Lin Evans

Hi Larry, You can't directly make an MPEG II file with PicturesToExe. You can't make an AVI file directly with the pte codec so you need to use the "Create Custom AVI" feature to create an AVI file. You "can" convert an AVI file to MPEG II with various software, but there is no real advantage to doing this at all. An AVI file is highly compressed versus an MPEG II file. When you take a compressed file and then make an uncompressed file from it the result is no better than the original, just much "larger". This is what you would be doing if you created the AVI file then converted it to MPEG II. The result would be a much larger file witht any improvement at all in quality. In short, it would be better to give them a good AVI. The AVI files created using the "Create Custom AVI" feature are as good as the codec (compress de-compress algorithm) used. The best I've seen is the Microsoft MPEG 4 codec. If you don't already have this codec on your computer you can get it from various locations. I would suggest downloading the ACE Mega CodecS Pac here: http://www.free-codecs.com/download/ACE_Mega_CoDecS_Pack.htm Install the Microsoft MPEG 4 video codec then use the Create Custom AVI function of PicturesToEXe to create an AVI file with the MPEG 4 Video codec as the video codec choice. This will allow the createion of a very good AVI file which you can then either use as is (recommended) or use other conversion software to convert to MPEG II. Lin

Hi Paul, The show is very smooth and looks great on my system. As said by others, this (stutter with pans and zooms) is almost certainly a result of your video card. From the Windows desktop click on Start/Run then type in "dxdiag" and press O.K. Next click on the Display tab and this will indicate which video card and how much video memory you have. Best regards, Lin

Hi Nettleton, I can't be certain, but this sounds like a memory issue - perhaps you don't have sufficient memory to run both programs or Home Deluxe 4 is not releasing memory back to the system. Some programs work that way and some can be minimized and work well with other programs running. This could be related to the use of swap files. Best regards, Lin

Hi John, The reason you still see the base is because of the drop shadow on the text. You can "fix" the file by using the opacity brush to blend in the drop shadow or perhaps re-do the file without the drop shadow in PhotoShop or extend the crop a little further down. What's happened is that you cropped a bit too tight which gave a "regular" rather than "irregular" appearance to the bottom of the letters which normally would have taken the shape of their individual characters. Very nice presentation - by the way... Best regards, Lin

Hi Steve, You don't "have" to make a temporary AVI output file, that's just a default and what actually happens is not an AVI file but the "instructions" or "template" for an AVI file which is actually created by the various software referenced. If you click on the "Create Custom AVI Video File" then choose an appropriate video codec such as MPG4, etc., you can create a normal AVI file - you have the best of each world. You can use the template which works with Ulead, Pinnacle or Encore as checked or you can create a custom AVI file with your own choice of audio and video codec. You can use whichever codec you feel works best with the DVD burn software you use. Lin

Tom, Be sure you are downloading from the correct link - here is the link for convenience: http://www.picturestoexe.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=4667 Also be sure that you are clicking on the correct APR beta file - put the new one in a different folder so you are certain that you are installing the correct file rather than reinstalling the beta 3 version. Lin

Hi John, So you do not end up fighting multiple issues remember that whenever you insert a keypoint, the zoom stays with it even if you subsequently move the keypoint. For a test, take a zoom in from 100% to 400%. Set the overall time with only two keypoints. The first defaults to zero so then set the time to 10 seconds for the entire zoom and observe what happens. You have a rather nice linear zoom. Now insert a keypoint at about 1 second then slide the keypoint to 9 seconds and watch again. Strange?? Yes - the actual zoom percentage stays with the insert point at about 1 second so that you end up with an extremely slow zoom to 9 seconds followed by an extremly fast zoom for the last second. In order to keep your zoom linear or to compensate for the perception of non-linear zoom you need to know the degree of total zoom as a percentage then divide this total zoom percentage by the number of increments you intend to use to know what "should" be at any particular part. For example, in the example above you have 400% size increase over 10 seconds. So 400/10 - 40 or 40% increase for each 1 second of time. So at 1 second we would have 140%, at two seconds 180%, three seconds at 220%, etc. So at 9 seconds we would have 360 percent (9x40). This is what you would need presently to calculate how to keep the zoom percentage linear in "reality". Now to compensate for perception. So to figure out your percentages for each point you must make some estimate at to the "perceived" rate of zoom at the start and end then factor in the percent of change necessary to achieve what "appears" to be linear to compensate for the human perceptual difference. I can't give you exact figues because I don't know how the perception of zoom differs from the reality of zoom, but perhaps you could make an estimate based on "perception" then alter the true linear zoom figures for any given point in some compensatory fashion based on perception to arrive at what appears to be linear to you. Best to make the compensation spread over more rather than fewer increments to minimize the perceptual changes at any given point. Best regards, Lin

Excellent! This is much appreciated Igor - very nice and very smooth - congratulaions are in order!! Lin

Hi Jeff, Not too much commentary at all in my opinion. I think the historical overview was not only necessary, but added a great deal to the presentation from both an aesthetic and educational perspective. This was a lovely presentation - It would also have been nice to have a couple shots entering or leaving port on the two islands and perhaps a frame or so of the coastline from the sea side. Over all this was a very nice trip back through time as well as in the present. Best regards, Lin

Hi Cindy, Beautiful photography and excellent presentation - congratulations on a very fine slideshow depicting how the world "should" get along! My only suggestion would be to taper off the end of the last song with Audacity or other software and apply a long fade out for the last/first image which ended rather abruptly. Again congratulations - keep up the fine work!! Best regards, Lin

Hi David, Unfortunately, none of the presentation slideshow programs available can create slidelshows which can be run over the web with any true quality without using some other program which is designed for web use. The problem is that neither executable code, nor AVI code nor MPEG II code can be used directly on the web without some issues. Either there is an unavoidable delay, the quality is greatly compromised or other issues such as downloading specialized players, etc. The problem is that a slidelshow containing high quality images has some reasonable size which prevents users from being able to see it unless they are lucky enough to have T3 capabilities such as with some government and military systems. Common broadband communications simply can't provide fast enough download capabilities for this to happen on any reasonable and continuous basis. To get around this difficulty we either must download the file as Barry suggests and play it on a PC or we must convert it to some format which can be used. Each method has its own issues and associated problems. HTML can be read by anyone with a PC or with a MacIntosh, but you are up against the issue of file size so must necessarily have a relatively tiny image of medium low quality to make this means work. Flash allows 640x480 or so size or reasonably good quality and can be played on both PC and MacIntosh computers which have a Flash Player. Other methods such as Active X can only be seen on PC and not on MacIntosh computers. Unfortunately at this stage of technology there is no viable other method(s) which will allow what you wish to happen. Best regards, Lin

Hi David, The easiest way to get a decent usable slideshow on you web is to use Flash. There are a number of different Flash generating programs available. Flash FLV is the method I use because it allows spooling the program and you can set various levels of quality and size with it. If money is not a huge object you may want to consider Flash 8 (there are several iterations of Flash) and FLV rather than SWF Flash (SWF has an absolute limitation of 16,000 frames which means about 9 minutes of slideshow). The "best" I've found is On2 Technologies Flix Pro. It's not cheap ($250) but it's good. Next, if money is a large consern you might use the Free Riva Encoder and the $30 Riva Producer Lite (a very nice combination). In either case you must make an AVI file first. At present this (AVI File) is not possible with the Beta version of 5.0 but is possible with the release version 4.xx. Search the Video for previous links about creating web shows..... Lin PS, there is also the possibility of using HTML but the size of the image will be much smaller than the AVI. Best regards, Lin

Hi Ron, No need to apologize, no offense taken in any way. We all need to share as much information as possible to insure that everyone gets the most from all these great new features. With great power sometimes comes complexity so it's not always simple and easy to grasp, but the more we work with the program the easier it will become. Best regards, Lin

Hi Derek, I'm only guessing, but probably if they (pte files) don't work it's because the associated files (png, jpg, etc.) which make up the show are not included for whatever reason. There is a feature with version 5 which allows the creation of a zip file containing everything necessary to load and run a show from PicturesToExe as well as create an executable file. I'll provide a link below to one I did. Download the zip file then create a folder to unzip it into. Unzip the file then start Beta 3 and open the pte file and go to Preview and try it. It "should" work just fine "IF" the zip file was created with the built-in provisions for creating a zip backup. You will need to wait until the next beta is released (not too long now - maybe a couple weeks at the outside) then there will be a provision for creating an AVI file which you can use to burn a DVD. Right not the "video" provision is not incorporated in Beta 3, only the ability to make an executable file. Igor is adding new features with each beta to facilitate debugging so by the time beta 5 arrives (we are now at Beta 3) most of the features found in the present 4.xx release version will be incorporated. But for now you can't create a DVD with Beta 3 created slideshows. Here's the link: http://www.lin-evans.net/p2e/cimarron.zip Download the above, create a folder and unzip it in that folder. Then load the pte and you "should" be able to run the show from PicturesToExe Beta 3 as well as create an executable file. All the necessary components are included in the zip file. Best regards, Lin

Hi Ron, There's a large difference between "mastering" the program and doing the simple things like setting a zoom and pulling the start and ending keypoints into the overlap regions to affect simultaneous display of the zoom out and zoom in. Setting a zoom "should" be very easy for anyone once they understand that any image can be displayed at its default or at larger or smaller sizes by simply clicking on the start keypoint and dragging the rectangle surrounding the image to affect the size desired at the start point. If you want to zoom in on an image you need to start with either the default size or smaller. If you want to zoom out you need to start with the image zoomed in. So these issues truly are easy. As for the simultaneous transition display - my intent was to explain to the OP that it's not something difficult to achieve - it just takes dragging the ending keypoint into the transition zone and the start keypoint for the ensuing slide into the transition zone - the transition zone being that part of the timeline before or after zero. I don't intend to make light of the need to study the tutorials and that's all part of the learning curve with any new program. We fully intend to have comprehensive tutorials for this program, but there is little advantage in re-inventing the wheel over and again so best to wait until version 5.0 is released to do the updates. We're all learning as we go. I think sometimes the problem is that we become impatient to "do a real slideshow" rather than simply playing with the tools as they are introduced so that we can learn in bite (byte) sized pieces rather than getting confused with too much on our plates. Some are visual learners, some learn by reading and that's why Jeff and I will have both approaches for the tutorials. One will be referential in nature and the other a practicum. Between the two we hope to cover all relevant features. Perhaps I should not use term such as "easy" to describe these things, but as new people approach the forum, we find those who are willing to actually do some research on their own and use the forum tools to find some of the many excellent examples and answers while others simply begin with "I don't see any way to....." and "how can I......" or "why doesn't this program do...... strange....." This tells me that the person asking these questions has neither bothered to look for the answers by reading past posts or even watched any of the numerous slideshow examples members have provided which demonstrate conclusively that PTE can do the very things they ask about (such as zoom in on the eyes, display both slides during transitions, etc.). Let's just say that the things are "easily" done rather than "easy". Anything is "easy" if you know how and terribly difficult if you haven't a clue how to use the tools. I have great faith that the tutorials will make learning this program very "easy" for those who speak English. Hopefully we can find some who speak both English and other languages to translate the tutorials so that all our users, regardless of their native languages can easily learn to use these great new features. Best regards, Lin

LOL - that's happend to me as well. Over a period of around five years I developed a very nice inventory control package designed for the Art Gallery industry which I made the mistake of "customizing" for a few clients. The requests for changes kept coming for years and I finally had to refuse to make further changes because there is no end to individual preferences and for "it would be nice if's"...... The program had around 260,000 lines of code and each change required a complete re-test and search for all places which were affected. End users generally have no concept of what's involved and how many 80 hour weeks can be involved in debugging for what appears to them to be simple changes. Best regards, Lin

1. Only a beta 3 of PicturesToExe is presently available so until the release of version 5.0 is out all features such as using video clips are not yet implemented but are introduced gradually in following betas. 2. You set a slow zoom (set the time for the slide to a longer period) and center on the eye --- very easy... 3. You use a white jpg frame between slides and set a longer time period on the fade transition,,,,,, 4. Put the ending keypoint for the first of the two slides into the transition period. Slide it far enough so the image disappears off the screen in the Objects and Animations screen, then pull the zero beginning point on the second image back before the zero point and set the transition time for each to about six seconds and for fade. This will give you both images together simultaneously with one fading out while the other fades in. Very easy.... Best regards, Lin

Hi Gilio, It really not a strange number - the latest series of cards and chipsets from ATI are outlined in Ken's link. The 1100 series is built into laptops which have the Mobile AMD Sempron™, Mobile AMD Athlon™ 64, AMD Turion™ 64, AMD Turion™ 64 X2 processors. You don't have a choice of using a different card unless you buy a different computer, but these are high performance cards designed for the Vista operating system so should be fine. Lin

Hi Jane, The advertising states that the 1100 series is good to go for Windows Vista so I think you can safely assume that it would be a decent graphics card to run PicturesToExe including the new version 5 and shows with reasonably heavy RAM requirements. Vista will tax any but the better graphics cards. The 1100 series is a chip set designed for this so quite probably a very safe bet for you. Best regards, Lin

Hi Derek, pte files created with the 5.0 Beta versions must be run with the beta version of PicturesToExe 5.0. The "Promo" program has the pan, zoom, rotate features so to see how it was done using the pte file you need to download the PicturesToExe beta 3.0 from the PicturesToExe link on the forum or from the link on the first page at wnsoft.com which will link you to the download on the forum. Install the beta in a different folder and it will create a second PicturesToExe icon so you can run either version. Once the Version 5 release is out, you won't need to do this because it have both the old graphical engine as well as the new graphical engine allowing Pan, Zoom, Rotate, etc. Lin

Hi Jeff, I think Igor realizes that many of the suggestions are not intended for immediate concern but rather for consideration as the software develops. We all know that software is always a work in process so the suggestions may or may not eventually be implemented. As a former software developer myself, I fully appreciate the issues and pressures associated with development and deadlines for releases, but wringing out new software is always an iterative process of discovery and tweaks. One of the questions which keeps popping up is the issue of linearity of zoom and Igor has already told us that there will be non-linear features in either the next beta or at least by the finished product. The discovery that insertion of keypoints then subsequent movement of these keypoints may adversely affect zoom linearity is something which we all need to be aware of and is also something which could possibly account for a number of these prior questions and some potential confusion. Whether or not it's a good idea to have a "choice" switch for synchronization of keypoint and zoom is something Igor and Alecksy will need to consider and act on or not, but the awareness of the issue is better handled earlier rather than later in the development thought process. I agree that it's better to not overwhelm the development team with suggestions for change - but I believe its prudent to bring up issues which bear on performance and which can cause confusion if not understood. Best regards, Lin

Hi David, We wouldn't want it to be an "only' updated situation because this would destroy some of the great flexibility offered, but it would be convenient to have a software choice so it would be easier to keep linear zoom if that's what we wanted for the individual slide. The fact that we can choose to have differential zoom on the X and Y axis lets us create interesting effects such a flipping the coin or compressing the curtains when we draw them on a stage for an opening effect. There are other things which we can do by having differential zooms which don't necessarily correspond to keypoint positions on the time lines, but a choice could be nice when we do want to maintain the linearity of a zoom while having a keypoint inserted for some other possible purpose. Just the act of inserting a keypoint sets a zoom relationship along with it so even if we intend no particular action and accidentally have a keypoint set somewhere between the zero and timeline end, we will affect the linearity unless that keypoint is placed precisely at the time we end up selecting. Any movement or change in the time for that keypoint will necessarily require us to calculate the precise zoom (assuming there is a zoom change from the start to end point) for that slide unless we exercise great care by sliding the little arrow back and forth while observing the time before inserting the keypoint. Having an optional switch to synchronize the keypoint and zoom which "should" be there at that point to insure linearity of the zoom could be a good thing I think. Best regards, Lin

For Steve I believe I know why you see non-linear zooming. I've just tested Beta 3 and the zoom is absolutely linear, BUT keypoints which are set then moved either by sliding them or by changing the values of time for a previously set keypoint do not change zoom values. They keep their original values (zoom values associated with the actual position of the mouse cursor on the timeline whien clicked to add keypoint) when they are either moved by clicking on the "flag" and sliding the keypoint to a different time or by placing a keypoint then typing in a particular time so that the keypoint is moved. When this happens, unless perchance the perfect time desired was selected, the movement between keypoints ceases to be linear when viewed from the perspective of the entire timeline. It's linear between keypoints, but not linear from start to finish. Perhaps Igor might consider a switch which would allow the option of keypoints which are moved to be associated with the zoom which "should" be at a particular point were there no keypoints between the beginning and end of the timeline. Best regards, Lin

Hi Steve, I haven't tested beta 3, but the earlier betas tested correct in linear zooms, by Al and in my own tests. I wouldn't totally rule out any issues but Igor has also said that it's true linear zoom. Of course non of us except the developers really know precisely what is going on in the program but we can be sure that with the inclusion of non-linear zoom in the release version that we should be able to get whatever effect we really want. Of course with keypoints we can actually alter the visual effect as we see fit even now. I sometimes change the zoom percent nearing the end of a zoom out so that in the final few seconds the objects appear to slow. With non-linear zoom incorporated this should be easier to accomplish. Best regards, Lin

Steve, The zoom is absolutely linear. What you are experiencing is normal in that the smaller an object gets the more it "appears" to move away faster and the larger it gets the more it "appears" to be moving slowly. This is a well known psychological issue. Non linear zoom will be enabled on the release product which will allow compensation to offset this perception - right now all we have is indeed true linear zoom. Best regards, Lin