think(box)

Igor, Al, Stu, I have a proposed solution that should be best for everyone. First, some reasoning: I often want different .EXE file name from desired taskbar and window title name, or "Caption" I create variations in shows that must have unique .EXE file name, yet the same base show name in Caption If I change the .EXE name I do not want the Caption to change when I have entered a unique value for it If a window border is used, the window title caption and taskbar caption must match. On this point I disagree with Al, since it is expected Microsoft Windows function that they match. Novice users should not have to do anything to get a Caption. On this point I disagree with Stu (see note at end Stu) So how does this sound for best solution?: In Windowed AND Full-Screen modes, every time a .EXE is created with a changed or new .EXE name, check the existing Caption against the old and new .EXE file names using this PTE logic, in this order: When File->New menu is used, the Caption text box should be CLEARED to avoid novice user confusion If old .EXE name is NULL (e.g. after File->New) AND Caption box is NULL then make Caption equal new .EXE name If old .EXE name matches Caption then make Caption equal new .EXE name NOTES and other PTE code changes: If new .EXE name matches old .EXE name then the above logic will not change Caption Al & Stu - if you want a blank caption, you enter a <space> character in Caption box (this is not NULL) PTE must NEVER gray out "Caption of window". It is used for both WINDOWED and FULL-SCREEN modes. The terminology "Caption of window" in PTE Project Options Screen tab is correct for both Windowed mode and Full-Screen mode, since a Full-Screen view is still a "window" yet without border (think!) When Templates are used, keep (do not clear) Caption from Template; the above logic still applies By the way Al and Igor - you can easily see taskbar while P2E show is in full-screen mode by pressing the "Windows" key (between Ctrl and Alt), not Alt-Tab. Sometimes when you use taskbar "Autohide" you can get the taskbar to show by moving the mouse/cursor to screen edge where the taskbar will appear, even with hidden cursor. Windows is not consistent in this behavior, so the "Windows" key is sometimes or often or always needed when moving the mouse doesn't restore the taskbar. THEN, once that pesky taskbar is displayed on your full-screen show, to get rid of it click once or twice on the P2E show's task button and move the mouse/cursor away from taskbar. And Stu, I knew about the other "back door" approach of temporarily declaring my show to be "Windowed" so that the grayed out "Caption of window" box is usable. It does not make sense that something grayed out will be USED in an active document or show, etc. Therefore I haven't even mentioned this as something people should use. No one should ever count upon this software behavior. It just leads to confusion and problems. I disagree with Stu about leaving Caption blank. Stu, if you want "blank" then enter a <space> character in the "Caption of window" box as discussed above. To understand why I disagree with your preference for "blank" by default unless specified, think about proper function in Microsoft Windows. If you open a document or movie or game or just about anything but a web site, the name of that item is displayed in the window title, usually followed by a hyphen and the opening application name. And the taskbar task caption matches the window title. This makes sense and is the way people expect Microsoft Windows to work. You can still go your way, and everyone else sees consistent behavior from Microsoft Windows. I think this is the better choice and it answers your question "what is the intention of this auto name to a default name if user has left entry empty ? for speed or laziness ?". In essence, PTE should work like a Windows application. Regarding Al's most recent response (to Stu) about confusion: "However, it could get confusing if one also had PTE open as one of the items on the taskbar. " Not so. PTE has one icon and P2E shows have another. They are totally distinguishable.

Welcome GoldenBC, It sounds like you've done everything correctly, so this is most likely something that Wnsoft support must solve. I've heard similar symptoms in the past when someone had difficulty with registration, and it turned out to be a "key" problem. You should receive contact and help from Wnsoft within the next few hours, if not already.

Thanks Igor for the quick response. I tested and it doesn't work correctly. In Windowed mode show if I open a project with blank "opt_scr_caption=" and Create, the show window title still comes out blank, when you say it should be .exe name. Maybe this is because .exe name already exists in PTE file? I did not do "Create slideshow as", and shouldn't have to. In Full-screen show mode PTE still "grays out" the "Caption of window" box in screen tab, but should not. Even though it is a full screen show with no window border, the taskbar can still (but does not) display the show name as the .exe file name. When I have edited the .PTE file and added a name to "opt_scr_caption=" it appears "grayed" in "Caption of window" (as before in PTE) yet always has successfully become the full-screen show taskbar show name. This is the "back door" approach that has to be used, and this has not changed from what I can tell. I will be away for about 1/2 day and back this evening (Eastern US time) in case new testing is needed. Thanks for looking into this!

Yes - please! Related question - The taskbar show "name" or window title from this .PTE file entry: opt_scr_caption= I use this to create a show name as viewed in the taskbar. If I don't manually edit the .PTE file to add the show name to "opt_scr_caption=" line, it ends up blank (no name) in taskbar and in "opt_scr_caption=". There is no apparent connection between either the .PTE or .EXE file name and the show name in taskbar. Igor, could you tell us where PTE gets this name from, or if not, can you give us a "Show name for taskbar" box in Project Options? Thank you

Interesting alternatives. With my ADSL or Asymmetric DSL (Verizon DSL, that uses DHCP, not static IP) the upload speed is slow while the download speed is fast. If I used my system as the download server it would be at my upload speed. Right now my download speed is about 1.5Mbps, or about 180KB/sec actual data transfer. The upload speed, that would then become a friend or family member's download speed going the full trip to their system, is only about 128Kbps or 15KB/sec. That's about 3 times the speed of a "slow torture" 56K modem (much too slow). So while cc's suggestion won't work for me, it may be fine for you. Cable modem service usually has a good upload speed, usually much better than DSL. It is also usually variable with peak usage. You can check yours at this site if you want Bob, and please let us know what you find if you do: PC Pitstop upload and download speed test (free) For the benefit of forum members with DSL, this link describes DSL types: Click for "Types of DSL" SDSL (Symmetric) is becoming available and has good upload speed (1.5Mbps) as DSL goes.

Olga Alakina is one very talented artist. Thank you for honoring us with your works, Olga. C'est vrai Michel on the synthesized images. Olga, if I may ask, what tools did you use to create this art? As I watched the show I thought I could see some of Oleg's slideshow style, as was confirmed in the credits

Good point Al. If I'm not mistaken, Granot (boxig) uses MMB to make the utility. This may be the five minute "quick fix" if it fits. Here is a link: Granot's site - Look for utility number 11 "Flash Intro Utility"

Saleeltambe, it looks like we're on the right track. If you want to make little extras like the title you mentioned, and you want to do this often, consider investing time and expense in MMB (this is not a five-minute quick fix...): Main page: Multimedia Builder by Media Chance software Features page: Makes standalone exe and can have animation etc features As with PTE you can download MMB and try before you buy. If you buy, it is $45, or $60 for MMB with MP3 support and license. To use for first slide, just customize that slide for "Run external application"

for the comedy of confusion... but so, regarding tech support and service quality Perhaps you should consider a competent web host: Low-priced nameserver This outfit, www.fuitadnet.com, gets high marks from my son. He says they have good novice help and a very helpful forum for any topic about your web site and the host, etc. Their lowest level offering is $4.99 per month for up to 3GB of online space and up to 25GB bandwidth (upload or download total per month).

Saleeltambe, I think you can consider using just one P2E show for your entire project. To do this just include a navigation button on every slide except the first and second slides, for example, in the top left corner. The navigation button is created in the object editor and needs to have the action, "go to slide #". I would use button text "Go back". Your second slide - with birds, animals and others buttons brings viewer to additional sub-selection slides within the same show by their slide number that is coded in the "go to slide number" action. All selection slides should be customized to play for something like 10,000 seconds so they will wait for viewer action. The slide that a "bird" button click goes to can have the same method again except it needs a "Go back" button coded to go back to the original selector slide number, with buttons to select Aquatic birds, ground birds and Preying birds. Let's say that there are no further sub-selection levels from this point. Now when the viewer clicks Aquatic birds the show jumps to the slide where that segment begins. That "first" section slide can start custom music themed to the subject by slide customization (only first slide of a photo segment needs to mention custom music to play). And that slide and all others need a button with something like "Go back" that is coded to go to the current selection slide level. The last slide in a given segment, that says "End" in some way, should be set to play for 10,000 seconds once again, and should have the "Go back" button coded as always to go back to current selector slide level. If the viewer keeps clicking "Go back" they can keep going back levels of show hierarchy until they get back to the original, top-level selector slide with no "Go back" button. You can see that the viewer has control at all times in this manner. Finally, set up the CD files to include Autorun.inf to run your show. Other than as Stu mentioned regarding your need for animation, this appears to fit your needs. You can always have any slide customized to run external application so that when the slide is displayed some other app with animation or otherwise plays briefly. One final note - if you want precise picture to music synchronization, then you can not use the above show design idea. If that is the case you will have to use independent shows with no buttons, since buttons are disabled in a synchronized show. And each selector show would have to be music-less and set to stay running in the background until exiting to the previous level selector show.

I hope Comcast is actually providing a working service, and if so, that you can find technical support at the right technical level in Comcast.... I use Satellite, so I'm not one of the very many who use Comcast. I would like to expand the scope of your inquiry: How many other services that many of us commonly use offer significant online space, as in 25MB? For example, I use Verizon DSL. Do they offer it?

New beta #9 tests show success and excellence for high slide count shows with linked thumbnail photo guides Contents of mega show used for testing: Intro slide with button links to photo directory, show slides, help screen and for starting music Several 70-thumbnail clickable link photo directory slides (high graphics count in object editor) Photos are displayed full-screen About 5200 slides total in show Show mode is unsynchronized Music is played from a separate P2E "music player" show to allow independent music track selection Test results on 400MHz P2 Win98SE system: 20 minutes PTE show create time in v4.01 10 minutes PTE show create time in v4.10 beta #9 128 seconds P2E show start time, created by PTE v4.01 5 seconds P2E show start time, created by PTE v4.10 beta #9 Eventual show crash from memory leak bug when playing thumbnail slides, created in v4.01 No crash, No memory leak whatsoever, created in v4.10 beta #9 504696KB (492MB) show .exe file size, created in v4.01 504711KB (492MB) show .exe file size, created in v4.10 beta #9 (just 15KB more in a 502MB show) Show playback performance is now flawless, very fast to start, and bug-free. It even plays on a 150MHz Pentium 1 system with 72MB RAM. On that system the show started in just 15 seconds. And in that case the 150MHz system was reading the show from the network. This demonstrates that PicturesToExe shows do not have to be first copied, then opened, to play. For that 150MHz system it would take about 5 minutes to copy the show file first over the network. Without copying it, I was able to play the show in just 15 seconds with P2E reading small amounts of the .exe file as the show played flawlessly. This is an important and "enabling" change to PTE - supporting very large, indexed random access shows Cheers to Igor and Aleksey! (Igor said Aleksey made the large show load time improvement)

Also a nice show! I too like the mix of landscape and botanicals. And the ice coatings and crystals were real cool (sorry ). That sign with the arrow that jumps off the signboard was a nice touch! How did you manage to hold the camera so still after it jumped - before that second shot? I know, it must have been from a tripod

Nice show! And the way I like them - full screen. Since you asked, there was one "hiccup" in the middle of the show with closely timed vertical line effects. The picture started its song and dance and then restarted and completed the transition. To Igor's credit, the new music player never skipped. System is 400MHz P2 512MB, OS is Win98SE.

This should be of general interest and we hope is soon to be driven from P2E shows Walk into a store and you see all of those number-letter terms, but what do they mean? This link brings you to a six-page story that can improve your couch potato expertise: Click to see "The Difference Between HDTV, EDTV and SDTV" by www.ProjectorCentral.com One other item that you see in the stores is "Progressive scan" (the "p" after the number, as in 720p). This is contrasted with "Interlaced scan" (the "i" after the number, as in 525i).

Ray, I'll defer to others on suggesting mic's. I would check internet product reviews too. But when you get them, here is a low-noise, fully balanced microphone preamp that serves me well: The Midiman Audio Buddy. It sells for about US$90. Audio Buddy features include: • 2 independent XLR, fully balanced inputs. • 2 alternate, independent 1/4" unbalanced, high impedance inputs. These alternate 1/4" inputs are impedance matched for ideal performance with typical electric guitars. • Separate gain controls for each of the two preamplifiers. • Individual signal and clipping LEDs for each of the preamplifiers. • XLR phantom power can be switched on and off for both of the Mic preamps. • Phantom power LED indicator. • Dual purpose independent 1/4" outputs which accept either TRS plugs for balanced signal or TS plug for unbalanced signal. • Super-small size: 5.5" x 3.3" x 1.7". • Extremely quiet preamp. Specifications • Frequency Response: 5 Hz to 50 kHz, +0, -3 dB. • Mic Gain: 60 dB max. • Mic Input Impedance: 1 K ohm • Guitar Gain: 40 dB max. • Guitar Input Impedance: 100 K ohms. • Approximate weight: under 1/2 lb. • Power supply: 9 volts ac 300 milliamps.

Wow, responding to seven quotes in one reply! A great set of options and opinions - and evaluation work to do! Thanks Oleg and everyone. And Al, that Canada6 map that you linked for us is really cool. Imagine a 3-D globe constructed that way!

Al - We posted at same time! "Image Ready" vs. the "Ulead camp" should be studied before buying.

OK - From Business Week (October 28, 2002) PhotoImpact is said to beat Photoshop Elements, but it doesn't have hand-holding for easier use, and doesn't have a picture browser. SmartSaver Pro (not mentioned in that article) is in a different class, specifically aimed at Web's tight needs in terms of file size and web versatility. So the big question is this: Does PhotoImpact have the same compression engine as SmartSaver Pro under the hood??? For someone with no decent Photoshop-class tool, PhotoImpact is a good consideration. For me, a special purpose tool is preferable. In fact, anything with a Web focus is preferable. Oleg, can you add to this?

Thanks Al - I can't find anything that says SmartSaver Pro has been bundled or combined with PhotoImpact. On Ulead's home page, holding mouse cursor over "Products" active menu, and then over "Web design" active menu, both products appear separately. Here are the links to all: Click for Ulead Home Click for Ulead PhotoImpact Click for Ulead SmartSaver Pro Now I'll check out your Business Week article link - thanks!

Oleg, For sure there are many who want to know what is the best compressor on the market. You have suggested that Ulead SmartSaver Pro v3.0 is at the top. I found a good article about this software from 3 years ago when SSPv3 was released, and little more since that time: Click for July 12, 2000 article found at "CreativePro.com" Notably this quote tells about separate quality and chroma compression controls: So my question is this: In three years no one has beat Ulead's compression performance? If there are no strong opinions to the contrary then this software is worth a look. Thank you!

Yah, imagine this kind of access to gates.... OK Bob, it is indeed the rework of previous shows, or of the as yet unreleased shows finally being finished that motivates wanting it to work the same. But "more accurate" and "functionally correct" overrule any desire for "same as before". To be complete in this response, certainly a show already made always works the same, regardless of how PTE is changed after the show was made

Thanks - that's funny Bob. I debated calling this "incorrect" vs. a "judgement call" and decided to trust the sense found when watching a show. The P2E show just doesn't go "backwards" in the true sense. We all have VCRs or DVD players (not to mention those early days of that old 8mm/super-8 "film") and we know what backwards is! I like watching the swimmer dive out of the ocean! Imagine them going up the diving board and then diving out of the ocean. Doesn't make any sense to me

I tested for this observed functionality issue after watching Oleg's tutorial show, Create Background without plugin filters (non-sync), where I observed the star field picture frame "painting" two different ways (effects), going forward and backward. What I discovered applies to only non-sync shows with custom transition effects. In summary, when advancing to next slide I get one "effect" type, and when I use the left arrow to go back one slide I get a different "effect" type. I can see that the effect defined for the previous slide is what P2E displays, but if I am going back one slide I expect the same effect to happen in reverse. What actually happens is a different effect altogether. Think of playing a video program in reverse to understand why it seems wrong. Here is the problem sequence illustration: Forward sequence in P2E now: Effect 2->Slide 2->Effect 3->Slide 3->Effect 4->Slide 4 etc. Backward sequence in P2E now: Slide 4->Effect 3->Slide 3->Effect 2->Slide 2->Effect 1 etc. Backward sequence expected: Slide 4->Effect 4->Slide 3->Effect 3->Slide 2->Effect 2 etc. Notice that the sequence I perceive to be "expected" is in fact, actually the reverse of the forward sequence of slides and transition effects. P2E is being coded to introduce a slide using the same effect when playing in forward and backward direction. I think this is incorrect functionality. In addition to the sequencing correction required, ideally the effect itself should happen in reverse. E.g. Clockwise (forward play) becomes Counter-Clockwise (backwards play), and From Center (forward play) becomes To Center (backwards play). All of the effects have reversible "polarities" in this regard except for simple fade, which doesn't have any "polarity" at all. This is a subtle, yet quite definite, functional error proven to exist in v4.10 beta #8 (earlier versions were not tested).

"A Day in London" Very nice show and music Tom. Please excuse my ignorance, but what is that cylindrical building that looks like it is falling over to the left and rear of your photo? It has an interesting and unusual architecture. (I edited this post to say to which show I refer)