Picsel

Thanks Igor for your reply Concerning image modes, (sorry my english is a bit vanishing. I try to put it in another way). As it is today there are two modes for images in comon tab - Fit to slide - Cover slide If I want to use my images without any modifications I must select "Fit to slide", then "Size/position in pixels", then "Original mode" Tab, then click on "size" to get 100%. But if I come back on animation tab the zoom value is not 100% but the ratio between the screen size and my image size. And so, I must keep this zoom value for all other images or to take it into account for the calculation of animation parameters which is not very easy. This is misleading and confusing for photographers who do not want their pictures to be modified. That is the reason why I suggested to add a third mode (by default) for which the image is centered on the slide without any size modification and zoom value equal 100%. I think that could help a lot of slideshow makers. What about my first question concerning setting parameters by using mouse's wheel? Concerning video parameters, I will come back on it later, I want to check something before with PTE video converter. Best regards Daniel

Igor, it would be nice - if it was possible to use the mouse's wheel for setting parameters (mainly rotations, inside O&A editor, for which the existing sliding index is not very accurate but that would be very useful for other parameters too); - to have the possibility of multi soundtracks and multi sounds (comments + sound effects or others...) associated with slides by using the "Add Sound or Voice" button ; - to have a third "Mode" in common parameters of images in order to keep the original size of images without having to put a different zoom setting or to specify the size of the image (that PTE is able to recognise), this is important for photographers who want to be sure that their images are not recalculated during the process. Do you intend - to provide european or american parameters option for videos - to take into account AVCHD videos coming with Sony and Panasonic cameras without transcoding? Do you plan to provide such improvement with v7.5? Thanks in advance Daniel

Bravo Barry, great job! Daniel

...why not? Daniel

I agree with Aginum, the rectangular shadow behind the text is abnormal, bug or not bug. The shadow of the text should appear without this strange rectangle in the same way as for the other shapes. I am not sure it could be a good idea to consider it as an option with a check box because in such a case the dimensions of the rectangle should be "customizable". Daniel

But broadcasted video and video clips produced by most of camera and camcorders in european countries are encoded at 48kHz (audio) But broadcasted video and video clips produced by most of camera and camcorders in european countries are encoded at 25fps for 1920x1080i and 50fps for 1280x720p But all european PTE users will have to make a video conversion in order to match PTE requirements based on american standards! It is a bit surprising to read that the main part of PTE market today is UK and France but PTE uses american standards for video clips. Most of european PTE users, who do not download their slideshow to YouTube or Vimeo, will have to convert their own video clips into american standards if they want to use them with PTE. Which is called "video optimization" ?? In any case, video conversion requires more time and quality loss. So I agree to say that PTE is producing very good quality AV slideshows but technical evidences should not be confused with commercial needs. Best regards Daniel

Peter, I was speaking about H264 video clips (you are right for audio CDs only) Daniel

Hi Igor and Dave, thank you for your reply, that is clearer but for me "Low" "Medium' "High" remain very subjective criteria. speaking about H264 videos : 30p/s for video frame rate and 44100Hz as frequency sampling rate for audio are parameters commonly used in "american" countries 25p/s (50p/s) for video frame rate and 48000Hz as frequency sampling rate for audio are parameters commonly used in "european" countries. The european customer attention should be drawn on that point. There is no great importance if they display their video clips on PC screens but with videoprojectors and TV sets (+ videos players) they can get jerky images if they do not make the right choices (even, some video players do not play the video if audio coding parameters are not the right ones (44100 versus 48000 for example)). So that is also the reason why, as it is today, I would advice european customers to use preferentially "customized" parameters. Daniel

Thanks Nobeefstu, interesting information but a bit complicated to synthesize! I would prefer some more simple criteria. Best regards

Hi Dave sorry for being late to answer you. I could say yes, I agree with you, more often I make the same choice as you but that does not help to understand how it works and I personnaly cant explain what are the purpose of Low -Medium -High Quality options to our club's members without explaining that it changes the mean bitrate target for encoding. When we make video edition with other softwares there are no such predefined options, we have to choose the encoder type : x264/divX/ or Xvid and depending on H264 standards : then a video profile, then the encoding bitrate parameter which is the most important for the ratio quality/file size and so I would appreciate if Igor can give us more complete information about these Low -Medium -High Quality options very specific to PTE. Best regards Daniel

OK Igor but in that case what do low, medium, high, mean in terms of quality? In other words what are the objective criteria for making the right choice? Best regards Daniel Happy New Year!

Hi Dave, Sorry to be late, I missed your post. Personnaly I always choose "Pan and Scan disabled" in order to avoid displaying problems and keeping the slideshow format (which must be the same as the video one). (for example 1440x1080 format is also convenient for displaying 4/3 pictures on 1920x1080 screens if we accept two black strips otherwise the other solution is to specify 1920x1080 for screen in PTE's project options and use 1440x1080 pictures above a colored or tiled image background). Daniel

Mick it is very difficult to answer your question. In fact "Low Quality" "Standard Quality" "High Quality" refer to different mix of parameters which Igor has chosen for us in order to simplify the way to edit a video. If you select "Custom" you will see a short list of parameters, (personnaly I prefer to use that in order to adapt parameters depending on the slideshow). The most important parameters for video quality is the coding "Bitrate" (action scenes and sports are more consuming than still pictures) For example 1920x1080 High quality AVCHD camcorders uses between 16 and 25Mbit/s for movies including sports and action scenes while HDTV quality uses an average of 7,5 Mbit/s and Internet (YouTube and others) between 3 and 7Mbit/s. For still pictures the bitrate can be lowered. So several tests should be achieved to find out the best choice...very time consuming! I can guess that is the reason why Igor suggests three possibilities LQ SQ and HQ. But depending on the slideshow content it is not always obvious to see a difference between them. Note that the coding bitrate is roughly proportionnal to the quantity of pixels per image so 1280x720 requires twice less bitrate, etc.. Daniel

Hello Peter, that sounds to be a very good idea ! Best regards Daniel

Hello Celou and Dave, I raised this question too several months ago, see here, please read also Igor's answer. Obviously I agree and support your demand but I understand the technical problem that Igor is facing. As it is today, the duration parameter of video clip is not linked to slide duration. Slide duration can be set with "project options" or "customize slide" that's all, while video clip duration must be adjust in the object properties tab of O&A editor which is not at the same level. So I can guess that requires a lot of work to Igor's team to fix this issue. But you are right that is a PTE drawback which requires a warning for PTE's user . Best regards Daniel

Peter, Dave I agree with you - if the installation is made without reusing old parameters, the option is unticked - if we close a project which was made with option ticked or unticked; PTE will reopen keeping the same option "ticked or unticked" in that way one cannot say that the option remains unticked by default, in fact PTE keeps memory of the last option used! Why not! Daniel

Igor, V7.0.1 : on my side, by default the option remains ticked (new method)!! That is not in line with what you intended to do, am I wrong? Daniel

J'utilise PicturesToExe depuis quelques années en tant que photographe et vidéaste amateur. Après l'avoir découvert, je l'ai proposé aux membres du club photos et videos numériques que j'anime. Nous avons eu la possibilité de le comparer à d'autres logiciels comme Studio, Magix, Adobe Première, Proshow.... Comme tous les logiciels de montage sur le marché, PicturesToExe a des avantages et des inconvénients. Parlons d'abord des inconvénients : la prise en main requiert un certain temps d'apprentissage pour pouvoir commencer à jongler avec les différents objets, positionner les points clés tout en réglant la pente des mouvements. Ce n'est pas toujours très simple de pouvoir visualiser et décomposer les animations, objet par objet. PicturesToExe nécessite souvent d'avoir un bloc notes sous la main. L' édition des bandes sons, a longtemps posé problème, aujourd'hui elle requiert un peu d'habitude et de pratique, et pour la vidéo, j'attends avec impatience la prise en charge de l'AVCHD. Mais l'inconvénient le plus sérieux dans ce domaine est qu'il requiert, encore aujourd'hui, d'autres logiciels d'édition pour préparer les clips audio et vidéo, ne serait-ce que pour les couper à la durée souhaitée, si l'on ne veut pas alourdir considérablement le poids des fichiers exe. L'absence d'un éditeur graphique se fait cruellement sentir. Il présente aussi de nombreux avantages dont, et ce n'est pas le moindre, la qualité des photos, la fluidité des transitions sans compter le poids du fichier : 11Mo c'est tout simplement exceptionnel! Quand on pense que certains concurrents nécessitent plusieurs centaines de Mo! La création de diaporamas incluant des clips videos HD en fichiers exécutables ne nécessite que quelques secondes alors que la plupart des logiciels de montage sont obligés de passer par une étape de conversion vidéo qui peut demander plusieurs heures suivant la puissance de la machine utilisée. Les possibilités de montage et d'animations photos et vidéos en 2D ou 3D sont infinies grâce à la notion d'objets (dont les masques) et de relation "parents-enfants", de même, depuis la v7.0, il n'y a plus de limites au mixage des voies audio, musiques de fond, bruitages, commentaires, le nombre de pistes étant quasiment illimité et les possibilités infinies avec une précision inégalée. Pour moi PicturesToExe est un logiciel assez exceptionnel aux multiples possibilités et capable de satisfaire les plus exigeants. Il nécessiterait maintenant une révision complète pour le "nettoyer" de tous les petits défauts résiduels qui ont été signalés sur le forum par les uns et les autres et en facilter la prise en main par les nouveaux utilisateurs. Daniel Chabernaud, France

Ok Dave, that's right, keep cool! You are just trying to find an explanation and to find new rules for avoiding wrong PTE behaviour ! OK! I think it is not the right way to solve a problem that's all. Have a good week-end. Daniel

Sorry Dave, but as you can read it in my previous post, I've selected the option at the very beginning of a new project and I have not changed it after, so I do not understand your comment! But in any case, as I said in my previous post, if this option must not be changed during a project, this option must be moved inside Project Options otherwise it is not logical. But from my point of view it would be better to leave it at the same place and to be able to change it at any times depending on the needs (for example if you need to add a video clip for the slideshow purpose after starting a new project with the option unticked). Best regards Daniel

Dave, what do you mean by Time points option? I do not change anything concerning time points. If you want to say that "Keep full slide duration" option must be selected or not once for all for a specific project, in this case the option must be moved inside "Project Options". But I think the actual problems are not there. Daniel

Jill, Sorry, I got exactly the same problem you have described in your previous post, this is more likely due to a new bug. It seems that depending on initial conditions of PTE project, either it works in the right way (my post), either it works in the wrong way (your post)! That seems in line with Dave experience. Best regards Daniel

Jill, I desagree with your comment something is going wrong. On my side unticked = old method (slide duration = duration specified) ticked = new method (slide duration = slide duration specified-effect duration except for the last one which keep the duration specified) So it is convenient for me. Igor, I have detected an old problem and some news old problem : duration values by default are sometimes 2/7 or 2/5 (effect/slide) depending on initial conditions I think there is still a "memory effect" somewhere. new problems : - open a new project - option unticked - drag and drop 3 slides - 2/7 2/7 2/7 - Via project options I specify new values 4/9 it comes - 4/9 4/9 4/9 then I've ticked the option, it comes : - 4/5 4/5 4/9 That is OK except that the slide duration indicated in the Customize Slide window is not in line with the slide duration specified in Project Options which is not logical and will be misleading Starting from this point : - 4/5 4/5 4/9 1) if you drag and drop some new slides it comes - 4/5 4/5 4/9 4/9.....???? should be - 4/5 4/5 4/5 ....4/9 2) if you move one slide to another place for example n°2 to third position it comes - 4/5 4/9 4/5 ???? should be - 4/5 4/5 4/9 Best regards Daniel

Hi Igor, I've made some tests with this 701 beta. I agree with Dave the main problem is not solve and even it seems there is a new bug. - validate the option "Keep full slide duration" - begin a new project - put 3 slides on the timeline - specify 4/9 duration (effect/slide) on the main tab of project options, each - select one slide (n° 2 or 3) and click on "customize slide) without modifying parameters, click on OK button and you will see that duration of n-1 slide is incremented each time you click on the OK button of Customize slide. To answer your question, personnaly I think that a slide cannot be linked with the both effects that will lead to new misleading. I agree with Jill proposal (see my previous post on this subject). Just a remark, the people who are used to edit video know perfectly well that the ending transition duration must be deducted of the movie duration itself. So if necessary to make some different duration calculations for PTE why not only when video clips are inserted , I could agree with Dave on this point. Best regards Daniel

It seems that could be only a coincidence, some other tests achieved with another PC /W7 gives for duration default values either 2/7 either 2/5 depending on initial conditions of PTE and if "Show total duration" has been ticked or unticked on a previous project even if this previous project has been closed and even if PTE has been restarted... Daniel