ContaxMan

Thanks for giving the link for the "Ken Burns Effect" - I'd already searched and found the basic information but I'm still not much wiser. Never mind. All will be revealed if Igor incorporates this feature.

Now the light has dawned - rather late in the day, sorry.

OK - I give in - who is Ken Burns & what is his effect?

You're not alone - I didn't see the point either.

Yes - Gerard explains it very well - with examples. And Wayne Fulton's "Scantips" is a mine of information - should be compulsory reading for anyone getting into digital imaging (whether by scanner or not).

It's easy, really. VDUs and the like display pixels. My (typical) screen has dimensions of 1024 pixels by 768 pixels so that's all I need to know. An image of this size will fill the screen. My monitor is nominally 17 inches. My laptop is 13 inches. My old machine 14 inches. A friend has a monitor of 23 inches. But the 1024 x 768 pixels image will fill the screen on each one exactly. If you look at photoshop/photoshop elements image size dialogue, you'll see that the inches/cm bit comes at the bottom in document size & that's exactly where it belongs. If I'm intending to print then I need to know about this. But all that matters on my monitor/projector is what it says at the top - pixel dimensions.

Thanks for your contribution, Kenneth. It's given me something to think about in planning for an AV I have in mind. Despite having many images available for this already, I still intend to take fresh pictures once I've a clear idea of what I wish to convey & how it will all fit together. (By the way, it's to be about "Fountains Abbey" & I hope to do justice not merely to the beauty of the place as it is now but also to its religious significance and original foundation).

I'm with Al on this - Could we please kill this 72/96 rubbish once and for all. On a monitor it's the number of pixels that counts not how many per inch/rod/pole/perch/angstrom/nanometre/cm/metre/mile - OK I think I've made my point. Sorry to rant but it confuses so many...

I second your recommendation of AV World - the site's OK the magazine is excellent value for money and full of useful stuff. But let's keep this thread going and see how many modes of working we can come up with. For myself, I can't wait until we get Alan Green at our local camera club (www.bishopthorpe-camera-club.com) next Weds (20th Oct). I just hope he brings his "Pictures at an exhibition"!

It would be great if someone was able to take us through the whole process, with examples, starting at the storyboard and going on to image selection and arranging, choice of transitions, choice of music, editing done on individual images, sync. of images to music, etc. Maybe I sense a new PTE tutorial show here - who's prepared to accept the challenge?

Maybe this is too late but I also found that the transitions were jerky on my new system with a good specification. It's a nice show but I wouldn't watch it again with these "iffy" transitions.

Barry B might have something to say about whether he is a "professional photographer"! But he does produce a very professional standard of work. Come in Barry - speak for yourself.

You raise a very important issue here and it's nice to take time away from the technicalities to consider the actual pictures themselves. Whilst it would be pretty pointless including weak images in a show, the overall aim and purpose of the show is equally important. (And is the part I find most difficult). There's plenty of advice available on getting good quality images (see http://www.luminous-landscape.com/essays/l...ng-to-see.shtml for an interesting article recently posted on this very topic) But let's discuss how one goes about making a "storyboard" then shooting sufficient relevant, high quality images and combining them to tell a story - i.e. to make an AV rather than a slideshow with music. I thoroughly agree with you about Barry Beckham's shows & we have also seen excellent examples from other workers via Beechbrook. A visit to the AV World website will provide information on where to see other examples (http://www.avworld.org/) Let's hope this strand develops with expert users providing their hints & tips on the overall development of an AV rather than just "technical tips".

Thanks you for your useful description of this technique & for producing such an attractive show. The weather's often a problem but, of course, is essential to the unique quality of the landscape.

Sorry - that's what I meant!

I may have missed it but I'd suggest a fairly basic addition that would be a big help to people getting started. This is having explanatory text that appears when the user moves the cursor over any of the program icons.

The only "fiddly bit" about downloading Audacity is that you also need another file to get it working at first. The download site makes this clear. It sounds awkward but is straightforward in practice.

I too normally use Adobe Audition (because it replaced Cool Edit that I had before). It's good stuff but I reckon Audacity is perfectly adequate for doing anything but the most sophisticated sound track for PTE use. And it does come at the Yorkshireman's favourite price. Define a Yorkshireman - "A Scot with the charity squeezed out".

My French is not up to scratch either, but I did enjoy the show!

Yes - it's very easy to fade music with Audacity.

I don't think it's likely to be the actual cd that is causing the problem but the speed at twhich the computer is able to read the data and interpret it. Have you tried actually copying the show from the cd onto the computer then running it form there?

This can happen due to having too short an interval between transitions. If you look at the the time (Project Options - Main - Customize Synchronisation - Timed Points - Add Arranged Points), you can see if there is any overlap of the transitions. If so, increase the spacing. Another possibility: when you try to run a show from a cd, sometimes the cd reads too slowly (particularly with older machines and laptops). The best bet here is to copy the show from cd onto the machine's hard drive and run it from there.

When you say "the program", do you mean PTE? It might be worth trying a small new project. (Click File - New - New Project). Just put two or three pictures in & see what happens. If you think it might help, email me with more details & I'll see if we can sort this out together. Good luck.

Well I always did enjoy my food. And it seemed like a good analogy at the time.

This show ran beautifully on my system - keeping me entertained from start to finish (I have a short concentration span so that's quite an achievement). Nice pictures and good use of editing software to bring out the most interesting features. The music works well too. Thanks for sharing this with us. We'll look forward to seeing your next show.