Alan Lyons

Woolie, Is you sound tied to the first slide only? It should not happen if you are using the project options, but check the slide options and see if "play new music" is checked. You may have a conflict between slide options and project options. Alan

Hi Fried, Glad to be of help, just one more point on the dark slide. If you intend to break up your sequence like this make sure the sound track does not stop over the black slide. Darkness + end of music + silences = it's over now+ lets clap and go to the bathroom! My original idea of dummies was to use single colour slides so when you add the show slides you will see the holes fill in, Regards, Alan

Hi Fried, Firstly, welcome to the forum. you will find a wealth of info here on all aspects of Audio Visual presententation, for that is what we are at . I would suggest for your "dummy slides" you could make single colour slides in photoshop and name these say "Snipe01...." Then when the relevent slide becomes available, you just replace the blank by renaming the slide. i.e. "Snipe01...." blank would be replaced by renaming a photo slide "Snipe01....". The images would then drop in where you need them. I would be against using the black slide between each image as this breaks up the show and makes it look poor. Also it intails making a dark slide in photoshop, and coppying it between each slide. Imagine if you have 100 slides, a lot of work to make the show look bad. If you are not sure about a disolve you can see the efect by putting both images as layers in the one canvas in photoshop and play with the transparency slider. If the effect is not pleasng you can either try some other image or use a quick fade to get past that point. I hope this helps with your project and that you have every success with it, Regards, Alan

Hi Tim, Those of us who have come to this from Slide / Tape, also put a black slide at the end of the show. This alliws you to have the first image arrive on the screen in a controlled manner and like wise, you can controll the end fade out to black. I have a preference for black as shows in competition are usually shown in a darkened room. A black screen gives an air of anticipation that a white or any other colour can not. I have 1 dark slide which I copy to each show file, Regards, Alan

Hi, Next time you are in your local Virgin/HMV/Tower records, have a look near the soundtracks for BBC sound effects CDs. These have broadcast quality effects and are devided into sections for you. There are many discs available, and as well as the standard fare you can also get some from the BBC radiophonics workshop. If the shop don't have them try www.bbc.co.uk Alan

Hi, Just be carefull you can hear the voice over while the music is playing or vice versa. This is the main advantage of mixing the sound track unique to a show you can tailor the sound so the levels are good. One other option is if you compile a sound track and keep the "project" file for your sound editor. If you place the voice on seperate track then you can edit only the voice track and export a different mp3. In other words, you would have a template soundtrack which can be edited at will. You will need to keep all sound fles used in the one place, so either a big hard drive, or store on a disc. Alan

Hi Don, 1. you can set the show to move to the next slide by adding buttons to each slide, i.e. "Next" Back" or "Exit" this can be done in the objects editor. 2. There are some simple auto run programmes available from forum members which can be put on the CD. On both counts use the search option on this forum for more details, Best of luck Alan

Hi All, Been away from the forum for a bit but this seems like a great system to rescue work. As we all know we only need that bit of paper or phone number directly after we have thrown it out or deleted it! The most importent word in computing is BACKUP, but it is closely followed by RESCUE As always good work in advance Igor, we are all in awe of your tireless efforts on our behalf Ron, when you talk about your stupidity in forgetting pin nos. ect. I think you and me both now qualify to use the term "Senior Moment". We never forget things any more Regards, Alan

Hi and Welcome, On the sound question Jim is right. Most of us compile our sound into one file. This allows you to use the time line to position slides just where you want them. If you are launching sound from the slidr options you will get the bad switch between sounds. It is hard to judge when the sound is started, and if the file is big it will take a while to load. Using the time line with a single file means that the sound and slides are controlled by the time count. There is a good resource on sound in AV at www.avworld.org. On the other questions, you'llhave to wait for the techies, they don't get up too early in the morning Best of luck with your show, Alan

Hi All, Here is my bit on this subject: Digital projectors use a resulition of 1024 "across the top" this is why we use this in our slides as it meens that all pixels are projected. This gives the best possible projected image. If you use another canvas size the projector will forse the imige into 1024 ans drop pixels or strech them to fit. This is where the images starts to fall apart. Projectors will eventually use bigger resulotions, but unless these are at least doubled, the improvement will be of little use. So if you want to "future protect" your work you can set them for 2048 or even twice that, ect. This gives you an even number of dropped pixels, so the image looks fine. (no flight of stairs where there was a straight line) DVD was intended for motion picture, so the resloution is smaller. When you put your 1024 images into a dvd show you will have some fall off in quality. I think you will need to resize images to suit the way they are to be shown. Alan

Just a big Thank You to Igor and co. for all their efforts in making the best A/V software around. I ran many shows using all sorts of software this weekend, and was proud to see that only the P2E shows consistently ran on the first click, ran smoothly , and presented the shows as intended. The new version is even better. Thanks again, Alan

Hi Dave, Welcome in. This is the bar you need to be leaning on when it comes to Pictures to Exe . You will find that any thing you ask will be delt with quickly, and that there are many members from both near and far. Check the "Presentations" section for uploads and events happining around the world. But as for the Whiskey, well I think you will have to supply that your self Best Wishes Alan

Hi All, just to pick up on what Ron West said about posting. I dont post as I have a slow conection and an upload takes forever. But what I find more valuable is to travle to events when I can. This way, not only do you get to see other's work, but also to meet the authors. I have made some great friendships and learned a lot by being around other workers. In a print competition/ exhibition, people don't have to meet, but with A/V we are all there for the day/ weekend. These can be great events and are worth the effort. There aer now 2 traveling circuts available www.dave in Aldbourne, Cardiff and Dublin. www.avworld.org and the Supercircut ww.diaporamacircuit.com There are also many workshops, showings ect, so I recomend to all to get out there and get among the crowd. You'll find they are very nice people, Regards, Alan

Hi All, what Robby says has a valid point. We should never restrict our efforts to what will win a competition, or line up with another's style. But there is an agreed set of "rules" in all art forms. In photography/ paintings ect. we understand compisition, perspective, exposure and other things which will lead to a good image. These apply even if the viewer does not like or support the content of the image. What Ron is pointing out is that the same is relevent to a completed sequence. You should not be tied to what someone else belives to be right or "nice", but if the objective is to have someone watch the sequence through, then you must make that experience as easy as you can without loosing the original reason for the show. As I said before, gimicks for their own sake are of no use to the show. Remember, in order to break the rules, it helps to have a good understanding of the rules first. Alan

Anyone know of a programme to remove dead flys and blood stains from your hard drive? Or do they just disolve over a set time? Go lie down the lot of ye! Alan

Hi Ron et all, I agree with all said so far. We are fortunate to hav all these fade/disolve options at our disposal. Some of these we who work (ed) in slide tape could never have imagined possible. I liken this to when Cokin filters arrived in the 1980s. For quite a while we were assaulted with images where created just because the author had the latest filter and not because the image had something to say. Thankfully, all the most outlandish filters are now safely hidden in wardrobes and attics worldwide . The same should apply to the disolves in P2E. They are only ment to move from one image to another. They can help us do this in a very slick and show inhancing way. But when they become the reason for the show I.E. "look how clever I am". Then you have missed the point. Used inteligently, they become part of the whole, but bad use leads to bad shows. Some times, simple things like fade to black can be very effective. If you must kill the fly, use the swat not the S.W.A.T Team Alan

Hi Brian & Rodger, I assume this thread is in response to the other one by ADB. As I said over there the recording of locatiob sound is challanging and the equiptment can be expensive. But the end result can add a lot to a soundtrack. This can be beyond most new workers and a fair few advanced workers. I don't wish to turn people away from this area but if the cost of the equiptment seens to be beyond anybody I would suggest looking a the BBC sound effects CDs which are available in the bigger record stores. The sounds are recorded by professional engineers for brodcast and you can fine most of what you need. I would suggest that if members gey the opertunity to record outdoors then they should give it a go. It is challanging but a good capture is like a good photograph, you will always remember the day you got it right. Alan

Hi Andrew, If you contact Ron Davies who I believe is a forum member, but you can get him at www.avworld.org. Ron has a vast experience with sound and has many books, tapes, and tutorials on all aspects of sound recording. I dont think you will be able to do what you want without some expense on equiptment as outdoor/ ambient sound opens up all sorts of problems of it's own. Its like a portrait worker going from the studio to the street. Difficult but worth the effort. Regards, Alan

Hi Peter, Welcome aboard. On your first point if you search the forum for backgrounds you will find a wealth of info on how to place an image "off centre" Or you could try creating an image over image slide in photoshop. The roll over I'll leave to the techies! There is a nav pannell available from the main menu in project options. I have only used this once, as my work is secquences which run from start to finish, good luck with your efforts and enjoy P2E Alan

Well done Guido, PTE Central has arrived, a great adition to this forum's font of knowlage. I will be at a workshop this weekend, and will see that all will know of your site. Thanks for the time and effort on our behalf, Alan

Hi Ednys, Rodger is right, we did have a long discussion on this topic awhile back. But it is one which will come up often, and that is good. The creative part of A/V is the hardest part to teach. Each person and indeed each show can use a different route to get to the final show. Recently in Belfast we were doing a sound workshop, and there were almost as many "tried and trusted methods" as there was people in the room. As jim says there can be a lot of editing and hard choices to make to get the final show, but I would recomend showing your work to someone who is not involved in the production.We can sometimes make do when the production won't go as we wished. The "cold eye" is a good way to get us back on track. Have a look at www.avworld.org for your nearest A/V group. The workshops are alyways worth the day. Best of luck with your efforts, Alan

Hi Peggy, are you applying for the merchandising franchise for P2E? 1990 members now registered, you would have your work cut out. Here is my offering for a tag line, "Old P2E workers don't die, they just fade to black" See how many we get from the others, Regards, Alan

Hi and Welcome, Another option if you want to customize the whole show is to go to the time line and after adding all the slides you can drag each one to a point on the line. Just be carefull that the "Shaddow' after each timed point ( the transition time) does not cross over into the next timed point. This way you can have asilde come on at any point you wish and it will remain on until the time line reaches the next timmed point, Alan

I'm not sure Mike, but I remember something a while back about opening the . pte file in notepad the list is there but I believe you need to edit out the other info. I'm sure others will be more clear on this, but i don't think there is a simple "print list of slides" option, Alan

Glad to hear it all worked out in the end. I did a project last year which also involved a group of photographers. Add to that writers video workers poets and actors and recorded comments from the public and I understand what you faced in your project. What I did in the end was compile the photos with some of the text to make a show running 20mins or so. This used music and the comments as the sound track. I then made a show containing any text not used in the first show. The video clips were kept as files and were connected to buttons on the "front page" of the project. All parts could be run from here and each participent got a CD as a momento. I think the most importent element in a project like this is a long lead in time and the paitence to see it through. Hope you have not been put off doing something like this again, Regards, Alan