bjc

Have the early adopters of 1400x1050 projectors made a big mistake ? Having read DaveG’s comments (in his recent post under ‘Best size monitor for PTE’) regarding 1024x768 ~ 1400x1050 and 1920x1080 projectors, I carried out a search on the Internet only to find that the industry, in general, appears to be skipping the 1400x1050 resolution in favour of full HD (1920x1080). A logical move considering the proliferation of HD television sales. Not only is there now a wider choice of HD (1920x1080) projectors, but also many that are considerably cheaper than the currently available 1400x1050 models. It seems to make sense to me that full HD is set to become the next ‘standard’ for Digital Projection. Or am I wrong !? What are your thoughts ? bjc

I’ve just come across something that might be of interest to members of the Forum (and AV’ers everywhere). The “World’s Best Presentation Competition” 6 categories, including ‘Picture Slideshow’ ~~~~~ and there are prizes !! ;-) Entries by 31st July Here’s the link: - LINK TO COMPETITION SITE http://www.slideshare.net/contest

Thanks Ken !! Somehow I managed to completely miss that thread last year. bjc

Hi all, Has anyone experimented with adding multiple image ‘Comments’ (to individual slides) using the new extended options that we now have at our disposal ? I have just had a go a adding a string of these ‘Comment’ options to various images (in a current project),,, and it works too !! Very useful, in unusual circumstances. Unfortunately, it would appear that neither the ‘Exif.Description’ and the ‘Exif.Comment’ are being read by the software (and therefore appear only as blank lines). The ‘Exif.Time’ and ‘Exif.Date’ do however appear correctly (as do the others). In addition (ref: Adobe Bridge 2.1.1.9) whilst I can input an ‘Image Description’ to the Exif Data of a given image, there appears to be no ‘Comment’ option that can be manually inserted (?). The question is:- Am I doing something wrong ? and/or Can anyone else get the ‘Exif.Description’ and the Exif.Comment’ to come up on-screen ? bjc

This is an interesting topic ~ one that I am eagerly following. I think v.4+ could quite easily (?) be modified to meet the basic requirements of ‘Knock-out’ Competitions ~ (no need for the animation features of v.5+, nor the improved engine). Programming a ‘keystroke’ to perform a variety (or sequence) of computer tasks is far from unachievable, to people such as Igor. We can already assign our own personal preferences/settings to Mouse Clicks, image events and Button presses etc in PTE, so projecting that forward to the inclusion of optional keystrokes is not too big a step. The ability to assign user-selectable tasks (from a list of available options) to, for example, the ‘F’ keys or the Numeric Keypad, could open up endless possibilities. Taking it as far as the fully organisational data base concept may be demanding a program re-write, but adding basic user-selectable options to keystrokes may be doable. That said, potential sales figures (just one copy each per Photographic Society/Group ?) may not offer all the necessary incentive needed to justify the amount of work that would undoubtedly be required. I would like to see it happen, but somehow doubt that it will. Who better than Igor to develop such a program ? bjc

Barry, Sadly,,, in the world of ‘AV’ ~(as in: International Audio Visual Competitions)~ a series of breathtaking images, accompanied by a well chosen piece of music, just doesn’t cut the mustard. And, to a certain extent, I can see where they’re coming from. For THEIR purposes they require a Story Line, a Narrative, a Purpose for the Audio Visual other than simply putting music to pictures. And unless you are able to come up with some really good ideas, they are extremely difficult to do. Unfortunately,,, the trend for these so-called AV’s appears to be, predominantly, directed towards Doom / Gloom / and Despondency. So,,, if your cat hasn’t died, your Grandmother hasn’t fallen out of a tree, or someone hasn’t died of starvation following a horrendous catastrophe,,, you won’t stand much chance of winning any of the Trophies. Image quality doesn’t seem matter an awful lot either, but, if you can output the voiceover as a Poem (preferably one that doesn’t rhyme) you are awarded three extra Brownie Points. I can understand the AV’ers having their own preferred format (other than just images-to-music),,, it’s their game, so they can set the rules. Unfortunately they are in the minority,,, most people preferring to go down the images-to-music route (let’s face it, it IS much easier),,, so they are likely to remain a small elitist group of manic depressives, unless something comes along to change their way of thinking. Which I really can’t see happening. Sad isn’t it !? bjc

Igor, I have just been experimenting this morning with adding a ‘keyline’ (a fine-line border) around existing images in a slideshow. By adding a Drop Shadow to the images in Project Options, under Additional Options ~ with the images set to display at 90% (of the slide to show main images) I was able to create a fairly good ‘keyline’. --------------------------------------------------------- Display shadow behind slide image ~ Customize :- Color ~ Black (could be White or any other color) Opacity ~ 100% Angle ~ 90° Distance ~ 0 Size ~ 0 (defaults back to ‘1’ on return) Spread ~ Cone Inverted ---------------------------------------------------------- ‘Set for existing slides’ clicked for both 90% size and the Drop Shadow allowing these modifications to be quickly applied to all the images in the slideshow (as opposed to modifying each image separately in Objects and Animation) However, I think this ‘keyline’ effect could be improved on by you adding a new ‘Spread’ option to those already on offer ~~ a single color option without a defused (soft) edge as it is increased in size ~ this would enable people to add a solid ‘keyline’ of one pixel (or more) around the outside of their images quickly and effectively. I am guessing that this would not require too much work for you to achieve (?) ~ hopefully by adding just one additional ‘Spread’ style ~ do you think this would be possible to do ? Sorry to suggest yet another ‘task’ for you to think about as I realise that you are constantly working on other major (and more important) enhancements to PTE. I hope you will forgive me. bjc

John, I enjoyed your show,,, well worth downloading and watching,,, great images and well chosen music. Overall I didn't find the images too dark on my monitor, although prehaps the first few images were (they appeared to have been exposed for the sky). The only suggestion I would make would be with regards to duration of each image on-screen ~~ whilst you are well acquainted with your images, we (the viewers) are seeing them for the first time,,,, I have no doubt that you spent considerable time deciding how your slideshow should 'look', however, this has resulted in each image spending considerably more time actively dissolving between one image and the next than actually staying on-screen so that we can look at and appreciate it (if you get my drift) ~~~ maybe if you kept the same timing for the show but reduced the length of each transition that might be better for those watching the show. (?) bjc

IGOR, Version 5.5 Beta 1 ~~~ stunning !! You (and the team) have done a fantastic job (already). I love the timing information being in minutes / seconds / etc instead of milliseconds only. As for the rest of the improvements ~~~ absolutely superb !! bjc

Wow !! that works well !! (running on a five year old Athlon 64) Isn't it amazing what you can acheive in just 1.7MB with PTE. Great idea and excellent effects. Very '3D'. Well done ~ top marks. bjc

Robert, A very good presentation ~ I really enjoyed watching it ~ there are of course (as you and we all know) serious limitations with regards to showing ‘still’ images and videos all wrapped up in the same output file. By producing a video that plays at (for example) 30fps you are forced to display your stills at the same frame rate ~ therefore, if you want high quality full screen still images (on-screen for say 8 seconds at time) each still image is forced to display as 240 identical image frames ~ if there are 30 images in your ‘slideshow’ ~ that will equate to 7200 still images !! Whilst admittedly ‘video’ has to run at a given frame rate in order to animate, what is required is a format that will allow a single image (frame) to be show for any given length of time whilst at the same time being able to run video at the frame rate necessary. Currently there is one program that I know of that is capable of doing this ~ but it ain’t cheap ~ $599.oo in fact !? The name of this program is MEDIATOR (currently on version 9). It can output content to HTML, FLASH, as well as its own dedicated ‘exe’ file format. And it all works very well too !! Needless to say each format has it’s own limitations (although it’s own dedicated ‘exe’ file format has very few), but in broad terms it offers extensive end-user interactivity in all formats, including animation, interactive buttons, fades and dissolves, and allows for still images to be displayed in much the same way as PTE (one image on-screen for X number of seconds etc) whilst at the same time being able to incorporate video content (at whatever frame rate is required) into the finished project. When outputting to MEDIATORS own dedicted ‘exe’ file format, the resultant product is a single file containing all the elements, in much the same way as PTE. HTML output of course produces a multitude of files, as indeed needs must, but all this is done fully automatically by MEDIATOR and no coding (programming) is required ~ all very clever. Producing an interactive FLASH project allows for any numbers of ‘stills’ (plus animation, interactivity, fades and dissolves etc) but any video content must be provided as a separate file (flv) which the FLASH file then calls upon, and streams, when it’s needed. A finished FLASH project incorporating both stills and (a single) video with therefore consist of two files, etc. I have produced a very basic (and far from polished) demonstration of a MEDIATOR ‘exe’ project for anyone that is interested in seeing it. The images I have used are small, and there ain’t that many of them, and the video is short and captured at just 3fps (for the purposes of this exercise) ~ however (if it ‘works’ on your PC) it will give you an idea of what can be achieved using MEDIATOR ~ and what Igor may one day be able to incorporate into PTE !? Sorry Igor ~ I’m not pushing you !! Link: (this is an ‘exe’ file, not zipped, and 11MB is size) http://www.lsaps.org.uk/PTE/StandardMediatorFormat.exe bjc

Hastinga: I’m glad that you now have things sorted out re: the Wait for Key press option ~ happy voice-overing. Tomuk: You may, of course, show my Inversnaid AV to the members of Frodsham and District PS ~ it was a shame, as you say, that we ran out of time on the evening in question ~ if only Photoshop CS3 didn’t have quite so many exciting features to explore, eh !? Davegee: I’m delighted you enjoyed the show, and that your system ran the AV without any stuttering ~ I agree that I might be experiencing some system issues, whilst my Graphics Card ought to be able to cope my system overall is not exactly what you’d call ‘the leading edge’ ~ time for an upgrade me thinks !? As for your input re: full screen mode at various screen resolutions ~ very much appreciated ~ I thank you. bjc

Hastinga, Firstly, thank you for your kind comments re: my experimental slideshow ~ I’m glad you enjoyed it. Re: your enquiry ~ my comment was: “I set up the slideshow to run with “Wait for a key press or mouse click to show next slide” ticked (Project Options / Main tab). This enabled me to talk for whatever time was necessary, to comment on the relevant slide on-screen at the time, before moving on to the next slide. “ You will find the “Wait for key press (etc)” option at the bottom of the Main tab of the Project Options dialogue box ~ two down from “Synchronize Music and Slides” option ~ with this “Ticked” your slides will run for their set duration on-screen (including any animations etc) but will then wait for YOU to make a key press (e.g.: the spacebar) before moving on to the next slide ~ this I used as a temporary measure, whilst recording the voice-over, so that, if I needed to talk for a longer period than the slides were already pre-set for, I was able to carry on talking before proceeding on to the next slide. Needless to say, once the voice-over had been recorded that option was then un-ticked and the slide timings re-adjusted to reflect the newly created audio. I hope that helps. bjc

John (jfa), Thank you for your kind words and feedback, much appreciated. Igor, I am delighted to hear that my slideshow has inspired you re: better promoting PTE. If I can be of any further assistance don't hesitate to ask. Thank you for the information regarding the stuttering ~ my computers are running XP ~ I will not resort to using Windowed mode again. Peter (fh1805), Thank you for the suggestion re: background music --- I will have a search for “Land of the Mountain and the Flood” and have a listen to it. Thanks to everyone for your comments / input. bjc

Dabbler, Thank you for your kind words. Regarding the soundtrack / voice-over. I have in the past experimented with various methods of recording voice-to-slide commentaries (for lecture purposes ~ and the suchlike) . For this particular show, the technique I used was to first layout the slides in the order I wanted them to appear ~ then, I set up the slideshow to run with “Wait for a key press or mouse click to show next slide” ticked (Project Options / Main tab). This enabled me to talk for whatever time was necessary, to comment on the relevant slide on-screen at the time, before moving on to the next slide. The recording was done using Sound Forge which enabled me to stop - start - re-record and/or delete each section of the commentary as was required ~ so that eventually I had a finished ‘single’ audio-track which I saved at full resolution. As mentioned earlier, this was then re-saved as an MP3 track, using Audacity, and added to the slideshow. With the previous sound-synchronisation issues resolved (thanks to Audacity) it was then a simple matter of shifting the transition points (using the Timeline with the Waveform visible) so that the images changed in accordance with what I was saying at the time on the voice-over. The only tricky bit being to get the pre-set O&A slides to match the commentary ~ as the animations are not visible whilst working in the Timeline. Other than that it was quite a straightforward task. Hope that helps you in some way. Regards, bjc

TheDom: Hi !! It’s been a long time since we last spoke,,, I hope you’re keeping well. Thank you for your comments. I agree with you about the lack of music,,, I wanted to (and still want to) include music, but so far have been unable to find a suitably ‘Scottish’ soundtrack that didn’t involve a ‘Bagpipe’ blasting out and driving everyone crazy (?). My search goes on. The show was produced in ‘frameless windowed’ mode because I had used ‘original’ size for some of the animated images in O&A, this, I discovered, caused a serious miss-alignment of elements (graphics and text) when the show was played back on a 16x9 ratio monitor screen (as opposed to 4x3). I now realise that that (apparently) doesn’t happen when ‘original’ is not used at the outset ~~ this is something that I will have to modify if I decide to re-build the slideshow. It is only an ‘experimental’ slideshow at this stage. As for the images with the white borders ~~ this ‘error’ is due to the fact that the images used in the slideshow were first created as individual images ~~ I then decided to experiment with the slideshow, and used the collection of images that I’d already produced ~~ clearly these images would have to be re-worked (without borders) if I wanted to produce a ‘finished’ slideshow ~~ but before I do that I need to find the ‘suitable music’ !? Anyway,,, I’m glad you liked the show as it is now,,, and thank you for your comments. Luc M: Thank you for your comments. Your suggestion may come in useful if I decide not to re-work the slideshow. Regards, bjc

Dave, Thank you for your comments. Re: " for some reason it didn't play like a normal PTE show " - I've just realised that (for reasons I won't go into right now) I created the show at 1024x768 in 'frameless' Windowed mode - that's the reason your background didn't disappear - you obviously have your monitor set to a higher resolution than that (?). Thanks again for commenting - I appreciate it. bjc

I have just completed an experimental slideshow, which I have had some issues with. There is a link to this slideshow at the bottom of this page. I would appreciate some feedback/comments with regards to the functionality – concept – and content of the show. The issues that I have experienced have related to; A: the synchronisation of the audio track (a voice-over) B: Pan & Zoom stutter. With regards to the sound,,, I have now resolved this issue,,, initially I was using a ‘.wav’ file, recorded and saved (with MP3 compression) through Sound Forge,,, a program that I have always used for soundtrack creation. However, what I discovered was that synchronising the voice-over to the slides themselves was impossible (!!) as the ‘waveform’ in the Timeline did not match the sound that was coming out of the speakers - the waveform and the actual sound itself slid progressively out-of-synch the further through the show you went. Worst still, when the finished ‘.exe’ files were created, the sound-to-slide synchronisation differed again in timing from what was heard during preview. No matter what I did I just couldn’t get an accurate sound-to-slide synchronisation !? Believe me, I made dozens of adjustments and nothing would work. The problem with the sound was eventually rectified by converting the original (uncompressed) audio track to a proper ‘.MP3’ file using Audacity. Having done that, the waveform, and what came out of the speakers, matched exactly, and the resultant ‘.exe’ also synchronised precisely with what was laid out on the timeline. (Lesson learnt) As for the Pan-&-Zoom stutter. This appeared to develop, progressively, the more modifications I made to the show. I have tried re-creating the ‘.exe’ file a number of times (on each of two suitably capable computers) but it would seem that, unless I create the slideshow all over again from scratch, these erratic movements are here to stay. It will be interesting to hear if these animations ‘stutter’ on your computers as well – in particular, the panoramic image early on in the show !? Maybe my computers are not as capable as I thought they were (?). By the way, there are 17 slides in the show that use A&O functions. As for the voice-over itself. It could be better. Unfortunately, there are a number of errors (pronunciations and comments) that I ought to go in and correct,,, but for the time being it-will-have-to-do,,, maybe !? The zip file for this show is a 54MB download – unfortunately the MP3 audio file I used, created by Audacity, was 17.5MB, as opposed to the MP3-compressed .WAV file, that Sound Forge created, which was just 3.25MB. I look forward to hearing whatever comments/observations you might have to offer. Link to file download --- http://www.lsaps.org.uk/PTE/Inversnaid2007.zip bjc

www.iris-25.rps.org Igor…. I have just read today (in the Royal Photographic Society ‘Journal’ ) about the RPS IRIS-25 AV Competition. My congratulations go to you for your involvement and generosity with regards to this project. Not only are you to be one of the judges but you are also making PTE available (free of charge) to schools, colleges, groups and individual children wishing to take part in this AV competition. I am sure all the Forum members will join me in wishing you all the very best with this project. It will hopefully introduce a whole new generation of young people to the potential of AV, and with any luck, an influx of new PTE users and Forum members for the benefit of all. Well done Igor, I’m sure your generosity will not go unrewarded. Best wishes, bjc

Just out of interest (and maybe just as a stop-gap measure) Adobe Bridge (CS3) can be used very effectively as an image judging platform for knock-out competitions. In ‘Slideshow’ mode (manual forwarding) images can be ‘scored’, via keyboard input, using the numbers 1 to 5 (star ratings) - plus four colour ‘label’ options (using the keyboard numbers 6 to 9) – giving a total of nine distinct ‘scores’. The above can be expanded to 29 distinct scores if a combination of ‘star ratings’ plus coloured ‘labels’ were brought into play. Bridge can be set to display only the un-rated and/or un-labelled images, thereby automatically removing ‘scored’ images from the slideshow when viewing for subsequent rounds. Subsequently, back in the standard folder view of Bridge CS3, ‘scored’ images can be viewed in isolation, in accordance with their star rating, label colour etc. etc., enabling a count-up of the scores that have given to be worked out for the final result. This might not be an ideal, purpose-built, solution to the question at hand, but it does offer a highly practical and functional alternative (for the time being), and it does ‘work’ rather well. bjc

Suggestion-1 : (O&A Window / Keypoint Time) I would like to see a decimal point placed in the 1000ths of a second to make the figures easier to understand. E.g.: 10.568 as opposed to 10568 Suggestion-2 : (O&A Window / Timeline) I personally would much prefer the Keypoint ‘labels’ in the O&A Timeline to show their position (time) in respect of that particular slides’ duration on screen,,, rather than the ‘labels’ reflecting their position with regards to the show as a whole. Suggestion-3 : (O&A Window / Pan-Zoom-Rotate Defaults) I would like to see multiple Keypoints ‘separated’ by default, rather than ‘joined’ (or is that just me ?) Suggestion-4 : (Copy-Paste v. Drag-&-Drop) This may be rather more difficult to achieve, but I would like to be able to Drag-&-Drop slides from one PTE window to a second PTE window (including any A&O settings). Currently a slide, or slides, can be Copy-Pasted successfully between two separate ‘projects’ within one PTE window (including A&O settings) --- however, the ability to Drag-&-Drop between two separate windows,,, or Copy-Paste between two separate windows,,, would be more user-friendly – I think !? I apologise if I am repeating suggestions already put forward. bjc

Lin, Thank you for sharing with us your reworking of this slideshow ~ it is a clear demonstration of the superior, and far more visually acceptable (and natural) effect of Pan and Zoom when using the new non-linear options that Igor and his team (Sergey in particular – thanks Sergey !!) have made available to us. I’m sure you will agree. The original show was very good indeed, but (to a certain extent) spoiled by the jerky starts and stops of the linear-speed movements available at the time ~ this reworking shows how much better a presentation can look by using the new non-linear options. Thanks again for sharing this with us. PS. I could detect no problem with the sound quality. bjc

Igor (and team) you are to be congratulated, once again, on exceeding the expectations of all those (including myself) who have requested a non-linear option for Pan and Zoom. I have been experimenting with the new controls and have found them to be, as with all PTE functions, extremely sophisticated, smooth and accurate. The ability to control Pan, Zoom and Rotation, each separately, via presets (linear / accelerate / decelerate / ‘smooth’) and to be able to save your own personal motion settings (templates) is, I am sure, far in excess of anything offered by the competition. However (dare I say this), there is a risk that this level of sophistication and control may be a step too far (?). I wonder whether ‘the average user’ will ever manage to understand (therefore use) the options you have now made available. Especially when a single object is required to perform a number of different ‘moves’ within a single timeframe. This is not a criticism of your amazing programming abilities (I would never do that), but a concern over whether in ‘the real world’ a more simplistic set of options might not have been a better option as far as the majority is concerned. How or what you might have done to simplify the process I really don’t know, and I applaud your skill and creative imagination in being able to cater to the requirements of your users , I just hope that those that wish to use the new features are not put off by the complexity of their operation. That said, you really have done an amazing job ~~ thank you VERY much !! bjc

Lin, I have just downloaded and watched “The Allure of Southwest Art”. I congratulate you, it really is a superb presentation. The quality of your photography and lighting (and PTE skills), combined with the intricacies of the (various) artist’s work and your choice of background music, have resulted in an exemplary ‘slideshow’. Viewed on my (8 yr old) CTR monitor, at 1024x768, I was surprised by how little moiré patterning appeared on-screen, considering the subject matter and the sharpness of your images. I have certainly experienced a higher degree of ‘active’ moiré disturbance when zooming images in some of my experimental slideshows. Have you done anything specific to (successfully) reduce the appearance of this effect ? As for the performance of PTE v.5 ~ I’m sure we all agree ~ the new features that Igor and his team have provided us with are truly amazing and of the highest quality. However, when watching your show, what (for me) distracts most from the overall ‘reality’ (enjoyment) of the visual experience, are the abrupt stops, starts, and changes of direction relating to the Pan and Zoom movements. I know I’ve mentioned this before, but I really do feel this needs to be addressed. With ‘acceleration-from-zero’ and ‘deceleration-to-zero’ added to these animation functions a far more realistic and visually acceptable effect would be achieved. I can only hope that is can/will be added to a future release. Congratulations once again on an excellent presentation. bjc

A long time ago, when the option to Pan-&-Zoom was first discussed, I remember suggesting that the ability to ‘accelerate-up-to’ and ‘decelerate-down-from’ the Pan/Zoom speed (as generated in the Timeline) might be a desirable feature. This has not (so far) been implemented. The absence of this function has been mentioned to me a number of times when I have been demonstrating the capabilities of version-5 at my (Digital Imaging) lectures. Question:- 1 ~ Do the forum members consider that this feature would be of benefit to the overall effect of Pan-&-Zoom ? 2 ~ (Igor) Could this function be added without causing too much work for the development team ? Ideally, the duration of the ‘acceleration’ and ‘deceleration’ could be made adjustable ~ however this would add to the complexity of implementing this function. Alternatively, the duration of the ‘acceleration’ and ‘deceleration’ could be made as a percentage of the total Pan/Zoom duration. e.g:- 10% accelerate > 80% Pan/Zoom < 10% decelerate. With these percentages fixed, this feature might be more readily implemented (?). Sadly, at the moment, if the slideshow requires that an image (or component) is to start off by being ‘static’ on-screen ~ followed by, say, a Pan (or movement) from right-to-left ~ the ‘instant’ start to that Pan (Zoom or movement) is very distracting and unrealistic. I personally feel that the addition of a fixed ‘accelerate/decelerate’ function would greatly enhance the overall visual appeal (realism) of the Pan-&-Zoom capabilities already implemented in PTE v.5 (beta). What are you’re thoughts ? bjc