Lin Evans

Hi Erno, Could you tell me what software you were using to view the avi tutorials? There is nothing in the tutorials themselves which could in any way affect your ability to see or not see images from PicturesToExe. The tutorials are simply video files in AVI format. The recommendation was to use a media player such as VCL Media Player in case you do not have the necessary codecs. Today I recommend Kantaris Media Player which was built using the VCL codes. It's also a free Media Player. I do not recommend Windows Media Player. I suspect that something else entirely may have caused your problem and the fact that you were watching a tutorial which quit working may have been the result of that other issue. Video can in no way influence other software or cause changes in either the location of files or the link to that location. Something else is going on. More information on the version of PTE you are currently using and where your files were located would be helpful. Were they in a folder on your C: drive or on an external USB drive? Hundreds of people have used the videos without issues so we can assume the problem is elsewhere. The more information you can give us, the easier it may be to troubleshoot for you. Best regards, Lin

Hi Joel, As David says, it can be done with a work-around. You can also create very interesting text effects by duplicating the same text message in another color then overlaying the two or more with slightly different positions. If you create a "Frame" and then make your different colored text children of this frame, you can easily control two, three or more different colored text messages simultaneously. Best regards, Lin

Hi Chuck, Thanks! Actually, it is a Kangaroo Rat - they are pretty common here where I live in Colorado ... In very sharp images, it's nearly impossible to pan or zoom without some shimmer. It is possible to set sharpness in PTE back to minimize this effect, but not really possible to eliminate it entirely. The image from this particular camera (the Sigma DP2 Merrill) is made with a rather special sensor created by Foveon and unique to Sigma cameras. The micro-contrast and pixel level detail is unusual and the optical resolution is approximately what you would get with a 30 megapixel conventional CFA (Color Filter Array) camera without an anti-aliasing filter. Because of this, the shimmer is actually exacerbated. I'm experimenting to see how I might minimize it. If I come up with any concrete and reproducible method, I'll post an explanation here on the forum. Perhaps with the blur feature in the future version 8 of PTE, it may be possible to ameliorate this phenomenon. Best regards, Lin

Hi Da Campos, I wish there were something we could change, but it's a world-wide thing and larger than any of us can imagine... Best regards, Lin

Hi Gilio, Cute little corn thief! Best regards, Lin

Hi Rose, There are several ways you could approach this. The "easiest" way is with keframing where you put both your black and white and your color image in the Objects List rather than as separate slides. This puts them on different layers. Assuming you want to go from the black and white to the color, you place the black and white image on the top layer and copy the first keyframe and drag it to where you want the black and white image to start changing to color. This keyframe holds the image and keeps it from fading out when you place the following one. Put another keyfame at about the mid point for your time to display the two images. Set this keyframe to zero opacity for the black and white image. The black and white image will begin to fade out between the second and last keyframe for this object. What this will do is you will initially see the black and white image then it will fade out while the color image simultaneously fades in. This is because the color image was "hidden" by being on a layer beneath the black and white image. As the black and white image's opacity decreases from the initial 100 percent to zero, the layer under containing the color image gradually appears. By doing it this way, you can place the text and set it to fade in at any point on the timeline. You do not need to use the "captions" feature, but just enter the text as I show in the sample. I made a sample with a PTE file and a compiled executable so you can see how to do it. Actually, it's very easy - harder to explain in writing than to do. Takes about 15 seconds when you get the knack... I have the text fading in as the color is changing, but you can easily set it to come on at the beginning of the black and white slide and just stay on... This method bypasses a "transition" and uses the simple "fade-out, fade-in" which works better when changing a single slide from black and white to color. Check the links below and see if this is what you want to see: http://www.lin-evans...deintextexe.zip (exe example} http://www.lin-evans...deintextpte.zip (pte file) Best regards, Lin

Hi Bert, Thanks! Yes, with the DP2 Merrill... Best regards, Lin

On Saturday, 3 August we had a major storm in northern Colorado. Three inch diameter hail, snows, torrential rains, flooding, six tornadoes (which fortunately did little damage) and high winds rocked our summer. It was 92 degrees fahrenheit and a calm windless day, then unbelievable storm clouds rolled over the Rocky Mountains and we were subjected to hours of lightning, rain, snow, hail, winds, tornadoes and such which are almost never seen this time of year. Fortunately, my little community was relatively untouched while three miles away, people were paddling canoes in the streets from heavy flooding. A 1200 acre cornfield begins about 120 feet from my front door - this is the story of this cornfield and one small inhabitant who survived to tell the story. Just a little fun project folks.... http://www.lin-evans...ple/August3.zip (Windows zipped exe - about 22 meg) http://www.lin-evans.org/sample/August3Mac.zip (MacIntosh native exe - about 22 meg) Lin

Hi Moises, Very nice!!! Thanks!! Great use of the 3D Transform features and excellent choice for music too! Best regards, Lin

Sometimes they will "mute" the sound so your video will be silent... Best regards, Lin

Hi Eric, I guess, if you don't mind the three week delay in your presentation as you intended it. The problem is that it happens so often, many just give up on trying to get it straightened out. My bet is that if you use the same audio selection in another different show then post it to YouTube that you would have to again do the same all over again. Best regards, Lin

Barry is correct and this problem is exacerbated because some big players such as Sony (SME) apparently just try to blanket claim literally "all" music as theirs. They produce software used by YouTube which apparently identifies both lyrics and frequencies then makes the copyright ownership claim. It's often quite wrong and even artists who produce their own music under Creative Commons licensing such as Kevin MacLeod have had YouTube "argue" with them that their own creations were owned by SME - Bottom line is you can't win with big business/big money. They can get away with making their "claims" and by the time it gets straightened out the reason for your original production is lost in the shuffle. The entire thing is made even more complex by all the differences in copyright laws in different countries. For example, something which is in Public Domain in the United States, may still be under copyright law in the UK. Best regards, Lin

Hi Carol, There are two ways a slideshow made in PTE can be seen on a MacIntosh. 1. Output as a Video in a format amenable to Mac or Apple such as MP4 h.264 2. Output as a Native MacIntosh Executable Show The "Publish" function of PTE allows output as a Windows Exe, a Native MacIntosh exe, an AVI, an MP4 h.264, a Video for Mobile Devices or a DVD Video Disc. In order to publish, the show must be output from Windows. Whether that is Windows running on a Mac or on a PC is not really relevant. It's also possible to publish directly to Facebook or Youtube. Best regards, Lin

Hi Shirley, Right now, the only way to save a slide to a jpeg is by using a screen capture tool. This, of course, will only save the slide at the screen resolution. There have been discussions about this in the past and I believe the reason that such a feature has not been implemented was to protect the images from theft. However, I myself believe that being able to save a screen to a jpg could be a very nice "optional" feature which users might want to add to the Navigation Bar. One of the present optional features of the Navigation Bar (in the Air or Sky style) is to be able to "print." Adding a feature to allow a "save as jpg" should not be terribly difficult. If you wish, why not suggest this on the forum in the "Ideas and Suggestions for Next Version" and I will endorse your suggestion. Be sure and suggest that the entire screen including shadows, backdrop and such be saved. It would necessarily have to be still done at screen resolution I think, but still would be a very nice feature. There is a Windows Screen Capture feature in some versions of Windows, I think. I have never used it and prefer to use software such as HyperSnap or Snagit where you have the ability to carefully crop before saving. Best regards, Lin

Hi Da Campos, The "problem" is not with PTE - PTE only furnishes the code necessary to connect the movement of the object in the Object stack to Ctrl Pg Up, Ctrl Pg Dn, Shift Pg Up or Shift Pg Dn. The "problem" is with your laptop and the suggestion to try "Safe Mode" is only to determine if another program is interfering with the proper function of these commands. My suggestion is not that you normally need to "use" Safe Mode to run PTE, it is rather that using Safe Mode can help find where the problem is coming from. Thousands of people use PTE with notebook computers without this problem so in order to solve the problem it's necessary to systematically remove other running code. Running your system in the Safe Mode removes drivers and other software which may be loaded on startup. This will allow determining whether another program is interfering with the proper function of these keys. PTE is certainly not the only software which uses the Ctrl, Shift and PgUp/PgDn keys. If they do not work correctly, it would be helpful to find out why. Making code changes to PTE so you could drag the objects to the layer you wish would solve one problem, but the other problem still remains. Your system does not work correctly. Don't you want to know why? Best regards, Lin

Maybe we can determine why. What operating system are you running on your notebook and which processor? It is a pretty standard key call (Ctrl PgUp, Ctrl PgDn) and "should" work normally on any system so I'm guessing that some other running application is changing or controlling things. One way to find out is to start your system in the "safe mode" then open PTE and see if it works. If it does then work normally, it's just a matter of determining which running application is altering the process and controlling the key calls. Best regards, Lin

Hi Tom, Thanks - I missed the download arrow - don't use Google too much so not familiar... Best regards, Lin

Hi Da Campos, Are you saying that your notebook computer does not have Pg Up, Pg Dn, or Ctrl or Shift keys? Or, are you saying that you have them, but they do not work as expected? What happens if you "right click" on an object in the Objects List? Do you get a drop-down Menu? If yes, does clicking on one of the choices move objects up or down in the Objects List? What brand and model notebook computer do you have? Thanks, Lin

Hi Tom, Can they be installed on one's system or are they only for web use? Couldn't tell from the site.... It just seems to give a code to embed them on one's "website." Best regards, Lin

Having a Touch Screen in and of itself should not affect the quality of viewing beyond sticky finger prints.... Personally, I've never understood why the move away from "pointing devices" to touch screen. Some believe that what really affects viewing quality is whether or not the screen is "anti-reflective." Reflective screens may have deeper blacks and therefore provide more contrast in the right lighting (no ambient light to reflect). I personally prefer displays which do not have anti-reflective surfaces. I don't know whether there are both reflective and non-reflective available in the touch screen versions. I would be inclined to ask... Best regards, Lin

Does your laptop have an FN key or a NumLock? If so, it may be toggled so that pressing PgUp, PgDn isn't functioning as expected? Best regards, Lin

There are two primary ways of moving objects in the Objects and Animations list. First, to move an object up or down one position, highlight (select) the object then hold down the CTRL key and press PgUp or PgDn to move the object one level up or one level down. You may move a selected object to the very top or very bottom of the stack by holding down the Shift Key and pressing PgUp or PgDn. Child objects will remain with the parent in such a move. If an object you wish to move is a child of another object, you may highlight that object and right click and choose "cut" which will place that "child object" on the clipboard. Then highlight the parent you wish to move that child to, right click and choose "paste" and the child object will be pasted to the new object. Best regards, Lin

Hi Don, It's for emphasis only. As a long time university professor I wouldn't want to publish anything with such punctuation. On the other hand, it's easier and quicker than using italics or bold or other means of emphasis, so in informal forum communications it works for me. I suspect that using social network programs such as Facebook contribute toward such misuse because there are no provisions for italics or bold. There are numerous opinions on this; some for, and some against... Here are links to brief explanations: Quotation marks for emphasis link Another Explanation Best regards, Lin