LumenLux

Brian, I am certainly unsure about most of this, but I think I understand the above differently than you suggest. I would think she means that when clicking on an existing .pte file from within Explorer, the .pte file does not open. But if she already has PTE V5.5 open, she can use File/Open to successfully open the .pte file in question. But even if I am understanding that element correctly, I don't think that is the main problem she is expressing. I think maybe Silvia needs to try her "problem" on a simple new project and see what happens. It looks like she is using one of Dom's templates which may be adding to the confusion?

Silvia - “PM” significa Private Message o Mensaje Privado, que se encuentra en su caja privado de mensaje del PTE foro. Usted necesita mirar allí a ver el mensaje que “Fly” dejó para usted. Para encontrar su PM, mire a arriba de la página de Foro y clic en "New Messages” Su pregunta principal ya es incluida aquí en ingles para que Igor o uno de nosotros pueda contestar. Estoy seguro que recibirá una respuesta. I have told Silvia that her problem, described now in English below, will be solved by Igor or one of "us." So who ever knows the solution, please post it here in English and I will have it translated for Silvia. Thanks for taking interest in helping me. I’m not perfect w/ English and sometimes it is difficult to understand some points of the program. It would be of great assistance if a version of HELP was published in Spanish. I finished a slide show with version 5.1 and it was OK. Taking advantage of the new version 5.5, I opened my project w/ this version, but some of the photos were tiny as seen in the published files. Nevertheless when opened in OA they were OK even when they are previewed. But upon recording them in Video Builder these same photos (see files) distort the pan, zoom, and size. I’ve returned to use 5.1 and have recorded perfectly my slide show. Also, I’m not able to open my projects by double clicking the icon *pte when using version 5.5, but I can open my projects directly from the program. What does, I have PM mean? The "PM" part has already been answered in Spanish to Silvia Thanks,

Silvia, I am sorry I do not understand the problem you are showing us. Maybe someone will understand and give you an answer. If you need to write your question or problem in Spanish, I will have someone translate and we can then all try to answer.

Help. . . ! Please give us a pause button.

Tom, although that's not all all what I had in mind, you did have some fun and produced a smile for me. I will say that the only time I ever made a PTE quickie and let the photographic induced red eyes flash, I came under some (eventually) good-natured condemnation. But as someone else mentioned, it is is nice just to lighten up sometimes. We all can use that from time to time. I'm willing to wait for YOUR further inspiration on the 3-D treatment of Escher's impossible paths for the eyes. Thanks for sharing your pre-inspiration.

Great Tom! You really did get into this. Nifty sandwich board and the inscription. Before the floating easel, but near the end of the road zoom, it almost had a dizzying effect and seemed like the right side of the frame was getting smaller and moving away. Some of this reminds me of an idea I have had for a long time and will unlikely ever pursue. I think the enigmatic drawings of Dutch artist M.C. Escher could be a gold mine of material for fun with PTE. (Maurits Cornelis Escher (June 17, 1898 – March 27, 1972), usually referred to as M. C. Escher, was a Dutch graphic artist. He is known for his often mathematically inspired woodcuts, lithographs and mezzotints. These feature impossible constructions, explorations of infinity, architecture and tessellations.) Just take a look at some of his work and see if you, Tom, or Lin, or Dom, Jean-Pierre, or some of our math-based wizards couldn't really do something interesting. I would probably drive myself crazy if I tried! But I would love to see what someone could do.

Right on Lin. To me, looks like it works perfectly. When I had watched your first version I was actually waiting for your mountain goats to come out that way. As you say, even the original angle of the goat's pose suggested it might be a "natural", if you could pull it off. I also remembered your PS out-of-bounds work (on the goats) in your earlier 3-D Demo. So now - how difficult was it for you, once you rolled with the idea? Thank you for your interim explanations, I want to take another look now to focus a bit on your subtleties. I think your intent for teaching is great. I think very few of us (?) have much formal knowledge of perspective. thanks

Very well done Lin. Most appealing to me is the section with snow falling on the pica, with everything coming closer toward me except the coins. The motion that seems a little less "natural" is at the last with the angled frame showing depth, but the pan seems to move along the normal flat plane.

Lin, thank you for reacting to both the contents and the container. Your extensive experience, and success you have displayed with different approaches, really gives new credence to the "horses for courses" conclusion. Thanks again. (Now, as mentioned in another post - I hope that two good comments, or my reponse, don't close the topic in the minds of others who might share their thoughts.)

Thanks for your personal experience. As you say, there are some clever routes available. I appreciate the example you posted which demostrates well until the video. On my pc, the video does not display. I hear your excellent sound track and the controls on the left of the video, do not function. On the other segments, seeing your very fine photos reminds me that even so, nothing does, nor likely, will surpass the quality that PTE delivers for us. Thank you for your input here.

I try to make things simple, but it isn't always easy. As best I understand the.mp4 extension in this case is a type of .avi file. I find the downloaded show will play for me with either the VLC Media Player or Quicktime. It does not play in Windows Media Player as it is configured on my pc. With either of the VLC or Quicktime players, the display size is variable but will not be clear at full screen. That was a sacrifice I had to make to get the file download possible for some. Personally, I find myself going first to VLC for most of my viewing as it seems to handle many common and uncommon video. You can download VLC here. (I had first used VLC for Mac users to be able watch video versions of my PTE slideshows that they otherwise would miss.)

Ever since the first Beta's of PTE Version 5 came from Igor we've had opportunity to learn how to deal with movement within the framework of our still photos. Most of that has to do with the O&A tools. But we have also had some questions and discussion of how to integrate video clips into our PTE presentations. I for one am still hoping for even better and simpler ways to combine the two visual forms. Before V5, I was collaborating on a project where we had shot both stills and video and wanted to use them in the same presentation. At the time, I could not satisfactorly bring the extensive video into PTE. After using PTE to compose sequences of the still photos, I had to sacrafice the resolution and clarity of PTE by inserting the sequences into the video framework. Never-the-less I was quite pleased with the over-all result. Now, I would love to hear what our trusted PTE forum members think of it. I have never had the opportunity to have any critical comment or reaction beyond my non-critical, non-AV-minded target audience. I think there are many considerations in this combination of stills and video, similar to those we consider in making our normal PTE sequences. So I would certainly welcome any of you, if interested, to take a look and then really give me some reaction. From a technical standpoint: The original (16 minute) DVD version is 1.5 gig. To make this online version available for a least a few of you to download and view, I now have the file size down to 153mb. I realize that is still too large for many of you - I'm sorry. When I download, my broadband connection takes 5 minutes. I hope you will enjoy and comment. Eagle-Condor Peru download here.

XAVER - You bring up yet another thought. Regarding asking for comments, assuming comments would be natural for any show posted, etc. There may be cultural differences that come into play. In recent years our family has had the opportunity to have a couple of nice young ladies live with us as formal or informal exchange students. One lives in Northern Germany, the other in Bayern, not far from you. Our first contact with these young ladies came through an exchange organization. As the organization offered some "training" or "orientation" for us, they told us that for many visitors to the U.S., it is considered impolite to accept the first invitation. In other words, if we wanted to invite the girls to receive something from us or go with us, have more food, etc., we might need to make the offer three times before the guest would feel polite in accepting. My own conclusion to almost all discussions in this forum is that they are productive and they reveal the very high class of person that hangs out here - whether they comment or not.

This has been one concern of mine. Especially when a comment is made, the producer responds, and that seems to end the matter - when often the input of others, even on the same point could be very helpful.

Looks like I'm way behind the pack in watching this sequence. But because of that, I do have a suggestion - When we start a new topic of a show being posted, it might be good to include either the name of the show or some description in addition to just "New Slideshow". Then someone watching the show when it is not so current, can more likely see the opportunity to comment or enjoy the discussions of others. I think for what you intended, this presentation does just fine. Key to that for me is the photographs are good. There are a couple that could stand by themselves as a wall mounted photo or full page in a book. Most are not for wall-hanging category, but do perfect for taking the viewer with you. As you probably know, many of my own posted shows are of the life-share variety. I always like to see what others do and enjoy in their lives, whether they are similar or very different from my own life. Opinion time about the historic info on the signs. If I am personally on a trip I will read most signs. When it comes to reading them in a show like yours (or mine) I think I not very often would. I probably read the first of the first sign and decide whether my current mood would lead me to read the rest. If I don't find the interest to read a sign that stays on screen long enough to be read - I am very thankful for the ability to arrow-key to the next slide. I am a convert to Ken's thinking to leave that feature of PTE active. Even on my own shows where I think the flow is critical, I will usually leave some user control active. And on viewing the shows of others, I will usually watch it as designed and then re-watch to stop-and-go between points of special or lacking interest. Most importantly - thanks for sharing.

Yes, specifically regarding the "text tool" you use to describe and paste. Thank you.

Brian, thanks again for your generous answers. Like Ed, I have already benefited from your recommendation. What I was originally asking though, was how do you mark up and diagram the screen captures that you have posted as expandable thumbnails in your posts in this topic?

Well done and enjoyable, thank you.

Igor, we so appreciate you and your dedicated workers! I look at your list for 5.5 and wonder "how can it be", that you can even design such software and keep it all so well coordinated. And then to be able to implement the design so the program works like it is intended. Thank you all.

Thank you Brian for the information, including the descriptions you added to the screen shots. Which reminds me to ask, what program you use for adding the comments that show on your screen captures?

One thing is sure Bobby - you aren't going to get any constructive criticism on the baby! Looks great, time for gratitude. Which leads me also to your purpose of the presentation. To me it is what I always do with a new baby. I take a bunch of candid shots to enjoy and share with family and friends like a birth announcement. I sometimes have other great ideas like Dave mentioned, but so far they have never materialized. Meanwhile you have valuable photos presented in a fashion that will get viewed more often than the other 12 dozen on your hard drive. Ken and others have commented on the almost-perpetual, nearly yo-yo motion. That does not appeal to me, but it does appeal to many people. For years, around our community, almost any publicly displayed slide show at weddings etc. has had that default mode in use. As a user of PTE, it drove drive me crazy. (Like being stuck in traffic on Houston's Old Spanish Trail after a heavy rain storm.) But for most viewers it was un-noticed or appealing. And to this day, at our childrens' homes, their Mac computers with gorgeous monitors continuously run nice photos with that same movement. But in their case, the zoom or pan may well give you great detail of the diaper tape, but miss the face altogether! But no worry, because in such screen-saver use, the photo will be around again. Surprisingly, as PTE has made more tasteful movement possible, I have also grown more tolerant of the only-way-they-know presentations that still dominate in this market. So if you are to make slide shows an emphasis in your business, I'd suggest you can be a cut above by using moderation in your movement. Finally, thanks for sharing, we can all learn from each others views.

Thank you Dave for your observations/suggestions. I learn not only from your comments but also from trying to "answer" to myself on the points you bring up. I think I sometimes feel a little pretentious, like I am making too big a deal out of a little slide show. But I can see it could also be seen as a courteous improvement for some viewers. I like the landscape format, but I usually prefer to use my full monitor screen. Never-the-less I should consider this on each project. Yes, some nice effects can be carefully used to benefit. I agree, but also fear maybe some viewers mght think "enough already." (I have included a water-melon bust at the end of two of my presentations. Does that count?) Ah yes, a Sherpa for my tripod. I like that idea. This is perhaps the area that I most would like to do better. But I suspect "better" will only mean "fewer" out of focus shots. I seldom pose my fellow hikers and most the time I am lucky if I am even stopped when I snap the photos of my friends. But you are right, sometimes a little more attention would result in less blurry and fewer blurry photos. I must admit I enjoyed seeing a couple of blurry photos in Andrew's latest epic. I felt like he was imitating my style. One thing I have been experimenting with is the ISO setting when hiking in early-morning or otherwise darker situations. Then I risk forgetting and leaving the high ISO to degrade pure scenics that don't need the speed. The other excuse is that I deem a photo to be important to me or other participants but an outside viewer may recognize only the blurry photo and perceive no relevant need. Ironically, I sometimes find that a "perfect" landscape photo sometimes seems out of place in a mostly semi-casual journalism approach of sharing an experience.Thank you for taking the time to comment. I hope my lengthy response won't hinder your willingness to comment on future offerings I might post.

It's a great way to keep physically and mentally active. Yesterday, wanting to capture some sunshine before last night's predicted snow. My wife and I set out for just a couple of hours to explore the other side of our city/valley. We stumbled across an adoption center for wild horses and burrows! There is always something new to aim a camera toward. I think our state has more National Parks than any state in the U.S. But I have often thought, the beauty found in the acclaimed locations is not clearly better. I sometimes think the National Parks are useful magnets to keep the masses off the more personal paths. I did shoot that morning with a circular polarizer. I used no computer adjustment for saturation or color shifting. You may have noticed two sequential slides of diagonal Aspen forest. The colors were quite different and I considered making them more the same but decided to leave, as you say, out of camera. On most these photos, I probably checked and sometimes used the levels control in Photoshop Elements. Circle All Peak (strange name) is certainly "a lesser" peak. The summit itself sits right above the highway in Big Cottonwood Canyon which is host to Brighton and Solitude ski resorts, minutes from downtown Salt Lake City. The summit is 8707 with maybe only a thousand foot elevation gain over 2- 3 miles? Flying Mountain, by Tim Janis A final screen giving this information would be much appreciated but feel free to answer here if you wish. Thanks! Dan D. Louisville, Kentucky good ole USA Maybe next time for an info screen or two. Thank you for taking time to comment.

At least this topic is getting good response. The nice easy thing about this topic is there are no wrong answers. We all know why we do or do not submit comments on shows we view. It is helpful to me to understand the feelings of others on this topic as well as to my presentations. I would have to differ with that feeling. Although I welcome feedback, and appreciate criticism, I think I am usually providing some good to someone even if I never get a response to a posted show. Granted, I like it a lot better when I do hear from people. I know I am enriched by watching many shows, not all of which receive the deserved comments. When I post a show, I hope that someone will enjoy it. Secondly, if I receive some feedback, I feel better. As Andy suggests in another topic - It is nice to know a person's photos and efforts are being seen rather than being locked in a peaceful cave on a hard drive! I don't think a viewer has a responsibility to comment. I think that a viewer has an opportunity to comment and thereby add value and enrichment to all concerned. All should feel welcome to be part of this process.

Mark - In this AV, would you add the voice over the visual text, or would you recite the entire verse while holding a slide, or would you prefer to continue to roll the photos with no special deference to the verse?