anthrodoc

I'll give you my solution... then others can come along and show me up with a better one! I learned this a while ago from this board... you make a black jpg of only one pixel in size. save this in your images folder (something like "blkpixe1.jpg") ... then load this as your first image of your project. Once this is loaded you can go into the image editor and add your background color, or a tiled image; if this is the main format of all your pages, then you can just make multiple copies of the page... and add your text to each... (...I don't know if this is the most sensible way to do it... but it works for me!) B

Folks have suggested various other resources to complement PTE (utilities to enhance photos, sound editors etc.) I am currently working on a small project where I would like to add specific sounds (e.g. the sound of changing TV channels, with accompanying static sound) and am looking for good sound sources (royalty free that can be used in projects). Suggestions for such sound sources? Thanks... Brian

..PhotonTV... does this mean it is not for playing on PC's (does it create exe files?)... It says it creates VCD's for play in DVD players... Their other product, Photon(somethingorother?) creates slideshows via themes.... is this one more flexible and customizable?

ummm..... ....is that all? I just downloaded the editor..... very nice! Thanks!

The "third image" concept is an interesting one (and in saying this, I guess I will show further how new I am to all this stuff about processing, shows etc.). If I understand that idea correctly, I have to say that it seems to name what I recenlty saw (maybe for the first time) in Michel's recenlty posted show on Beechbrook. I was quite impressed with the transitions in that show, and how pictures didn't just seem to transition, but to somehow transform into one another, with in-between "morphs" ... Even without this. the digital slideshow is quite exciting in its potential-- our small college has recenlty installed ceiling-mounted lcd projectors, and I am quite excited to get into producing useful shows in some of my classes. (I also have several sets of slides I am now going to go back to, to see about scanning and converting!) I am enjoying this discussion, and appreciate all the responses so many have given so far! Thanks! Brian

I am gathering from PTE users that this verneralbe slideshow program is somehow related to an earlier ancestor, the "diaporama." I am getting, from comments in various discussions, the impression that there are folks here who, before PTE and computers, were using slideshow projectors in some very creative ways. Was this a known "art" of sorts (i.e. the dual projector setup etc.?) I have in fact used 35 mm slide projectors before, but it seems that my use and familiarity was rudimentary compared to what others have done more formally? I would love to hear from folks (email would be preferred, so as not to clog this PTE forum) who used diaporamas in creative ways-- how you used it, where, etc. (part of my curiousity as an anthropologist-- to know the ancestry of our current practices, I guess!) Thanks for any feedback/comments/ information, etc. Brian

...I was one who had a problem several days ago-- my pentiumII, 256meg memory etc. simply froze during transitions, and music was very choppy. I rebooted etc., and even made sure nothing else was running in the background. Still could not make it to the end of the show. Today, however, I downloaded the same show, and it ran flawlessly! Brian

..oh Sam..! You are talking to yourself! Your computer is succeeding in driving you over the edge! Seriously, when you had the timing problem, did you try to reboot your computer and then replay the show? Sometimes this seems to set things right again (resetting computer resources, memory etc.). About the last slide color, I am not sure.... But good luck! Brian

Giving new meaning to "auto-run" feature!?

.... just don't throw out your old PC... Get a marking pen, and write on the side "PTE"... and store it in a closet somewhere...Then when you want to show your old shows ten years from now, you have a dedicated platform! (That's a dad talking, who just witnessed the kids opening this year's Christmas Loot... left wondering how long all *that* will last!) Hope you all have a great New Years! Brian

...and be sure to determine that autorun is enabled on your system! Brian (I only say this, because I spent several frustrating hours one day racking my brain trying to figure out what I was doing "wrong"... only to realize that the autorun feature on my Win98 system was shut off! (I had created the slideshow on my WinME laptop). Good luck, Brian

....but will it tune up my car?...

Just went to CompUSA today myself.... bought some software, but it didn't have the right drivers... my system kept crashing. Fortunately the software came with a 1(800) number... I called it, and they referred me to a website... went to the website... couldn't find the drivers.... called back to 800 number... they told me again about their website..... Seriously, I appreciate the frustration people have experienced when their key has held up projects--- especially when deadlines loom.... but I must say, in defense of this product (PTE) and its developers--- you won't find the kind of support around commercial software from CompUSA that you find here on the forum, or with the developers of PTE. The key thing seems to have been a recurring sticky problem-- probably in part because it isn't simply automated, but relies on good old humans (many timezones away).... If you can bear it... I would highly recommend that you hang in there... you will get so much more than you pay for! Brian

....but wait.... how come it doesn't do........ But seriously, !!!!!!!!!! Amazing! Great stuff! (I am also using the MMB software... and can only admire your skill all the more, having tried to do some of the basics myself with that software. ) Thank you! This combination of PTE and MMB is a real nice one. Brian

Oh... yeah... that's a new Windows feature... didn't you hear!?

Will have to check which ones our school uses. Just be careful that you get one that projects well in different lighting situations--some will show a quality show in a fairly light room, others will require a darkened room .. Also, keep an eye on price for those replacement bulbs, and the expected life of the bulb for the given projector type. They can get very expensive. Brian

The site is wonderful... the slideshows beautiful! PTE gets better and better each day as its users continue to share such wonderful help, examples, and creative productions! See what you started, Igor! ....also, it occurs to me that with such a colorful, multi-slide show, with such wonderful music, as in Gold.exe, my little laptop computer didn't complain a bit as it played! Nice!

Hi Rick, I run PTE primarily on ME (an athlon processor based laptop)... and have few if any problems. I do find that if my individual images are on the large side (above 100k) it causes glitches; I have found it a good practice to keep my images as small as necessary for good quality screen display, and watch for any sound incompatibilities that could crop up. I would be happy to try to run your project on my laptop if you thought it might help to get a test outside of the systems you use. Let me know if you would like to try this. Meanwhile, I am sure that others on this board with much more technical knowledge than I will be even more helpful. It probably will help to provide more details as well.... like what kind(s) of sound files are you using, what size pictures, etc. Good luck. I am relatively "green" with this stuff myself, and find folks on this board to be super when it comes to being helpful and patient! Brian

Granot, I just saw your latest two shows... Beautiful! Thanks! But from your comments above, I think I should take back some of my sympathy that I felt when you emailed me from Thailand telling me how tired you were! I imagined at the time that it was because of all the hard work you were doing! Brian

I posted a general message today about the resources available at the Beechbrook site. I did not mention boxig's specifically there, but that is one resource that I have found quite useful (a CD utility). But beyond that I have to mention that even while he was busy in Thailand taking many beautiful pictures... he took the time to respond to email from me for help with a PTE project! What a wonderful bunch of folks here! Brian (anthrodoc)

For anyone starting out with PTE-- or folks who have been around so long that they may have forgotten!!!.... The Beechbrook site has some wonderful examples of slideshows to spark the imagination; And it also have some great utilities. One example is an autorun menu (I believe it was a Nobeefstu production) ... when you burn it on to your cd, and then put slideshows on the cd, it automatically puts the names of your slideshows into the menu. You can keep adding slideshows later, and it will automatically update the autorun menu that appears... This is just one example of some great resources that PTE users have crafted and shared at the Beechbrook site: http://beechbrook.com/pte/ As I write this today, the site is very slow. Be patient. It is worth the wait. (Usually it is not so slow as today.) Brian

I am currently using PTE along with another piece of software, to create menus etc. that autorun. As noted, with the autorun.inf file created in notepad, you have all you need to start a show on a cd. What I have quiclkly discovered (because of how easy PTE is to use, and how creative you can get, especially with all the give an take on this wonderful board!) is that I have a growing number of shows to put on a CD (so far I have at least 4 customized family shows for individual family members, and two eulogies for close friends!) My solution is to use another piece of software that can create menus that autorun, that then give me the titles of any PTE shows I put on the CD... I'm not out to sell other software-- but would like to be helpful ... and I find that the software I am using is very similar to PTE in how it is produced and supported (between the two pieces of software and their related discussion boards, am I ever hooked!) The other software is MultiMediaBuilder (easy to find on the web). And I have found it to be well worth the purchase. Brian

I just learned of a small program called Wavemp3, that actually converts MP3s to wav format.. but at the mp3 size! The virtue of this is that the wav will play on any system that can play wav's, without mp3 support. And again, the "wav" file is actually the same size as the original mp3. I note this only because there are wonderful folks on this board who like to play with new things, to see if they have any hidden potential.... I don't know, myself, if such conversion is useful.... but I am sure someone would like to try their hand at this, to see if it makes any sense. The site is: http://home.hccnet.nl/p.luijer/others.html#wavemp3 for the download. Brian

I agree (this is me... about 40 yrs ago!!!) Brian (but I didn't look much like html back then, really!)

Amazing! I just posted this question... and I got an answer from Italy! (Couldn't have been more than a matter of minutes, while I was checking the dinner in the oven!) Thank you, Guido... That is so simple, and I probably wouldn't have thought of it myself! Brian