Lin Evans

Hi Igor, Since we can simulate most transition effects with the Animations capability, I think we really don't need this feature. We could use a mask and various black or color jpg's to simulate a "wipe" and do a fade in using transparency change so my vote would be to eliminate it since it's a possible source of issue for those who will be using Vista. Best regards, Lin

Thanks Igor, After returning from a 6 day trip I'm elated to see the new beta which adds very much and seems to work perfectly. Best regards, Lin

Hi John, See my post above (repeated in part below) - the default is to scale images to fit screen so no matter what the original size, they will fill the screen unless resized in Objects and Animations. Read the above post entirely for caveats. Note - I'll be out of state over the next 5 days so will not have access to web for further replies. Best regards, Lin

Yes, just a little fun experiment, but it does indeed work well and with the right software is easily accomplished. If you do this, be sure after adding your video sequence jpg's to click on the Project Options, Screen Tab and scroll down to Disable Scaling for Existing Images and put a check there as well as clicking on Set for Existing Slides afterward. This prevents the program from sampling the video up to full screen size which usually takes a toll on image quality if your originals were PAL or NTSC sized frames from standard AVI or MPEG sources. I find that with a couple thousand or more frames, its easier to click on the top (first) image and highlight then scroll to the last and hold down the shift key and click then use "ADD" rather than use the "ADD ALL" which seems to take forever for some reason. The down side of doing this (using sequenced jpgs, etc.) is that you must then set the display time and effects individually for each subsequent image not in the video show. It's easier to use the automated "Set for Existing Slides" to do the mass then afterward add the individual slides. If inserting a video clip in the middle of a normal sequenced show, it gets tricky to the not mess up the timing, etc., on other slides so it would be much easier to have the video sequence at the beginning rather than in the middle of a show, etc. Best regards, Lin

Some may have wondered why I posted the little sample butterfly slideshow sequence using an animated GIF (workaround) introduction. http://www.picturestoexe.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=5136 There have been questions about whether the release version of PicturesToExe will support video drop-ins or not, and the answer is not yet clear whether this release will have that feature or even if we really "need" it. The problem is that software rendering makes it relatively easy to use video because the CPU gets the lions share of the work and the video card does little. Of course the problem is that almost all slideshow software except PicturesToExe uses software rendering and the thing which really sets PicturesToExe apart is the extremely high quality output from hardware rendering and the fact that release 5 will use both the video (Ken Burns Effects - pan, zoom, rotate, etc.) as well as the non-video engine which will support the older computers having less video capability. But with hardware rendering we get into issues of total video memory. Even many of the better video cards which play flawless and butter smooth movement on our beta rendered slideshows only have 128 meg memory and older video cards may be 64 or even 32 meg. If the video AVI or MPEG, etc., is extremely large, there could be issues with running it only via the video card, especially if it's in high resolution rather than standard PAL or NTSC low resolution format. So for now, I've been testing some possibilities so those who wish to include small AVI or MPEG videos can do so via a work-around. This also apples to animated GIF files. The "secret" to using a video file whether it be an animated GIF or an AVI, MPEG, WMV, etc., with PTE is to break it down into individual files such as JPG and then play these in sequence with the transition effects turned off and with very fast sequence speeds to emulate 15 to 30 frames per second video. To break down an animated GIF, one can open it in Image Ready (comes with Photoshop) then export the layers as PNG files. This is what I did with the butterfly in the opening sequence with the white background on the sample linked above. Of course everyone doesn't have Photoshop, so there are other programs which can also do this. But what about AVI or MPEG, etc.? The answer is a video decompiler. The one I use is $20 U.S. and available from: http://www.onestopsoft.com/ It's called the OSS (one stop soft) video decompiler. You simply feed it your mpeg, avi, etc., file and tell it to extract all frames and when it's finished you end up with each frame of your AVI, MPEG, etc., made into your choice of bmp, jpeg, etc. The process works very, very well. When you are finished, you import your jpgs, etc., into PTE, set transitions off, set the per image display time to zero seconds and 33 milliseconds (for about 30 frames per second) and you end up with a short movie wherever you wish in your slideshow. Obviously, it would be good to use some opaque background if you don't want "black" which would be your monitor's default. I would suggest limiting the time for these small AVI or MPEG clips to around 10-15 seconds because you will be expanding the storage requirement and the size of your slideshow by a considerable amount. For practice I decompiled one of my P2E slideshows from an AVI and each jpg was around 53 K bytes in size. So there will be around 30 images for each second of playback so 10 seconds is around 300 images. I made a quick test and used about 1000 images. It does take a bit of time to create the executable, but the results are very good. If you are using animated GIF files, of course, both the size and speed can be considerably less. Typically an animated GIF might consist of less than 40 total frames and the display speed should usually be around zero seconds and 100 milliseconds per frame depending on the effect you want to achieve. Just some thoughts for those who want to play around with this..... Best regards, Lin

It's lower case - if that isn't the answer, then I don't know because I don't do html scripting or Java scripting. Best regards, Lin

The final version will have the same features for password as the present version 4.48. Here's a link to a simple 2 image repeating executable with a password protected feature. Try this and if it works in your script then the final version will also work. The password is "buster"..... http://www.lin-evans.net/p2e/passwordtest.zip Lin

A female Ceasars Atlas Moth to be precise - LOL - notice the "snake" on each wing tip which serves as a deterrent and frightens potential predators. These particular moths have a 9-10 inch wing span. Best regards, Lin

Just tried this at start of show..... about 22 meg... http://www.lin-evans.net/p2e/butterfly.zip Lin

Hi Melissa, For a Windows computer to play an executable slideshow automatically, there must be a file called "autorun.inf" also on the CD along with the executable file. I don't have "Sonic Now" so I can't comment on how you copy the fles to the CD, but I can tell you how to make the autorun.inf file. The easiest way is to use the Windows text writer Wordpad. Create a file as follows and save it as an ASCII test file (no formatting)with the filename "autorun.inf". Below is a sample. Substitute the name of your own executable file for vger2.exe and use everything else as it is below. [autorun] OPEN=vger2.exe ICON=vger2.EXE,0 Once you have created the file and saved it as autorun.inf, then copy both autorun.inf and you own executable file to the cd and any Windows computer should be able to play it assuming the autorun parameter has not been turned off (the default is for it to be enabled). Best regards, LIn

Hi Steve, Resize in Objects and Animation is done by simply dragging the corner of the rectangle bounding the image with the mouse. You probably don't see this because you are looking at the image at 100% (the default). Click on the small down arrow in the small blue box to the right of "Paste" and change to 50% or so and then you will easily see the bounding rectangle. This does not change the actual file size as a "resize" from say 1600x1200 to 1024x768 but rather changes the display appearance in size as the image can be made to fill the screen (indicated by the black rectangle) or any portion thereof. The problem you have with transitions not working properly with larger images (file size) is quite probably due to system resources (your computer). As mentioned above you will want to resize with your choice of image manipulation software (Photoshop, Irfanview, etc.) to get the output to match projector output (if you are using a projector) so resizing via Objects and Animation is not the answer. Best regards, Lin

Hi John, It is of interest - thanks for the information! Many of us use one or more of these screen capture tools to make tutorials. There are a wide range of capabilities with these various software aids. Some strictly capture the screen with cursor and allow audio via a microphone or from wthin the displayed software. Others have specialized editing capabilities which allow the user to make text comments, highlight the position of the cursor, convert to AVI, MPEG, FLASH, etc., for playback and distribution. The prices range from around $25 US dollars to several hundred dollars depending on the capabilities and feature set of the software. Best regards, Lin

Easy with version 5 beta. You can reduce the size of images to have as many as you wish appear on the screen at any time. You can make them appear, disappear, fade, spin, rotate, etc., etc., etc. You can also use masks easily created with Photoshop to have special effects and zoom or scroll within a windowed area. Many of these masks have been created and donated by theDom and are available on his site for download. Your imagination is the only limitation in creativity with PicturesToExe 5.0 beta. I would suggest going to theDom's site and downloading and studying the many tutorials and looking at samples so you can learn the numerous ways to accomplish these effects. Just as a brief example, you could use a mask which has two rectangular cut-outs side by side. This mask resides on one layer at 100% opacity. On the layer behind you have two images, one set to 100% opacity, the other set to zero opacity. Over time (let's use 30 seconds), you set a keypoint at perhaps 14 seconds to zero opacity for the second image. Then at 15 seconds you change the opacity for that image to 100%. The starting point of zero opacity hides the second image, the second keypoint at 14 seconds set to zero opacity keeps the image hidden and it begins to appear and fades completely in because the opacity is set to 100% at a keypoint at 15 seconds. Now you have two images side by side which if nothing else is done will continue to display for another 15 seconds. Best regards, Lin

Hi Jon, You can download the release product (4.48) from: http://www.wnsoft.com and it is an excellent program. The difference is that the present release version doesn't have the Ken Buns Effects (Pan, Zoom, Rotate). If you want these effects right now, you need to use the beta version 7. It is very easy to create text using Photoshop, etc., as a transparent PNG file. If you tell us a bit more about how you wish to use the text, then we can direct you to instructions on how to easily create PNG text effects which you can use just as any image with Pan, Zoom, Rotate, variable transparency, etc. There are advantages to doing it this way especially if you like fancy fonts which may not reside on other computers because the text becomes a "picture'" of text or a graphic file which doesn't change between various computers. Best regards, Lin

Hi Jan, You shouldn't need to crop them unless you specifically want to. You should just resize them in Photoshop to 1024 on the wide aspect. If they were taken with "most" consumer or prosumer fixed lens digicams they will probably resize to 1024x768. If they were taken with an SLR and scanned or with a dSLR they will resize to 1024x683. Your projector "should" project whichever size you have. If for some reason you want the total size to be 1024x768 then you can either set the crop tool in Photoshop for that size then resample down to 1152 by 768 then use the crop tool to trim the edges to 1024. What I would do is to resize all to 1024 by whatever the native size ends up (768 or 683) then use a color or decorative backdrop to fill the top/bottom where applicable. The quality will be best for projection if you do the resample in Photoshop rather than let the program do it unless you are using version 5 beta. With the beta you can have the higher resolution originals and take care of the resize using Objects and Animation. The advantage of this is realized if and when you want to zoom in tight. This way you take advantage of the hardware rendering and will be using the full resolution image without loosing anything to the resample for the closeups. Best regards, Lin

Most excellent Henri!!! You've demonstrated very many of the great features and elements of P2E in this unique slideshow. The photography, music and creativity were superb! Best regards, Lin

Hi Guru, Yes, in English the same meaning is "takes the bait" Best regards, Lin

You have experienced the ongoing issue of aspect ratio differences between different cameras, different monitor types and different television types. I'll try to briefly explain below: Consumer digital cameras, especially ones which are a couple years old or older generally were designed to produce an image with an aspect ratio (the relationship between width and height of the image) which works out to a 4x5 or 8x10 print while dSLR and SLR (35mm) cameras have an aspect ratio which produces a 4x6 or 8x12 print (or any multiple deritive thereof). So, for example, if you produce a native 35mm scan or an image from a dSLR the image will contain more information in the width than a corresponding capture from a consumer digicam. Normal television (older ones) aspect ratios are 4:3 or based on 100% size 1.33:1 while newer plasma or wide screens are 16:9 or expressed in 100% terms around 1.78:1. As you can see, a ratio of 4:3 would work out to a print image corresponding to neither 3 by 5 or 4x6 but rather shorter in the horizontal aspect than an older digicam image and a good deal shorter than a dSLR or 35mm while the wide screen is considerably wider than even the dSLR or SLR aspect ratio. This means we must either loose information on the sides of our slides, create the originals in a cropped format to match the desired final display or have a healthy border on top and bottom (assuming we match the horizontal aspect for the wide screen. P2E, in the beta, has a feature which lets you actually see how the television screen will display your DVD so that you can compensate. So without distortion of the actual image you must choose between either loosing some horizontal information or having some black borders around some portion of your show. To make things even more mystifying, aspect ratios of 1:85:1 are common for cinematography with 1.37:1 for sync sound 35mm films and 1.33:1 for old silent films. In short, there is no free lunch so if you plan on primarily using your images for DVD purposes, you may want to plan your shots by shooting much wider than normal knowing you will either attempt to match a wide screen by specific cropping or have excess which you can expect to loose when matching the 4:3 standard television. Also leave sufficient room in the horizontal for text to fit. Best regards, Lin

Would you mind explaining the above in more detail? What are "1pointblack and blue jpegs"?? Lin

HA! You're smarter than I am then and will undoubtedly live longer and have more happy birthdays too!!! So have a great one and enjoy the day even more.... Happy birthday, Lin

And a BIG HAPPY BIRTHDAY to Igor tomorrow!! But remember this before drinking too much Vodka and partying too hard: http://www.lin-evans.net/mpg/yep.mpg (note: this one voted best commercial in Europe) Best regards and many happy returns!!!!, Lin

Hi Harry, It really doesn't take much in the way of "computer power" to handle version 5. The real issue is "video card power". If you click on the green "start" button on the bottom left of the Windows Desktop, then click on "Run" and type in "dxdiag" then click on "O.K." you can see exactly which video card and how much video RAM you have. You can also tell if you have an AGP video slot. If you do have an AGP video slot, you can buy one of the finest video cards available at a huge discount right now. The ATI Radeon 9800 Pro with 128 meg RAM is available for $87 on the web. I just replaced one of mine and the replacement card works perfectly. The original price for these cards was around $500 or more and the 9800 pro card will let you run flawless shows even with high RAM loading. If you older computer has an AGP (Advanced Graphics Port) slot - and you can find out by running the "dxdiag" as mentioned above - you could replace the old video card and run version 5 perfectly even with an older and slower processor because version 5 doesn't require a lot of computer processor power, just a decent video card and updated software which is available free for download. Best regards, Lin

Hi Tom, You have just experienced one of the most frustrating issues with video. There really is no "universal" codec which everyone will necessarily have, but you will find that most have the Windows MPG 1 codec so for things like Screen Recorder, that's probably a safe choice. "Everyone" won't have it but the majority will. Best regards, Lin

Hi Gary, You should be able to copy anything you see on your screen with a screen copy utility, including the the text in the Object Editor window with font and color already applied. If you have the freeware Irfanview, just go to Options, Capture Screenshot then use the defalt CTRL F11. After making a cropped selection, then use the Edit Copy - do not close Irfanview but rather minimize it so you can continue with more text without opening and closing the program each time. If you don't have Irfanview you can download here: http://www.irfanview.com Just paste the text with color and font already there in the transparent background, crop as desired, use the Photoshop select by color range if amenable to select the background color and the eraser tool to remove the selection. Save as a PNG. Best regards, Lin