Barry Beckham

I have just come back from a simple job of copying some images from a Mac to a USB Stick or portable drive for a memorial sequence. I assumed (wrongly as it happens) that with my experience of computers it couldn't be difficult, but I gave up in the end and wrote the images to a disk. Even that didn't pop out on completion, I had to find out how to eject it. The Mac could see and read the files on the stick and the Drive, but would not let me copy those Jpegs to them. Now I am sure that is all down to user error and my inexperience with a Mac, but how difficult should it be to copy a few Jpeg files for someone who is computer literate, well I thought I was. A lady recently joined a Camera Club and wanted advice. Told by the resident Mac user that this is what she must have, she buys the Mac. Then she finds out it's only her and Mr Mac who owns one (and he actually knows diddly squat) Every time she turns to a club member for some technical help, they can't help because she is out of step with everyone else. A computer is just a tool to do a job, no different to a hammer, but it seems that the Mac has taken a place alongside the car in your driveway. It has become bling, a must have toy that you can brag about. Well, I am not impressed with the name Mac or the bragging. I am impressed by what Mac users produce, so more lets see more output and less Mac talk :rolleyes:/>

Peter Great Idea and perhaps to select more than one track with Ctrl+Click within the timeline

I am thinking of dumping all our PC's and moving over to Mac's. I am looking forward producing much better slide shows and much better pictures on them. :rolleyes:/>

Ron Can't do that !!! What actually suggest that their precious Mac be soiled by disgusting PC software. Oh dear some Mac users would have a hissy fit at the very thought. :rolleyes:/> I am joking of course and I have already suggested that, but not every Mac users wants to do that.

No problem and thanks for the feedback

Igor Are you able to give Mac users any update on when a Mac version of PTE may be available? I still get emails asking me about this and received the latest today, but I don't really know what to say to them? Any update would be helpful. I think it was around 2010 that it first started to be discussed

Every time I hear this I want to scream at the camera club committee for still clinging onto this ridiculous belief that because their projector is 4:3 everything must be made at that format. Barnston. You can if you wish make your slide shows 16:9 format (or any other) and they will play back fine on a 4:3 projector. I have been doing it for years.

Well, exposure is still the be all and end all, even in the digital world. Yes we can bend and shape a wrong exposure, but there is a price to that which most of us don't like much. I like these quick slide shows, shot and made within a day. They capture a moment in time. I was encouraging my wife to get out for a short walk after a hip replacement. Not bad after only 5 weeks from the surgery to walk 1.2k unaided.

A slide show shot and made mostly the same afternoon (yesterday 12th Oct) and evening using PTE8. The images were used straight from a Canon G16 camera at 4000*3000 pixels. Formatting and sharpening of images was all done within PTE 8 and both the music sound track and sound effects were mixed directly on the time line of PTE 8. http://www.beckhamdigital.com.au/store/pc/Page-5-Latest-c100.htm

I have been caught out a few times over the years, by making the assumption (which would be right in 99% of cases) that the issue I am suffering from is software related. On a few occasions after spending ages trying to track down a software problem I found it was hardware related. Could it be something like that? A fault between the ram and the motherboard had me chasing a software issue for a year till I had that eureka moment. Possible?

Yes, I suppose you can, but I was thinking about how I might apply a whole slide show with an edge effect. How good would that be if we could do that with just a few clicks. Something tells me that if I had to adjust the timings I would find a reason not to do it :rolleyes:/>

Slide Styles would be a great way to apply edge effects, lines and special effects to our images. We could apply them to one or all the slides in our show except for one thing. The Duration from one slide to the other is part of the style. So applying an edge effect after making a show would upset all the timings. The edge effects could be applied first of course, but sometimes we want to try options after the show is made. In the Slide Style window I was wondering how hard it would be to have a tick box to turn off the slide styles ability to include the duration. Just leave all effects in place, but no duration changes.

Those "PC Specialists" have made at least 6 PC's for me over many years and they have all been superb for the job. 2 of which are still in daily use and are over 6 years old

I would suggest that is what we want in PTE and as we are so close (ie having to hold the left mouse) perhaps its not so hard to just be able to click the sampler and move anywhere on the screen your in and sample a colour.

Colin No problem, it's hard sometimes to convey what's in your mind with typed words, when the subject is a bit technical. The other day I was trying to express something and wondered if a short video would be better :blink:/>

Colin Yes, I agree it all works fine in Photoshop, but not in PTE. Well, not quite as well. You would expect to be able to click the eye dropper in PTE and then move about the image as you have demonstrated in Photoshop, which was my point. However, as soon as you move off the colour picker in PTE the eye dropper is lost. With Slide Styles now about to be launched and with the opportunity to add edge effects in almost any colour we want, being able to select colour from an image should be easy in my view and it's what I am suggesting. I don't use a mouse so I am assuming that if you tried the same thing in the Objects and Animation screen, you would NOT get the same result as you have with Photoshop. Please try it just in case my assumption is wrong. As I click on the eye dropper in the Objects and Animation screen it appears to select it, but it doesn't. Move off the window to the image and it's lost. Click and hold the left mouse and it does, but how many would think of doing that? Apart from me

When the colour picker is selected, in my case to change the colour of a rectangle, we have a large number of choices from three different styles of picker. Often when doing presentation work, the best colour for text or backgrounds can often be one cloned from the image colours itself. There is a certain visual harmony retained when we do that When the colour picker window is selected (any of the three styles) we have an eye dropper tool to enable us to do exactly what I ask, but it doesn't work quite right. If you click the eye dropper tool and move off the Choose Colour Window, the eye dropper cannot select a colour from the image itself (see attached) If the eye dropper is clicked and while holding the left mouse down, it's dragged off the panel, you can select a colour from the image. (keeping my Wacom graphics pen pressed to the pad surface in my case) Given that it sort of works OK, it would be a nice touch if when the colour sampler tool is selected with one click, it can be moved anywhere on the screen and still function. Without the need to hold down the left mouse or keep the pen hard on the tablet surface. One false move and option to sample from the image is lost and you have to return to the sampler tool for a second go.

Should we not all have the opportunity to set the prog up the way we want it and not be dictated to by the wants of others Sure, but PTE is already moving away from one of it's greatest strengths, simplicity and as I have said many times, some of these issues have no right and wrong answer. It doesn't matter to me how many preferences there are in PTE because I know the software so it's not an issue for me at all, but it can be for the newer user. Igor has to walk the same impossible line I expect every developer has to. The consumer wants the software packed with tools and options and loves it when their chosen software is described as POWERFUL. However, those same options are what make some software hard to learn.

Dave Surely there are just too many of them, it would fill up the software with options that will frighten most casual users away and make it more daunting. In the vast majority of software the defaults reflect what most people use, that's not always the case with PTE. Preferences then need to be kept to a minimum and that certainly isn't the case with any software. Many preferences just get stupid, like Lightroom. It even has a preference to what decorative squiggle appears on some screens. As if that ever helped any photographer create a better picture. I expect it's very hard for experienced users/creators of software to keep things simple, but I think its what should be aimed for. Some preferences are good, some just clog up the system and it's a fine line the software developer has to walk I guess

I think there is a big difference between preferences and defaults. Defaults should be set to what most people use most of the time. Preferences are a different issue.

I am not sure, but it sounds like you may have used the images directly from the DVD. If that is the case and you have now removed that DVD from the player, PTE will not know where your images are. It does not save your images when you save a project file, just the location of where they and your music are located on your computer, along with your settings in PTE. If I am right and you place the DVD back in your drive your slide show may re-appear. Most slide show enthusiasts copy all their images and music to a dedicated folder before starting the creative process. If I am right and your slide show re-appears, there is a simple way you can move forward using save to zip, but best you confirm if I am right or not first.

I probably have a greater need than most to record my voice for tutorial reasons, so the new feature that allows me to link my Record Voice comment to a slide is very welcome, but it needs a key stroke. In fact it needs two. I right click a slide, but then have to select Audio Comment and then another selection to Record Voice Comment. Then a window opens and I have to click again to start the recording. OK with one or two comments, but I need to do 100 or more and then those key strokes and selections are a pain. I would like an option to start and stop a Voice comment recording with a key stroke, probably an "F" key if possible. Camtasia employs that type of function and it makes recording many takes sweet. Remember, we are amateurs and fluff our lines enough times that we need a quick and easy way to start and stop recording

Sorry, I just turned you into the Godfather, but I was going to make you an offer you couldn't refuse :lol:/>

The Don It's funny, but as I was typing that first text I had you in mind. I thought if ever there was someone who would like this, it had to be you. I never saw your original post though. I only thought of this today when doing some practical work with PTE 8 Isn't there actually a need for a separate forum, that just caters for ideas that we can suggest to Igor, but where things don't then get lost in pro and con discussions. I am quite happy to make a suggestion and live with what Igor decides, but I wonder sometimes if he can keep up with all this. I can't and I am not trying to produce new software. I think sometimes we must overwhelm him. Yes, there may be times when someone asks for something that is already there, but surely that would be better than what we do now.

When I am working on animation in the Objects and Animation screen and need to adjust the speed options for multiple key frames (more than 2). I would select the setting up option that opens the Speed Options window. In 100% of all the times I can ever recall going into this screen, (a considerable number) it has always been to separate the sections of animation so I can make my adjustments. Never to glue them back. I doubt I am much different from anyone else, so wouldn't it be a better idea to have the key frames already separated as a default with the glue option as the choice if you want it.