Lin Evans

Hi Eric, I downloaded the MP4 and just converted it with 7.5. Why don't you just use 7.5 to convert it - just because it is converted in 7.5 doesn't mean there will be any reason why you can't just drop it in 7.01 and play it?. It's incredibly easy to do this... Best regards, Lin

Hi Eric, Just use 7.5 to convert the clip, then load the clip in 7.1. Best regards, Lin

Hi Eric, O.K., now it is making sense ... There had to be a logical explanation because it's not possible to have the frame rate doubled and the length of the video remain constant (in such a case the video action would be sped up) unless frames were being duplicated and if this were the case there would be no speed up of the visual - it would look almost identical to the slower frame rate. So what is happening is that the 7.01 converter is doubling the frame rate and, of course, the video stops at half the expected display time while the audio is unaffected. My suggestion would be to send a link to the video to Igor and let him determine the problem with the conversion. If you just want to get your project done, use 7.5 because it appears to work perfectly with this download. I did notice, however, that the original download has a bit of what appears to be vertical stretching which "may" indicate that there is a problem with the original video which "might" be somehow connected with the issue you are experiencing. Best regards, Lin

Hi Eric, What is the frame rate on the downloaded Tango - Roxanne? I downloaded it and the frame rate is 29.917 fps. I converted it with PTE 7.5 and the converted AVI frame rate was 29.917 fps as well. Both played normally on my system (Win XP). Are you saying that if you "convert" the original, which has a 29.917 fps frame rate with the PTE conversion feature in pure default mode without changing anything, the frame rate on the AVI becomes 59.75 fps ? What I still can't understand is how it's possible for the action to be sped up with no change in the overall time and no periods of zero activity. If you walk a mile in 15 minutes (the 15 minutes being the length of your video) then you double your speed for that distance you will cover the mile in 7.5 minutes (the length of your video) unless you stop somewhere either one time for 7.5 minutes or after each step or after 10 steps or 100 steps, etc., but you have to stop or you will cover the mile in 7.5 minutes. Having the action sped up without changing the length of the video and no stops defies the laws of physics. There "must" be something else going on that you are not yet seeing. Best regards, Lin

Hi Eric, I'm not understanding how it's possible to "speed the action" without reducing the run time?? I can't visualize this. Normally, a faster frame rate conversion from a slower frame rate without affecting run time would only be possible by simply doubling each frame. If one doubled the frame rate without reducing run time then it would seem that the last frame would simply be displayed for approximately half the total time of the video. Are you certain that it hasn't just gone from an interlaced to a progressive format? Could you explain in a little more detail the actual effect of the video when played back? How does the appearance differ? Best regards, Lin

Incroyable Jean, je vous remercie pour cette réalisation d'inspiration et magistrale. Vous avez pris PTE vers de nouveaux sommets! Amazing Jean, thank you for this inspiring and masterful achievement. You've taken PTE to new heights! Best regards, Lin

Hi Dick, Thanks! I only wish it were not just mine in my imagination! LOL. I've watched bald eagles fly past the window when I was visiting in Homer, Alaska in the early 80's where there were unusually large flocks of them primarily due to feeding and conditioning by Jean Keene. I've heard that since Jean passed away, the town of Homer has passed a law against feeding eagles, and that the large flocks are not as common as they once were. We don't have nearly as many here in Colorado and they usually keep their distance from populated areas, however I have friends who lived on a lake where they congregate, and they have had them actually perch on their deck posts several times. I suppose habituation to humans happen when their normal timidity is overcome by easy fishing in a lake full of tasty and accessible fish. Best regards, Lin

Hi Steven, Thanks! The apparent synchronization of the flames with the music is serendipitous, but it does work out that way. Both the moonlight image of the wolf (actually it's a coyote) over the fireplace and the one from Monument Valley on the wall to the left of the fireplace are photos which I took last month. Best regards, Lin

LOL - the furniture and TV are real, so no opportunity to change their relative sizes... Best regards, Lin

http://www.lin-evans.org/tommy/tommyinsn.zip (about 44 meg) Windows http://www.lin-evans.org/tommy/tommyinsnmac.zip (about 44 meg) Native MacIntosh Lin

Hi Barry, I agree that it probably "should" be defaulted to appear rather than having to check the box. New users probably would not find all the parameters. Actually, I would turn about "everything" on which is optional and let the user "opt out" if they didn't want it or wanted to customize the appearance. I never use the default navigation bar myself except during creation of a show where I do find it very useful. Once I am ready to actually "publish," I turn it off. I do find it is very useful for some of my animations which are done on a single slide which might run for upwards of five minutes. I can simply move the slider to get to times where I want things to happen and fine tune visually with it. If it were not available by default, I probably would turn it on for many of my projects. It's definitely "less useful" if one is doing conventional slides where each slide might only appear for a few seconds. For truly manual shows, I always use the old navigation styles where I can choose the features needed. Best regards, Lin

Eric, Windows gives that message to almost any zipped exe file - it's "very common" and means absolutely nothing. I get the same message when I download most of my own shows from my own site. Best regards, Lin

Hi Barry, I'm confused - is this different on different operating systems? I'm using Win XP. Next to the "preview" button on the right - I see the icon to start show from selected image. Is this not the one you are referring to? Under Settings, Preferences, Toolbars, Bottom Left Toolbar, Preview From Current Position, check mark. Are you saying that this should not be "optional" but just be there as the default? Best regards, Lin

Hi Xaver, I noticed the same - my Samsung 40" LED Television plays animations much smoother with the Xvid encoder than with h.264. Best regards, Lin

Hi Guys, The problem is definitely caused by the sharpness of the images coupled with zoom or pan. Minimizing the sharpness "may" help, but sometimes this simply can't be ameliorated. The mipmapping was actually designed to minimize or eliminate this with zooms, especially of very small objects. An example would be a close up of a celestial object such as the moon followed by a zoom out to practically no image. The auto-mipmapping isn't as strong as the manual mode but there was probably a good reason for no longer having the manual control even though sometimes it seems it would be nice to choose. For my still images and text, I like maximum sharpness and sometimes even apply unsharp masking in addition, but when I zoom, I set the sharpness to minimum and if I want to end up with a very sharp image, I do it in two slides. End the zoom or pan then pause briefly on the identical second slide with "quick no transition" change. Best regards, LIn

Congratulations to you both!!! When will we get a chance to see your creations? Best regards, Lin

Hi Steven, Thanks for watching! Indeed you did hear the crackling of the wood, etc. My intent was exactly the effect that you experienced which was to draw the audience into the fireplace and provide the "ambiance" for enjoying the music. There is a good deal more going on than is apparent at first glance. If you look carefully, you will see the flickering of the fire reflected in the bronze eagle on the hearth as well as on the edge of the leather couch. The 3D transform and masking features of PTE allow for proper perspective for the fire inside the fireplace - proper placement and effects for the sparks and smoke to appear to go up the chimney, reflection of the fire in the bronze statue and on the edge of the couch. These great PTE features provide a means of creating heightened "reality" which I really like. When it's done correctly, the audience "should" be able to "experience" the reality but not necessarily understand why without careful analysis. Best regards, Lin

Hi John, The audio track is a stereo track in PTE. The two waveforms are displayed top and bottom on the display. Mono tracks added through PTE play on both channels. Can't comment on the possibility of flac format audio.. Best regards, Lin

Hi Mike, Peter's advice is a good way to proceed - but if you need to produce this effect and have time constraints, there are a couple ways you might want to consider depending on how you intend to present this slideshow. The first consideration is whether this is to be an auto-running show in the video type format, or whether it will be intended to run only on a computer as an executable type. The reason it is important is that there are differences in the way you may want to proceed. I'll try to briefly outline the possibilities. First, let's consider a slideshow you would present manually for an audience. If you will be sitting at a keyboard where you can control the show, it's very easy to pan your video then "stop" it at some point, click on an area of the panorama which will then elicit a zoomed image of that area, then click on a specific invisible "hotspot" on the zoomed image and continue the pan. This is easily done via the ability of PTE to allow the user to place hidden objects such as "frames" which have no opacity (i.e., invisible) but can be used to direct the show to a different slide or even run an external program, etc. This is a very powerful feature of PTE, but only will work with executable code and only if you are going to "drive" the show. The second way would be somewhat similar to what you described, but it would not be necessary for you to "cut" and "splice" you pano to achieve the desired result. You simply load the pano multiple times (no penalty in file size for an exe show) and stop the pan and/or zoom at the point where you want to go to the zoomed view. Then simply place the zoomed view slide as the "second" slide. Then place the original pano, zoomed or panned or both to the position you left it on the first slide as the beginning of the third slide. The show would run seamlessly this way and no need to go to an image editor. There are also alternative ways, but it would help to know more specifics about your intended use of the show - whether you want it to be able to be run on a television (video mode) or you in control on a computer or send the autorunning slideshow to friends, etc. Just a bit more information would help us determine the best way to help you proceed... Best regards, Lin

Hi Joe, Assuming that the jpgs are not overly compressed (smaller number than Photoshop 6) there really is no advantage in using bmp files. There will almost always be a slight change in color when creating a DVD because the gamut for the television is slightly less than for a computer display. In general, DVD's created with PTE are very good. Actually, I find them about as good as can be made these days. Best regards, Lin

Hi Ken, In a way - it is a test to see if anyone caught a couple of the nuances in the fireplace and associated parts of the image. The new and improved masking makes it more useful for doing subtle things which enhance reality. I'll leave it at that and let you download the file again and see if you can detect the very subtle changes.... LOL Best regards, Lin

LOL - pretty plain "vanilla" .... Best regards, Lin

Just a nice way to listen to one of my favorite Richard Thompson tunes. I don't have a fireplace anymore so I make these instead.... http://www.lin-evans...mo/waltzing.zip (about 18 meg) Windows http://www.lin-evans.org/demo/waltzingmac.zip (about 18 meg) Mac Lin

Hallo Alfonso, Zunächst bitte vergib mir meine Englischen ins Deutsche Übersetzung mit Google Translate - ich spreche nicht Deutsch. Obwohl PTE hat keine in "Effekt" für diese gebaut, wäre es sehr einfach zu bedienendes Programm, indem Sie die Maske und Keyframes. Ein Video mit einem breiten Seitenverhältnis läuft beschränkt auf eine geringere Breite könnte sich schnell "erweitert" werden in der Breite über Keyframes, um die Simulation "flash". Es wäre nicht eine sehr schwierige Sache zu bewerkstelligen. Mit freundlichen Grüßen, Lin

Hi Joy, It would be best to email Dom and ask him.... Best regards, Lin