rwav

Try ProShow (http://www.photodex.com/products/proshow/index.html). It has the same kind of features than PTE, including the Synchro time line, but it can buid both an executable AND video file, your choice. It also integrate audio components which allow you to drop that third party audio software. Almost same price than PTE, unless you take the Gold package. Most of our serious slideshow guys at my local photoclub are going with this sofware, as it is all in one (Synch, Audio, video plus photo thumbnails in selection). The video feature seems to beat the executable in preferences, when comes the time to distribute - TV are more widely available than $2,500 projectors.

Simplement superbe.

Thank you for your answers. It confirms what I thought: though you can survive using the text editor, you will eventually have to resort to using Photoshop.

Dear Knowledgeable Friends, I wonder if saving MP3 everytime you make a change to it has the same result than saving a JPEG several time: data loss and quality decreasing at each saving. PTE synchronisation function forces us to merge music data in one file, using an external mixing software. So I ended up working and saving several time as I add components. I am about to recommend doing all the work with WAV and save in MP3 at the last minute. Does it make sense?

I am not quite sure I see the point of an expiration date for a PTE show. After all, it is not like a shareware where restrictions are to force people to buy it ...?

Basic question, but I use PhotoImpact to build those, especially if I want several lines of text to appear one by one on the "same" slide. However, I learned in the past that there are more simple solutions than the one I choose. Anyone get the effect above by using PTE object editor or else?

I did a small presentation yesterday at my photo club on how to make a digital slideshow and the few challenges of it (including music and scanning). I must say it did not go very well. I was probably too general, but at the same time, when I started to built a simple presentation real-time, I finally grabbed the attention of some, but then lost the others who said if that was it, they simply had to play with it by themselves. Sigh! However, torn between those who wanted a 1,2,3 steps style of conference and those who wanted to discuss the esoterical side of jpeg compression , I realised that maybe I simply had to write something in order to make it clear. Is that kind of text already availalbe on-line? There are tons of texts explaining the fine art of the traditional slideshow, from sorting your pictures to waht music to choose and how to mount your slides in their frames... Is there an equivalent for digital presentations?

Guru is right LumenLux: way too brilliant!

I will be presenting several presentation softwares to my photo club tomorrow evening and one of the sofware (Simple Viewer to not name it) offers that feature: play background music directly from CD. One of the section of my presentation was dealing with music format and how you must learn to extract music to .wav and .mp3 - well, at least that is what I did when I learned PicturetoExe. Not having to go through that process for all our non-technies members will be a big plus in favor of Simple Viewer.

What would you say to a beginner who is attempting his first presentation? Details or big thing that makes the difference... I will start first. - All horizontal slides so there is no "cross" between horizontal and vertical slides (this comes from the traditionnal slideshow craft) - Quality of color, brightness and contrast that remains the same throughout the show (quite a challenge when you work with scanned pictures) - Organise photos so there is a story to tell with a crescendo at the end, whenever possible - Bells and whistles and special effects are nice when used sparingly (less is more...?) Anything else?

I recenlty started to use .bmp and I rediscovered my photos. I lived for years with badly compressed jpgs and just could not understand why they looked so jagged and colorless. I suppose I will have to go back to jpg one day, but I try to avoid it as long as the slideshow fit on a CD... And yes, my bmp weight an average of 1.3 Mb each at 800x600 @ 72 dpi.

Guru: I am impressed that you remember my name. Thank you all. Consider the download done.

Just wondering. Right now, since this sofware is new for me, I tend to assume that when something goes wrong, it is because of me, not the software. If the beta version is still bugged, I will end up always wondering if it is a bug or else. My Pte use is limited to doing simple slideshows with customised synchronisation. Thanks. (Next project will be a slideshow of 15 minutes and I understand that v4 allow you to pause in the middle of the "Preview" presentation to review the work progress... so downloading is tempting)

Al ... from memory, try Toolbar -> Options -> Source -> ... you should see something as "CD" or else. The CD tracks should be displayed in the main screen after that. Update on my efforts: I re-recorded with 22mhz (JukeBox maximum, I had to try) - still too fast on my 1.7gig computer Idem with recording under WAV format. Plus a substantial increase in file size (therefore, loading time). I believe this will remain a mystery. Slideshow tonight. Wish me luck - it bugs on 2/3 of the computers I tested it on.

English follows the French version Merci Michel, j'essaierai de jeter un coup d'oeil de temps en temps. Je suis débutante mais plusieurs membres de mon club photo ici, au Quebec, préfèrent les liens français. C'est sur votre site que nous avons découvert Picturetoexe et je dois avouer que le "tutorial" zip est le seul du genre que j'ai trouvé - j'en ai appris plus en le décorticant qu'en lisant le manuel....! Le diaporama digital est tout nouveau pour nous mais nous sommes trois à recommender Picturetoexe à nos collègues. ---------------------------------------------------- Thank you Michel, I will drop by whenever I can. I must say that our photo club members discovered Picturetoexe on your site and we keep it as a reference. I really did appreciate the sample slideshow you provide as well - I learned more from being able to look "behind the scene" than from the manual! Digital slideshow is a new thing at the Club. We will give your site as a reference since our members favor websites in French.