fh1805

John, It's active in my installation of beta 13. Project Options > Advanced > tick the box to Assign icon Click on the Customize button which has just been "ungreyed" Click on Add icon button Navigate to the folder where you have stored the icon file Select the desired icon Publish the Executable as usual Check the folder where you saved the executable and the file should have the icon associated with it regards, Peter

At the risk of hijacking this topic away from your original intent, it is relatively easy to add a custom icon. First you need the icon file. I use Photoshop Elements and this doesn't support saving as an ico file. So I create a 64 x 64 pixel JPEG image (usually based upon one of the images in the sequence). I then open this file in IrfanView (a free image editor) and save it to ico format. I then use the PTE feature to add a customized icon. That's in Project Options > Main for v7.0 and in Project Options > Advanced for v7.5. regards, Peter

Gary, I tried a third time this evening (UK time). The smaller version of the file (43.8MB) took over ten minutes to download at observed speeds between 34kBps and 118kBps (I gave up watching, see below). I followed that with a fresh download of v7.5 beta: 13MB in a handful of seconds at 1.1MBbs slowest observed speed. Whatever it it is that is causing the delays, it isn't my system and it isn't the Internet "cloud". What does that leave? It leaves the file host server and the network connection of that server to the cloud. fxdesigner says there's no problem at his end. I'm satisfied that there's no problem at my end or on the "cloud" in general. The only problem is with his file. What other conclusion could I reach? Having, finally, got a successful download (by dint of starting it off and then going to make a cup of coffee - I thought those days were long gone with 10Mbps broadband!) I must say I am impressed with the animation. regards, Peter

fxdesigner, If you would like more people to view your handiwork you need a faster Internet connection on your file host. I've tried twice to download this file. The first attempt (9pm UK time) had peaked at only 35Kbps after 30 seconds; the second attempt (8am UK time) peaked at only 190Kbps after 30 seconds. I wasn't prepared to wait for either of those attempts to complete. Time to shake off the dust of the 20th century and join the 21st century, perhaps? regards, Peter

I don't care whether PTE's controls work similarly to any other software or not - but I do firmly believe that, within itself, PTE should be consistent. Whatever hotkey is used to move tracks up and down in the Timeline, it should be the same hotkey that is used to move objects up and down in the Objects List of the O&A window. That way a new user will quickly learn how to operate within PTE. As I said in that other post to which Dave refers, I am concerned that the new Timeline view relies too heavily on complex hotkey combinations. New users, especially the younger generation (who represent the future users of PTE), are used to icon-based interfaces. To put it rather crudely: hotkeys are for geeks. Peter

Instead of doing Add Mask at that point, you need to close that dialogue, make sure the Mask Container is the selected object in the Objects List, and then add an image to the Mask Container with the Add image icon up near the M for Mask icon at top left. regards, Peter

You mean you are seeing something like this?

Steph, First add your base image. Then add a Mask Container and choose the mask to go in it. Then add your second image into the Mask Container. In the example, A49 is the base image and D962 is the image inside the Mask Container. Peter

Dave, Set up a project with a few slides and a short piece of music. In Timeline, use Timed Points button to set the end of the last slide to match the end of the music. Now go to Slides view and add another slide at the end of the existing ones. Take that slide into O&A and press Play button. What happens? On my Windows 7 system - nothing! If I press Stop and then drag the blue arrowhead a few tenths of a second along the O&A timeline and then press Play - the blue arrow head jumps back to the origin keyframe and just sits there. regards, Peter

There has been a huge amount of new function added to PTE since v4 and v5; 2D and 3D animation, the ability to include video clips as well as still images, to name just a few. As I have kept pace with the new versions, I cannot now recall what function came with which release. v7.0 of PTE is a totally different animal to v5.0. I suggest you download from the website and investigate for yourself. regards, Peter

Since the posts from cjdnzl and yachtsman1 contain slightly differing opinions, let me try and clarify the situation: The only product available for purchase by new users is PicturesToExe Deluxe. The current version available for download from the Wnsoft website is v7.0.7. This product contains all the function and features and is subject to the Upgrade policy I quoted in my previous post. The Standard Edition was a product that was available for purchase in the past but has now been withdrawn from the market. Those users who purchased it can continue to use the function which it contained and can upgrade that function to the latest version of PTE free of charge. Note: That upgrade will not add any of the new functions that formed part of the Deluxe version. Those users who purchased the old Deluxe edition, which did indeed have a two-year licence, have two options: a.) continue to use that installed version at the end of its licence term. It will continue to work on that operating system (but not necessarily on future operating systems). b.) purchase an upgrade to the latest Deluxe version which will then be subject to the Upgrade Policy I quoted in my previous post. The functional differences between the old Standard edition and the old Deluxe edition were summarized in my previous post. The licence arrangements had to be changed in order to protect Wnsoft's revenue stream. regards, Peter

The Standard version of PicturesToExe no longer exists as a seperate product. The only version available is the Deluxe version. Those users who purchased the Standard version in the past can, I believe, upgrade to the latest Deluxe version via the www.wnsoft.com website. The following text is taken from the Licence Terms and Conditions for v7.0 (the latest version): "7. UPGRADE POLICY When you buy a license for this product, you will get minor updates and bug fixes for free. Minor updates are updates of which the first version number has not changed. So if you buy license for version 7.x.x, you can upgrade to any other version 7.x.x free of charge." The major difference between the two versions when they did both exist was that the Deluxe version included all the VideoBuilder features. With Standard version you could create EXE files, Screensavers and an AVI video stream. With the Deluxe version you also had VideoBuilder (many different video output formats) and the ability to create files that would run on Macs, iPads, iPhones, etc. Now you get all the features in the one product. regards, Peter

Ken, It is when publishing a DVD-Video disc (see Project Options within Video-Builder) but not, as far as I can see, when publishing a HD Video for PC and Mac. regards, Peter

Dan, Don't expect that a file will automatically get smaller if it is converted to a different format. The basic difference between one video format and another is the compression algorithm (also known as a coder-decoder routine or codec). If you have a video file that has already been heavily compressed and you convert it to a different format with a less aggressive compression, it is more than likely to come out larger in size. That is not necessarily a bad thing. It means that it requires fewer computer resorces to do the final decode, and so will run a less powerful systems. But, of course, it also means the file will take longer to upload/download to/from the Internet. Video = whole new can of worms! regards, Peter

Andreas, Exactly! Which is why I'm waiting until after v7.5 is officialy released before I open up any detailed discussion. regards, Peter

I intend to but feel that it would be unfair to start such a discussion with him in the middle of the v7.5 beta programme. Peter

Hi Andreas, If I have interpreted your question correctly, you want to select a number of slides from the Slides view, and then instruct PTE to set them all to "Cover Screen". Is that right? The selection can be done as Yachtsman1 has described. PTE supports all the standard Windows selection techniques: single click for a single item, click followed by Shift+click to select a contiguous range of items, Ctrl+Click repeatedly to gather a scattered collection of items. However, there is no way that I know of to make the change that you want outside of the O&A window. You have identified one of several features of O&A which, in my opinion, should be available outside of O&A as well as inside. regards, Peter

John, That's right. The Settings | Preferences are system-wide settings that apply every time you start PTE irrespective of which project you open. The Project Options are the values that can be set on a project by project basis. regards, Peter P.S. Will I see you on Saturday at Snods Edge?

Eric, I can reproduce some of what you see. I proceeded as follows: Add a still image as a new slide Add a second still image as an object (independent not child) of this slide Use the Properties tab to change the second image to a video clip (N.B. I had to change the file types from *.gif, etc to All types in order to pickup the video file) Doing that gives me your "filmstrip" image and both objects showing as "picture" icons in the Objects list. Peter

Eric, There's something odd in your first screenshot. In the Objects list, both objects have the "picture" icon that denotes a still image. The video file should have the "movie camera silhouette" icon. I suspect that the failure to detect the file properly as a video file is the root cause of the problems. As to why it isn't detected properly - that's one for Igor and the team. Peter

I have received an e-mail from a fellow AV worker, who is not a forum member, reporting a very similar problem. His workaround was to build the slide "in reverse": drag the video into a new slide, add the still image as an object then position each where wanted. I am waiting for some diagnostic data from him. regards, Peter

If you are outputting to a HD TV at 16:9 and the TV has a USB port and an internal media player (check the specification pages of its manual), I would strongly suggest you create MP4 video files at 1920x1080, copy them onto a USB memory stick and plug that into your TV's USB port. The quality will be superior to playing off a DVD. regards, Peter

Rob, What exactly do you mean by "gets cut off"? Have you got a consistent set of numbers for the video slide duration and the next transition duration vis-a-vis the video length? The video duration needs to be equal or greater than the slide duration plus the transition time into the next slide. For example: You have a slide that you want to run video for 6 seconds and the transition time into the next slide is set for 2 seconds. Your video clip needs to be greater than 8 seconds in duration. If it isn't, the last frame will just sit there on the screen until the end of the next transition. Also, which exact version of PTE are you using. (Help > About PicturesToExe). If you are not using v7.0.7 consider upgrading. There were several video related bug fixes applied to the "dot releases" of v7.0. regards, Peter

Lin, I think the problem lies outside your machine and probably outside the Forum servers, too. I have had a sprinkling of double e-mails for the past few weeks. I cannot accurately point to a particular change or a date on which they first happened. I suspect that, somewhere out in the e-cloud, all is not quite right and our e-mails are occasionally solicited twice from the same place even though the first one came through OK. The double posts are another matter. You're not wearing new glasses, are you? No recent blows to the head? Too many Buds or Bourbons? regards, Peter

I switched off e-mail notification many months ago to cut down on the amount of e-mail I was getting. I have never experienced double posting. I have used Firefox for over two years now, first on Vista and latterly on Windows 7. Peter