RobertAlbright

Peter I have added a second music track in Project Options/Audio/Add audio file/OK. I have grabbed the line which runs immediately above the Timeline with a double arrow symbol and lifted up the line to reveal a larger part of the audio section at the bottom. The second track does not show, nor does the audio track on the video section which is included among the still images. There is no slider within the vertical scroll bar at the right of the audio tracks. I'm using PTE 7.5.3 on Vista.

If a second audio track is added it does not show on the timeline view, even if the toggle fullscreen triangle is activated. This problem also applies to video clip - the sound on the video is not shown below the first activated music track. It is necessary to save the video sound to a system external to PTE and mix the music before importing the mix into PTE as a single audio track.

Peter I agree in principle. Standardisation is important, both within PTE (same key does the same thing in different screens for example) and with common standards external to PTE (space bar plays and pauses images and sound). Note that Igor has already agreed to address the #third of your points. Robert

Peter and Dave I am referring to operating on the Timeline in the main screen. In this mode the spacebar operates Play/Pause without the need to press Play first. This has been the case for some time.

Thanks Dave - however the space bar always did operate the Play/Pause function on the Mini-Player. It was only in O&A that it didn't work on my computer.

Thank you Igor. Yes, the Pause/Break key does Play and Pause in the O&A editor even without pressing Play first. It is the first time I have ever used this key and I bet the same applies to many other PTE Forum users! I don't fully understand your comment 'Space key will work only if you clicked to the area of preview (slide), or to the timeline area.' Is it not the case that the O&A editor is always accessed from the Slides or Timeline area? As Barry has confirmed, this change to the O&A editor in a future version is good news - it applies a standard user practice for editing programs (especially sound and video editing) to PTE .

Thanks nobeefstu, this does the trick. It didn't work like this with PTE 7.5.0. (on my computer) so I think Igor must have fixed it in 7.5.3. Ideally one should be able to operate Play/Pause with the space bar without having to press Play first- but both my recorded problems are now solved. Thanks everyone else who contributed.

I have downloaded PTE 7.5.3. I can confirm that on my computer F4 and the triangle next to slides (bottom right) toggle the Timeline view to/from fullscreen in the Timeline view and toggle the Slide List to/from fullscreen mode in the Slides view. However in Objects and Animation the spacebar does not operate the Play/Pause function. It has no effect whatever. My operating system is Windows Vista.

Hi Peter and Eric. The fact that the spacebar operates in O&A as a Pause/Play toggle in some Windows versions only is somewhat of a concern. It certainly doesn't work on my Vista operating system. Perhaps even more of a concern is that the Function keys operate differently depending on the operating system you're using. On mine, I have discovered today, F3 shows the Slide List in Fullscreen mode. F4 lifts the Timeline and the audio tracks to the top of the monitor screen, presumably to allow more audio tracks to be inserted and manipulated. Clicking on the little triangle icon beside the Slides tab at the bottom of the main window has the same effect I have just described. So far as I can see, the official guidance and manual are not true for all Windows systems. The effect of pressing F4 for example is different in W7 Professional (Eric's system) and Vista (my system) where F3 performs the same function as in Eric's system. The space bar works in O&A in W7 Professional (Eric's system) but not at all in Vista (my system). Should not these anomalies be raised with WnSoft?

A suggestion came from Lakeland Lass to try F4 to call up the lightbox. This didn't work but she put me on the right trail. F3 does the trick. No solutions yet to the space bar problem in Objects and Animation.

Hi Eric I'm on 7.5.0 (Vista) - the space bar doesn't work in O&A on my computer; it didn't on 7.0 either. It works in the main PTE screen- not sure if that answers your point about 'authorising the space bar'. My key board has F1 to F12 but no Fn key.

Hope you guys don't mind me butting in as you may consider this off-topic. Why in Objects and Animation is it not possible (as in the main screen) to start and stop playback with the Spacebar ? I have recently being doing some detailed work using keyframes and this missing feature was a nuisance. (Now you'll tell me I can do it by pressing F8 or something). While on the subject of irrelevance to the topic, I have no Function key (Fn) on my keyboard. How the heck does one call up the lightbox (All slides on screen and able to move them about) nowadays? Moderator note: This topic has been created in order to split this dialogue out from a topic that had been unwittingly hijacked. I think I picked all the right pieces to create this topic. If I've got anythoing in the wrong place, please let me know.

Thank you Igor and Umberto. The story of copyright release continues, particularly for music. Unfortunately the law is extremely complex in this area. We producers are covered (if all licences have been correctly obtained) for display at festivals and in clubs. This is how AV started and has worked in Europe since about 1960. However the lawmakers have not caught up with the 'new' factor of the internet. I understand how this is a source of frustration to the 'virtual community' of the PTE Forum (and beyond).

Here is the IAC link regarding copyright www.theiac.org.uk/iac/copyright/copyright-clearance-scheme.html Here is the IAC link regarding putting your work on the web www.theiac.org.uk/resourcesnew/uploading/web-upload-intro.html

Thanks Lin. Let me know privately what you'd recommend as a vehicle for this.

Congratulations to our Moderator, Peter Appleton, who won the Best First Time Entrant at the Great Northern Festival with his AV production 'The Time Traveller'. The Great Northern Festival is one of the three main AV events in the UK AV calendar every year. I was delighted to win the Silver Medal with 'Betrayal'.

I agree entirely with Jill's comment. Experienced users know how to work around this but as she says:'Although far from creating an ideal sequence, the Auto Spread option is useful for a beginner & allows them to make something quickly when first starting. That way they can feel they have achieved something without too much effort & will hopefully go on to explore the full potential of PTE & not give up at the first hurdle.' I have, like her, only used this feature when demonstrating PTE at camera clubs - but this is how many beginners start, so the description 'Auto Spread slides along Music' needs to do what it implies.

Thanks Lin and Dave. Until now I've done my video cropping in VideoPad. I hadn't realised you could do this in PTE using start and stop times. I'd still welcome a graphical (rather than numerical) method of doing this operation in PTE. I take your points about audio fade in and fade out.

Joy Simply highlight each slide in turn on the Timeline, click Change Image File on the top bar, and select the image you wish to replace the slide on the timeline with. There is no change to slide duration, transition time or transition effect of the replaced image.

I've had the same experience, Lin, with VideoPad - AVI output, no MPEG 4. You say you generally only use it these days to fade audio in and out - but surely you can do this anyway in PTE? What would be really useful in PTE would be to be able to cut up the video into segments ready to drop into the sequence of still images already on the timeline. The unneeded parts can simply be deleted. I think this functionality must be quite simple to implement technically as it's available in all the free download video editing programs. Is this asking too much of PTE?

Well done, Lin. The link 'Watch on YouTube' in Igor's post doesn't seem to work - if it's intended to be a link.

Well done, Barry. I'll be showing this on the UK club circuit. I assume that's OK?

Good news, Barry. In my experience the Epson HD projectors are currently top dogs in the quality-price equation. Robert

Good luck with that, Barry. I would have thought a big city like Brisbane would have a good dealership but failing that you'll have to take a chance on it - I've not heard anyone whose disappointed with the Epson HD projectors. Robert