Barry Beckham

Gary what is wrong with resizing it to 1920x1080 Nothing and that is my point. If you want a slide show of 16:9 format then you should pre size your images to 16:9 format at 1920*1080 to retain the very best quality and only make images larger if you want to animate them. Forgive me if I have mis-understood, but that didn't appear to be what you were doing at the start of the thread. In that case you have no need of % of the slide show. You originally said that My camera's images need about a 118% amount to move the left and right edges of the image to fit the aspect ratio window in PTE. They shouldn't need that at all if you do actually size your images at 1920*1080. You now seem to be indicating that you do size your images to 1920*1080 and in that case I am even more confused because I thought you indicated that you felt that took too long in an image editor.

I do this quite often as I use PTE for tutorials. I just make three shows, the first programmed, then the manual one for the live speaking and then the end part. Its not as though there isn't a gap between all three and I can't help thinking your making things over complicated.

Well, I have been around digital photography a long time and also Photoshop and rightly or wrongly I will always size my images to the size they will be seen. I really can't see any point in spending a large amount of money on a camera to deliver quality images, then spend time and effort to take pictures, then put them in a slide show trusting to luck to some degree. Sorry, that doesn't sound quite how I meant it, no offense intended. Broadly speaking (very broadly) there are two types of slide show. Image based and story based. Story based slide shows are not quite so dependant on great quality images, because the story/commentary generally carries the whole thing. In image based slide shows and from what I see, they contribute 95% of what is posted, the images must be really, really good, if the slide show is to have appeal and staying power. Why give up ANY chance of that to save a few minutes.

I don't see an issue with the final quality on an image whether you use my method or doing it in Photoshop. Do you? I can't say I have ever tried to be honest Gary. One thing that I do notice in Photoshop is that if I have a high resolution image on screen that has been compressed (for want of a better word) into a smaller space, I do see a slight difference in the images. I see a slight softening of the high resolution image, but I can't say I have ever carried out any tests to see if this is transferred to PTE. If your a regular Photoshop user you may be aware that if you apply text and text effects like shadows and bevels to a image. You often need to view that image at actual size to see the text crisp and clean. At lower magnifications it can often look a bit crinkly. I have always resized images to the size I wish to use them, I suppose because in the early days we had no choice if we wanted the slide show to run smoothly at 1024*768. Things are different now and if you get the result you want, then I am a great believer in staying with what works for you. Having said that I confess to being a little confused after reading a later addition you made. I assumed your approach was to place images directly from your camera into your slide show, so they would be far greater in pixel dimensions than 1920*1080, but later in the thread you say:- Yes, I resize my images to 1920 on the long side, to reduce the overall size of the PTE exe file. If you do that before increasing the width to 118% as you described, arn't you affecting image quality by displaying pictures oversize, or have I missed something?

Gary Well whose to say what method is best, if any, its the end result that counts and too many AV enthusiasts don't give any thought to how one image appears over another, so at least you are considering that aspect. Its just that the tool you mention is one that for a long time I have wondered what on earth its good for. I prefer to prepare my images in Photoshop and I use layers a lot to fine tune transitions. I don't find it a chore to crop images to the desired size.

Gary I notice your comment has been posted all day, but as yet no-one has replied. I wonder if they are wondering why and are afraid to ask At a risk of poking my head above the parapet, why would you want to do this? I don't understand and I suspect others don't either. If you do as you have suggested there will be one of two outcomes. 1. You will reduce the quality of your images by making them larger than the slide show they were created for. 2. If they were already created larger, by enlarging them as you describe you effectively crop quite a bit from the top and bottom, which you have no control over.

Well, I suppose most users have a commercial use for the software and then £168 isn't a great deal of money.

I never looked at the price to be honest. When I got the 64 bit machine and found that MMB that I had been using for years would no longer work I had to move on. I seem to recall I struggled a little to find something that I could be certain would meet my needs and that one did. MMB may be cheap, but they are not developing it any longer and with so many people turning to 64 bit, its as good as useless to many now. However, it is a great bit of software for 32 bit users.

I can vouch for Multi Media Builder and used it for some time, but its now reached the end of its development and I found it would not work on a 64 bit machine. I reluctantly had to change to something else and chose Autorun Pro Enterprize 2. Once I got used to Autorun Pro, I found that I liked it just a bit better than MMB. I use it constantly for every video tutorial I make and I have found that it meets all of my needs. If anyone wnats to see how it looks and works, shout http://www.longtion.com/

Peter I don't see it that way, they are both presentation methods which is different to image editing. As always just one persons opinion.

Dave elitist ? What for having an opinion !! I think it's just common sense. Unless you know of one software program that is a master for everything you want to do on the computer. I would much rather see the essential parts of PTE improved, the sound which Igor is working on now, the text options which are limited and perhaps even give PTE to sort of functionality that Powerpoint has for those who would like to use it as a teaching aid.

Dave Well, they couldn't do what has been suggested anyway, because you cannot make a Mask of that complexity in PTE, you need an image editor for that. what about the beginner who wants to import images directly from a compact and has no editor? should igor cater for him/her also. No every day of the week and twice on Sundays, or PTE will be turned into a Jack of all trades and master of none. It should stay with what it is good at, presenting images in the best way possible.

but wouldn't you need an image editor to create the mask in the first place. Once you have done that, why complicate things by using a mask in PTE, just create 2 images, its not as though we are hard pressed to keep file sizes down.

Eric Theres no point in changing virus software, they all have their moments as we have seen with AVG Tried downloaong tonight and it seems to be coming down OK now.

Just a heads up for anyone interested. Avast brought up a threat detected warning when I opened the link to Media Fire. We know its a false positive, but if you post a zipped version, it is easier to download and deal with the false warning. I have to say its about time you kicked that 5:4 format into touch :-)

I don't have any solutions, even if there is a problem. Just pointing out what I see and what I have experienced quite a few times when I have needed a question asked. (not on this forum though) A question was answered recently by a regular member, but in that case I thought I had a better way to to the same, but it would be more complicated than the answer given. It was fairly obvioous that the person asking the question was knew to PTE. I chose not to add an alternative to those answers already given, as it tends to look like a one upmaship race and may not help the newer user.

Peter - I did remember the language thing and told myself to mention that, then forgot all about it. Thanks for adding it in. Yes it is about how we, on this or any forum, conduct ourselves in respect of the other members and that if we are not careful, in our eagerness to help we can often hinder.

There has been some recent suggestions/questions asked about the instructional information that is available to PicturesToExe users. Despite it being freely available the newer user of PTE will always need to ask the questions we have heard a 100 times before. Once we have a reasonable knowledge of any software we are using, we can sometimes have trouble understanding why the newer user finds some tasks so baffling. I am speaking in general terms, but that is a fact with anything that is being taught and good teachers are those who can bridge that gap for the student. A written instruction manual is a great thing in any software, but it often doesn't answer many of the questions the newer user needs addressed. They are often too technical and fail to inform exactly what needs to be done and in what order. The inherent problem that most people will agree with, is that keeping instructional documentation and/or tutorials up to date is quite a challenge. Both in skill and the time taken to create them. Modern software changes so quickly that by the time the doc/tut has been made and proofed, it's virtually out of date. Sometimes the changes to software is minimal enough that the newer user can bridge the gap that has opened up in the documentation/tutorial themselves, but very many can't. It doesn't indicate a lack of intelligence or ability to learn, its just that we are all different and we all learn in different ways. A 6 step process where the 5thstep has become out of date can be worse than useless for some people. They waste valuable time up to step 5 and then come to a crashing stop. May as well have not started in the first place. This has happened to me, so I doubt I am unique. One of the other issues which is huge for the newer user in any software is the hundreds of options that are packed into that software. There can often be many different ways to approach the same project and the user can't see the wood for the trees. How do they know which boxes are essential to tick and those that are nice to have, but not important to what they are doing right now? Its why default settings are so important. Forums can be a blessing, but they can also be a curse. People generally cannot cope with being given many different ways to do the same thing, they just want one. They are not too bothered if it's not the best, or the quickest way. All they want at that stage is a solution to give them a result. In my experience,its often the simplest method that is best given at this stage, not the best one that you have found after years of experience. Those are often too complex for the user, at that stage. There is a tendency on forums for a number of people to give various different ways to do things and it's done with all the best intentions. However, I think we need to stop and think sometimes and if a new user has been given a solution, then despite the fact we feel we have a better one, we should not complicate things by adding many others. Then we have to accept that there are many different styles of projects that people are working on from the simple to the complex. From a bit of animation fun, a holiday slideshow, to a major competition entry. How do we create documentation/tutorials for all those eventualities? I also feel there is still a little too much jargon and abbreviations used on this and other forums. I often see an abbreviation of letters that make me stop and think, what is that? After a few seconds I can often work it out, but sometimes I can't. You see an answer to a question that says, go to the O&A and create multiple key points. You have to be an experienced PTE user to understand that ! In addition to all this, how do we tell if the question being asked is from an experienced user or not? Often the clue is the question and it can be obvious by the very nature of that question that this request is from a newer user. Therefore, we should structure the answer accordingly and keep the number of different ways to achieve the same result to a minimum. Jargon and abbreviations have no place in a thread like this. We can't even assume the user knows what a slide list is. On top of all this, if this isn't enough, we have the added complication of dealing with the creative aspects of the software. Igor has said , that he didn't envisage his software being used in some ways he has seen. So, for those of us who like to help and answer queries, perhaps we all need to think about the question asked more carefully and how it should be addressed. Can I suggest that you don't assume a knowledge that may not be there and if a workable solution has already been given, resist the urge to add loads of others.

Yes I appreciate that and thought about that route myself, but I didn't want to risk getting something I then wasn't happy with. I still think laptops suck, but needs must.

Arthur I think the guys here have given you the answer, but a long shot may be to update your graphics card drivers. They usually become out of date, even before you get your PC home, so if you have never updated them, it odds on there will be improved drivers available. There is no guarrantee that this will fix your problem, but at nil cost its worth a try. Over the years it has fixed one or two problems I have experienced. I usually do this through System > Device manager > update driver

I recall needing a new laptop 3 years ago as I was leaving the UK for Australia, so I took a heavily animated slide show on a stick around the stores and ran the slide show on the demo models. I didn't want to part with my cash untill I actually saw the thing working and we tried dozens of laptops. I found that some of the most expensive and high tech laptops didn't perform very well at all, while some lower down the spec range did. You would expect the higher specs to always produce the goods, but it must have something to do with compatability of the componants too. If I were buying a laptop to show PTE shows as I suspect you are, I would want to see it running some animation first. Put it under a bit of pressure and see how it copes. It is clear that the power we want is not understood in the market place. Later in Australia I did exactly the same thing when I needed another laptop.

Steve If you want to make a slide show for both PC and TV (DvD) use, then it probably makes most sense to create your images at a resolution of 1920*1080, which is 16:9 format. You cannot make your 3:2 images fit a 16:9 format screen without cropping them in an image editor, but that is rarely a big issue as long as you know how. Its a fair bet, but not certain that you are working with a monitor of 16:9 format anyway, but your certainly not using a 3:2 monitor, which is the format images your Canon will give you. If you stick to 3:2 format you must have black bars left and right, but I can't think of a good reasons to remain with 3:2 while your trying to fill your screen. If you set a resolution in the Project options > Screen Tab in PTE at 1920*1080. then look into the Main tab you will see that you have 16:9 format. Create your images at that same resolution 1920*1090 and you should be fine. When you create the exe for the slide show, tick the box in the screen tab called Fixed size of slide (in pixels), but when you make the DVD for TV use then untick that box. You can see how different formats will appear on your monitor with the examples in the download I sent you. There is one for 4:3 - 5:4 - 16:9 - 10:10 and 3:2

Steve I am not sure if this will help, but on my web site I do have a slide show that deals with this subject. Might be worth a view to see if it joins some of the dots. Its called Image Size for both PC and Mac http://www.beckhamdigital.co.uk/slideshows_4.html

I agree with Lin. I also like to create frames, edge effects, drop shadows and a myriad of other effects in my image editor. With the greatest respect for Igor, there is much greater control, variation and creativity open to us using Photoshop/Elements than there will ever be in PTE. The more image editing stuff that gets packed into PTE the more difficult it will become to use. Its quite an important thing to be able to add a Png or a Jpeg image and have the opportunity to apply that Png/Jpeg to every image in the show in one go. However, we still need the flexibility to be able to remove that image from individual slides. Blank images are a good example. I also agree that the tiled image option does need a better name. What about "Apply Background Image" then have the default value set at 100%. If possible could we see a small thumbnail size representation of what we have selected in a preview window, rather like the before and after view in Elements for example.

Eric I always place the base box on the floor beneath the table where I sit, so its conveniently placed between my legs while sitting. From there I have found its easy and convenient to reach the volume. Been ok for literally hundreds of demos and is still going strong. We also use the same speakers every club night to display competition results (via PTE of course) A new system of Ergo speakers have just been purchased by the club, so I don't have to lug mine there anymore. I chose Ergo when I saw them used by Maureen Albright when I visited Aldbourne to do a demo. Concensus between myself and the wife puts that about 10 years ago. What I liked was that all I needed was in one cardboard box. When you do demos its nice to have the confidence that when you pick up the box everything you need is there. All the speakers and all the supplied wires and even the cardboard box is still in one piece. Given the original question I just offer my views as someone who has used them in all types of halls and hundreds of time. What I like about them is that they are good for the odd larger hall too, as well as typical CC rooms. When giving demos or presentations, I found its best to keep things simple, you have enough to worry about so reliable, easy to carry and set up equipment is essential