Lin Evans

LOL - like none of us ever makes those - HA! Best regards, Lin

It sounds very much like you have the "Windowed" option in the screen tab set on. Go to the Project Options then click the "Screen" tab and check to see if you have "full screen" selected. Best regards, Lin

Hi Martin, How large is your show? How many slides and songs? What I'm getting at is that there is a feature in the Beta version which lets you create a zip file containing all you slides, the pte file, etc. If the show is small enough for you to zip up and post a link to, perhaps we can help figure out what's happening. Normally, you should hear your music from either the preview or from the timeline but terms can be confusing. There is the timeline view where you place keypoints and the timeline view where music is synchronized. Since you mentioned "thumbnails" I'm assuming you mean from the music timeline. The music synch is not yet completed in this beta, but my shows play music from that timeline by using either the preview or timeline "play" tabs. This is an unusual issue so if your show is small enough to zip and post (from the File provision at top left of your main screen) choose "Create Backup in Zip" and this will create a zip file containing all your images, the pte file, etc. If you post a link to it, we can try to duplicate the problem and perhaps figure out what's going on. My suggestion would be until you are thoroughly familiar with the new features of the beta to not try to generate a very large slideshow because it increased the variables and makes it more difficult to debug. Best regards, Lin

Now this would be an excellent suggestion for Igor to look into. Essentially, this would consist of combining two existing pte files by removing all common content from the second file, changing the "end" parameters, etc. Even when they were combined you would still need to hand tweak the transition where the drapes open to begin your own show. It's easy enough to do from scratch, but if we want to apply this existing sequence to a number of shows, we need a mechanism for automating the pte script so that those portions which are common to all pte scripts are removed from one of those being combined. It's not quite as simple as it may at first seem since it would require setting all universals which we may have changed back to some default so they matched for the two shows. For example what if we had changed the default from four seconds to twenty seconds for each slide on one show and to 10 seconds on another? I suppose once the individual slides have had their "customization" beyond the default levels that would remain, but what if we had relied on these pre-set defaults and not set custom numbers for each slide? Then a change in the defaut would surely mess up the timings, etc. Then there is the background music issue. That would need to be ammended to include the new information so this "could" end up being difficult to implement smoothly. It's probably "possible" do so right now by using a text editor to append the second pte file then manually removing or changing necessary parameters, but perhaps more than daunting for the non-programmer. Maybe Igor, Aleksey and Pavel can look into the feasibility of doing this for a future release?? Right now I suspect the easiest way is to start with the theater sequence and simply re-do the rest as inconvenient as that may seem. Best regards, Lin

Looks "and sounds" great - you might want to re-do with the perspective corrected one - Link below: http://www.lin-evans.net/p2e/stageperspective.zip Best regards, Lin

Hi Ron, Yep, let me see if I can correct the perspective. Unfortunately, because of the nature of the original the entire image will be shifted so that the screen is lower than desired - but it's either that or loose the seats entirely - LOL Best regards, Lin Hi Al, It's due to the slight perspective distortion being shifted but not too unrealistic since frequently in real life situations there is a slight gap between the floor and curtains, but it's easily "corrected" by gradually shifting the image downward a couple clicks... LOL Best regards, Lin O.K., here's a link to the perspective corrected version. I didn't have time to do the light dim - have to run do some work this afternoon. http://www.lin-evans.net/p2e/stageperspective.zip Best regards, Lin

Hi Tom, Yes, either of these suggestion could be implemented. Dimming the lights may be a bit more difficult than the applause, but could be done. Since the effects are done with PNG files and layers, all layers except the main screen (with the eagle in this instance) would need to have opacity synchronized precisely or additional images would have to be made which gets tedious. Perhaps other can tinker with these files and come up with some samples.. Best regards, Lin

It's PicturesToExe (pictures to executable file) and the options are very useful. The protection features found on the option box are for an executable presentation. You can deliver an executable presentation via a CD or DVD but not as a DVD presentation on a television but rather a computer presentation on a computer delivered via a Windows executable fie. If you "could" depend on the presentation being delivered via a rewritable CD or DVD being played in a DVD or CD player with write capabilities, it "might" be possible to alter the code as it's done on a computer file thus making the show die after so many iterations or after some prescibed date rolls around and assuming the user isn't savy enough to run the date back on the computer. But a show burned to a CD or DVD in that format can't necessarily be altered because of limitations of the technology - nothing at all to do with this program. At present there is no economically feasible way to limit the number of views on a DVD show delivered via DVD. To do this with programming code requires the code to physically change after some period of time. This is easily accomplished when a file can be modified - but a show delivered via a CD or DVD and played from that media can't be altered since the technology is write once read many (WORM). Lin

Al had an excellent suggestion to improve the realism of the curtain opening on stage effect. His suggestion was to compress the drapes on the horizontal plane as they open, thus simulating the normal compression of folds in the material as drapes are being opened. I incorporated it and it's now included in the download at: http://www.lin-evans.net/p2e/stage.zip I think it adds a good measure of realism - any comments? Great suggestion, Al..... Best regards, Lin

Hi Howard, It just occurred to me that you may have been at the wrong site. In my original post I said the music was from freeplay.com - in fact it was from "freeplaymusic.com" which has been discussed on the forum several times. I misquoted the link from memory - sorry. Best regards, Lin

Hi Howard, I don't believe that one could "own" an album created by FreePlay Music so the answer would be no, but you can certainly purchase rights for use and if your use fulfills the requirements as set forth by their terms as stipulated in "Terms for Use" then the use is either free or requires a fee depending on the circumstances. ..............3. Personal Non-Commercial Use (Non-revenue generating or associated) Personal use does not include any broadcast use - web, blog, podcast or other 4. Educational, Non-Commercial use (limited to student use on school grounds for in classroom projects- non broadcast) Then Freeplay Music's compositions and recordings may be used without a fee. .............. I believe their intent in the above description is to prevent commercial use in the broadcast sense (web broadcast, blog broadcast, podcast, etc.) so they don't want their music used in any commercial sense without a fee being paid. Giving a CD or DVD to a few friends is not a commercial use of their product. Putting their music on a website where it plays when one clicks a link as an aid in promoting a website would be a commercial use. Selling a CD or DVD which contained their music, such as a wedding photographer might do for a client would be a commercial use. They are quite specific in their wording concerning the terms "Broadcast" and "Non-Commercial". That's my interpretation but if you have any questions about how you would use the music it would be best to contact them and ask. Best regards, Lin

Hi Deanna, If you run into problems, just let us know and we can help you get going. Be sure to keep in mind that you will run into all types of programs which "convert" AVI files to Flash, but all are not suitable for what you want to do. A little explanation is in order. There are two basic types of Flash files: Flash SWF and Flash FLV. There are many programs which convert to Flash SWF but only a few which convert to Flash FLV. Flash SWF has some inherent limitations which make it less suitable for serious slideshows than Flash FLV. SWF format has an absolute limitation of 16,000 frames per instance (per slideshow). To get decent quality you want 29.97 frames per second (use 30 frames per second as a reference for the math). This means that you create 30 frames for every one second of the slideshow. If the slideshow is 9 minutes in length, times 60 seconds per minute = 540 seconds times 30 frames per second = 16,200 frames so a nine minute slideshow won't quite work with Flash SWF. The other issue is synchronization of sound. Flash SWF doesn't reliably sync sound past two minutes. The bottom line is that you really need Flash FLV which has no absolute limit for the number of frames and syncs sound perfectly. Some of us have been down this road for several years. The "least" expensive way to do this is with Riva Producer Lite. It's inexpensive, works well and creates all the files you need to load the show to your website. This includes the SWF player, the FLV file (it takes an SWF player to run the Flash FLV slideshow as strange as that may sound) and the html code to link to which not only plays the slideshow in the player on the web, but also detects the absence of the proper iteration of Flash on the visitor's computer and redirects them to the MacroMedia site to quickly download and install the necessary Flash player on their own computer. This only takes a few seconds. There are multiple iterations of Flash out there. The latest and perhaps best is Flash 8. Riva only supports up to Flash 5 and Flash 8 creates smaller code and plays very, very well, but to get Flash 8 with all the necessary bells and whistles including a player costs about $250. Believe me (I use both Riva and On2 Technology's Flix Pro which is a Flash 8 generator) Riva is the far less expensive way to go and produces very nice code even if not the latest and greatest. It's also much, much easier to use than any of the three companies (On2 Technology's Flix Pro, Sorensen Squeeze or Wildform's Wild Presenter) products which produce Flash 8 FLV files in a usable package. The least expensive of these is FLix Pro (also I think the best) at $250 but support is marginal and if you don't know what you are doing you will be lost. There is also a Flix Lite product, but it doesn't include a player and doesn't produce a file to detect flash 8 so the user has little control - not recommended. Again, let us know how you get along and if you have any questions don't hesitate to ask for some help. Best regards, Lin

Hi Deanna, By "share it as a link" do you mean so it will "play" as a slideshow when they click the link, or as a link which they can click on to download the slideshow? They are quite different animals. If you want then to be able to play it in realtime on anything other than a broadband system, then you need to convert it to Flash. On the other hand if everyone has broadband in your network you can simply upload an AVI file to your site and provide a link to the actual AVI file. When you say it's 12 megabyte, do you mean as an executable file, or as an AVI file? If executable, it wll be much larger as an AVI and may be too large for this to work correctly. If you mean 12 megabytes as an AVI then when they click on your link, they will have to wait however long it takes for their systems to completely download the AVI file before play begins. There is no "preload" or spooling on AVI files. If you want the slideshow to spool out and you don't want to spend a fortune, then you may want to look at the free Riva encoder and the $30 Riva Producer Lite program. This program will convert your slideshow to a Flash FLV file which can spool out and be played by anyone who clicks your link and has Flash installed on their own computer. If they don't already have Flash installed, the Riva program will prompt them and send them to the MacroMedia (Adobe) site for a Flash install. Flash FLV is the least expensive way of creating a file which will begin play almost immediately. Flash FLV is a "progressive" download which looks and feels just like server side streaming except in reality the show is being downloaded to the users computer on a temporary folder on their hard disk and streamed from that location. Let us know which you are discussing and then we can provide links to appropriate solutions. Best regards, Lin

Hi Ron, Yes, with the new capabilities in version 5, we have the ability to create some serious realistic results, but as you pointed out the sample I provided was of terrible resolution. Now if we could just get one of our members to take some decent photos of a really nice auditorium with curtains closed, it would be easy to make some very realistic effects. Unfortunately I live in the wilds of Colorado and we have absolutely nothing remotely resembling the grandeur of the European theaters. I'm not sure we have anything like it in the entire U.S. but I'm not intimately familiar with all the large cities and what exists. I have searched the web fairly extensively (at least what's available in the rather paltry 12% indexed by Google and Yahoo, etc. - I don't have access to Bright Planet, etc.) and can't find a single decent high resolution photo to use. Maybe we can talk one of our Italian or French counterparts into photographing some really nice European theaters so we can make realistic effects?? Any volunteers??? Best regards, Lin

Hi Paul, Hubble has certainly opened a glimpse to another world hasn't it? Sure, you're more than welcome to use the slideshow any way you wish. I'll check out your Planet Creation show on Beechbrook and I'm glad that the suggestions might help with the transition issues - it takes lots of experimentation to achieve the effects we want, but it's all part of the learning process with these great new tools! Best regards, Lin

Actually, by moving the centers and using a variety of keypoints you can sort of do that now, but in a crude fashion and it takes lots of visualization and "tinkering" to accomplish. Your idea is great - what it would take would be a bezier curve with adjustable "handles" then the movement would follow the the result of the creation of the curve - that would be something wouldn't it? Maybe Igor will eventually try to incorporate such in later versions. Best regards, Lin

Great idea Al, also when they reach the end of their travel, one could rotate them slightly and quickly with the centers moved to the tops so that their bottom swings inward toward the direction of travel then back to simulate the normal inertia effect. I just which we could find some decent images so that once all the details are worked out the solution could be permanent for a few different samples... Best regards, Lin

Hey Dom, Love the lens flare and lightening flash! Nice effects... Lin

Hey Al, Yes, Mark Ridout has been using this effect in some of his demos with Producer, etc., and since it's really a simple little effect to do and quite effective, I though I would duplicate it and post it here. There are any number of variations possible and I'm hoping some of you with more creativity will develop the idea further. I searched the web for some decent auditorium frames but couldn't fine anything except tiny, low resolution images. I though perhaps companies which make the stage drapes would have some decent shots, but they were, in general, absolutely terrible - LOL. I'm surprised they sell any product with the really "bad" photography. Maybe someone living in Italy or France can get us some decent originals to work with. I would be glad to make them into usable PNG's and jpgs and post them but what I've got to work with is pretty low quality. Best regards, Lin

Hi Paul, Very nice indeed! Beautiful photos, exceptional doll house and nice presentation. As a suggestion perhaps you might want to overlap your fades - that is on all but the very first slide, drag both the start keypoint and ending keypoint into the zone outside the timeline. On the first slide just drag the ending keypoint to the right of the transition zone. Drag the beginning keypoint to the left and the ending keypoint to the right. This will, in effect, give you one slide begining while the other is ending and make a nice smooth transition. Once you drag them slightly beyone the transition zones you will see the image disappear, but when you play the preview you will see the nice, smooth effect at the transitions. Use about a 3000 or 4000 (three or four second) transtion for each. Best regards, Lin

Yes, unfortunately the only images I could find were tiny so had to be interpolated from not much in the way of pixels to start with. It would be great if anyone knows where there may be some decent resolution images of a quality auditorium and stage with the curtains drawn shut. If there were some anywhere near I would photograph them, but most of these nice concert halls and such are in Europe. Even the ones in New York like Carnegie Hall are not so great to look at. Best regards, Lin Hi Igor, It's fun finding new ways to use your great program! Best regards, Lin

This type approach works very well except would greatly constrain p2e which has already more versatility in how you can manipulate the image. With the p2e interface you not only can move about from place to place on the image with zooms, pans, etc., but can also rotate the image on center or off center (you can move the center for rotation) as well as change the relationship (alter the perspective) between horizontal and vertical axis for effects such as flipping a coin, etc. Usnig the Revelation Sight and Sound approach works very, very well for simple pans and zooms and is very convenient, but I think it would be quite difficult to implement while still allowing the flexibility afforded by the present interface. Best regards, Lin

Hi Michel, Very true - our imagination may be the only limitations - there are certainly lots of possibilities and creative people will surely be able to create some dynamic effects. I wish I were more creative - I understand how to engineer the effects but rarely do I have the creative spark to come up with the innovations. Best regards, Lin

Hi Bill, I haven't thought much about that possibility, but I would think you could take whichever image you have to be illuminated and use PhotoShop or other software to create a greatly overexposed version then briefly display it by setting zero opacity until you wanted the effect then 100% opacity for perhaps a period of one numeral difference. Then back to zero. This would take four kepoints for each iteration of "flash". Start with zero then at the appropriate time choose 1/1000th before and set a zero keypoint then another keypoint at 100% opacity followed by 1/1000th later zero opacity. So let's say you wanted the effect at 10 seconds into the show. Set the opening keypoint for the overexposure at zero time, zero opacity. Then at 9999 set a zero opacity keypoint (this will keep the effect from gradually going from zero to 100%) then at 10000 another keypoint for 100% opacity then at 10001 another for zero. You could tweak the times to suit but faster usually would simulate a flash I think.... Just a thought, I haven't tried it... You would want to repeat the effect several times and do it with the overexposure as an object rather than an additional slide in the slide list. Best regards, Lin

Wedding photographer Mark Ridout has been using this little effect on his slideshows with a competitive product. It's really simple, but effective so I thought some of you might like it as well. All components in the zipped file along with the executable..... Lin http://www.lin-evans.org/p23/stage.zip