PicturesToExe Deluxe 5.5 Release Candidate 5

[fh1805]

Barry,

If you select an image and do "Cut transition" from the Timeline, it seems to leave the actual image in the Slide List when you switch back to that. Is this what you're trying to achieve?

[Cèlou]

Congratulations for your work Igor.

Bravo to you and to your team.

We have now to study this beta version and to bring back(to report) to you possible suggestions.

[Peter S]

Peter/Barry,

When I tried "Cut Transition" with say slide 2 selected in the timeline it simply moved transition 2 along the timeline to where transition 3 was previously. I took up the challenge and have been unable to find anyway of deleting all the transitions so you can add slides while listening to the music or watching the waveform.

I tried to import points from another project that was blank ie no transitions but that was a failure too!

Peter

[fh1805]

Peter S/Barry,

Is the solution to adopt a different approach?

I've just tried creating a new project, adding the music first, switching to Timeline view and showing Waveform - and then dragging the images into the sequence.

Is this what Barry means by "creating on the fly"?

[Peter S]

Barry

Here's a bit of a work around. Set the time interval to a very small time say 100ms. select all the slides in the timeline. Move them to the end of the music. Hit space bar to start the music. Click on New Transition wherever you want the second slide to appear and continue clicking New Transition to add all other slides.

Peter

[Hemjr]

Downloaded new version and installed with no problems using Windows XP Professional. Looks great! Can't wait to try it out. But will be a couple of weeks, I am afraid.

Howard

[Barry Beckham]

No, these solutions are not really suitable and I suspect Igor is taking note of this.

Unless I am missing something this is quite a major functional loss, while I love the timeline and the new on screen preview, I can't give up the ability to work as I do in previous versions. We must have the ability to clear all transition points without losing the slides from the list or we can't effectively put a slide show together.

It takes away too much.

I am sure it is just a glitch, but its a very important one.

[silvia1]

Hi silvia1,

You wrote:

How were you trying to open the old projects? By double-clicking on the project (*.pte) file? Or by launching PTE v5.5 and doing File...Open... of the project file?

I have successfully opened several of my v4.49 and v5.1 project files by doing File...Open... from within PTEv5.5

Thanks for your help

I can open the projects through the PTE.5.5 but not by double clicking on (* pte file)

At the moment I have both versions installed on my PC.

If I delete the old, I can not open the projects through the pte 5.5

Please how I can use the latest version and open since Pte * file??

Thanks

[Lin Evans]

Hi Barry,

I suspect this is just the "omission" of "delete point" and "delete slide" features and will be corrected

Best regards,

Lin

No, these solutions are not really suitable and I suspect Igor is taking note of this.

Unless I am missing something this is quite a major functional loss, while I love the timeline and the new on screen preview, I can't give up the ability to work as I do in previous versions. We must have the ability to clear all transition points without losing the slides from the list or we can't effectively put a slide show together.

It takes away too much.

I am sure it is just a glitch, but its a very important one.

[fh1805]

Hi silvia1

I can open the projects through the PTE.5.5 but not by double clicking on (* pte file)

At the moment I have both versions installed on my PC.

I think you may be encountering the following situation:

When any software is installed on a Windows system, it places entries into the Windows system that associate its file extensions with that software. It looks to me as though PTEv5.5 has not updated the entries for *.pte files as part of its install process. I, too, cannot launch a pte file into v5.5 by double-clicking. It tries to open it with v4.49 which is the version that I installed prior to v5.5. (I also have v5.1 installed)

Now, this may be the way Igor wants it to work whilst the code is at beta level. After all, it does safeguard you against inadvertently opening a precious project file in the beta code.

[Igor]

Thank you for your responses regarding the new version!

I'll reply step by step.

Barry,

Concerning behaviour of transition points in Timeline mode. Now all slides should have corresponding transition points, because timeline integrated with Slide list and secondly because of mini player.

- "New transition" takes latest transition point and puts to the place you pointed.

- "Cut transition" cuts transition point and moves this point to the end of show.

Both functions don't change order of slides.

In fact it works almost as before.

You asked about "Delete all transition points" function which doesn't exist anymore. I missed this moment, sorry. I can add new function called something like "Cuts all transition points". (How it will work? Select all transition points (press Ctrl+A) and then click "Cut transition".) In fact this function shifts all transition points to the right, and you can re-add transition points as you worked in previous versions.

We forgot to include all existed languages files for VideoBuilder. Will be fixed in Beta 2.

[Barry Beckham]

To make sure we all understand this issue

To create a slide show the first thing I do is delete all transition points from the time line. I can then hit the play button and while looking at the wave file represenation in the time line and listening to the music I can add a transition point while the music plays.

That is now not possible in beta 1 and it MUST be returned. Its far too big a function thing to lose in my view.

Why does the time line have to be integrated with the slide list? Its great to see the time on the main page, but do they have to be tied so much together. I think it is important to retain the slide list as images you have selected for the show and the time line where you place those images.

Hundreds of times with PTE I have the wish to take off the last 3-4 transition points and re apply them while listening to the music. I can't effectively do that now and that really is a big loss of functionality. Yes you can slide them along, but you lose the ability to create the slide show on the fly.

It appears that if you hit Ctrl+A all points can be cut and placed at the end of the music, but when you then hit play and add the points as the music plays we lose all the effects on the slide and the music/cursor jumps to the end of the transition every time an image is added.

I am very sorry Igor, but its not going to work for me like this. It doesn't move PTE forward in functionality, in fact it takes it back.

Is it not possible to have the time line viewed as it is in Beta 1, but not connected to the slide list?

Barry

[Igor]

I understand your concern, Barry. I'll look what I can rework in the timeline mode.

[Hartmut Scherer]

Hi Igor and team,

I am impressed with the new version. Thank you for all your good work.

I am not sure if I missed something or did something wrong. I opened the beta version first, than I opened a project that I had done with v5.1. All slides should advance manually, but in preview mode I can see only the first slide. No key will show me the next slide. If I save the old project with the beta version, the exe-file doesn’t run either. The mini player works fine. I am using Windows Vista Home Premium.

[ADB]

Barry / Igor

I'm totally with Barry on this issue re changed functionality of the timeline. Yes you can still record transitions on the fly but the music halts until the end of the slide's transition period, you don't see the transition and you totally lose the flow of what you are trying to achieve, hopefully a quick fix bug.

Additionally, I could be wrong but it appears the "Hold Points" option has gone and this is now the default - if so.. great!

Finally I use the SLIDE TABLE function a lot to rearrange the order of slides simply and quickly, I see you now have to navigate from the Timeline window to the Slides window then select the SLIDE TABLE icon, on the previous version this option was in the Timeline Window and was very easy to access..

Nevertheless the new interface and functionality looks great and should certainly improve the process considerably.

Well done WINSOFT!!

Cheers

[fh1805]

Hartmut,

I have several manual sequences and none of them show the problem you mention about not being able to advance them manually in Preview under v5.5. I cannot advance them manually in the mini-viewer but when I ask PTE to Preview the sequence, they behave as I would expect them to.

I realise this doesn't solve your problem, but it does suggest that it is not a general bug in PTE V5.5

[Igor]

Mini-player/viewer works like you watch burned DVD-Video disc with a slideshow.

It ignores manual advance mode, impossible to click buttons/hyperlinks.

[xahu34]

... fix for the ATI graphics cards ... Will that fix be included somewhere in 5.5, or is it scheduled for 5.6?

Hello Igor,

Version 5.5 provides a lot of improvements. Is it possible to give an answer to Mary's question?

Best regards

Xaver H.

Munich

[fh1805]

Igor,

Thanks for the explanation. I wasn't expecting the mini-player/viewer to allow manual advance - and it doesn't need to be able to. It's real value is in being able to check slide synchronisation to music from within the ordinary window - and thus being able to make small changes very quickly to get the timings just right.

On a different matter. I've just Created using v5.5 one of my menu sequences and one of the sequences driven off that menu. I'm running under Vista Home Premium and I still see the flashback to desktop (which I and others reported under v5.1) at the changeover from menu.exe to sequence.exe and again at the changeover from sequence.exe back to menu.exe. Do you intend to release the fix for this problem in a later beta of v5.5?

[Igor]

About ATI gamma fix.

I'm still thinking about this feature. Please give me a little more time.

On a different matter. I've just Created using v5.5 one of my menu sequences and one of the sequences driven off that menu. I'm running under Vista Home Premium and I still see the flashback to desktop (which I and others reported under v5.1) at the changeover from menu.exe to sequence.exe and again at the changeover from sequence.exe back to menu.exe. Do you intend to release the fix for this problem in a later beta of v5.5?

We have decided keep an old slideshow engine for created EXE files in v5.5, because a new slideshow engine with this fix still in work and will be ready for v5.6 (summer or earlier autumn).

Andrew,

You can easily switch between thumbnails and table views by pressing Ctrl+2 or from Main menu | View | Slide list as Thumbnails.

I consider that the main window looked too complicated with many buttons.

[Igor]

Andrew,

Additionally, I could be wrong but it appears the "Hold Points" option has gone and this is now the default - if so.. great!

This option exists as before and applicable when you work in Slide list mode. If you find some bug with it, please let me know. I re-wrote all code related with manipulation of slides in Slide list and Timeline.

[fh1805]

Igor,

We have decided keep an old slideshow engine for created EXE files in v5.5, because a new slideshow engine with this fix still in work and will be ready for v5.6 (summer or earlier autumn).

Thanks for the quick reply to my enquiry. I'll just have to be patient but I know the wait will be worth it.

Once again, many thanks for the excellent product and first-class support.

[bjc]

IGOR,

Version 5.5 Beta 1 ~~~ stunning !!

You (and the team) have done a fantastic job (already).

I love the timing information being in minutes / seconds / etc instead of milliseconds only.

As for the rest of the improvements ~~~ absolutely superb !!

bjc

[Hartmut Scherer]

Hartmut,

I have several manual sequences and none of them show the problem you mention about not being able to advance them manually in Preview under v5.5. I cannot advance them manually in the mini-viewer but when I ask PTE to Preview the sequence, they behave as I would expect them to.

I realise this doesn't solve your problem, but it does suggest that it is not a general bug in PTE V5.5

Peter,

Thank you for your reply. I tried it again and found out what had happened. Somehow I had unchecked the box "Permit control of show using keyboard". No wonder it didn't work.

[Peter S]

Barry,

Did you try what I suggested? It does not actuallydelete the transitions but it does move them all out of the way, to the right hand end of the time line. You can then put them in exactly the place you want as you did previously by listening to the music and clicking New Transition. It's not that different is it?

I do agree it would be much better to have a single delete transition key but it is not impossible to achieve the result that you want just a bit more fiddly.

Peter

To create a slide show the first thing I do is delete all transition points from the time line. I can then hit the play button and while looking at the wave file represenation in the time line and listening to the music I can add a transition point while the music plays.

That is now not possible in beta 1 and it MUST be returned. Its far too big a function thing to lose in my view.

Barry