bjc

Igor, As always, you have responded quickly to the needs of the PTE community. Your suggestion to prohibit ‘potentially dangerous commands‘ from running sounds like an excellent solution to the risk factors pointed out to us by Tom. As many have mentioned, the ‘risk’ of malicious code being used, within the PTE user group, is probably zero, but it is much better to be safe than sorry. Your quick thinking and prompt action will undoubtedly put many minds at ease. Thank you Igor ~ and thank you Tom for bringing this topic to our attention. bjc

May I comment on the risk factor that ‘tom95521’ has so kindly pointed out ~ it would appear that many of you are not taking this issue seriously. Although I am not a programmer, and therefore cannot even START to imagine what could be achieved by someone with malicious intent, I can clearly see that the ‘Run External Application’ option is capable of running ‘any’ application at the whim of the author. I already use this option in PTE myself, for my lecture presentations, to ‘run’ JPG’s (so Photoshop automatically opens up on my PC and the image appears on the screen) or ‘txt’ files (Word opens) or I can open ACDSee, or Corel Draw, or any other program or ‘file type’ that I fancy. It is entirely possible therefore that someone COULD decide to ‘run’ a harmful application via a PTE slideshow (goodness knows what, or how) but it is certainly not outside the realms of possibility. Despite the fact that this would be unlikely to effect more that a limited number of members (BEECHBROOK slideshow viewers for example) before the word got out that a malicious slideshow existed, and NOT to download the slideshow. But damage COULD be done. However, I cannot see how this ‘risk’ can be avoided, without removing the ‘Run External Application’ option altogether (something I would hate to see go) ~ maybe the development team would like to pass comment on how they view this issue. Whilst it is unlikely to bring the world to its knees, I would like to thank ‘tom95521’ for bringing to our attention the potential for misuse of the PTE ‘Run External Application’ option ~ it’s well worth bearing in mind that this risk factor DOES exist. bjc

Totally awesome Igor - thank you !! Thank you VERY much. Everything I have tested so far 'works' perfectly ~ I especially like the addition of the "Don't interrupt sound comment when next slide appears - option" ~ although not a feature that everyone will use,,, it will be much appreciated by those of us (me included) that do have a need for such. I can hardly wait to see Version 4.50 now ~ this is all VERY exciting !! Best wishes, bjc

Hi Gérard,, Please don’t offence at my comments re: your page ~ no offence was intended,,, honestly. Nor was I ‘objecting’ to the content ~ quite the contrary ~ it is, as I mentioned, very informative. However, it is my considered opinion that PPI :- (the unit of measurement that describes the ‘physical’ dimensions of an image when printed ON PAPER) and DPI :- (the number of ink-dots placed on the paper – per inch – by the inkjet printer to reproduce the image) should not be mixed up ~ as this can lead to even more confusion in the minds of those who have not yet fully understood the two conflicting parameters. On your page you mention :- ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Take an image measuring 2240 x 1680 pixels (what you would get from a 4MP digital camera); if you print it at 300 dpi, you will get a picture 7.5 inches (19 cm) wide by 5.6 inches (14.2 cm) high; if you print it at 100 dpi, it will come out at 22.4 inches (57 cm) by 16.8 inches (42.7 cm). By replacing ‘DPI’ with ‘PPI’ this would make sense. An image can be printed out with the printer set to 360dpi ~ 720dpi or 1440dpi – yet the physical dimensions of the image will not change. As it is the PPI rating of the image that determines it’s physical size on paper ~ not the DPI settings of the printer. I will admit that the confusion between PPI and DPI is wide spread ~ even my humble Epson Flatbed scanner offers scanning resolutions measured in DPI !? Which, of course, is totally bizarre when you consider that the resultant images it produces are scaled in PPI !? My input was made purely in an attempt to draw a clear dividing line between PPI and DPI ~ Pixels-Per-Inch and Dots-of-Ink-Per-Inch ~ once those two concepts are understood then I think the confusion over the issue quickly disappears. I hope you agree. bjc.

ContaxMan – I’ve just had a quick look at the ‘link’ you posted. Very informative ~ thank you ~ but sadly wrong on several counts. And likely to cause increased confusion in those uncertain of the facts. Of primary concern was his (?) use of the term ‘dpi’ when expressing the physical size of an image on paper. Very misleading. PPI ~ refers to the physical size on an image on paper, and to nothing else. Therefore, with an image set to 100 PPI, each 100 pixels of an image will span 1 inch of paper. 1000 pixels @ 100 PixelsPerInch = 10 inches etc. DPI ~ refers to the number of DOTS of ink (Per Inch) that an inkjet printer lays down onto paper in order to reproduce the image. The two are not inter-related in any way. If a 1000 pixel wide image was set to 100 PPI then (as mentioned above) it would be reproduced 10 inches wide on paper. With the inkjet printer set to 720 DPI the image would be still 10 inches wide on paper ~ likewise at 360 DPI and/or 1440 DPI ~ all that would change would be the number of ink dots laid down by the printer to render the image. The size an image appears on a monitor screen (website, email or slideshow) relates in real terms to neither PPI nor DPI, but to the physical span of a set number of pixels across the particular monitor screen in question. For example ~ your monitor screen set to 1024x768 will not necessarily display the exact same physical screen width as my monitor screen set to 1024x768 ~ therefore an identical image viewed on our two monitor screens would not necessarily be seen at exactly the same physical dimensions ~ the only constant would be the ‘percentage’ of screen-width spanned. bjc

I recently downloaded and watched (several times over) the slideshow entitled “A National Park Struggles to be Born” by Roger Turenne. (via the Beechbrook website) This is (IMHO) an exemplary production ~ worthy of distinction ~ the quality, content and execution of which should be an inspiration to us all ~ those of us fortunate enough to view it. If you have not already done so I can highly recommend that you set time aside to download and watch this presentation ~ I am certain you will not be disappointed. Well done Roger ~ if I had an award to give, I would present it to you ~ and Igor should be proud that PTE made it all possible. bjc

I recently downloaded and watched (several times over) the slideshow entitled “A National Park Struggles to be Born” by Roger Turenne. (via the Beechbrook website) This is (IMHO) an exemplary production ~ worthy of distinction ~ the quality, content and execution of which should be an inspiration to us all ~ those of us fortunate enough to view it. If you have not already done so I can highly recommend that you set time aside to download and watch this presentation ~ I am certain you will not be disappointed. Well done Roger ~ if I had an award to give, I would present it to you ~ and Igor should be proud that PTE made it all possible. bjc

Dear Igor, May I join ALL PicturesToExe users in wishing you all the very best for your Birthday. bjc

One feature I would like to see added to PTE (it has been mentioned before) would be to allow a continuous music (backing) track to be played throughout the presentation (non-synchronised) and have each individual slide (with commentary attached) set to stay on-screen for the duration of the attached sound file. This would aid in the production of ‘Documentary’ or ‘Tutorial’ styled AV’s – were individual recordings could be made with regards to the content of each image, where necessary, and have them stay on-screen for as long as the audio track lasted. Non-audio supported images could remain on-screen for a pre-set time as specified. A non-obtrusive backing-track to be set to loop ad-infinitum. This I feel would offer a number of advantages (for this particular type of presentation). Firstly, shorter, therefore easier to record, individual audio tracks, which could be readily updated or changed at any time. Secondly, no problems with image synchronisation as the duration of the audio track alone would govern the time an image stayed on-screen (re-recording an audio track would therefore automatically update its time on-screen). Thirdly, adding images to or removing images from an existing sequence would have no adverse effect on synchronisation, as each image would govern its own time on-screen. And more importantly, as PTE already offers the option to attach individual sound-tracks to individual images, and has, built-in, the ability to accurately determine the length of an audio-track ~ I would like to think that the addition of this new feature would not demand too much work from the development team. (?) You guys seem to achieve the impossible already,,, hopefully this request isn’t asking too much. Regards, bjc

Alrobin, You are perfectly correct about me using Windows 2000 – that is indeed the OS installed on my ‘Imaging’ system. I’ve just tried putting the same show together using my Windows’98 machine (having transferred all the relevant files across) and the same thing occurs – although that might be down to the fact that the compressed music files were created on a Windows 2000 machine. (?) I take onboard the point that both you and Guru make, with regards to the Lame encoder – unfortunately it would appear not to be compatible with Sound Forge (?) so I would have to change music-editing software in order to use it –(not the best scenario when you’re already comfortable with a particular piece of software)-however, I will bare it in mind, and if needs must, I will make the change. Guru, Thank you for your input – I have to admit that, as an ‘Imager’, I place little importance on the ‘quality’ of the sound –(to me, it’s the images that come first)- and the majority of the compression I do is for ‘voice commentary’ on tutorial CD’s. The PTE slideshows I create are played only at my lectures – using a small pair of portable (and rather pathetic) speakers, so superior audio quality would be barely noticeable. But I take your point, and admit that I made a mistake by compressing to 11,050Hz, I shall stick to 22,050Hz (or higher) in the future. There is clearly no advantage in enabling PTE to ‘read’ audio below 22,050Hz correctly – so the issue is probably best forgotten about altogether – although the fact that this does create problems is worth baring in mind for future reference. Thanks everyone for your feedback – problem solved !! bjc

LumenLux & Guru Hi Guys – problem sorted. On my return from the lecture this evening (having hopefully converted a few more people over to using PTE) I decided to investigate this music problem a little further before going to bed. Step one was to revert back to PTE v4.10 ~ where I found the problem still existed ~ so clearly it was a ‘music’ issue rather than a v4.30 issue. So I created a new audio track (44,100Hz – 16-bit – Stereo – file size 31.37MB) and converted it to MP3 (11,050Hz – 8-bit – Mono – file size 438KB). Outside of PTE both tracks played perfectly from beginning to end and were both 3:00 minutes long. In PTE (v4.10 and v4.30) the original track was read as 3:00 minutes long, but the MP3 track read as just 2:29 minutes long. The problem still existed. (?) It then dawned on me that MAYBE I had forgotten what my previous ‘standard’ was for converting these music files to MP3 --- so I created another new compressed version of the original file using MP3 at 22.050Hz – 8-bit – Mono ~ problem sorted !! The resultant file was only slightly larger than before, at 526KB. So (my apologies !!) the problem was ME and not PTE ~ I had simply forgotten what settings I’d previously used for MP3 conversion and chosen 11,050Hz instead of 22,050Hz. It’s interesting though that this differential should bring about a misreading of the true music-track length by PTE. All three versions of this new music track (11.050Hz – 22,050Hz and the original) played perfectly, from beginning to end, outside of PTE ~ in fact the 11.050Hz version will play through accurately, right to the end, if ‘keep last slide in show on screen’ is selected – although the timeline won’t allow you position slides beyond the misread music duration. So PTE will play these ‘over-compressed’ (?) files, but is clearly unable to accurately determine their length for some reason. No problem though, providing I remember to use 22,050Hz in the future. Sorry to have troubled you with this error, which was MINE ~ and I thank you for your feedback which helped me figure out where I was going wrong. Regards, Bjc (PS… v4.30 is stunning !!)

LumenLux Thanks - I will try various options tomorrow - I'm out giving a lecture tonight (part of which will be related to using PTE for slideshow production!?) All my previous PTE shows have used MP3 compressed WAV files created using Sound Forge - so, prior to v4.30 things have always worked OK. I will experiment tomorrow with using a different MP3 compressed music track and see it that 'reads' as being the correct length or not - a very sensible suggestion LumenLux - why didn't I think of that ? bjc

When reconstructing an existing PTE show today - this time using v 4.30 - I am find my MP3 compressed WAV music file is reading as being the wrong length (?) in both 'music duration' and in the 'timeline'. In it's original uncompressed form (27MB) PTE reads the file correctly as being 5 minutes 15 seconds in length ~ as an MP3 compressed WAV file (795KB) PTE is reading it as being 4 minutes 12 seconds long. I have not encountered this problem before. And, by the way, I have doubled checked in my music editing program (Sound Forge) that both versions are the in fact same length - and they are both 5:15 long. The result of this inaccurate 'music duration' reading is that, as the 'timeline' displays only 4:12, and with the slides are laid out along the span of the music - the music ACTUALLY has another minute to play, so the slideshow comes to an end long before the music finishes. I have created a new MP3 compressed version of the original music file (on the off-chance that the old one had become corrupted in some way) yet the new one is STILL being read by PTE as being only 4:12 in length. I have re-created the show using the uncompressed file - and this 'works' perfectly. But repeated attempts at re-producing the show with the (old and new) MP3 compressed file always results in the duration of the music being inaccurately calculated. I'm not sure whether this problem has been encountered by anyone else (and I apologise if this has already been resolved) however, I wonder what, if anything I can do to put matters right. Could this be a v4.30 issue ? bjc

Thanks for the response Nobeefstu ~ I hadn't thought of that !? ~ so, I guess FLASH is out of the question too, eh ? (a recent 2MB anigif came out at 83KB when replicated in FLASH file format) bjc

Granot (Boxing) Thank you for all your work creating an alternative to having 'anigif' capabilities built-in to PTE. Not being a 'programmer' myself I fail to understand the difficulties, or WHY, Igor has not yet been able to include anigif's as a PTE option ~ no doubt it is NOT as easy to accomplish as I thought it would be. Unfortunately an 'add-on' alternative is not quite the same thing ~ that is not to say that your efforts go unappreciated,, I'm sure many people will use 'GifExe' ~ I however will continue to wait patiently for Igor to include the real thing into PTE itself,, surely he WILL do it one of these days !? (it can't be that difficult,,, can it ??) Thank you again ~ I'm amazed at your talents !! bjc

First of all, a BIG thank you to Igor and all those who have assisted in the production of this latest release of PicturesToExe - the best just gets better and better, as they say !! Although I TOO think it's a bit soon to be requesting new things for the NEXT release, I am still convinced that adding 'animated-gifs' to the existing gif capabilities of PTE would be a SIGNIFICANT step forward - this would enable scrolling titles and credits (for example) to be added to presentations quickly and easily, and at low file sizes, with the allotted time on-screen being set to allow the 'anigif' to run through one full cycle. I've always thought it rather strange that on clicking "Help / About PicturesToExe" in the main PicturesToExe window you are presented with a 'SCROLLING TEXT BOX' listing all those involved in the development of the software - yet a similar option is not currently available to us end-users !? I can only assume that adding 'anigif' capabilities to PTE cannot be quite as 'easy' as we might all think it would be, otherwise I'm sure IGOR would have done by now (?) - however - I'm convinced that this feature alone would add so much sophistication to the program that it would warrant a separate release in it's own right -(dare I suggest: "PTE-PRO" !?)- I apologise for having raised the topic of 'anigifs' on more than one occasion - but I REALLY DO think it's important. I am however delighted that '"Run application after last slide" has been included in this most recent release -(surely only a coincidence that I mentioned it so soon before it was added)- as I had just finished compiling a 33 slideshow CD using a third-party 'controller' to call up the slideshows in sequence --- this worked fine on most computers, but not all !! -- I subsequently re-worked the CD using PTE beta version 10 and "Run application after last slide" which immediately solved the problem (whatever it was !?) - so I for one am most grateful for this new addition -- thank you !! Regards, bjc

Bill,, Thank you for the feedback and info re: my posting. (a) – as you rightly say (and as I point out) there would still be ways and means around the ‘ON INPUT – EXIT’ option, however, as an additional option over and above the ‘disable printscreen’ option I think it would still be a step in the right direction. The ‘average’ end-user seldom even realises the existence, or indeed the function, of the PrintScreen’ key – those with ‘more’ knowledge might even have third party ‘screengrab’ software – only the most adventurous (or determined) are likely to own screen-video-capture software. So for those producing standard slideshows for generalised viewing, or for those such as the professional photographer who wishes to provide clients with ‘preview’ slideshows of images captured – the ‘ON INPUT – EXIT’ option would, I feel, provide additional security against the misappropriation of images (?) – under ‘normal’ circumstances. ( – ‘Run External Application’ – (and EXIT - hopefully !?) – is to be included in the next release of PTE ?? – how wonderful !! – easily added to a ‘blank’ slide at the end of the show if it doesn’t wait until the ‘slide duration’ has expired – and the final blank slide could also be set to cancel the sound –(although ‘fade’ would be an added bonus) – this is excellent news and a wonderful addition to PTE. © - “I can save you the trouble on that one - there's more magic in your future! “ – I’m sorry but I don’t fully understand the significance of this comment – is that a ‘yes’ or a ‘no’ ? Regards, bjc

Igor,,, Just a thought, but, might the inclusion of the option ‘ON ANY INPUT – EXIT’ (Project Options – Advanced Tab) provide a solution to the ability to screengrab slideshow images via third party software (over and above disabling ‘Print Screen’) ? Whilst of course this would not overcome the recording of live screen video (or time-lapse) any input from the end-viewer (such as a mouse-click or key press) would exit the slideshow immediately. This could well be valid option in cases where the slideshow is designed to run from beginning to end without any input from the end-user. Another thought – would it be worth considering adding ‘WHEN SHOW ENDS – RUN APPLICATION AND EXIT’ to the Project Options / Main Tab / Show Settings ? This feature would add an easy-to-use option for those wishing to simply ‘chain-link’ slideshows, when more than one slideshow is contained on a single CD. (the final slideshow could then ‘chain-link’ back to the first !?) One more question (a repeat of an earlier request) – are we any closer to having ‘animated-gifs’ included in the types of image files we can use in PTE ? Whilst I realise that this option might not be at the top of everyone’s wish-list, however, the ability to use animated-gifs would provide the perfect solution for all those who wish to include animated ‘title-slides’ at the beginnings or ‘rolling-credits’ endings of their slideshows. Regards, bjc

Vince, You can also (more easily) convert to JPG directly from the DCS TWAIN access screen :- Select the images you wish to save / convert / transfer etc. Click on 'Copy to' Tick the 'Convert TIFF to JPEG' option (bottom left corner) and choose a coverted size option (eg: Best / 50% will give you images of about the right size) direct the files to a folder of your choosing. Hope that helps. bjc

Welcome back - we missed you !! The new layout looks great - well done. bjc