Lin Evans

Hi Gary, Someone's feeding you a line.... MP4's play perfectly on a Mac and the only thing necessary to play the executable is click on the zip file and chose to ignore the warning. There is no other current Apple computer other than MacIntosh. Perhaps they are trying to play it on a phone? Best regards, Lin

I think it was a rhetorical question Mick which was asked before, but not addressed in Urmas' previous post. His point, if I may attempt to address this is that there are better slideshow capabilities by far in PTE than in Lightroom, etc., It's obvious to anyone who has used both. Likewise, there are better (much better) deconvolution algorithms, better sharpening programs, better stacking programs, better RAW conversion programs, better interpolation programs, better printing programs, and better panorama programs than those available in the latest versions of Photoshop. Whether or not someone "needs" these superior features and capabilities depends entirely on that photographers individual requirements. If one is totally happy with what is available in Photoshop then there is no need to investigate further. On the other hand, not all of us are content with certain features which are offered by Photoshop so we look for suitable alternatives just as we look beyond Lightroom for presentation slideshow capabilities. What may seem obvious to some because of their needs may seem silly to others because they don't share these needs. If there were not valid reasons for using some other products then these companies would no longer be selling product because Adobe does everything - who needs anything else? We do not all agree on our approach to creating and manipulating photos or on the best way to approach it. Fortunately there are alternatives which provide sufficient latitude so that we can all be happy with our workflow. Adobe and Creative Cloud is one excellent solution but there are other quite viable alternatives which in some cases are superior... Best regards, Lin

Sorry to hear that Mark, but happy you didn't suffer a more serious attack. Nice to have you back and you and your family have a very Merry Christmas and a great New Year!! Best regards, Lin

Hi Barry, I think you should realize, in case you don't, that your experience is not necessarily more relevant to "the rest of us" than someone elses. When you say "something wonderful that the rest of us haven't yet found" you appear to believe that your experience is more aligned with the masses than another's. I can assure you that there are many thousands of photographers worldwide who use, for example, Kolor's Autopano Giga, Qimage Ultimate and BenVista's AutoZoom Pro. The fact that you are apparently not aware of this speaks more to your own inexperience with these products than anything else. Urmas gave you an excellent example of the differences in the Adobe RAW converter, Canon's own DPP and Capture One Pro 8. But did you thank him? No, you "rest" your "case and throw in the towel...." Urmas' experience mirrors my own experience with these other products. When someone suggests a product on a forum they do not need to go above and beyond to demonstrate that it works better than some other product. They only need to inform the reader of the possibility and let the reader do their own research if and when there is interest. Of course some information given on forums as well as in the press, on TV and radio and in the news is "way off beam." That's life. If everyone who suggests an alternative has to go above and beyond to "prove" that it might be superior to another product for each and every person who tends to be difficult to convince they they would spend an inordinate amount of time in that pursuit. I sometimes create tutorials to demonstrate the utility and attempt to help those who are interested in learning how to use some of these alternative products myself. If others find these useful then I've done what I can to show others what I have discovered. When I endorse or recommend a product I do my utmost to be certain that I have the facts right. On the other hand, I do not have the time or energy to devote by going to great lengths in presenting detailed studies on the differences in product A and product B. If the reader is interested in pursuing that then I'm more than willing to look up references and help them on an individual basis. As I said earlier: "Different strokes for different folks".... Best regards, Lin

Hi Barry, It's really not incumbent for someone else to "direct you to a website" to convince you that there are better options for HDR, panoramas, noise reduction and super sharp images than Photoshop is able to produce. If you really want to educate yourself on this then you will seek out the answers for yourself. It's not a "contest" to see who knows more about image processing. If you are completely happy with what can be done in Photoshop, that's all that's important for you. We don't all have the same needs. For example, if you don't print larger than 24 inches or so, you will probably never see the differences in sharpness and interpolation with the best products for those manipulations such as Qimage Ultimate, BenVista's Autozoom Pro and what Photoshop offers. On the other hand, if you print as large as 60 inches as some do then the differences will be glaringly evident. If you don't make panoramas with hundreds of individual images you probably will not see the differences between Photoshop's "Automerge" and Kolor's Autopano Giga, but there are indeed mega differences. There are reasons why these other software companies are highly successful at what they do but these reasons are not always appreciated unless the user has specific needs which are not met by Adobe's products. Best regards, Lin

I think the essence of this is that "different strokes for different folks" may be the operant phrase. Obviously many, many people are quite happy with Adobe's subscription paradigm and the quite low price for Photoshop and Lightroom compared to the original purchase license prices. Are there alternatives such as the one's mentioned by Urmas which are superior to those features found in Photoshop? Of course there are. I use many of the same software packages Urmas mentioned and for good reasons. They are simply superior to those similar features found in Photoshop. Photoshop is a fantastic program and offers some amazing capabilities all in one package. For many, what is found there is all they need. For others, the superior capabilities in other software is definitely worth the investment in time and effort to learn how to use these capabilities. Choices are a good thing and we are all fortunate to be able to pick and choose among options. Each of us have different requirements and there are multiple solutions out there which work for us. There is absolutely nothing seriously wrong with the paradigm Adobe has selected for their products. The "creative cloud" makes great software available to people who could otherwise not afford to use it and it gives Adobe a steady income stream to bolster future development. Is it right for everyone in all cases? No, but that's what's great - we have choices... Lin

I doubt anyone is blaming Adobe for the actions of hackers, but large companies are often targets for cyber theft so there is an inherent risk in giving them personal information including credit card numbers and such which can result in financial loss if one's own card is compromised. I've personally been the victim of credit card fraud and have learned not to risk more than I can afford to lose. My solution is to have a small account for online transactions which I only keep minimal amounts in. I use this card for all online transactions so that any potential future losses are minimized. The other danger is in having one's name, address, telephone number and other data which can be used in identity theft schemes stored on servers. That risk also can be minimized by setting up pseudo identities which in some places is not strictly legal but are not terribly difficult to achieve while staying more or less within the legal parameters. One way to do this is by creating a small corporation to handle on-line purchases from large companies which can be targets for hackers. Then if that identify is compromised, the corporation can be dissolved and nothing personally which is really important is compromised. Lin

Hi Tom, I think Eric may not be talking about Flash security issues but rather Adobe's security issues. A couple years ago they had a huge breach of security when hackers stole personal information from their servers as explained here: http://money.cnn.com/2013/10/03/technology/security/adobe-hack/index.html?iid=EL Best regards, Lin

Hi Jean, Thanks so much and I'm looking forward to seeing your next presentation on the 24th !!! Have a great Christmas and New Year!! Best regards, Lin

http://www.lin-evans.org/pte/twominutessolitude.zip (Window PC about 14 meg download) http://www.lin-evans.org/pte/twominutessolitudemac.zip (Mac Native Exe - about 14 meg download) Lin

Hi Jeff, Thank's and the same to you guys!! We've go to do that for sure! Best regards, Lin

I missed that - Thanks Jean, Lin

PTE only use TrueType fonts. Are these new fonts possibly not TrueType? Correction: As Jean-Cyprien reminded me, PTE uses TrueType, OpenType and several other types - what type font did you add? Best regards, Lin

Hi Al, Great subtle use of this effect in numerous places - a very enjoyable sojourn through the Big Bend country! Best regards, Lin

Ken, Jim, Tom, Gogs, Al - thanks and a very Merry Christmas and happy holidays to all.... Al, great to see you back on the forum! it's been too long!! Best regards, Lin

The forum sofware is being updated to the latest version in the background. It will be about 20-24 hours until everything is working correctly again - please have patience... Lin

Hi Gary, Here's another show using that technique. There was sporadic interest in doing this many years ago but it was never really discussed much. Thanks to Dave it's revived. Jean Cyprien uses similar techniques in a number of his shows which really demonstrate the power of this as well. This is the first show I used it in - see it in the introduction after the text.... http://www.lin-evans.org/pte/rockymountainkids.zip (Windows exe) http://www.lin-evans.org/pte/rockymountainkidsmac.zip (MacIntosh exe) Lin

A little show of Angels and hopes for happiness and a safe Christmas holiday season for all !!! https://www.youtube.com/embed/Kkjjbi-P1WA (Youtube version) http://www.lin-evans.org/pte/angelspc.zip (zipped Windows exe - about 44 meg) http://www.lin-evans.org/pte/angelsmac.zip (zipped MacIntosh exe - about 44 meg) Lin

Objects and Animation Screen - Common Tab - Go to Slide With Name... Or are you saying you would like the above as an automated feature without operator intervention? A work-around for this is "Project Options" "Advanced Tab" - Run Application Or Slideshow on Exit - then create your menu as a separate executable show and call it.... Lin

Follow Dave's advice to read about it .... The quick way is to click on "Slide Options" then under "audio comment" - "Add Audio File"... Lin

In the Animations tab of Objects and Animations - there is a 3D button which will bring up the 3D window when clicked... See mouse cursor on screen capture below - to the right of the little "Rotate" window... Lin

Indeed - and the tutorials which get people started off on the right foot..... Best regards, L

I know that it changes Pan Z values, but where did he get the idea that this keyboard shortcut was for "zoom"??? It's pretty clear if the documentation is read.... Maybe we should point him to the tutorials section where it's all explained in detail... I'm not intending to be pedantic, but the features need to be understood and the correct terms used or there will be total confusion.... Best regards, Lin

Hi Dave, Yes, but he's talking about zooming the image not "Pan Z" - there is no Alt left Mouse Click for zoom and it's not "undocumented." LOL... I think he just needs to study the documentation because of confusion about zooming... Best regards, Lin

I'm a bit confused about what you're trying to do. The default zoom is 100% which is represented by 100.000 meaning 100% which can be either increased or decreased by entering a value manually, copy/paste a value or clicking on the small up or down black arrows located within the blue colored tiny window. You can also place the mouse cursor over either of these arrows and hold it down and the zoom values will either increase (up arrow) or decrease (down arrow) as quickly as mouse interrupt signals are received. There is a small square box between the two 100.000 values. At default the right and left 100.000 values increase or decrease simultaneously. The default shows this tiny box as a "window." Clicking on this window will change the appearance to that of a "button" and this will separate the values so that they may be set independently. When this happens, the zoom becomes "non-linear" in that you may "stretch" or "squash" the appearance of the image. In order to manually change the size of the image you need to first change the view (top center of your screen to the viewer's left of the close button) to something less than 100%. As an example, choose 25% and then you will see a green bounding rectangle with eight tiny black "squares." You can place your cursor over any of these then hold down the left mouse button and "drag" which will continually resize the image as you drag. If you hold down the keyboard shift key as you click then drag, the non-linear mode will be automatically actuated. If you wish to set things back to the default, then type in 100 to either side of the value then click the center button to return it to a "window." Next enter zero in each of the two boxes for "Pan" and "Zoom". You may also drag the image in any direction by clicking and holding the left mouse button and dragging in any direction. You will also see a tiny circle in the center of the image. Holding down the shift key and dragging this will change the "center" of the image for off-center rotation. I think you need to read the instruction manual carefully because there seems to be some confusion. If you want to exactly duplicate the position and size of a slide on another slide, you need to copy/paste the values from the zoom, pan, rotate, etc., for that image; you don't need to copy/paste the slide itself. I really have no idea what this "Alt" move mouse thing is. That's not how you change the size or position of a slide in PTE... As Dave explains, using Alt plus mouse movement changes the 3D "Pan Z" parameter which in 3D space moves the slide closer or further away. To correct the error, click the 3D button and return the Pan Z value to zero then change the zoom as indicated above. Best regards, Lin