enter as values. Best regards, Lin

Assume you begin at 180 degrees to the viewer and the diameter on screen of the tape reels equals 4 inches (you would need to actually measure the diameter) and further assume that the reel was a two dimensional disk (actually it's 3 dimentional). While rotating the projector through 90 degrees the appearance of the reels goes from 4 inches to zero so at 45 degrees the apparent diameter measured over the shortest distance would equal 2 inches and at 90 degrees it would be zero. So for each degree of rotation of the projector from 180 degrees relative to the observer you would loose .044 inches (90/4=.044). So if you determine how many degrees you want to rotate the projector and the initial diameter of the reel, you can determine the apparent diameter (distortion) at the shortest measurement by dividing 90 (degrees) by the diameter then multiply this by the number of degrees you rotate the projector relative to the observer. The actual simulation you have looks fine to me. As far as the rotation, I think just confine the rectangle size and determine the RPM (revolution speed) you want via the rotation feature on the PNG and it should look perfectly natural. Best regards, Lin

Hi Forester, Are you using mp3? If not, convert the format to mp3 and it should work fine. The fact that it works when you remove the sound files means that something about the sound file is causing the difficulty. I've seen this happen in a few cases when a user tries to use unsupported sound types and this is very likely the problem. With the release version you will be able to use wav or mp3 sound (perhaps others) to have two or more channels so you can have individual sound for each slide as well as background sound for the entire show, but the present beta version only supports background sound for the entire slideshow rather than individual sounds for each slide. The features which will eventually be resident in the release version are being added a few at a time to facilitate development and debugging. The next release (beta 9) will be a major one and will have most of the features which will be present in the release version of 5.0. If you continue to have problems after converting to mp3, please post the PTE files (use the Zip feature) and we can probably discover the problem quickly and resolve it for you. Bests regards, Lin

Hi Mike, The text functions have not yet been enabled in the beta, but coming very, very soon. To do text right now create your text as a PNG file using your image editor (Photoshop, etc.) and animate as any other object. Music works best as mp3 so most of us convert our other formats to mp3. When the sound functions are fully enabled you will have separate tracks available and full synchronization via time line as in version 4.48 (wav, mp3) so you can do voice-overs per image, etc. Right now if you need this feature you can combine multiple sound tracks into a single track with freeware audio tools such as Audacity. Best regards, Lin

Hey Ray, The freeware (for non-commercial use) IrfanView has a batch rename feature in which you can choose the characters and numbers, etc. http://www.irfanview.com Lin

Hi Dom, If you mean a CD being played on a computer, the answer is yes, you can do this by simply placing the executable code for the programs to be called on the root with no folders. In fact if you place all code on the root then the program will have no problems finding and executing. I used to play movies from within my PTE slideshows by embedding Irfanview code which seamlessly opened and played a movie when called from a PTE created menu. Of course the same could have been accomplished without the menu. I assume this is what you meant rather than using the CD played on a television, etc., as a DVD might be used. Best regards, Lin

Most excellent job! You've been busy with this one.... Best regards, Lin

Yes, the "violence" has definitely escalated on games, but these clips remind me very much of what I was doing (second combat tour in Vietnam) 40 years ago - not good memories and I wish the game people could concentrate more on other aspects rather than war. The 3d effect seems to be accomplished via shadows and independent movement on simultaneous layer display and may eventually be possible with PTE. Actually, Igor has simulated some of the forward movement through clouds in one of his earlier examples. Best regards, Lin

Hi Jean-Pierre, Yes, that's how I've been doing it in applicable cases but it would be nice, especially when dealing with multiple objects, to have the process automated. Perhaps one day when hardware and drivers make that feasible it will be implemented. I'm sure Igor has been working toward that end (making the non-linear zooms possible) and I was really only "thinking" out loud - LOL. It occurred to me that it might be possible to change the frame rate during a during a small percentage of the start and stop zoom positions on the timeline which would, in effect, give this "soft" landing and "takeoff". However, after more careful consideration this approach may not be possible since PTE is already creating intermediate zoom images at or near maximum possible hardware frame rates. The solution then would probably lie in changing the actual portion of the timeline devoted to start and stop with constant frame rates. Best regards, Lin

Hi Tom, Thanks for the links and information. It's amazing how far the video technology has come to date. Some of the newer players do indeed make it interesting and questionable about future directions. Of course storage capacity considerations will probably eventually dictate HD and BluRay type solutions at least in the near term. Having been involved via my wife's occupation in the storage industry for many years, I get some insider "insights" into the direction this is going. The future is very bright with terabytes of storage on small holographic media coming quite soon so even BluRay and HD are quite likely just transient intermediary solutions. I've found that the present solution used for video with PTE beta's is actually quite good with smooth translations for page curl and other previously "difficult" transitions. The future will be very good for this (PTE) software. On another note there is much dissension in the ranks of the "competition" with the realization that with myriad "bells and whistles" also comes myriad "bugs and issues" which are really bogging down development and distribution presently. Igor's approach has proven to be the superior path and PTE just keeps getting better and better while the competition struggles to maintain. My suggestions are definitely future looking and not intended in any way to impede the completion and release of version 5 - just suggestions for refinement if and when they can be implemented. Even as it is now in beta 8, PTE produces a superior product indeed and it's a pleasure to work with. We are all, I'm sure, eagerly awaiting beta 9 which will give us all most of those features we have eagerly awaited. Best regards, Lin

Hi Keith, First, I'm sorry if I wasn't clear that these thoughts concern "future" versions of PTE and are not intended as distractions to impede the progress and release of version 5. I have done any number of Photoshop manipulations in a my animations actually since the first beta release including gaussian blur and multiple images used to simulate bringing an object into focus but this is not really my point. We must also realize that not everyone who will eventually purchase and use PTE has Photoshop or other image rendering software skills nor the inclination to do this in cases where applicable. The time factor for complex animations precludes doing this on a regular basis. Here is a small sample from a slideshow I made long ago with a very early beta of this: http://www.lin-evans.net/pte/focusme.zip My suggestion in the relevant sense is to actually "avoid" seeing a change in focus - this would defeat the purpose. The intent is to not see aliasing artifacts created by intermediate zoom resolutions (pixel counts) on small, sharp objects during the zoom, yet have the object in good focus at the end when zoom is completed. The amount of blur applied initially in the present iteration is a programming choice and necessitates a compromise between image quality and artifact visibility. Having a selection of blur amounts from which to choose will greatly expedite the creation of superior effects without having to resort to treating each object in an experimental fashion in Photoshop, etc. It's precisely this "experimentation" which my suggestion is intended to avoid. The same is true for achieving a non-linear acceleration or deceleration effect to achieve a smooth start and stop. I can do it with multiple and carefully timed keypoints, but not everyone who will eventually use the PZR effects with PTE will become highly skilled with this technique nor should they have to in order to achieve a smooth and natural appearing stop and start to their zooms. As I said, these were suggestions for future consideration not intended as impediments to current development. Best regards, Lin

Hi Adri, Beautiful old world architecture and very nice presentation. Perhaps you could tell us a bit about Gent for those who have language barriers? Best regards, Lin

I've been thinking about things which could be future improvements and the first is something we visited long ago in early betas but with a possible new twist. Igor mentioned that the release version might have a way to "soften" small images which are zoomed to minimize the "sparkle" or "twinkle" effects from aliasing in the resize. Right now we have the box to check for "blur" which helps but doesn't always go quite far enough and could be possibly improved by having incremental 'steps" to increase the strength of the blur. What I would like to see is an "optional" feature which would blur the object "during" the zoom but return it to full original sharpness as soon as the zoom finished. So the best of both worlds. A box to check which would initiate blur in various increments then an option to return to the original sharpness immediately when the zoom finishes. The second feature is something we already expect in the release - a non-linear zoom so that starts and stops are smoother. It seems that one way to achieve this would be to automatically apply a slow down on the beginning and especially on the end of a zoom so that perhaps within the last percent or two of a zoom in or the first percent or two of a zoom out would have a number of very fine increments rather than an entire percent of zoom. The "perspective" zoom and normal zoom we have now is smooth and very nice, but the start and stop are quite "perceptible". If there were a way to change the rate of zoom at the very end or start to much finer increments (more frames each with finer zoom percents), it seems to me that this might suffice to make a "soft" landing and take-off?? Just my thoughts.... Lin