Alan Lyons

It sounds Sorry like your problem is in the sound output part of the card if the file will play on another computer. Check the chain of conexions from card to speakers and try headphones also. You could also try hitting the thing with a big stick. It won't help the computer, but it is far cheaper than Valium

If you have a silence in your track with just hiss/ noise you can use aduacity to sample and remove the noise. Dont remove it to zero as this will give a metalic sound to your overall track. The original cause of the sound is caused by a low sound to noise ratio on your sound card or by poor conections. I assume you record in Aduacity, if so make sure that your highest peak is up around -3db as this will give you some headroom before clipping. If there is not enough sound input then noise takes whats left. The reason why Windows Media Player, or Audacity, or Vegas, have a lower noise output is that they have their own controll over output. This can give a false idea of final level if not matched with your soundcard levels, Have a look for "Creating Digital Music & Sound" by Chris Middleton published by Rotovision ISBN 2-940361-27-4 a very usefule book. Alan

Hi Ray, There are a ew reasons why sows don't run from a CD. As Ken said the processing power of your PC is one but add to this the read speed of your CD reader. You can also help things along by insuring that your memory demand for the show is as small as possible. Images are being projected or viewed on a monitor so the file size does not need to be big. Te accepted image size for competition is 1024 x 768 or more recently twice this. If you are using photoshop to resize to this you can set the Image Options slider to the point where it changes from 7 to 8 this will give you an image size of between 200 and 400 kB. You should use MP3 for your music file as these tend to be about 10% the size of .wav files. Also it is better to have one sound file for the show. Use a sound editor to mix your sound together and esport a "show MP3" A typical 5 min competition show tends to com in around 20+MB. I find that prople entering competition for the first time large on everything and shows come in at 100+MB. These will never run smoothly from a CD or any other input device. Have a look at the properties of your show and see if it is a large file. If it is is try resizing yourimages and convert the sound to MP3 and see what you come up with. Best of Luck, Alan

Hi all, Glad to see that the boat can still be rocked . I can and will imbrace all the new gadgets and gimmicks but not just for the sake of them. I prefer to see where they can be applied to their best effect. I think it was John Huston who said "Some of us are here to save the world one frame at a time,some of us are here to sell popcorn." Glad to hear you are watching out for your Irish friends Maureen. We will all be at the NIPA Festival in 2 weeks. A full report will follow. I'm not sure when we will get to England, Mr. Robinson want's to cross the pond. "Drink Canada Dry" I Love a challange

I've been reading through some posts of late most conserning the long awaited and appreicaited V5 betas and what they can do. But recently I thought I had loged on to the wrong forum. We have subjects on rolling balls, bouncing cubes and now there is a campain to drop bombs on us . What about the idea of collecting together a sequence of images along with music to make a show which is both pleasing to the viewer and perhaps has a message or a tale to tell. I think this would be a novel and interesting way to use the software, and who knows it might even catch on Back in the 70's and 80's we cavemen & women went through a similar dark faze with the medical term of "Cokin Filters". Thankfully we are all cured now even those who later developed full blown "infrared" photography. Comments Please Alan

Hi peter, Check in your project options main screen to see if you have "use own icon"checked. You may be asking it to display an icon thats not there so windows will default, Alan

Happy New Year to you too Bill, see you when you come to Ireland. Bring loads of memory as you will bring lots of memories back, Alan

Glad to keep you all happy.

Hi All, After a long absence I have finnallyuploaded a new(ish) sequence to Beechbrook. Hope you enjoy and all the best for 2007

A Happy Christmas to you all and heres to another wonderful and creative year with Pictures to Exe.

Hi John, I would agree with what Maureen says(I have to because she knows where I live ). But judges of competitions need some guidence to help them deside between entries especially if there are many to choose from. A judge dose not have to like or agree with the subject matter, only assess if the entrant has achived what they set out to do. But to use a point system to help you create? . I would symplify your system for judging. Photography and sound are key points but are they relevent to each other? xx points Does the sequence grab and hold your attention throughout? xx points Has the author achived what they set out to do? xx Points Has the author used the A/V methods that best support the objectives? xx Points This would help the judge assess each sequence evenly and allow the best to come foward. It would also help to give a critisim in a positive and consistant way. Finally drop the points and you have a base from which to build your own sequences. We all need assessment and to have our work critisized in order to improve our work, and so long as we remain open to good work and ideas we will never become stagnant or worst still enter a piece wich will please the judge, Regards Alan

I see what you meen Ron in that case I would resize the with to 1024 and maintain aspect ratio to let the "drop work its self out". I think the 3:2 ratio looks better anyway, it has a more cinematic look than the near square 4:3. I found a 3:2 option on my camera and intend to use this format for sequences, so there!

Hi Jan, My normal projection image is 1024 x 768 and I take the full size image into Photoshop and re size. Then when you "Save As"set the slider to 8 just at the point where it changes from 7 and save. (Can be set up as an action) This gives you a small image which is perfect for projection. Depending on colour and detail this can range from 150kb to 250kb. Projection is fine (prize winning) and you can keep the images colse on the timeline, and run transitions to your hearts content. Add this to MP3 music files and your average show should rearly venture out beyond 30MB, Regards, Alan

Hi All, here is something very special if you are in Ireland in December, and if you are not ask Colin if he and the gang can come to you. I'm sure they could be forced into taking the trip. After Antartica, anywhere else should be a breeze. The Royal Photographic Society (Ireland) Audio-Visual Group INVITES YOU TO “An Audio Visual Extravaganza” Antarctica, South Georgia and The Falkands Flowerfield Arts Centre, Portstewart Friday 8 December 06, 7.30 p.m. (in association with Portrush Sea Cadets Unit) Clotworthy House Arts Centre, Antrim, Sat 9.Dec 06, 2.00 p.m. (preceded by an AV Workshop, 10.30 - l.00p.m for the RPS AV Group) Drogheda Arts Centre, Mon 11 Dec 06, 7.30 p.m. (in association with the RPS, Ireland Region) Presenters: Colin Balls, FRPS, FIPF and Rhona Balls (Wilmslow Guild Audio-Visual Group) Lee and Bernadette Kitchingman (Kendal Photographic Society) Colin Balls, winner of many prizes in audio-visual competitions at national and international level will use the Royale digital projection and sound system, designed and manufactured by himself. He is a past Chairman of the RPS AV Distinctions Panel. Rhona's role is to keep Colin in order!" Lee and Bernadette Kitchingman are video and wildlife specialists. Bernadette was the Lancashire and Photographic Union Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2005. There will also be an Exhibition of Bernadette's Wildlife prints This will be a top-quality demonstration and exhibition of superb audio-visual sequences, videos and still images of Antarctica, South Georgia and the Falklands displaying advanced techniques in digital photography and AV Tickets_£10 (or€17KEuros) Enquiries to: Gordon Gray, Chairman RPS (Ireland) AV Group ,8 Kilcreg Park, BALLYCASTLE, BT54 6JR tel (028) 2076 9722 E: 2gray@ballvcastle8.wanadoo.co.uk or Des Clinton, RPS Organiser, Ireland, 35 Hillview, DROGHEDA, Co Louth tel. (041)9837824 E-mail: desclinton@eircom.net. BOOKING ARRANGEMENTS "Voyage of Discovery" — Antarctica, South Georgia and the Falklands Friday 8 December, 7.30p.m. Flowerfield Arts Centre, Portstewart TO: lan McCullough, c/o Portrush Sea Cadets, 16 Dunluce Ave., PORTRUSH, BT56 8DW OR: Gordon Gray, 8 Kilcreg Park, BALLYCASTLE, BT54 6JR. Tel 2076 9722 Please send me ..... tickets @£10 each for this event: NAME............................ ADDRESS:................................................... POSTCODE ................ tel: ................................................... Signed........................ "Voyage of Discovery" — Antarctica, South Georgia and the Falklands Saturday 9 December, 2.00p.m. Clotworthy House Arts Centre, Randalstown Road, ANTRIM. Tel. 9448 1338 OR: Gordon Gray, 8 Kilcreg Park, BALLYCASTLE, BT54 6JR. Tel 2076 9722 Please send me ..... tickets @£10 each for this event: NAME............................ ADDRESS:................................................... POSTCODE ................ tel: ................................................... Signed........................ "Voyage of Discovery" — Antarctica, South Georgia and the Falklands Monday 11 December, 7.30 p.m. Drogheda Arts Centre Des Clinton, RPS Organiser, Ireland, 35 Hillview, DROGHEDA, Co Louth. tel. (041) 98 378 24 E-mail: desclinton@eircom.net Please send me ..... tickets @£&reach for this event: NAME............................. ADDRESS:................................................... POSTCODE ................ tel: ................................................... Signed.......................

Hi Max, I had version 5 LE which I got with a film scanner and it was fine. But if you want to get deep into photoshop then spend the bucks on CS2. This is a fine programme and has many more tools than the elements or LE versions. If you do buy have a look out for "Quick Steos with Photoshop CS2 ISBN 0-07-226159-5 you can get it from www.osborne.com It gives you all the basic info in cleare and presice detail. Just like all those manuals you remember from the USMC Alan

Hi, First thing to try is , are you using the customise slide option rather than the project option. Project option will effect ALL the slides. If you use the syncronization, you can drag the "shadow" to the time you want in the timeline and not effect the other slides, hope this helps, Alan

Hi John, I agree that you have been very brave in taking on the task ahead of you, but as they say, someone has to. One piece of advice I would give is take command of the project. You don't have to be a tyrant but you need to be able to say with confidence "This is how the project should go" "This needs to be included", and hardest of all. "The project will be better if this or that is left out". I have sat through many shows which were torture because the author insisted on using every photograph taken regardless of quality or relevance. As others have said view any show you can get your hands on, but also reliase you are learning too. I am involved in a group in Dublin which is full of eager learners but we who do most of the teaching are happy to learn too. A friend once said as he introduced me at a workshop, " An expert is someone who is one step ahead of the possie" Try giving a lecture after that intro and the rest will be a walk in the park Again let us know where you are and perhaps you can link up with others who are ahead of the possie. Regards, Alan

Hi Cynthia, It sounds like you have music set to one paticular slide and this is causing a conflict in the sync of the show. You need to check for slides which have the own music attached and remove this. The quickest way to do this is ti remove the project sound and run a preview. This will hopefully cause the slide sound to play. You then go to this slide and remove the sound file then re isert the project sound. Hope this works, Alan

Hi John, I ageree with all who say use MP3 but I would also add that itis better if you canuse a sound editor to compile all your sound files into one MP3 for the sequence. When you use more than one P2E needs to load these as they are needed (More work for the processor) and this is why the sound can stop and arrive late. Remember an MP3 file is about 10% of a .wav file Alan

Hi Gilbert, Audacity while it is free can be a bit moody at what type of file it uses. You need to download a lame file to allow you to work with mp3. One programme which is gainind popularty on this side of the pond is Audio Cleaning Lab by Magix.com. The current vertion is about €25 it is ment to convert vinal/ tape to CD but is very versatile and I recomend it to anybody starting in digital sound especially if like you they are coming from slide/tape as the methods are very simmelar to tape recording with the added advantave of copy/ cut/ paste to a timeline. You also get mastering tools like compressor, reverb, noise filters ect. In fact the more you push it the more you find you can do. I have jet to find a sound file that it will not import! Alan

Hi All, did you know you can also launch a preview from the timeline by clicking once on the image in the timeline screen. You can get back to the timeline by pressing esc. This is great for checking small sections in your show without having to run the whole or even exit the timeline. From dull and grey Dublin, Alan

Hi Dave, Sounds like a good idea. Lets have the image size ect and I will submit. We could also submit sound bite mp3s which could be the basis of the soundtrack. We did a sequence here in Ireland a few years back about diversity and used public voices to support the images. count me in, Alan

It will be well worth the wait as always with P2E upgrades Just imagine, a whole year to play with 5.0 Happy New Year to all, Alan

Hi All, Christmas night in Dublin, Steptoe & Son on the TV, Whiskey and Chocolates on the sofa. All is well. Pronounciation for Al: Nollaig Shonna Duit. Nollaig: Null as in null and void, Ag as in Against Shonna : as "he "shon a" light on the wall Duit: rhymes with Bit. Youll have to ask some one else about the russian!

Seasons greetings to all from Dublin. If the rest of the world could be as friendly and helpful as this forum, the world would be a better place. Enjoy the Christmas, I hope Santa brings ALL the goodies and you have a great 2006. "Nollaig Shonna Duit" Alan