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It would be really useful if when we insert new slides into the Slide List they were inserted before or after the current selected slide. I am finding it more & more frustrating that I position the slide view at the point I want to add new slides with a slide selected. Then when I double click on a slide in the File List it is inserted at the end rather than the point I want it to be. I know I can drag the slide from the File List which is easy for one slide or even a group of slides to be inserted at the same place. But I often use CTRL+D to select & add the whole Folder. This normally occurs when using PTE to display single images at the Camera Club for competition or appraisal. Each person's images are in a separate Folder so it is easy to go through the list of Folders & CTRL+D to add all the images into the project. If we could choose to add the images at a particular place this would be a great addition & speed up workflow. Jill

Hi Igor, Great software, as usual. Just a minor point. On the screen, in addition to tooltips, you have 'Preview' written out next to 'Publish'. 'Start preview from slide' is an optional button (with tooltip). Can I suggest you add wording 'Start from slide' next to the button? Regards, Jeff

Greetings, Trying to understand some of the postings and menus that deal with the 'Duration' term has me frustrated in trying to understand what they are talking about. Here are some suggestions that I think will help clarify some of the problems I think are going around. At least with me... 1- In the Users Guide and in the PTE program, change the references to the 'Duration' of media files to 'Length'. Use 'Duration' only for slide's actions in the 'Timeline'. 2- Remove the 'Settings|Preference|Toolbars|Duration of a Media File' menu item and add a column for 'Length' of media in the File List, next to the Date/Time column. But remove the 'Time', to make room; I don't think it is needed. Remove 'Duration of the media file (for files highlighted in the File list)' on page 19 of the Users Guide. It would be more useful to see all the lengths of media files in the File List as opposed to having to click on each media file, one by one, to show in the Status Bar. 3- There are too may references to 'Duration' in the Users Guide and the Forum that seem to be inconsistent or seem to be used to refer to the same definition. Here are some of them in just a couple postings: Total Duration (this is the only one with a definition in the Users Guide: 'Total Duration (means duration of the slide and the next transition effect)'. Full Duration Total Full Duration Pure Duration Transition Effect Duration Default Slide Duration Slide Duration Can we come up with a set of consistent terms with defintions for the different 'Duration' terms for use in the Forum and the Users Guide? It makes it very difficult to understand the discussions in certain postings, such as the KFSD discussion, and what these terms mean. 5- In Users Guide, page 11, it states 'Keep slide duration is helpful...'. Shouldn't it say 'Keep full slide duration is helpful...'? 6- Shouldn't the 'Default slide duration' In Project Options|Main|Timing' be 'Default full slide duration'? Gary

Hi, While we are in a period of relative calm regarding the development of PTE and following on from recent discussions in this section and elsewhere in the forum I would like to make the following suggestion. Would it not be beneficial to take a long hard look at the usability of the product? We have seen fantastic developments in recent years, all of which have moved the boundaries. However in order to use many of these facilities the user has to have an intimate knowledge of not only PTE but also increasingly has to be quite computer savvy. I believe that the time has now come to take stalk and examine what can be done to make the program more user friendly (WITHOUT compromising its flexibility for those who need this facility, after all it is primarily those people who have driven the development up till now). I know that this has been discussed in the past. Suggestions included the possibility of two programs - basic and advanced etc. I think an example was given in the past of Adobe CS and Elements and I'm sure many arguments on both sides ensued. However, lets narrow that down a little and just consider how Elements is now presented. Three levels built into the one package, perhaps there is something to be learned from that approach? I know it can't be just as straight forward as this but I also know from my personal experience of life, the longer you delay in reviewing, taking stalk and facing change the harder it becomes. I'm no marketing expert but based on my own experience (and this has been highlighted elsewhere recently by others) many potential photographers are put off getting involved with PTE due to their fear of its perceived complexity. I will now get controversial! As a committed Mac user I would far rather see Igor spend time and resources on making PTE more user friendly than on producing a Mac version. Regards John

please add posture of "Diagonal display view" in watermark display dialog position dropdown menu section

Igor Yesterday I was putting together a camera club presentation with a long section of comments all stitched together. (one file) It wasn't until I got right near the end that I picked up an error (bad practice on my part :rolleyes:/>/>/> I made a mistake) I could correct the sound file reasonably easy, but thought it would be nice to be able to exchange one sound file for the other leaving the fade in and volume levels untouched. However, I am not sure how practical this is because the new sound file was slightly longer than the one I wanted to replace it with. Just an idea. When I corrected the music I had the individual takes stitched together as an Mp3 in Camtasia, but I allowed the new sound file to be converted directly into my working folder. I used a different file name so it could be created alongside the one I wanted to replace. PTE showed that music stitch with a big blue flag saying it was damaged. I have sufficient experience to know what it was causing the warning and I ignored it. The sound file could be dragged to the timeline and was fine. Of course closing and re-launching PTE will cure that flag, but it you didn't know what had caused it and that the sound file was in fact perfectly OK, it could cause some frustration for a user.

Igor, I wonder if some thought could be given to improving the method of identifying the location of identically named images when creating a "back up in zip". I totally accept that this is a problem caused purely by bad working practice …….. but none of us are perfect …….. certainly not me. Two suggestions come to mind - Rather than show the offending files singly which entails re trying to create a zip each time in order to identify the next file, could all instances not be shown together in a list? This list could then be grabbed and printed out. My second suggestion would be to not only show the file paths but also the slide number in which the duplicated files are located. If I could only have one of these enhancements it would be this one! Hopefully, John

Suggestion .... In a future version, you might have a meter that would adjust the sound level .... ?

What about adding drag and drop feature to reorganize objects in the object hierarchy? That could ease reworking complex sequences. Moreover, i'd love to see a new "wrap selection into frame" command, and similar "unwrap children from selected node". This would simplify the tedious task of: 1. Adding a frame 2. Moving it in the right place 3. Cutting objects 4. Paste them into the frame Maybe not only for frames, but for any kind of container object.

Those days i'm facing a really annoying issue with a theatre 4K projector that cuts the lower part of my video frame. Well, not really, it projects everything but the image falls off screen in the lower part, cutting my subtitles. I asked the projector man to adjust it so the entire frame will fall on the screen but no way. Looks like i'm not a big fish there. So i needed to keep the original video resolution but to "compress" the image a bit leaving a black area on the bottom to tweak that annoying projector. No way to get the result from inside the video ancoder of PTE. So i needed to use XMediaRecode to get the result. But this way i lose sharpness because the PTE encoded video is re-encoded again. And a third time to get the final DCP encoding. The last encoding is not avoidable, and i don't think PTE should deal with DCP format. But what about adding a "tweaks" panel in the video encoder (or the project options?) to being able to size and move the video into a virtual frame? This is difficult to achieve in no time on a lengthy video because you must tweak all slides. Umberto

Like video builder You can add more gadgets to p2e too : GifEditor&Maker PhotoEditor like pixbuilder Music composer ,... Can u ?

It would really help more precise and quick settings of keypoints time if it would be possible to add a graduation (a ruler) on the timeline (in O/A window), every 25% and 10% by example. In the same spirit, I would like the position parameter of the keypoint to be displayed within the slide time (and not in the project time). I would also like the waveform to be visible in this O/A window. What do you think of the suggestions ?

The enhanced handling of audio files in v8 is fantastic but it still has some shortcomings. One feature that I feel would be of great potential benefit is the ability to change the volume of all clips on a track by the same amount. The screen grab below is from my current project. Track1 carries a continuous mix of location ambience sound. Track2 carries the narrator's voice and Track3 carries the main character's voice. Let's assume that I now decide that the balance between Track2 and Track3 is not quite right. If all the clips on Track2 are already at the same level (which they are) and all the clips on Track3 are at the same level, but a level different from those on Track2 (which they are), I have no alternative but to change the volume of each individual clip on one track or the other. That is time consuming. If, in Project Options > Audio it was possible to select the Track item (which it is) and have there a volume control that applied uniformly across the entire track, it would make this action so much quicker. From a user interface point of view I would rather see the volume slider in a "Track header" panel at the left hand edge of each track in the Timeline. This header panel would remain visible even if the user scrolled a long way across to the right. regards, Peter

Can the Tools pop up in the O&A screen be made to stay on the screen when making multiple changes, at the moment, pressing undo it disappears & the tools button has to be re-pressed to make another change? Only a little thing but causes slight annoyance. :(/>/> This is how it works in other unmentionable software. Yachtsman1.

Hi, Newby here, I was wondering why I can only have two keypoints for text on an (inclined) plane (frame). It zooms in from a distant vantage point to a prefered stopping point. Then after a few seconds, I want it to move again. So I create another keypoint and it "ruins the middle keypoint. So I delete, (so everything is back to the same) then add keypoint (to keep everything the same) and then add another kepoint to move the text. Still, it just "melds" all of them. Thus, I am limited in my object movement options... or am I just limited in my understanding of the program (hopefully). I posted here because the how to wouldn't let me post, there. Thanks

I've downloaded the latest beta of 8 & tried assembling a show for a commission I have for a new Kampro lamp. Now the ability to spread the waveform as it was in 7.07 has disappeared, I find it difficut to see the line projected down from the slide flag to the waveform. The timer pointer line is quite defined & no problem to see. I have a blue waveform as that is what I have been used to. I don't remember this being mentioned before. My screen shot is at 200% to enable viewers to see what I'm talking about. Yachtsman1

Continuing with my trial version 8 show. I have set the background to a common JPEG image, however, there doesn't appear to be any adjustment to alter the opacity or size on the background screen? Yachtsman1

Slide Styles would be a great way to apply edge effects, lines and special effects to our images. We could apply them to one or all the slides in our show except for one thing. The Duration from one slide to the other is part of the style. So applying an edge effect after making a show would upset all the timings. The edge effects could be applied first of course, but sometimes we want to try options after the show is made. In the Slide Style window I was wondering how hard it would be to have a tick box to turn off the slide styles ability to include the duration. Just leave all effects in place, but no duration changes.

Many of my slide shows are used with verbal comments. Due to my crumbling memory I need script. To create this an option to export a file list from a P2E project to e.g. a comma separated file for use in e.g. Word or Excel would be very fine. Thanks Peter R.

With the increased interest in 3D including 3DTV it would be nice with e.g. a slide style for creating symmetrical stereoscopic images. I have made a slide style with two symmetrical masks, where left and right images are added. However, it would be very convenient if the two masks could be locked together (like e.g. the zoom function) so zoom, pan and other operations only have to made on one of the images. When creating show the “Executable for PC” works fine for a set-up with two projectors, But an option to create exe and avi files horizontally squeezed 50% will make it possible to use the files for 3DTV. Thanks Peter R.

When the colour picker is selected, in my case to change the colour of a rectangle, we have a large number of choices from three different styles of picker. Often when doing presentation work, the best colour for text or backgrounds can often be one cloned from the image colours itself. There is a certain visual harmony retained when we do that When the colour picker window is selected (any of the three styles) we have an eye dropper tool to enable us to do exactly what I ask, but it doesn't work quite right. If you click the eye dropper tool and move off the Choose Colour Window, the eye dropper cannot select a colour from the image itself (see attached) If the eye dropper is clicked and while holding the left mouse down, it's dragged off the panel, you can select a colour from the image. (keeping my Wacom graphics pen pressed to the pad surface in my case) Given that it sort of works OK, it would be a nice touch if when the colour sampler tool is selected with one click, it can be moved anywhere on the screen and still function. Without the need to hold down the left mouse or keep the pen hard on the tablet surface. One false move and option to sample from the image is lost and you have to return to the sampler tool for a second go.

Greetings, If you try to Convert an 'Added' video clip (a video clip that has been added to a background image), it does not get automatically replaced with the converted video clip. It does get replace if the video clip is the main file but not if it is an 'Added' video clip. Also, there is no 'Replace Video Clip' icon that lets you replace a video clip when the video clip has been Added to an image if you are in O&A.. Can you add these functions, since it will work with video clips that have not been 'Added' to an image???? Gary

When I am working on animation in the Objects and Animation screen and need to adjust the speed options for multiple key frames (more than 2). I would select the setting up option that opens the Speed Options window. In 100% of all the times I can ever recall going into this screen, (a considerable number) it has always been to separate the sections of animation so I can make my adjustments. Never to glue them back. I doubt I am much different from anyone else, so wouldn't it be a better idea to have the key frames already separated as a default with the glue option as the choice if you want it.

I probably have a greater need than most to record my voice for tutorial reasons, so the new feature that allows me to link my Record Voice comment to a slide is very welcome, but it needs a key stroke. In fact it needs two. I right click a slide, but then have to select Audio Comment and then another selection to Record Voice Comment. Then a window opens and I have to click again to start the recording. OK with one or two comments, but I need to do 100 or more and then those key strokes and selections are a pain. I would like an option to start and stop a Voice comment recording with a key stroke, probably an "F" key if possible. Camtasia employs that type of function and it makes recording many takes sweet. Remember, we are amateurs and fluff our lines enough times that we need a quick and easy way to start and stop recording

I am just testing the 8.0 beta-versions . Congratulations to the impressive list of new functions and their implementation . But ... not all PTE-users will make use of the complete range of the offered sophisticated features . There are certainly also users , like me , who are using PTE to assemble simple manually contolled slide-shows to present their slides to some friends in an home environment . Manual control does allow to have free discussions about the slides and the stories behind them of not predefined length . In this field of application PTE shows in my oppinion weaknesses - there is no support within PTE for Color profiles for the chosen presentation medium - Monitor , TV , Beamer . Correct display of colours is therefore impossible (when PTE is the only SW to support the show) - the support for Audio is optimised with respect to the timeline only . Features like : Change of an Audio title with the beginning of a certain slide , required controls eg. volume control independant of the timeline are only achievable with difficulties or not at all . Therefore my question : should a sophisticated product like PTE not also insist on basic functions for basic users? Thanks - Paul