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Nix Wadden

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Posts posted by Nix Wadden

  3. PTE Made Easy tutorials - Continuously Updated

    in Tutorials & Video Lessons

    Posted

    For us non-smarties, are any of these tutorials available in PDF and, if so, where?

    Nix Wadden

    Hi Folks,

    I've decided to create a series of AVI tutorials which I call "PTE for Smarties". A very popular series of books for computer users called variously "Windows for Dummies", etc. were written to help beginners learn to use Windows and other software.

    Well, I don't think there are any "dummies" using PTE. The fact that you have chosen PTE already demonstrates your intelligence so I elected to call this series of beginning and intermediate tutorials "PTE for Smarties" !!

    I've created the first few of a continuing series on the elements of Pan, Zoom and Rotate. After all, the primary reason users want to use version 5 of PTE is for the Ken Burns effects of pan, zoom and rotate and this first AVI will jump-start your understanding. It's not intended to be a thorough and complete guide to PZR because later installments will get into esoteric uses of these functions, but this will get the beginner started and the continuing series will eventually make a PTE "expert" out of the beginner.

    I chose the AVI format rather than Flash or more compressed modes because it's compatible with nearly every PC without the need to load additional software or drivers. I will continue to add links to this post as time goes on. Necessarily AVI files are larger but hopefully will be worth your time.

    A note of caution for all who create PNG objects and expect their slideshows to be shown on computers which "MAY" have different resolution from the one you created the slideshow on. NEVER use "original size" for your objects unless your entire slideshow uses "original" size. In other words "DO NOT MIX" original and fit to slide objects in the same slideshow.

    Yes, it's "much" easier to properly position your png overlays when you are creating your slideshow and use the "original size" for your objects, BUT when the slideshow is played on computers with different screen resolutions these objects will "not" fit properly and not properly overlay the original portion of the screen which it is designed to mask. So, remember to never mix "original" and "fit to slide" or "cover slide" in your objects. Keep them consistent.

    Note: if for any reason you can't see the video it could be that your system doesn't have the necessary video codec. I used Microsoft MPEG-4 Video Codec V2. If you don't have this one you can download it from here thanks to Ken Cox

    http://www.divx-dige...mpeg4codec.html

    If this doesn't work for you I suggest using the Freeware VLC Media Player which should solve any problems. Here's the link for it:

    http://www.download....4-10267151.html

    Index to Tutorials

    1. PZR for Smarties:

    2. Intermediate Rotate:

    3. Esoteric (advanced) Rotate:

    4. Uber Rotation Possibilities:

    5. Basics of Non-Linear Motion.

    6. Basics of Superzoom

    7. Basics of Hyperlink

    8. Basic Map Route Creation

    9. Button Normal, Hover, Pressed

    10. Xara Xtreme 4 Photo Frame Extrusion and Reflection

    11. Sound and PTE (2 AVI Tutorials)

    12. Waterfall Simulation Tutorial with PNG file to simulate falling water

    13. PDF Masking Tutorial

    14. Creating the Panos Watch with PTE Animation

    15. Basic Text Tutorial

    16. 3D Transform Demo and Tutorial

    17. 3D "Z" Position Demo and Tutorial

    18. 3D Cube Creation and Rotation

    19. Christmas Snow Cube Tutorial with Template

    20. PhotoScape Crop Tool Tutorial

    21. Photoscape Splitter and Combine Tool Tutorial

    22. Animate any image with snow in under 60 seconds!

    This index will be continually updated as new AVI tutorials are added.

    Most tutorials are followed with downloadable examples.

    1. PZR for Smarties:

    http://www.lin-evans...nzoomrotate.avi (about 64 meg)

    2. Intermediate Rotate:

    http://www.lin-evans...ancedrotate.avi (about 38 meg)

    3. Esoteric (advanced) Rotate:

    http://www.lin-evans...ricrotation.avi (about 37 meg)

    Demo of esoteric rotation:

    http://www.lin-evans.../pte/dothis.zip (about 8 meg)

    4. Uber Rotation Possibilities:

    http://www.lin-evans.../uberrotate.avi (about 38 meg)

    Demo of Uber Rotate with Helicopter

    http://www.lin-evans.../helicopter.zip (about 8 meg)

    Note: the above is an older AVI I made in response to Jean Pierre's (JPD) suggestion on how to rotate a helicopter rotor blade horizontally for a simulation which one of our forum members was creating. JPD explained it but being a French native speaker some were not completely clear so I created a brief tutorial to show his method which works very well. When you see the AVI remember that the rectangles will be made invisible via the 100% control of opacity. In the demo animation I created you can see how this works in practice.

    5. Basics of Non-Linear Motion (how to set non-linear motion - about 44 meg)

    http://www.lin-evans...t/nonlinear.avi

    Demo of Non-Linear Motion (less than 1 meg zipped executable) Note: press ESC to end show...

    http://www.lin-evans...mart/motion.zip

    6. Basics of Superzoom (how to effect smooth continuing zoom between images - about 60 meg)

    http://www.lin-evans...t/superzoom.avi

    Demo of Superzoom technique (about 37 meg zipped executable)

    This demo shows a zoom from about 28mm to 2000mm focal length using multiple frames with multiple lenses. Notice the original "prowler" size image inserted inside the "O" of the word Prowler at the end.

    http://www.lin-evans...art/prowler.zip

    7. Basics of Hyperlink (about 74 meg)

    This tutorial shows you how to first create and save a small PNG file consisting of a red rectangle with a transparent center using PixBuilder or Photoshop, etc., then how to use it in a PTE show to hyperlink to different detail images from each place the rectangle is placed, The demo zipped executable following shows the completed PTE file.

    http://www.lin-evans...t/hyperlink.avi

    Demo of Hyperlink: (about 6 meg)

    http://www.lin-evans...mart/detail.zip

    8. Basic Map Route Creation (about 69 meg)

    http://www.lin-evans...t/routedemo.avi

    Example file: (about 8 meg)

    http://www.lin-evans...e/cimarron2.zip

    9. Link Below to Buttons Tutorial

    Buttons: Normal - Hover - Pressed

    Link Below to Zipped AVI for download:

    Click here to download zipped avi (about 10 meg)

    10. Link Below to Xara Xtreme 4 3D Frame Template and AVI Tutorial

    Template Link Click Here

    Xara Reflection Frame Template Use Demo AVI

    11. Links Below to Sound Tutorials (about 45 Download Each)

    Sound AVI Tutorial Link One

    Sound AVI Tutorial Link Two

    12. Link Below to Waterfall Animation Tutorial (about 69 meg)

    Also contains PNG file you can use to simulate falling water....

    Link to Waterfall Simulation Tutorial - Click Here

    13. Link to Mask Tutorial PDF (this will be updated when I better understand all areas of masking)

    http://www.learntoma...asktutorial.zip

    14. Links to Watch Tutorials and Files which will allow the PTE user to Animate the Panos Photoshop Watch

    http://www.lin-evans...noswatchavi.zip (AVI Tutorial)

    http://www.lin-evans.../panoswatch.zip (PTE Template)

    http://www.lin-evans...tchtutorial.zip (PDF Tutorial)

    http://www.lin-evans...panoswatch4.zip (example of different watch faces and

    ways to use in PTE)

    15. Basic Text Tutorial:

    http://www.learntoma...exttutorial.zip

    16. 3D Transform Demo and Tutorial:

    http://www.learntoma...3Dtrandform.zip

    17. 3D "Z" Position Demo and Tutorial

    http://www.learntoma...3dzposition.zip

    18. 3D Cube Creation and Rotation

    http://www.learntoma...ubecreation.zip

    3D Tutorial PTE File

    http://www.learntoma...rialptefile.zip

    19. 3D Christmas Snow Cube AVI Tutorial and Template

    http://www.learntoma...avitutorial.zip

    http://www.learntoma...ptetemplate.zip

    20. Photoscape Crop Tool Tutorial

    PhotoScape Crop tool tutorial link

    21. Photoscape Splitter and Combine Tool Tutorial

    Photoscape Splitter & Combine Tool Tutorial Link

    22. Animate Any Image With Snow In 60 Seconds or Less Tutorial:

    Link to Snow Animation Tutorial

    Lin

  4. DVD Creation Problems

    in General Discussion

    Posted

    Nix,

    A quick question ... what are your VideoBuilder checkbox selections ?

    You need only select Burn DVD Disc. Processing non required files eats up time and precious processing resources. A 50 minute show on a I hour DVD wont hold much more additional data anyway.

    See Attachment.

    Thanks.

    Tried that with 6 shows only but got the same runtime error result. Did however successfully burn the same set from ISO using another burn software.

  5. DVD Creation Problems

    in General Discussion

    Posted

    Nix,

    I'm sorry about this problem!

    Please could you try newest version 5.7 Beta? We've updated disc burning code in this version.

    http://www.wnsoft.com/apr/picturestoexe-beta.zip

    I will grateful if you could try it and inform me about the result.

    Hi Igor

    Another bubble has burst. After successfully burning a few PTE shows on DVD using PTE 5.7 beta 6, I tried burning a 10 show set today, and got the same old result: Run time error. abnormal program termination. And Operation failure. Error 3.

    What's going on?

    Nix

  6. DVD Creation Problems

    in General Discussion

    Posted

    Nix,

    I'm sorry about this problem!

    Please could you try newest version 5.7 Beta? We've updated disc burning code in this version.

    http://www.wnsoft.com/apr/picturestoexe-beta.zip

    I will grateful if you could try it and inform me about the result.

    Hi Igor

    Finally, something is working. Downloading of the 5.7 Beta version has done the trick, as we have just successfully burned two short shows on a DVD-RW.

    Before doing so, we were able to burn a show on DVD using imgburn software from a PTE ISO file, showing that there was no problem with our hardware.

    Guess there has to be something not quite right with version 5.5, and that was not corrected by downloading 5.6.

    But for us, all's well that ends well, so thanks for your help, and that of Lin and others who have contributed to this discussion.

    And my thanks especially to my wife Madeline who has borne the burden of downloading and trying to figure out how all of this works.

    Best regards

    Nix Wadden

  7. DVD Creation Problems

    in General Discussion

    Posted

    Thanks. Your earlier reply did seem to go astray somewhere. Thanks to a tip from Jim Robertson, we have downloaded version 5.64 - complete with Video Builder which works fine until disc burning time, and again we got the same result. The PTE message - "Operation failed. Failed connection with burner.exe" Can't say if we got the same exact message before. And it was followed by the usual Runtime error message.

    So we're back where we started, unable to burn to a DVD.

    Meanwhile, it's been several days since asking for help from the support centre, but still have not heard anything from it

    despite its promise to respond wthin 24 hours. Is this normal?

    Having tried a few things that did not make any difference, it looks like this is a software problem, and what else can be done to try to fix it? For example, could there be a corrupted file in 5.5 which has carried over into the newer version?

    Could do with some good news!

    Regards

    Nix

  9. DVD Creation Problems

    in General Discussion

    Posted

    Maybe I can resolve my problem with Video Builder by upgrading from PTE 5.5 to 5.6, so I would like to do this. However, I cannot seem to find on the WnSoft.com web site an obvious way to do so without having to pay in full once again. What am I missing?

    Help, please.

    Nix Wadden

  10. DVD Creation Problems

    in General Discussion

    Posted

    Hi Nix.

    First, it would be very helpful and more economical to invest in a small quantity of rewritable DVD's just for this sort of situation. Here in the states we can buy them in quantities of 10 or 15 in a package. This will eliminate your unusable "coasters."

    Was your slideshow really only 2.9 megabytes, or was it 2.9 "gigabytes?" I assume that it was actually gigabytes. Actually, 2.9 gigabytes is well within the acceptable for standard DVD's and over 140 gigabytes of free space is plenty.

    Approximately how many DVD's do you think you may have burned on your DVD burner? The reason I ask is that they do have a limited life of about 300 to 400 burns per DVD burner. It "could be" that your DVD burner is responsible for this issue and not a computer hardware issue or software issue. Video builder works quite well for so many and you haven't had problems in the past so the first thing I would do is borrow another DVD burner, buy some rewritable media and try it again. If it doesn't work with another burner then you know the problem is likely a corrupted DVD driver or similar situation. If it does work with another burner it's likely that yours simply has exhausted it's limited burn life. Unfortunately, DVD burners, though they can "read" practically forever, do have a very limited burn life - something that the manufacturers don't tell you. We burn commercially and have replaced dozens of DVD burners from HP, Sony, Plextor, etc., over the past years when they fail. The most I've ever gotten from a burner before failures was 430 complete DVD movie burns (full disk over 4 gigabytes).

    Best regards,

    Lin

  11. DVD Creation Problems

    in General Discussion

    Posted

    Hi Nix,

    Actually, the latest release of PTE is version 5.64 and it shouldn't be any problem at all for you if you just take the defaults. The program will "not" overwrite the older versions of PTE which will remain in your Windows Program Files folder. Just let the newer version create an icon and it will be available along side your earlier version. This way you can test to see if perhaps a file has become corrupted in 5.5. If it doesn't work you always have the option of using 5.5 which will remain on your drive. So let me reiterate that it's quite O.K. to simply "install" the latest version of PTE without uninstalling your current version. Perhaps in the past you may have uninstalled when it really wasn't necessary.

    Best regards,

    Lin

    Hi Lin

    Want to take you up on suggestion tp upgrade to PTE 5.64, but don't really know how to do this correctly. The WnSofgt.com site seems to offer either a trial version or a download that calls for payment as a new customer. Have already paid twice for want of knowing how to avoid this.

    Cheers

    Nix

  12. DVD Creation Problems

    in General Discussion

    Posted

    Hi again Lin

    I have just burned a PTE show on a CD using the same burner and it worked just fine, so this may not be a burner problem. Burning was done using Nero software.

    One thing that I have not tried is to re-install the PTE 5.5 software to see if that could make a difference. Really reluctant to do so unless absolutely necessary, because re-installation of an older version of PTE a few years ago was a bit of a nightmare.

    Meanwhile, I have filed a bug report on all this with the PTE support centre, and am told we could get a response within 24 hours.

    Thanks for your help.

    Nix Wadden

  13. DVD Creation Problems

    in General Discussion

    Posted

    Hi Nix,

    Yes, of course there may be other issues such as corrupted drivers, etc. Just to be certain, if it's possible to borrow an external USB DVD burner to burn a PTE show and rule out a mechanical issue with yours, that would be helpful. If that isn't possible, the next thing I would try is to possibly download a free DVD burn software and try burning any DVD or CD to assure that your burner is working properly. If it doesn't work with the other software either, then try downloading and installing drivers for your burner. These are generally available at the website of the manufacturer. A corrupted driver could definitely cause this type error.

    Best regards,

    Lin

  14. DVD Creation Problems

    in General Discussion

    Posted

    Hi Lin

    Thanks for that. I meant of course 2.9 Gigabytes.

    It seems unlikely that my DVD burner is burnt out already, since it was installed less than two years ago, and I have probably burned no more than 50 DVDs and about the same number of CDs.

    Of course, anything is possible, but could it be that there is some other explanation?

  16. DVD Creation Problems

    in General Discussion

    Posted

    I'm glad to see that I am not the only one having trouble burning a DVD using PTE's Video Builder. Unlike my fellow photo club member, Ed, my problem is on a desktop. I do hope someone out there can point to a solution for me.

    I have been using PTE 5.0 Deluxe software, and its Video Builder feature to burn DVDs, for a year or so, and it ran like a charm until this week. Trouble came when I got together a set of 10 shows, totalling 50 minutes and 2.9 MBs, and started to burn them on to a DVD-R, the same kind of disc I have been using. Then I got the unwelcome message : "The application requested the Runtime to terminate it in an unusual way. Contact the application's support team." There was also a notification: "Microsoft Visual C + + Runtime Library - Runtime Error. Abnormal Program Termination. Error 3"

    First question - is there such a thing as the application's support team, and if so how do I contact them?

    Three or four new disc burning attempts, varying the recording time and the few project option variables that might have mattered, only produced the same result. All the program options in Video Builder were set back to default. But nothing changed. Thinking it could be the large number of shows, I experimented with only two shows, and resorted to using DVD-RWs, where the recording speed was really low, but nothing worked.

    We are running Windows XP with 256 MB video card and have 149 GB of free space. Shutting it down, rebooting, running check disc, and taking it back to a restore point two weeks previous, had no effect. We're building up a nice stack of silvery coasters which are practically useless because they do not absorb water.

    The Video builder DVD process, when it works, is just what I need, so please, someone, how do I fix it?

    Nix Wadden

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