mhwarner

Hi John, What a beautiful area. You are so fortunate to be able to "climb some hills" in this place! Nice choice of photos and the music was a good match. I have two comments on the pictures. First, you apparently had some dust spots on the camera's sensor (or on your lens) that could use a bit of touching up (or cloning out). It is most evident in the blue sky areas. My second suggestion would be to perhaps do a bit of post processing work on a couple of the dark photos to pull out the shadow detail. The second image of the castle actually has a good bit of detail that I was able to pull out on a quick test. The only other observation I had -- totally unrelated to anything your show or photos -- was that the highway bridge to the island was seemed so out of place in all that lovely scenery. I guess that's progress, though. Thanks for sharing your photos!

Nice presentation and the photos are all the more impressive knowing that your mobility was restricted. My only comments are that the transition I would have chosen is "Curling of Page (Horizontal/Vertical)" rolling up from right, which would to me be more like flipping through an album. The direction you have chosen seems backwards to me. The other thing I might have done is to check the "color of backside" box and select a gray or white so that the previous picture doesn't show through as the transition is happening. Again, to me more like looking through an actual album. Just my 2 cents. Thanks for sharing!

This may not be the correct place for this posting so the moderators can feel free to move it to the "Slideshow" forum if they feel that is a better place. I just wanted to share a link for some really amazing software I have been playing with for the last month or so. It's called Dynamic Auto-Painter and can be found here: Dynamic Auto Painter website. I know there have been tutorials and links to various Photoshop actions to give photos a more painterly look for intros to slideshows and even to entire slideshows, but this software can be a one-click solution to some pretty interesting and amazing "painted" results. It has been evolving over the last month and there is a forum where the author (like our wonderful Igor) participates frequently to hear ideas and requests which are promptly incorporated into the software. The software is not really dependent on the original photo resolution so it can be a great solution for older 2-3 mp digital photos (but it also does a great job on 10 mp photos as well). There are a number of included templates and the website contains details on how to create your own if you are wanting a special or unique look. There is a free trial download that is only limited in that it puts a banner across the bottom of the photo, so you can easily see the results which can be achieved. In my opinion, the results are far superior to what can be achieved by the autopainting feature in Corel Painter or Painter Essentials and the price is significantly lower. There is a pdf file included in the download. Be sure to read it first to understand some of the controls which are available. The only downside to the software is that is extremely habit forming. I have spent many hours playing with it when I should have been doing other things. Here are a couple of "paintings" I created with it: This is apparently the last week for the low introductory offer, so if you are interested, you should probably get it now at $35 US before the price goes up. Lifetime updates are free. I have no association with the software, but I just wanted to return the favor of a heads up on it to my friends here who have over the years shared links to other software which can be useful in creating PTE slideshows.

Thanks! Will give it a try. And it's really great to have you back. We have missed you here in the forum!

Hi John, Not sure if this article will be helpful (http://www.windowssecrets.com/2008/08/14/03-Youll-get-a-new-Windows-Update-like-it-or-not) but if not, perhaps you might find other useful information on the windowssecrets site. It is the home base for a bi-weekly newsletter to which I subscribe and they provide very good expert information about many technical pc-related topics, including automatic updates and patches for both XP and Vista. The search engine will find you some other articles on "automatic updates".

And what incredible photos they are! You (and Catherine) certainly have an eye for composition. I'm not sure which I really liked best, but I was particularly caught by the one shot of various sized elephants. The light and the lines were wonderful. I also especially liked some of the shots with the trees and the dunes. The music was appropriate and the show did not suffer in the least from the lack of any special effects. Thank you for sharing these pictures with us! I'm sure it was a trip you will remember for a lifetime.

Like Barry and everyone else here, I too have struggled with the slideshow size issue. Since all of the shows I currently make for sale are delivered on DVD (presumably for replay on set-top DVD players) and I have no way of knowing what size or resolution TVs will be used, I started with 1024x786 and have recently moved to 1280 x 1024. Perhaps after the forced over-the-air conversion to HD in the US in June, I will think about a different ratio and size. Since I haven't yet purchased a HD TV (it's at the top of my shopping list right now), when I have done shows for display here at home, I use my 19" monitor and thus size my shows for as close to full-screen as possible on my monitor (1920 x 1200). For a lot of those shows, I don't even bother to resize since they won't be downloaded and size/bandwidth isn't an issue. However, regarding the idea of redoing old shows, as the size/resolution/quality of the monitors or TVs improve (as well as that of the projectors many of you use in AV clubs), the options available in PTE are constantly improving as well, and the options and technology of our image editing programs usually get more sophisticated with each iteration. In addition, presumably our own competency improves as we become more skilled at working with our images. More than likely, if I were to redo an old slideshow, I would probably re-edit some of the images in Photoshop, perhaps apply different plugin filters, use more zooms, pans and masks, etc. So would I want to just take an old existing slideshow and upsize the images. Probably not. As long as I have access to my original digital files, I would probably look at the old show, perhaps make note of the images I used, and then redo it with the most up-to-date technology. Just a few thoughts.

Thanks to all of you (and most especially Stu for sharing this utility with us)! It's exactly what I was looking for and I do remember seeing it but could not remember the utility's name. I had apparently previously downloaded it but never had the chance to try it out. And thanks for the speedy reply!

Am I misremembering or is there a way to export or print a list of all the images used in a show? I know I can look at the .pte file but I thought there was a simple way to get a text list of the images/files used in a show. Maybe I am thinking of one of the user-developed utilities. Either way, I would appreciate a pointer in the right direction as I have searched the menus and the help files and come up empty. Thanks in advance.

Jeff, We live in northern Arizona just north of Seligman (between Williams and Kingman). Last March we drove up through Vegas to Pahrump, NV, then to Death Valley, down through the Mohave Preserve (past the Kelso train station) to 29 Palms and spent a day in Joshua Tree NP. The wildflowers were just gorgeous everywhere. One of these days I'll get around to putting some of the photos into a show. However, while we were avid tent campers many years ago, we upgraded to a 28-foot RV a few years ago. We tow a 4-wheel drive and are accustomed to "dry camping" so we do get into some pretty remote places, but we aren't quite as flexible as you with only the car and a tent or cot. We do bring along both our dog and cat, but the cat doesn't go outside and the dog is a small sheltie we keep on a leash and close by due to the danger of coyotes out here. And I did recognize the spider as I often see them on the road near our house while I'm out walking. One of the benefits?? of remote high-desert living.

Glad to see you back with us, Jeff! Hope you are on the road to recovery. I thoroughly enjoyed the show. We drove through that area last spring to see the wildflowers. While somewhat desolate by many people's standards, I think the area still has a great deal of beauty. Even though the weather was not what you were hoping for (or apparently expecting), the snow and the lighting made for some spectacular pictures. I really enjoyed the photography and the sequence of clouds and textures at the beginning and end were nicely done. I also enjoyed Sammi's encounter with the spider. Thanks for sharing!

Lovely photos, nicely blended colors on each slide, and I just love the presentation. It is indeed a very elegant way of showcasing the shots from your garden. Your talent just amazes me, Dom. When do you have time to come up with all of these animations? Thanks for sharing!!

Ronnie, I can't speak as to how Dom might have done it, but here is a link to a large number of Photoshop Actions for creating mattes and frames. Many of them will create similar beveled mattes and frames. Action Central - Matte and Frame Actions

Hi Dom, The pictures are lovely and the music you have chosen is just exactly right for the show. The animation was smooth on my PC as well and I'm not sure that my graphics card is the best. However, for some reason, I found the animation a bit annoying. I did not like the way the photos came in from the back of the pile. Don't ask me why but for some reason I prefer the type of animation in your photopiles template or your 3D photopiles template where the picture comes off the top of the pile and flies off the screen. This one was just a bit disconcerting or something. Can't put my finger on it. But hey, we all have different tastes! Anyway, I still enjoyed watching it and appreciate your sharing the pictures with us. A photo safari in Africa is on my list but I am not sure I will ever make it so it is nice to enjoy it through the photos of others who have been there.

dxdiag reports 256 meg, which is what I recall when I purchased the laptop.

Hi Lin, I have viewed the YouTube show in HD full-screen and also experienced the "stepped" transitions. Although I am on a satellite connection, I did let the video download almost to the end before I actually played it. Interestingly, after it played, I went into my Temporary Internet Files cache and copied the video to another folder. I then ran the MP4 with Igor's recommend Media Player Classic Homecinema player. The transitions were greatly improved, but still a bit "stepped" or jerky and not quite as smooth as we are used to in the .exe files created by PTE. I have a Dell I6400 laptop with 1.66GHz dual core Intel CPU, 2 GB of Ram and my Flash version is 10,0,12,36. Graphics card is ATI Mobility Radeon X1400. FYI, I did purchase the Transparent player but haven't had time to upload anything. I have experimented with it some locally however, and I noticed the same sort of "stepped" transitions on a test .mp4 show I created with PTE. I was wondering if it was just me or something unavoidable. I don't recall now how I sized the show or the settings when I created the MP4. It will be interesting to see if we can come up with some overall settings that will work well with less than "top of the line" hardware.

Although I can't find the reference on the forum, I believe the answer to the question which I previously asked is -- unfortunately -- "No". So those of us who are unable to obtain updated ATI drivers (I have a Dell Laptop with an ATI Mobility Radeon X1400 for which Dell has no update and the ones from ATI do not work) are still screwed. The good news for me at the moment is that since I have recalibrated my monitor with the latest Spyder 3, when I run PTE slideshows my monitor now lightens up somewhat (instead of getting darker) when the shows display. Igor's solution of getting ATI to issue updates was not a solution as far as I am concerned since they (ATI) apparently can't be bothered with issuing updates for Dell laptops. Bummer!

Thanks, Lin. I experimented a bit and figured out that I just had to substitute my filename "testfile.mp4" for the "player.flv" reference in the sample html file. Now I will experiment with sizing and transitions to see what works best. My sample file that I have tested locally is 1280x720 and about 37 MB. The transitions (which were simple fade transitions in PTE) seem to be kind of jerky. I would probably not put files that large on my site so I guess I need to figure out settings in the PTE Video Builder to determine what will make the smoothest videos. I appreciate your responses.

Thanks for the explanation on the compression. But I am still confused about whether or not I need an additional piece of software to convert the MP4 h.264 output from PTE to FLV or is there a way to use this transparent player to directly play the MP4 h.264 file. Sorry for being so dense. And thanks in advance!

Quick question, Lin. If one were to purchase this transparent player product, would it be necessary to purchase any other programs to optimize videos (to obtain the results available on Josh's website (no jerkiness or loading delays) or would we be able to do this using settings in the video creation piece of PTE? Or do you know? Thanks in advance for any insight.

Wow! This is pretty amazing! I am on a satellite internet connection and as I watched the videos on Josh's page, I had absolutely none of the jerkiness and stuttering that I usually experience with YouTube or Vimeo (or any other online videos) while waiting for the videos to load. I am impressed. I have been toying with the idea of putting some small slideshows out there, but I have been reluctant to do so without the control I would have when placing them on my own website. I think I might just purchase it -- and the lifetime license (like we have with PTE) sounds quite appealing. Thanks for sharing this info, Lin.

Hi Anthony, Here's a small show I made a little while back which included some masks. While the effects could have been achieved in previous versions of PTE using transparent .png files, the masks were much easier once I came to understand them. http://www.mhwarner.com/azautumn.zip

Thanks anyway Dick. I did take a look again at PhotoME, which I had apparently downloaded at the time I did my original search for editing tools. It does allow editing of some EXIF fields. Unfortunately, "User Comment" and "Image Description" are not editable with PhotoME. So for now, I will stick to the one I found which seems to work just fine.

I was in serious need of an easy way to edit the User Comment field in my photos for use as labels in a photo album creation program I have. There have been discussions in the past about the ease (or lack thereof) and the pros and cons of editing EXIF info in files. While IPTC information is pretty much uniform and easily editable in many applications, including Photoshop and presumably Photoshop Elements, PTE and many other applications do not yet support using the IPTC data for text, titles etc. I have been able to edit the UserComment field in Thumbs Plus and Irfanview but the data does not always show up in the programs where I want to make use of it. I was searching last night for a good (and hopefully free) tool to use for editing the data. I found several shareware options (including the old and mostly out-of-date Exifer) and then I found this freeware tool. It is unforunately a command line tool which is somewhat of a PITA unless you were fond of the old DOS command line manipulations, but there are 2 fairly decent (and also free) GUI interface tools as well. PTE supports both the User Comment and Image Description fields when inserting text in the O&A window and just the User Comment field when editing individual slide comments. <%MainImg.Exif.Description%> <%MainImg.Exif.Comment%> If you are technically savy, you can do some batch editing of EXIF data for a directory full of files as well. For my photo album purposes, this will be a great way to provide image captions without editing hundreds of text objects in the software. For PTE, it's an easy way to add text for titles or captions instead of editing the text box. Here are the links: http://owl.phy.queensu.ca/~phil/exiftool/ http://freeweb.siol.net/hrastni3/foto/exif/exiftoolgui.htm http://home.wi.rr.com/dick/ExifAuto.htm

Patrick, I especially enjoyed the photos in the vinyard. Some of them were quite spectacular -- the obvious rows of grapevines and most especially the one with the church/cemetery in the center. As for the sound, I found it quite annoying, but I just turned off while I watched the show. Thanks for sharing.