Lin Evans

Hi Tom, Does the lavender square move smoothly on your system? On mine the movement is pretty jerky regardless of 30 or 60 fps... That's one of the reasons I went to XVID Mpeg which supports 60p. XVID is the only video I've been able to get smooth movement from on my Samsung 40" LED Television. MP4 h.264 just isn't smooth for me. On the other hand, David seems to have better quality results with MP4 h.264. I'm perplexed as to why the differences... Best regards, Lin

Tommy, See Link Here: Scroll down to last post.... Best regards, Lin

Hi Tommy, Most of my tutorials are in AVI format. I would recommend first downloading and installing this free player (Kantaris Media Player) which has nearly any codec you might need. Link to Download Kantaris Media Player There is no danger in downloading any of the files I linked you to in the Tutorials section of PTE or on the Learnpicturestoexe site. I'm not certain why you would get a warning unless your anti-virus software is responding to the fact that the files are "zipped." Zipping the files allows one to download without the AVI trying to "run" from the server so all my tutorials are zipped. Your Windows XP should be able to allow you to unzip and "extract" any of these tutorials. Best regards, Lin

Peter, It appears that Dominique's site is back on-line now... Best regards, Lin

Hi Peter, It's likely that theDom's site has been hacked. It's happened several times in the past. There is a standard transition which is perhaps what you are looking for. It's called "Page Curl" and the parameters are completely adjustable. Just right click on your slide, choose "Customize Slide" then go the the "Transitions" tab and down to "Page Curl." Scroll down a bit further and you will see the various parameters which can be used to "cutomize" this transition. Dom's effect isn't really a "transition" per se, but rather designed to drop a number of images into the template and run a slideshow. It sort of works as a transition might, but is much more complex with shadows, lighting, etc. Without carefully examining it probably nobody on the forum could tell you exactly how he made it. Hopefully his site will be back up soon in case the "Page Curl" isn't what you are looking for. Best regards, Lin

Hi Tommy, Welcome back... There are numerous tutorials offered freely in the "tutorials section" here: Tutorials and Articles Link You can also access all mine here: Lin's Tutorials: I would suggest starting with the elementary ones and working through. Essentially creating a "pan" effect goes like this: Go to the Objects and Animations screen. Right click the mouse on the blue timeline and choose Add a Keyframe. Move it by dragging to the point you want the pan to end. With the keframe selected (blue) drag the image as you want the pan to end. Click on Preview to see... Best regards, Lin

Let's look at some of your assumptions: 1. You created Zip backups - what makes you think "Zip" will be around in 50 years? 2. You discuss "video" - are you sure video will be a viable modality in 50 years? 3. Why would one assume that just because Windows might not be around in 50 years that the product (PTE) won't successfully "migrate" to the next operating system? I've been around personal computers since they were invented. In 1982 I wrote a data management software package in CPM. I later ported it to PC DOS. I still use it today, 31 years later, running in DOS mode under Windows. There is just a strong a probability that Windows or some derivative thereof will be around in 50 years as there is that Apple or some derivative of their present OS will be around in 50 years. The probability is less that video, as we now know it, will exist in the same way in 50 years. I strongly suspect that what we will have in 50 years is a form of holographic projection rather than the simple video in 2D or even 3D which we experience today. Had you gone immediately to some form of "video" editing software, you "could" do some, if not most of what you do today with PTE, but it would be "much" more difficult. Good video software will let you make a simple slideshow with transitions, text, pan, zoom, rotate and even in some cases 3D transformations. On the other hand literally "all" of these are much easier to do effectively with PTE. PTE is a "presentation" tool which can do some editing. Video editors are editing tools which can do some presentation. Some tools such as Adobe After Effects when coupled with Premier Pro and perhaps other portions of the Adobe Creative Suite, can effectively replace PTE. But at what cost and with how much effort, training and time? So your question of would I have been better off working with video in the first place is one only you can answer. There is certainly no reason why you can't work in both PTE and in Video. I do. But, I can tell you with certainty that one can easily do things with PTE which are difficult if not impossible with even the best video editors. There is definitely a place for both. What will the future bring? We can't say with certainty. About the only thing we can say is that there will be change - lots of it. The technology curve is very steep and there will be myriad things tomorrow we can only dream of today. There is no way with certainty that we can predict the direction, but we can do the best with what we have to work with and hope that our choices help us assimilate into the future.... Best regards, Lin

Hi Wilburke, Just let me respond to your comment about "template transitions, and a bit about editing audio from the timeline." Indeed in PTE 7.5 it is possible to make and share transitions. When you create your own custom transition, it is saved as a file with the extension .ptef This file can be shared with anyone and when they "choose" the ptef file you or others have created, they will indeed enjoy the same custom transition. Perhaps someday we shall see many "free" ptef files available on the internet.... Perhaps not "exactly" what you are looking for yet, but if you place your cursor on the waveform and right click the mouse then choose "customize audio clip" you can then control the waveform via the project options from this point. If you move the "marker" along the timeline to the precise place you wish to make a change to the waveform and note the time, you can then move the marker in the waveform to correspond and make your changes. You also can perform the other functions available from the drop-down menu such as mute track, remove, lock, etc. This is, of course, not exactly the same as being able to manipulate the tracks "from" the timeline, but remember, there are unlimited audio tracks available with PTE and the timeline could be very "cluttered" were all available to choose from at this juncture. Perhaps in a later version there may be some greater sophistication.... Best regards, Lin

The "no disk in the drive" error with DR1 generally means that you have a removable drive device with the designation C: If this is the case, use Disk Management to rename the removable device to another drive designation. It's not a PTE error, it's actually an OS error, but not all that uncommon. If this isn't the case, we can look for another possible explanation... Best regards, Lin

The "no disk in the drive" error with DR1 generally means that you have a removable drive device with the designation C: If this is the case, use Disk Management to rename the removable device to another drive designation. It's not a PTE error, it's actually an OS error, but not all that uncommon. If this isn't the case, we can look for another possible explanation... Best regards, Lin

Hi Gary, Thanks! LOL - I tried it on a friend who is quite astute but knows nothing about PicturesToExe and it passed muster for being the "real thing" which was my intent. I just wanted to see if I could make it "real" enough appearing to fool an unsuspecting observer. It was a fun project and not as easy to pull off as I first thought. Best regards, Lin

Hi Douglas, That's correct. The problem with having anything other than a zero time reference for the first keyframe on a slide is that it would be illogical. All actions on a slide must have a reference point and the automatically inserted keyframe for each slide is that zero time (for the individual slide) used to reference any further actions by keyframe. So, the idea of replacing the first keyframe with other than a zero value would be counter intuitive. That first keyframe, de facto, becomes how you want the slide to first appear to your audience. Any changes require additional keyframes. To "hold" a value for the start position when there "will" be changes requires a second keyframe with an identical value to the first placed somewhere further along the timeline. Then to "break" that static setting requires a third. In essence, being able to select a "set" of keyframes to apply identical animations to subsequent "selected" slides actually requires the same amount of effort whether doing it by copy paste of keyframes (not possible) or copy paste the original slide "with the keyframes and their relative values" and then selecting a different slide to substitute for the copied one. There has been discussion on the forum about whether this might be a future "feature," but nothing really has been yet decided so far as I know. A "universal" change to apply a single set of keyframes to "all slides" would not be all that difficult to program, but doing it "selectively" gets complex because of the variables. You might put your comments and requests in the "suggestions" tread for future consideration. Best regards, Lin

Hi Ralph, It's actually the "real" LG 3D (Largest in the World) from the CES 2012 Show in Las Vegas. It's a long story, but I've "modified" the real thing to allow playing one's own video. The huge display was "screen captured" as a frame from a video, then re-sized, placed on a transparency and the screen content removed and made totally transparent. Then the grids were created in Photoshop and placed on and whole thing was then saved as a PNG which included the surrounding part of the room. Next a mask was made excluding everything "except" the doorway and floor area so that the real doorway could be used with the original video capture of the people walking through. The the original video played behind so that only the parts allowed by the mask are seen with one's choice of video playing on the "big screen." Crowd noise from a Comdex video was extracted and saved as an MP3 and played back. Here's another link with part of Barry's "official" Wnsoft video playing on the big screen... Best regards, Lin

O.K. That's something I can fix I think... Give me a couple minutes... L O.K. - fixed now... Let me know if you want to see a different video on the CES LG 3D Display - LOL Lin

Hi Ralph, What kind of "text?" What does it say and in what context? Best regards, Lin

Hi Douglas, As David points out, the way to do this is to assign your values to slide one, then copy and paste (once you copy, just use Ctrl V to paste) that same slide as many times as you want these values for additional slides. Next, just go to the copied slides in Objects and Animations and use the "Properties Tab" (small icon at top right next to "picture") to navigate to and select the image you want for this slide. The "values" assigned for keyframes will remain with the new picture. PicturesToExe works on an individual slide concept rather than a "distributed" properties concept. There is no universal setting for keyframes though you can set universal display times for slides and also universal transitions. Best regards, Lin

PTE Splash at CES 2012? 1 Link 2Lin

HI Shirley, In 7.5 it's "File" "Templates" "Manage Templates" (or "Create Template From This Show). If you are referring to having lost that feature in version 6.5 there is also the File "Create backup in zip" which gathers all files and creates a zip file containing everything you need to move the entire show to a different drive or computer. Unfortunately I no longer have 6.5 on my systems so can't tell you how to do a template or what could have happened. I would suggest, however, upgrading to 7.5.3 unless you will lose Video Builder and have to repurchase it. The great feature upgrades are well worth the small cost of Video Builder in such a case in my opinion. Best regards, Lin

Hi Eric, LOL - that "drum beat" helps drive those flickering displays into one's brain to trigger seizures. There should be a law!! HA! That was an extreme example, but the keyframing is pretty straight-forward, just a bit repetitious because of the number of displays. The first "secret" is the order you use to put each video into the layers. They are entered in the sequence which you wish to see in terms of the switching effect. All displays should be first set to start with zero opacity (in this case all but the first) and then on the first one a second keyframe also set to zero opacity holds that zero opacity for whatever time you wish. Then a third keyframe very close to the second one determines how quickly you want to illuminate the display. This keyframe is set to 100% for the opacity. Then with the cursor still on this selected keyframe at the 100% opacity, you go to the next display on the layers and the cursor will appear at this position on the timeline. You click on the "Plus" sign and a keyframe is automatically inserted at this position which will still have the zero opacity because you had first set all to zero opacity. So your second layer begins, de facto, where the first layer ended. You then press the "Plus" key again to insert the third keyframe for this layer, then manually enter the increment. In this case I used increments of 50. So, for example, if the last keyframe on the first layer was 5000 (five seconds), then I would enter 5050 as the value. I then leave the cursor with this value selected and go to the third layer which will have the "tick mark" or cursor position on the timeline where it "should" be to start the third layer. Just click the "Plus" key twice and enter the increment of the previous stop time for the previous layer plus the 50 and continue doing so for the remaining layers. To achieve the same effect on a single distributed video (like the ship on the turbulent sea) you would simply create a dark rectangle, size it to fit the display screen on video one, set its opacity to 100%, then copy and paste it quickly over each video. Then you would proceed exactly as above except instead of regulating the opacity of the video itself, you would regulate the opacity of the black or dark grey rectangle. You "could" get fancy with the rectangle created or create and manipulate a jpg or png image in Photoshop, etc., by adding reflections or such to approximate the appearance of an inactive real display. By the order in which you place each layer, you could do things such as write your name with the on sequence - LOL. Best regards, Lin

Lin

Hey Tom, Thanks! Of course I don't mind - that's why I put them out there! LOL Best regards, Lin

Hi David, I agree about masks for EXE output, but once the project is converted to video, the use of extensive masks is immaterial to the system being played on. For example, I've created test projects using over 100 masks with which my XP system with a decent video card struggled to work with as an executable or even in preview. However, once exported as a video, it would play on the most pitiful systems without a hitch. So, with the exception of regular conventional slideshows, I'm converting "most" of mine to video for display and demonstration purposes. Best regards, Lin

Hi Erik, I had forgotten that you moved. Yes, out here in the western U.S.A. 150 miles is only a couple hours drive (we generally drive around 75, 85 mph) and I remember how long it took me to just get from Bristol to Stonehenge - LOL. It was also amazing to me that Sherry and I asked several people how to get to "Stonehenge" and a number of them didn't even know what it was! It seems it is far a more important place to foreigners than to many of the locals. One replied - "oh - is it that pile of rocks?" Finally, we found an old "drunk" coming out of a pub who knew "precisely" where it was, and directed us to it "pub by pub" LOL. Definitely, your traffic and the maze of tiny towns and settlements makes a 150 mile trip much more difficult in some parts of the UK for sure. Best regards, Lin

Hi Dave, Since it only moves "all keyframes" (I think) it isn't much good for specific groups. I like your idea and I remember when you suggested it... I believe that there is lots of room for improvements. For example, Erik suggested that I turn on individual screens one at a time on my last Video Room animation. I thought about it and realized what a "huge" job it would be to keyframe this sequence for 128 separate display screens. I was considering programming it in Excel sort of like JPD used to do and then thought of how easy it would be if there were a feature which one could set to increment a single program setting for a selected object by a specified amount and apply to all selected objects. For example, say I set two keyframes on an object to turn on opacity. Opacity begins at zero then in say .02 second goes to 100%. Then I select multiple objects and in the order selected, apply the same two keyframes but increment the start times by .04 seconds with each object adding .04 to the start point while maintaining the .02 off/on value. But then I realized how very few times it would probably be used and how complex it would be to program it and thought it probably has no place in a presentation slideshow product - LOL. It reminded me of how really advanced JPD's reasoning was years ago. I'm not certain I could even get it right if I tried to implement this using Excel. I might try it with a greatly simplified version with say only four objects and see how it might work. I know some of the French users such as Jean Cyprien use this method developed by JPD quite effectively. There have been some major steps made by a few of their forum members toward doing some amazing things such as a program which modifies your PTE file to allow following a bezier curve. PTE has the engine to allow some incredible animations but the interface has not yet caught up to the power of the program. I remember when JPD did a couple things which Igor said he didn't know PTE could do! I'm still scratching my head over some of Jean Cyprien's amazing feats with PTE as I did when JPD kept coming up with perplexing solutions. It's all fun isn't it? Best regards, Lin

Hi Gary, I get 4 and 8 on my Win XT system so maybe it would be worth mentioning to Igor that your results are not the same. It could be something unique to your OS, etc., and I'm sure he would want to know. I think that perhaps there is something not quite right going on with your OS or system. I think the user guide is correct, but your results are not as intended. We need more users to try this and report results. Best regards, Lin