LumenLux

Thank you Guido. I return the compliment that your memory is so good.

Thank you Oleg for your comments. I always like to hear forum members opinions. I wish more members would speak up about what they like and don't like on posted PTE shows. When you suggest "maybe use other effects", do you mean PTE transition effects other than the fade. Or do you mean more sophisticated effects, multiple object placements, etc. as you so use so well in your shows? I love the special effects you use in your shows with Olga's wonderful photos. I would like to try some more of that type of artistry. But I would have to learn more and work harder to do a show that way - of course. Most often my shows are more sharing a story of activities of family, friends, or places. When I think I will make a fancier show of these photos, then the show never gets done at all. But there is always the future, right? If your suggestion was simply use more of Igor's transition effects - I do often make more use of those. When I do, I try to choose the effects that may work best for certain photos. My other PTE show currently on Beechbrook is It's Not About the Fish uses more transitions the way a usually try to do. If you have time to look at that show, I would be interested in your thoughts on it. Final thought - I think there are many PTE users and viewers who prefer the fades almost exclusively?

It has taken me some time to get to comment on your nice presentation. I think the first time I watched it I was half asleep. (Not put to sleep by your Southern Autumn, but from working late on my Sunset Peak.) Your show is however, pleasantly relaxing. The second time I watched the show it was very effective but I had to watch it a 3rd time to see what really happened. Your special effects are so smooth, the viewer may not realize they are even there. Your evolving colors are perfectly done. Now can you tell me if the starting/ending tree was photographed from exactly same camera position with and without leaves? Or did you help Mother Nature with some of your own magic? I was perhaps a little unprepared for your quiet, subtle opening. I thought at first the show did not have the "hook" that grabbed me right from the start of some of your earlier presentations. But after seeing the whole show I began to see the poetic symmetry of your production. Of course you have some great photography to work from! Thanks for the show.

Ah, the mystery of communication. Actually, it is hard to brag about being almost as old as Guido, and then try to convince you I am on the young end of the list of hikers. So - confess, or brag, - the list is in descending sort order. The important part is, as you suggest, that natural beauty is a real lure to get some exercise and enjoy life whichever end of the age scale we weigh in on. So next time you head west, give us a try. I will be very careful to get your name in the proper sort order.

Thank you Sharon. Your artistry shows no matter what you produce. I especially like the No Place to Hide. It is wonderful to see what others do even though so different from my own use of PTE.

That is quite a list Igor. You guys are doing great for us. As for the zoom feature - Have you or anyone ever seen a zoom in presentation of a still picture (slide?) I know in video editing, the zoom inand out is very popular. If you are able to do the zoom, would you be able to have it go either way?

Welcome Brian to this forum. You will find good people and mostly good answers. I hope this answer is not an exception. If it is, a better one will not be far. You have not reached a limit. If you are using the auto-sync feature for the music, you need to be looking at the time line. After you add more music, you should click on the timeline button that says to add arranged points or something like that. (Now that I said that, I'm thinking I may be confusing that with adding more slides. The other possibility is there may be a problem with the specific mp3 file you are adding. Change the order of your mp3 files in the PTE background music list. See if the music ceases at a different spot. Did you already try simply adding a different additional mp3 file?

Amazing. Michel, you have presented very well the art of the sand sculptors. Pardon that the language portion is not understood by me. Do these scultures begin from a block of very hard sand or what is the beginning material condition? What happens to the sculptures when the festsival is over? You use PTE and music very nicely but most impressive to me is your photography of the art pieces. I can imagine many photos taken at such a festival that would not begin to show what you show. Thank you for your very nice work.

For what it is worth Brian, I found the software way out of my normal thought patterns. Like you, I was impressed with what Granot and others do with it. For now, I remain impressed rather than involved.

Sure Guido, my post, that you edited, looks like I intended! I am impressed. Now the obvious question: Does the forum setup allow any user to edit another writer's message? Or did you "pull rank" to do that?

Thank you Bill. The highlight and then tag method would seem to be easier from the start. I thought I tried that a long time ago without success. So thanks for bringing it in here. Now - it did not seem to work. With desired text highlighted, I pushed the Italic button. It set only the begin italic tag, and that was at the end of all existing text, not at the beginning or end of the highlighted text!? Am I still missing something? Now I have tried the IMG tag to see if that works for me.

BOLD italic underline italic underlined Working on your idea Bill, I think the above is ok except for the "underline" test. Apparently the problem comes as follows: If the ending code is intentionally erased by the delete key, then when the next code button is pushed it inserts the deleted code instead of the code from the desired button! I pushed the "bold" start button. Now I pushed the "bold" end button. now I pushed the button again intending for it to be the proper end. It appears that it inserted instead a new start code. Now at end of this sentence I will push the end button and see what we get. Maybe the safer conclusion is: if you insert a code and then delete it, you may end up with erratic behaviour. I know you know some of this stuff inside and out, so maybe you can firm this up a bit. Not too important, just frustrating on occasion. I had noted some "strange" behavior on earlier ocassions, but had never bothered to question it.

OK friends, what am I doing wrong. All of a sudden, when writing a forum message, the "code button" for "italic" does not work for me. I have not tried now the "bold" or "underline" buttons. Have I somehow turned off the feature? Anyone else experiencing this?

And now Jim, you have reminded me of another possibility to consider or try. I once had a scene of an early-morning moose in a meadow. I wanted the scene to start with the original, somewhat dark, exposure. I then wanted the scene to brighten to a more "brilliant" light. To make the transition gradual, instead of fading from the dark slide to the bright slide, I prepared several intermediate slides in PhotoShop and then still used long fade times in PTE. To me the result was so smooth, I think the typical viewer didn't even notice the effect of the dark to light, and possibly wondered why that scene stayed on screen so long! I realize the going from bw to color may not work the same, but you could try it with making intermediate slides with increasing color intensity settings via your photo editor. Now I just hope David that you get these messages and let us know what helps. That is how we all learn - even from a PTE beginner.

I'll just say - I did not understand anyone to say or even imply that there is only a single "right" way. I just appreciate learning what people find useful for their purpose. If we become over-sensitive to perceived "attitude", it will indeed limit the comments that are made in this forum. I dare say that there is always good to be learned from opinions as well as from facts. My humble conclusion: keep up the good work and the sharing. (Sorry for the bumbled attempt of editing this message for points of emphasis. ) - Is it better now, Bob? I manually corrected the wrong tags.

Welcome David - Your effect should be accomplished if you just make the slide duration at least one second longer than your 4000ms (4 sec.) transition. Also, if you are using the "customize slide" option, be sure you are setting the transition time on that screen, not on the project options. Sometimes if your computer has too much going on at same time, the transition will be jerky - making the fade appear short. Good luck, please let us know what works or ask again if still trouble.

John, welcome to the forum - as well as to the software. Please go a step further and post a show or two that come out of your excitement. If you have not already visited Bill's Beechbrook.com, you will find a broad sample of PTE presentations. You can post your shows there if you don't have your own web site. If you have your own, you can still post a link on Bill's site. Your already-posted thoughts put very well into words what has happened to my photo activity. I now have a reputation among fishing & hiking friends. They accuse me of being very easily distracted from the stated purpose of an activity. It seems I am pulling camera from pocket and running in every direction to create that ever present, ever evolving sequence in my mind. As to your portending shift to digital. A recent 3 day hike, might have cost me 3-6 rolls of film, now filled memory chips to tune of 374 pix. With that many chances, I have ample opportunity to miss perfection. Most recent point, a sought-after bear. The combo of early (dim) light and and my excitement resulted in near perfect camera blur! But the fun keeps me going. So enjoy!

Andy - it is good to see you back. I am looking forward to your next show. The show you put up when you brought home the new wife - that still stands as a classic for perfect photo-to-photo fade/blends. A while back, RayPar gave me some very generous help - ie he put a couple of my PTE shows onto CD to play on DVD player for me. Since that time he has stepped up to using a DVD burner for the final result. You may want to email him through the forum if he does not drop in here soon. I think danabw may also be knowledgeable on this topic. Casey is hanging out elsewhere but still checks in here. You might send forum email to him also. Once you find "the" method, please report back to us all.

My reaction, Tom, is favorable. I like your use of special effects. That is, they seem to have creative/story purpose - bejond just showing what effects are possible. My personal preference would be to leave off the red arrows on two slides. The slides speak well enough for themselves. I have always enjoyed the candid type shots of people. Do you ever talk to the candid subjects ("strangers") before or after your shots?

Congratulations in abundance Granot! I am still lagging - can't use them as fast as you can make them. None-the-less I commend you for what you are doing. And now just to date me - I remember when you first appeared in this forum! Little did we know, eh?

Chuck, what a fun account of the "home-grown" wedding. Thank you also for the background information you gave at the start of this topic. For the record, the sound works perfectly on this PIII 750 mhz. A few of the fades are a little fluttery, as happens on some other shows when played on this machine.

Jim - a hearty congratulations on a fine show! Your input in this forum has been good and I had no reason to doubt your photogrpahic & show making talent. But I was still surprized how enjoyable and informative this show is. For what your show does - I think it is perfect. On a personal note - Just within the last week, a casual beekeeper friend was encouraging me to take up the "hobby". Now in a few minutes with your show, I have a vastly expanded idea of what is involved. So on at least two fronts, I really appreciated your show. Also, your narrator was excellent. Is she a professional voice talent? How serious is the mic/recording equipment used? The sound, like the show, seemed perfect.

Tom, I have little experience on the sound, but have used successfully (I think) the following technique to do what I think you want. I have had a single instrumental piece that I wanted to be perhaps 40% longer. I chose a segment to splice onto the end (or squeeze into the middle) of the original. To make the transition acceptable, I simply overlapped the segments instead of butting them against each other. I did (on some occassions) also do some fading of both segments in or around the overlap zone.

Tom, welcome to this useful and fun forum I just took a quick look at your website. I think your talent and attitude are just the kind of thing that make this forum so appreciated by so many of us. I look forward to your further input here and I will definitely get back to your website.

Sort of makes me want to view all these PTE shows in reverse. Who knows what hidden messages may be found. In fact, Boxig - could you and Granot have a utility ready by midnight that will play any PTE show backwards?