[Sound in PTE]

Hello to all,

I also agree that PTE needs sound improvements. During a long time it's a point of discussion. But why re-invent the wheel?

Many users of PTE also use Audacity. This free program has all we need to make a perfect soundmix, do some adjustments and even achieve perfect synchronization with PTE.

A few years now I use PTE with Audacity and achieve a perfect synchronization with the Label Tracks. It seems that nobody else use them. So far I did not see any comment about it on this forum.

I am not a programmer but it is maybe possible to link PTE with Audacity with some type of module to become a better use of the Label Tracks in Audacity.

So for those interested in the capabilities of Label Tracks, I adapted the chapter of the Audacity manual to show some explanations about the potential with PTE:

Link 1: PTE Audacity - Label Tracks Link 2: PTE Audacity - Label Tracks

Maybe this is for some a rather primitive method, but for the time being maybe usefull for some members to achieve a perfect synchronization with PTE and Audacity.

Just try,

Cor

[PicturesToExe Deluxe 6.0]

Thanks Igor & all the members of the PTE development team,

for a fantastic tool that brings so much pleasure to so many users.

And what a coincidence, the official release of version 6 on my anniversary, it's an extra gift for me.

Cor

[Observation point parameters]

Hello, Bonjour Jean-Pierre,

Very clear explanation of the observation point parameters.

I have been reading also the mail of Jean-Cyprien on the Diapositif forum.

Count me in to support your proposal.

Thanks,

Cor

[Discussion of v6.0 Beta]

Hello Igor,

About PTE version 6.0 beta 20:

There are still some problems with the lay-out of the Project Options frame in the Dutch language.

See the screenshots of the "Main" and "Advanced" frames.

Also problems in the German and Polish languages.

In the English language everything is fine.

Thanks and greetings,

Cor

[[iTunes] Problem with iTunes music]

I have just upgraded to Pics to exe 5.6 and am having the same problem I was having with 5.1

When I am trying to add music from my Itunes file it is not recognising the music in pics to exe.

Before I got Itunes there wasnt a problem, but a friend converted all my music so it could be seen in itunes and ever since there has been issues.

I thought the new version would of cured this but obviously not

Any help would be apreciated

Shaun

Hello Shaun,

As Dave said: "iTunes uses Apple Audio Codec (AAC) proprietary files and if your library has been converted to AAC, PTE will not recognize them."

I hope that your friend did not convert all your music files to AAC (or AIFF).

First, thats no problem with iTunes, you can play your files, but you can not use them in PTE.

Second, there is a solution, if you want to spend some time with it:

Here we go.

Make a copy of your music files in a safe place on your HD (or desktop HD).

You find your music files under "My Music/iTunes".

It could be a big one, all is depending on how many music files you have (make also a copy of the Artwork & the Library files).

All this to play safe and keep your original music files in place.

Do the converting with the duplicates.

CHOOSE THE MP3 ENCODER:

In the iTunes program go to the "Edit" menu /Preferences/General.

Next to "When you insert a CD:", click on the button "Import Settings".

In "Import Settings" click "Import Using", choose "MP3 Encoder".

Choose the quality you want to convert your music files in, you can go just as far as 320 kbps.

Click OK.

IF YOU WANT WMA FILES TO BE CONVERTED:

In the "File" menu, go to "Add folder to library..." and click on it, a window opens "Add to Library".

Go to the place on your HD where you stored the duplicate music files (look for the folder you want the music to be converted in mp3).

You have to find the path by clicking on the left "Computer" and then the path, something like ".../Music/iTunes/iTunes Music".

Click on the folder name of your choice, the folder will be selected.

Click on the button "Select Folder".

iTunes will ask you to convert all the music files in that folder to mp3. Confirm, and you are done.

Repeat to convert other WMA files.

CREATING YOUR OWN MP3 CD

You can use iTunes to create CDs of music in MP3 format.

Before you burn a CD, you need to create a playlist containing the songs you want on the CD.

You can store more than 12 hours of music, or about 150 songs, on a 650 MB CD-R disc. (You can see the size of the selected playlist at the bottom of the iTunes window.)

All depends of the quality you have choosen 128 - 320 kbps.

You can use a CD-RW disc.

To create an MP3 CD:

1. Select the playlist containing the songs you want to burn to the CD, and make sure all the songs you want to include have a checkmark beside them.
2. Insert a blank disc and click Burn Disc.
3. Select MP3 CD as the Disc Format and click Burn.

Now you can use the CD to copy this mp3 music in the folder of PTE.

IMPORTANT:

If your playlist includes songs purchased from the iTunes Store (in M4P format), they aren't burned to the CD. The M4P files are protected.

Hope this helps.

Greetings,

Cor

[The galley slave' song - a 3D example]

Hello, Bonjour Jean-Cyprien,

The link is not working for me, because I'm not a member of the site. The only thing I can see is:

Désolé, mais vous n'êtes pas autorisé à télécharger ce fichier joint

Greetings,

Cor

[Discussion of v6.0 Beta]

Cor,

Please attach the screenshot

Here is the screenshot:

Greetings,

Cor

[Discussion of v6.0 Beta]

Hello Igor,

About PTE version 6.0 beta 17:

There is something wrong with the frame of Project Options.

It's to small in the Dutch, German and Spanish languages.

The buttons are not completely visible.

In the English language everything is fine.

Thanks and greetings,

Cor

[[3D Transformation] Need explanations about "Z position"]

Hi Cor,

I think that you see it in a correct way.

Both images have a constant 3D-distance. After their common shift along the z-axis (backwards), the ratio of the image sizes has changed, and (although there isn't a pan active during the movement) part of the rear boat becomes visible. This is a perspective effect (more or less as our eye would expect to see the movement in 3D).

A simple zoom would only change the size of the initial view.

Best regards,

Xaver

Hello again Xaver,

Thanks for the clarification. Glad that I am on the right track.

Greetings,

Cor

[[3D Transformation] Need explanations about "Z position"]

The attachment contains a small project (to be opened with v6.0Beta) which (hopefully) makes the effect of the movement along the z-axis a bit more clear.

Regards,

Xaver

Perspektive.zip

Hello Xaver,

Thanks for the explanation.

Do I have it right when I see:

Frame, second keypoint:

1) pushing the arrows of the zoom effect: both pictures are showing bigger or smaller, but are showing the same surface.

2) pushing the arrows of the 3D Z position: both pictures are showing bigger or smaller, but the picture at the back is showing more or less depending the perspective.

Greetings,

Cor

[Do you turn OFF Hardware acceleration]

Greetings,

I would like to understand better what the mouseover states about Hardware Acceleration when it says "In case of old video card, slide show will use software mode automatically." What does "software mode" mean? Does the "software mode" vary from PC to PC?

Thanks... Gary

=====================

Hello again Gary,

This is the definition and description of the differences about software mode and hardware mode, see the manual of PTE:

Hardware Acceleration is the use of hardware to perform some function faster than it is possible

in software running on the normal. Normally, processors are sequential, and instructions are

executed one by one. Various techniques are used to improve performance; hardware acceleration

is one of them. The main difference between hardware and software is concurrency, allowing

hardware to be much faster than software. Hardware accelerators are designed for computationally

intensive software code. Depending upon granularity, hardware acceleration can vary from a small

functional unit to a large functional block like motion estimation in MPEG2.

Greetings,

Cor

[Do you turn OFF Hardware acceleration]

Greetings,

I would like to understand better what the mouseover states about Hardware Acceleration when it says "In case of old video card, slide show will use software mode automatically." What does "software mode" mean? Does the "software mode" vary from PC to PC?

Thanks... Gary

=====================

Hello Gary,

Yes, it's a lot about the graphics card. You can read some info from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Direct3D is part of Microsoft's DirectX API. Direct3D is only available for Microsoft's various Windows operating systems (Windows 95 and above) and in the open source software Wine. It is the base for the graphics API on the Xbox and Xbox 360 console systems. Direct3D is used to render three dimensional graphics in applications where performance is important, such as games. Direct3D also allows applications to run fullscreen instead of embedded in a window, though they can still run in a window if programmed for that feature. Direct3D uses hardware acceleration if it is available on the graphics card, allowing for hardware acceleration of the entire 3D rendering pipeline or even only partial acceleration. Direct3D exposes the advanced graphics capabilities of 3D graphics hardware, including z-buffering, anti-aliasing, alpha blending, mipmapping, atmospheric effects, and perspective-correct texture mapping. Integration with other DirectX technologies enables Direct3D to deliver such features as video mapping, hardware 3D rendering in 2D overlay planes, and even sprites, providing the use of 2D and 3D graphics in interactive media titles.Direct3D is a 3D API. That is, it contains many commands for 3D rendering; however, since version 8, Direct3D has superseded the old DirectDraw framework and also taken responsibility for the rendering of 2D graphics.^[1] Microsoft strives to continually update Direct3D to support the latest technology available on 3D graphics cards. Direct3D offers full vertex software emulation but no pixel software emulation for features not available in hardware. For example, if software programmed using Direct3D requires pixel shaders and the video card on the user's computer does not support that feature, Direct3D will not emulate it, although it will compute and render the polygons and textures of the 3D models, albeit at a usually degraded quality and performance compared to the hardware equivalent. The API does include a Reference Rasterizer (or REF device), which emulates a generic graphics card in software, although it is too slow for most real-time 3D applications and is typically only used for debugging. A new real-time software rasterizer, WARP, designed to emulate complete feature set of Direct3D 10.1, will be included with Windows 7; its performance is said to be on par with lower-end 3D cards.

Direct3D's main competitor is OpenGL.

And about the History too (see link History).

Greetings,

Cor

[Do you turn OFF Hardware acceleration]

Which "Action on mouse click" do you use in your example for starting "Slideshow1.exe": Is it "Run slideshow ..." or "Run application ..."? If you want to combine slideshows that are created with different tools or different versions of PTE, you must choose the second option.

Regards,

Xaver

Hello Xaver,

I have tried in our club evenings to run the shows of m-objects and ProShow Producer, via PTE <Customize Slide> <Main> "Advanced Options" path to the "Run external application" with no problems.

As long as it is an "EXE" everything is working fine.

Greetings,

Cor

[Do you turn OFF Hardware acceleration]

Hello thedom,

I tried your demo, absolutely perfect, no flickering, no hickups, very smooth with hardware acceleration on.

5 shows are started and the third slide from right started the Media Player, right?

Greetings,

Cor

[Do you turn OFF Hardware acceleration]

Hello Dominique and other participants to this discussion,

If you want to read more about previous efforts and want to go through the saga, see play multiple pte after each other pte show for camera club .

If you go there, some links are not working any more, except you still can try TEST Chain Show.zip

The only thing I can say is that with PTE version 6.0 beta 16 my show is still playing perfect with no flicker or other interruptions what so ever.

My configuration:

HP Pavilion m8180.be

Intel Core 2 Quad CPU Q6600 @ 2.40 GHz

Physical Memory: 3070 MB

DirectX: 10.0

Hard disk total: + 4 TB

Video card: NVidia Geforce 8600 GT 512 MB ram VGA DVI

Monitor: HP f2105 Wide Flat Panel Monitor - res.: 1680 x 1050

VISTA Home Premium

I also tried the demo on a XP machine, Pentium 4 2 GHz, Memory: 1 MB, Nvidia Geforce Graphics n card with 128 MB.

Greetings,

Cor

[A Stress Test for Really Good Video Systems]

Hello Lin,

Thanks for your explanation. I'll look for your template and do some trial.

3D is quite new to me. I'll have to figure it out how one can use it functional in a slideshow.

Greetings,

Cor

[A Stress Test for Really Good Video Systems]

Hello Lin,

Thanks for the test and nice demonstration.

My video card did very well, only the white borders have some "flickering" when turning.

I have a question.

About the last part of your demonstration, the reflections:

In the beginning, when the pictures are tilted, the reflections are very smooth (smooth out of focus).

Then the picture is put straight and turned away. By then the reflection is cut off.

I just wonder, if it is possible to have a smooth out of focus of the reflection as well, when the picture is turned away?

Greetings,

Cor

[10th Anniversary of PicturesToExe]

Happy Anniversary

to Igor and his team!

Have an exciting day!

[Discussion of v6.0 Beta]

Igor,

Congratulations for the new version.

I'll send you in a personal post the adapted dutch translation for version 5.7 beta 1 and VideoBuilder.

I noticed and received in:

1) Project Options/Advanced/Customize Navigation Bar.../Scale

for Sky style, when I pull the bolt to the max., I'll have:

"Access violation at address 0049461B in module 'PicturesToExe'.

Read of address 00000000."

and for Air style:

"Access violation at address 0049461B in module 'PicturesToExe'.

Read of address 726F531B."

I'll work in Vista Home. This access violation does not occur in PTE version 5.6.4.

2) Project Options/Comments/Set text comment for new slides:

The blue text button: "Insert template" in dutch it is translated in "Invoeren tekstsjablonen"

In previous versions it was always in a good position in the frame. In version 5.7 beta 1 the dutch text is disappearing to the left of the frame. There is only: "eren tekstsjablonen".

This small slight is shown only in the dutch translation, not in other languages.

Have a nice day,

Cor

[PicturesToExe Deluxe 5.6]

Hello Jeff,

Thank's for your answer.

1) Yes, one can position the blue triangle back to the beginning, but that was not the case in the older versions I think. Maybe there is a reason for this change?

2) Indeed, there are no jerks in the playback (screen window), nor in the preview at the first sight. But the blue triangle is really "bumpin" against every slide number and there is a stop, a fraction of a second. I don't know what it gives for example in a show with 200 slides.

I have not seen this in previous versions.

Cor

Note:

I noticed when I make the timeline window smaller, the "bumpin" problem is almost gone.

When I make the window bigger the blue triangle is delayed for about a second and react further as above.

[PicturesToExe Deluxe 5.6]

Hello to All,

1) Opening PicturesToExe 5.6.1 final version, with a project, I noticed that the "arrow" cursor in the timeline window is not starting from "0", but at the end of the transition of the first slide (small grey flag).

2) Running the project with the start button in the screen window, the "arrow" cursor start to run, but is "popping" on every "slide flag" in the timeline window for a fraction of a second.

I don't know if this results in a delay of the final project, but it is worrying me.

I did not notice this in the older versions of PicturesToExe. Did someone else see this?

Regards,

Cor

[PicturesToExe Deluxe 5.6 Beta 9]

"Added "Pause" button to "Object and animation" editor. "

Can anyone point me toward this - I can't find it?

DaveG

Dave,

By pushing the "play" button it will change in "pause". Also a "stop" button is showing in place of the "<" and ">+" buttons.

Pushing a second time on the "pause" button will ""stop"" the cursor on that place. Pushing the "stop" button will bring the cursor to the start position.

Also in the main screen you have the same action, cq pushing "play" become "pause". In the timeline the cursor will ""stop"" on that place.

When you push the "stop" button here, it will bring the cursor to the last starting place of your cursor (not to the beginning of the timeline).

Greetings,

Cor

[PicturesToExe Deluxe 5.6 Beta 7]

We almost reworked this mechanism and running of external slideshow EXE will work very well even without need create windowed menu presentation. We'll add special command "Run slideshow" where you point EXE file of external slideshow and several slideshows will work as one large virtual slideshow without re-initialization of the screen and no flashing of desktop.

Thank you so much Igor.

Many photoclubs will be very happy. Very easy indeed when you have projection afternoons or evenings.

I look forward to this feature.

Great work!

Greetings,

Cor

[Playing with possibilities of PTE (incl. project files)]

Hallo Andreas,

Very nice demo! Nice setting up, good pictures.

Thanks for the exe and project files. This is very educational.

If one want to see how it works, this is the way.

With the project files, one can divide and separate elements and see how it is done.

Very much appreciated.

Greetings,

Cor

[Questions on next version 5.6]

Hello Dave,

For your info.

I have seen your demo experiment.

TRACTOR 1 = I have seen it exactly as you describe it. Very smooth on my computer (Quad CPU, 3 GB RAM, NVidia Geforce 8600 GT 512 Mb).

TRACTOR 2 - TV SAFE ZONE = Also very smooth, 10 % TV zone: OK. But as described by you, 1-pixel lines between the black strips. Also the rectangles on the random basis, are showing a "raster" when they come together. Disappearing after +/- 1 second.

Cor