Barry Beckham

Igor. Yes, I know your right about the habit, it will soon change I know. The F6 key will be useful B

It makes a lot more sense with the AB if it is going to be developed further. I am just anticipating questions from newer users. I have been using 7 for only a short time and I appreciate that I would get used to it in time, but I don't like having to go to the far right of the screen for the slides and timeline buttons. I also know you can't please everyone, but I would like these buttons moved left next to the Project options button. Ideally. I would like a key stroke for these options. but not one that involves Ctrl+, I would love a one finger press to toggle between the two. I use a graphics tablet and I don't want to have to use two hands to make a selection. I want my right hand to remain on the graphics tablet as I make the change between timeline and Slide List.

Igor Is it possible for you to provide a short update here on what your current thinking is for PTE on a Mac. I still receive questions about it and the last I heard was a beta version sometime in 2010. Any short update would be useful to keep customers informed.

Igor I am not entirely sure what benefit the AB tag is on every thumbnail. You can access the same options with a double click of the thumbnail and I guess most experienced users and forum members already know this. I can see newer users becoming confused with its purpose as it appears to do much the same as a double click, or a touch of the Customize Slide button. I am not so taken with the X button either. I agree with Xaver, that its too close to the other buttons that have no relavence to it.

PS why post the 26MB first when you knew I wouldn't download it. 1. A strange as it seems, you were not uppermost in my mind as I put the slide show together. 2. The first run used PTE sound where the entire sound file is stored in the exe, even though only a small amount was used. The second run via Audacity reduced the size, but retained all else 3. You were unlikely to like it anyway, because you have taken a dislike to me, you make that plain enough. 4. Your a stubborn old whatsit, but leave off with the poor bit, I don't think anyone is buying that nonsense. Perhaps I will have better luck next time, but in the meantime I will have to live with your disappointment or make the next show 21MB

I have now put the slide show on my own web site and with the music editied in Audacity, the file size has come down to 17MB PC and Mac versions below, top of the page http://www.beckhamdigital.co.uk/freestuffdigslidesw4.htm

Judy Try this for info http://www.beckhamdigital.co.uk/galleries/Natural%20Arch/index.html The Rainforests are almost impossible to convey to anyone in the UK who hasn't experienced them. They are nothing like to forests we are used to in Britain. Its probably one of those love or hate places, but whatever or however it is portrayed, you will not please all the people all of the time. No keyboard control I have said this before, but your missing the point. Audio Visual is a mix of sound and images, where we try and add our charm and appeal via 30% sound and 30% music. When we get it right we may achieve much more than the 60% that the two would naturally add up to. A show containing just 16 images is meant to be seen as a whole. Audio Visual is a piece of work in total, not stopped and started. If thats the case, dump PTE, you don't need it. If you want to study pictures,go the gallery above.

Kieron I never rely on the histogram, I use it as a guide, but I find if you follow it blindly it can lead you away from the better exposure balance and picture. In this place (as you realized) in the darkest areas you can have 4-6 stops difference to the lightest parts, so you need to bracket exposures and use 2-3 of them. You will never get anything with just one exposure, latitude is too great. The other alternative is fill in flash, but I am not a lover of flash either. It kills most of the charm that attracts us in the first place. So, quite a bit of Photoshop work done on these images, especially the Arch ones. Mickp Yes I am being blunt with Eric, because he is being a stubborn old Yorkshireman who doesn't know how to admit when they have it wrong. If your Internet connection is so bad that you cannot download anything over 20Mb due to the fear of extra cost. then its time to either pull the plug on the internet completely or change service provider. I doubt there are any in the UK that are that bad anyway. Bandwidth is more of a problem here in Australia that it ever was in the UK. With Internet here there is limited bandwidth and slow internet, especially if you live a little out of the way. It reminds me of how the UK was 10+ years ago. Eric may think Yorkshire is isolated, but here they drive that far to get breakfast David P Thanks for the comments, but I am just an old retired transport manager, what I know about photography I learned mostly in the Camera Club, the same as everyone else. Paul Chester, I remember that. Wasn't that the place that when I turned up for a full days talk, there was nowhere to set up my gear. The place had all tierd seating. Someone found a board that we laid across the backs of the cinema seats and we found milk crates to prop it up. It was not the most comfortable day I spent at the computer, but we made it in the end. Eric Let me try another tack. Come on, you obviously enjoy AV, so why shut yourself off to some of the best stuff you will see. Most people are now using widescreen and that is always going to take you over your self imposed limit. Take another look at your ISP as I am sure your worrying about something that is unlikely to happen.

You wouldn't like it anyway, best you don't see it and pretty soon there will be nothing left for you to watch. Your slowly being left behind.

http://www.mediafire.com/file/veruh2okqxkrz3h/NaturalArch.zip

I don't understand why they have gone to 16:10 res (1920x1200), Because many photographers find 16:10 much better than 16:9

Brian If I had the sound file to hand, then I am likely to have the project file and all the other componants of the slide show to hand. Then finding the length would be easy, but I am referring to a show where the contributing files are now backed up on a DVD and its inconvenient to locate the DVD, find the files and almost recreate the slide show, just to find the length. I would like to right click the exe file and read off the length of the show via properties.

Vince I have installed P2E (latest version) on my laptop, along with a slideshow created with the same version on another computer If the location of these files was lets say from drive D on the original computer and you don't have a drive D on your laptop, that could be the problem but when I open it the files are missing, even though I have them open in P2E. Yes, you can see them yourself, but PTE is looking in the wrong place If you still have the slide show on the other computer, go to it and open it on the original computer. Then from the file menu, create a back-up to Zip Take that zip file to the laptop, unzip and open the project file from there and all should be OK. If you don't have the original, you can select the missing files in the slide list at the bottom of the PTE main screen, (one at a time) and then change each one via the change image file button, top middle/right of the main screen, shouldn't take too long for 30-40 slides.

Igor I often find I have a need to know the length of my exe file, but unless I am missing something it doesn't display anywhere in the properties of that exe file. If I right click and exe in Explorer I cannot find any reference to the slide show length. I appreciate that I can find out from the project file, but that is now stored off the PC and inconveneinet to locate. it would be quicker to play the slide show and time it. Can this information be put into properties like it is with Videos?

Kim If your more familiar with an image editor, there is another way to do this. You can create each image added to the pile as a separate picture. I wouldn't like to say which way is the easiest to understand http://www.beckhamdigital.co.uk/downloads/pte6/birthday/birthday.htm If the demo on this page meets your needs, let me know and I will provide you a link to the video

Judy No problem, I jumped in rather quickly myself. No offence taken The forum sometimes seems like an old boys club of self congratulations and we rarely see any attempt to move the bar up. There are some exceptions of course. I fully agree with what Xaver said :- Positive comments may be encouraging, but it will not increase the quality of the productions. But then I have been saying this for some time.

Mick I did say, that it didn't have enough interest for me to stay in there. The music is good, but I feel the slide show falls between two stools. Its is not graphics and its not photography. I just don't find the kaleidoscope type effect has enough interest to keep my attention and I want to reach for the escape key after 4-5 images. Animation doesn't help either. If the content doesn't keep a viewer watching, moving the subjects around won't either. I like graphics and you see lots of them in pictures we hang on our walls, but they will have to be very good to maintain interest in a slide show and these don't do it for me. I have no problem that others like it much better than I and respect their view. But how does it help Gilio if all those feel the same as I do stay silent.

Hang on, what is it with this forum, can't I make any comment at all without some comment on my comment? What the hell is the point of giving feedback, when anything said that doesn't backslap is jumped on.

Gilio My appologies, but it doesn't do it for me. I don't find enough interest to stay in there, sorry. The only graphics AV's that I have seen that I find inspiring are the ones done by Greg.

The spacing issue is something you see when montages are made. The elements of the picture are sometimes put in the four corners and look as though they don't belong to one another. In a slide show like yours, even a tilt and overlap if inset images has a degree of charm

Colin Great show and the music is perfect for Africa. I have a couple of thoughts for you:- Your opening titles lack a little style due to the vivid royal blue colour. Have you thought of cloning a colour from within the image the title appears over. Usually there is a harmony when we do that and I think your titles would become more stylish. You may have to try a few different tones, but I would start with those in the middle distance hills. The Inset images are a nice touch too, but they are tucked too near the edge of the frame. There are too widely spaced and there is a feeling they are not connected, your losing a little appeal there.

Mark I think you have moved the pendulem much further towards AV with your changes, but the out of focus backgrounds you have used, now thrown up some strong highlights that compete with your Black and whites Images. Those strong white areas need burning in and taking right down so your monochromes stand out with no distractions.

Mark You have some great images in your show and I found the music fine for the images. I am not so sure about the monochromes and colour mix, but its not the colour mono mix that I don't feel is right, its the presentation of the monochromes. It feels like I am moving into another show when the first one comes up and I was surprised when it went back to full screen and colour. I don't know why, but the main full screen images look good edge to edge on a 16:10 monitor, but the square black and whites don't look so good to me. I feel I want to see a gap around the edge of each one at the top and bottom. Upright images that touch the edge of the frame never look quite right to me. I would have them coming up over the top of the previous image, maybe with that image blurred and/or monochrome too. If you did make the mono images smaller and place them over the preceeding image, then you might need some type of framing to present the images well. It falls a little bit between two stools. Is it an AV or a presentation of your images. I think it will sway back more towards AV if you do something a little different with the square monochrome images.

With the greatest of respect to Igor, adding video to a stills slide show doesn't have the same appeal for me as it does for others, but I have always accepted that PTE should have this facility for those who want it. I have seen video used in PSG , where the output was destined for a DVD and the result on the TV was pretty good. It was an action sequence of cars on a track. There were dramtaic stills of the cars, that cut to fast video taken from very low angle on the cars. The author used a bullet cam stuck to the outside of the car, so the ground was rushing past. That had lots of impact and the mix of video and still worked. I don't have any need to make DVD's, so I would want to use HD video, so that the quality of the video matches the stills images. As the Dom says I find my appeal leans more towards the classic AV, but I willing to be convinced otherwise. I will see what others do and hope to be inspired by some good ideas. Never say never or you can look a fool. I just don't fancy small videos moving about the frame in front of stills. I can visualise a shot of still water that fades from a still crisp image to a gentle flow for a few seconds, but only if it is HD. I watch with interest.

DavyC Are you sure your name isn't really Gary