pixelpete

Sandra, I'm sure you'll get some answers on how to make PTE do what you want, but here's an idea that's somewhat outside of PTE. You could join your 2 MP3 files into one using a sound editor like Audacity (free). You can put as many seconds of silence between them as you like, and even fade one out and fade the other in, etc. Then save it as one MP3 and use it as your only music file in your slide show. It will just play and repeat the one new. longer MP3. pete

I can't say why, but I can confirm the same experience. I have always had to extract to .wav first, then load that into Audacity. I think it's because the music on the CD is in some kind of streaming format rather than discreet files, so it must be extracted to a file format that Audacity can handle. I don't know the technical terms, but I'm sure someone here does. pete

Stu (and Jim) - thank you very much. I was missing the "Permit control of Show" ckeckbox. Using beta 4.20 and ticking both that and the sync boxes did the trick! And thanks also to Ron for pointing out the option for running applications after last slide - that will come in very handy. Another pleasant experience using PTE and in getting help from the great folks on this forum. Many thanks, pete

Thanks Inna, Stu and Fred. I tried Beta v4.20, but that did not solve the problem. Fred, your idea sounds like the way to go, but I'm afraid I don't know how. Is there a way to cause the end of one show to automatically launch another, without having the viewer click on an object like a button or picture? Thanks, pete

Hello – it has been many months since I’ve had time to use PTE, and since I’ve visited this great forum, and I was never an expert user to begin with. I am having a problem I hope the good people here can help me with. In the past, I have created many CDs that autorun an introductory slide show of a small number of slides, ending with a menu slide which lets the viewer launch other, bigger shows, open a README text file, or click on an EXIT button to terminate. These small intro shows have never had music. This time, I tried making the intro show larger (about 3.5 min) with more slides (34) and I custom sync’ed it to an MP3 (3.3 MB). The MP3 fades out as the final menu slide transitions into view (fade in, 1.5 sec transition time). I set the option to keep the last slide on the screen. I put 8 objects on this menu slide, 5 of which are buttons. I set the properties for 3 of the buttons to launch other slide shows by choosing “Run application or open file…” (the other two buttons are set to open the README and to exit, as previously mentioned). I put the other 3 slide shows plus the README into the same folder as the pte file. However, none of the buttons do anything (the pointer won’t even change to the hand), either when previewing from the .pte or after saving as .exe. I removed the MP3 and unchecked the sync to music option and tried again, and all the buttons worked. I then added 5 min. of silence to the end of the MP3, and also changed the duration of the final menu slide to 5 min (300 sec). and re-sync’ed the show to the lengthened MP3 so the show wouldn’t end as the last slide comes up. I tried it with and without the internal MP3 player. None of this worked. Is there a way to make this work with music? Thanks in advance, pete

Tine, No, I don't have any presentations available for viewing. They were all private (relatives' weddings). The best "tutorials" can be found by searching this forum, but I will attempt to explain one possible workflow that has worked well for me. First I create a short slide show I call "Intro.exe". I start with a picture representative of the event, like the front of the church where the wedding was held, or a shot of the wedding program booklet cover. Slide #2 uses the same photo but superimposes text, such as "Pete and Erin's Wedding". Then slide #3 uses the previous slide and adds more text, such as "December 29, 2002". The text can be added using the Object Editor button, then clicking on the Text button. Using the Fade In/Out effect will make the text fade in over the photo which remains constant through all 3 slides. The last slide in Intro.exe can be a different photo or even a jpeg consisting solely of one black pixel (created in a photo editor like Photoshop). This would of course be invisible, but again I use Object Editor to add both a photo (like one of the bride and groom) and a button. Next to the photo I add text saying "Click on this picture to launch the main slide show". Then while still in Object Editor, right click on the photo and choose Properties. Go to where it says "Action on mouse click", and choose "Run application or open file". Then put in the name of your main slide show ("Main.exe"). The same right click technique can be used to change the text on the button from "button" to "Read Me" and to choose the action of opening the Read Me text file that I write separately. When I finish the Intro and Main slide shows (using 800 x 600 or otherwise down-sized photos to keep the exe samll), I put them in a separate folder on my hard drive I name "Burn". I also put into this folder a subfolder containing all the full-size jpegs. Then I put in the Read Me text file, in which I explain how to navigate to the CD-ROM drive and open the folder with the full-size photos, along with anything else I want to say. Lastly, I put into "Burn" a simple text file called "Autorun.inf" created in WordPad. It consists of [autorun] OPEN=Intro.exe Then I burn the contents of "Burn" onto a CD. Putting this CD into a CD-ROM drive in a computer with Autorun enabled will cause the computer to run the Intro presentation, and the rest is up to the viewer. The above is just one idea. There are many more creative people on this forum than I that could give you other pointers. But I think the best advice might be to just dive into the program and play with the features. It's fun, and if you get stuck, just post your questions here. There are many helpful people who will answer. Enjoy, pete

Tine, I haven't checked in on this forum for quite a while, so I hope the more knowledgeable members will forgive a relative newbie replying. But my situation is so similar to yours that I couldn't resist expanding on what Al said. As for picture size, and what will look better or worse on screen, remember that pixels in your jpeg map one for one to pixels on your monitor. So if your monitor resolution is set to 1024 x 768, any jpeg larger than that is just taking up wasted space - as far as your slide show is concerned. In fact, since many people still set their monitors to 800 x 600, I always size my pictures so that the maximum dimension is no larger than those limits. This also helps keep the ultimate exe file size down. In order to present the client with the full size jpegs, I burn them in a separate folder onto the CD. I often write my Autorun.inf file so that the CD starts with a simple, 4 or 5 slide show that ends with a menu slide that lets the client launch the main show or read a readme.txt in which I explain how they can navigate to the full size jpegs on the CD. In addition to shortening your mp3 file, you might want to play with re-encoding it using a lower quality (lower bitrate). You can often achieve significant size reduction before you start to noticeably degrade the sound quality. All of the above tips I picked up on this helpful forum, so I'm happy to pass them along. And if I have included any misinformation, tune back in later because someone is sure to correct, if necessary. pete

Guido, Thanks for your suggestion. Your simple diagnostic has confirmed (unfortunately) the worst. Using a sewing needle, I have determined that neither my Line In nor my Microphone jack is working . A sound card is a lot more expensive to replace than a patch cord. I have been thinking of getting a new pc in a couple months - an expensive way to replace a sound card, to be sure . I think I will simply wait until then to begin digitizing my vinyl LP collection. Thanks again to all for your help, pete (now, back to playing with the beta!)

Thanks, everyone (Al, Leif, Guru & Ian) for all the great ideas. Unfortunately, whatever bug I have is spreading. First of all, yes, I was careful to verify that the "Recording" and "Line In" options were chosen. In fact, the recording software that came with my SoundBlaster card makes this quite easy; you can choose between CD, Mic, Line In, MIDI, and a few other inputs right on the recorder GUI screen without having to double click the speaker, choose Options, Properties, etc. But I did anyway, just to verify it was working. Also, my phonograph's output is connected to the phono stage of my preamp, and I am taking the normal L&R line out from the preamp (which would normally go the power amp). Getting at the back of my stereo to make these cable swaps is a real pain, but I got inspired yesterday after reading your replies and gave it another try. As mentioned earlier, in the past I was able to get a signal I could record only by plugging into the soundcard's Mic jack. Now, neither the Line In nor the Mic jack is working. I either have a bad soundcard or bad patch cables. It will be a while before I can get in there and try again, but I didn't want to leave the impression I was taking your knowledge and not responding. This forum is such a wonderful resource of knowledgeable, helpful people, and even an OT request gets many replies . Thanks again, all. I will report back if I ever get it to work. pete

As I said, others more knowledgeable than I will surely respond... and I'm glad they did . I, like Trudy, did not realize I could use the software that came with my burner to extract CD tracks to .wav format; I had been playing and recording them in real time! Thank you, Ian, for the excellent tip. However, I would like a little more info about what Al said regarding using the soundcard's input jacks (sorry if this is OT for this forum). I have a lot of old vinyl LPs I want to digitize, and I tried running a cable from my stereo's preamp into the "Line In" jack on my SoundBlaster Live card, but I couldn't get any signal. When I switched to the "Microphone" jack, it worked fine, but unfortunately the signal was mono, not stereo. I used a "Y" adaptor to take the L & R preamp outputs into a cable with a 1/8 inch mini plug on the other end, which should have maintained the stereo signal into the soundcard jacks. I even tested this by plugging it into a boom box, and I did in fact get stereo output. Does this mean there is something wrong with my soundcard, or does it indicate that there is a reason why Al recommended using the Mic jack? Is that the only one that will work, and if so, is there some other way I can capture an LP in stereo? Thanks in advance, pete

In the meantime, while awaiting Igor's improvements, here is a suggestion. It's not as flexible as Jim's desired set-up, but I've used it successfully: I use a very short (typically 5 or 6 slides) introductory show that is not sync'd and which ends in the main menu slide. That show is set for "Keep last slide on screen". That last menu slide has buttons that launch all the other sub shows, as well as the exit button. The sub shows, which are usually sync'd in my case, are set for "Close show after last slide". This automatically returns the viewer to the main menu slide, where he/she can choose to run one of the other sub shows or exit. Again, not as elegant as what Jim was trying to do, but I've gotten good feedback from viewers. pete

Trudy, You will surely get more informed responses than mine, but I guess I'll go first. Assuming you have a CD-ROM drive and can play CDs in your pc, you will also have a sound card. Almost all sound cards come with software that will not only let you play CDs (and music from other input devices as well), but also record music. On Windows machines, go to Start, Programs, and look in Accessories; or in my case, I have Creative's Sound Blaster card, and it's programs are found in Start, Programs, Creative. If your pc does not have a recording program, there are literally dozens available, and some are probably free (other forum members, help out here, please). Open your recorder program, and choose a directory in which you want the sound file to be stored. Then put your CD in the drive and if it doesn't start playing by itself, open your player program. Start playing the track you want and at the same time, hit the record button on the record program window. It will put a file called something like "Untitled 1" in the directory you chose, and it will most likely be a "wave" file, with a .wav extension (Untitled 1.wav). You can then change the name to whatever you want, but don't change the extension. BTW, you can stop here, since p2e does accept wave files. But they're generally huge files, which is why most users "rip" them to MP3 format before adding them to shows. This greatly reduces file size without noticeably decreasing audio quality. MP3 encoder programs are also plentiful, and again some are free (more help needed here from forum members, again). That should get you started. You might also wish to do a search on this forum for more info. pete