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Peter, Yes, I have looked into IrfanView. It has the ability to batch Rename and Conversion of format. But when it comes to resizing, which works nicely, does not seem to have a batch feature. You have to do it one by one. I am looking into NX trial now to see what it has. Gary ========================

Peter, Thanks for the info. However, you have opened a can of worms for me. But it is a good thing. After reading your reply, I started to look more closely at my workflow for getting images into PTE. Now I see I have not been paying close attention. I am still pretty much lost on what exactly to do but I now see I have been negligent in my workflow. Normally, I would shoot JPGs, instead of RAW. I'd run them through Photoshop and usually adjust only Levels and USM. Then, to get them down to manageable size for PTE, I'd run then through a batch resizing (using NetGraphics Optimizer, not available anymore). NetGraphics is a great little program; but after your posting, I see that I should be resizing my D80 images down from 3872x2592 to 1613x1080 (3:2) aspect ratio (I don't want to crop my images). I now see that even though my NetGraphics program lets me "use image's original size", the max resize using their batch process is 1200x803. And I see other programs I have will also not an image be resized larger than this. So I was not able to ever get the 1613x1080 resized images. Using Photoshop, I'd have to make an Action, but I have not been able to make one that works as it should. Anyway, the bottom line is I have to rethink my workflow. I have not responded sooner because I have been trying to find a better approach. I have not succeeded yet, but I see I need to. I have thoughts of now shooting only RAW and using Nikon NX2 to do the batch conversion to JPG and resizing. But I have not tried it yet. I now feel like a lost lamb in the woods. Too many things to think of trying to get the correct workflow and make my images higher quality. And this is all before I get to understand some of the settings in PTE, which still are not clear. I still have may questions, but one question at this point: when you say 'resize', what is your process to do this? Do you do this one image at a time, or do you have a batch process to do this? Which program? And, do you 'resize' only to get the final PTE exe file to be more manageable or for other purposes? Thanks... Gary =================================

Greetings, I have been following the recent discussion (Shows Created in PTE/The New Zealand Landscapes) about image size. Ok…I confess I am a bit confused. Since my PC is a 17” monitor and I don’t have one of those big screen TVs (yet), I have not had to be worried much about the images' display size. However, I am trying to understand the proper procedure to create a PTE show that will play the HD Video (mp4) or DVD-Video Disk for televisions on the ‘big screens.’ Normally, I would reduce my Nikon D80 images (3872 x 2592) down to about 1024 x 768 and reduce the images’ resolution (keeping them at 10.42” x 6.97”) so the show’s exe size would be more manageable. According to what I have been reading in the Forum, the way to go for presentation on large screens is to Create the show in HD Video 1920 x 1080 with an aspect ratio of 16:9. I can see where to set the setting in the Create menu for HD Video. However, what I am confused about is what needs to be set in the Project Options/Screen menu if you are going to Create the (1) HD (1920x1080) file (do you always choose ‘High Quality’?) and the (2) DVD-Video Disk for television: -Is it necessary to set the Aspect Ratio to 16:9 here, or does it matter? -Is it necessary to set the Virtual Size of Slide here to 1920 x 1080, or does it matter? -What do you do with ‘Virtual size of slide’? If you start out with the original image size of 3872 x 2592, can you (should you) keep the original size (10.42” x 6.97”) and reduce the resolution (file’s size in Kb) to keep the exe file smaller and not lose quality? I hope I am not mixing apples and oranges here. It is just not clear to me when to set certain settings. I’d appreciate any clarifications. Thanks… Gary

Peter, Sorry to disappoint! I'll try to come up with some more taxing questions soon. But, I don't think I explained my question too clearly. Your solution was good for changing a few images. But I did learn something I had not tired before...using 'Main Image'/'Change Image File'. Thanks for that. However, I want to change ALL of the images in a show that were all low-res with the original hi-res images. And I wanted to keep the low-res files and its associated pte and exe files. I figured a way to do this. I created a 'Backup In Zip' of the low-res folder and put it into a new folder. I unzipped it and then just copied over the low-res images with the hi-res images and it worked just fine. I will now start working on a more obscure question to keep you guys on your toes. Thedom... I looked at the tutorial you mentioned. However, the file is made to play on a larger screen so it made it very difficult to follow what was going on. I could not get it to play full screen on my monitor. But I solved my problem. Thanks. Gary ==========================

[edited later...changed 'animations' to 'custom transitions'] Greetings, I checked the Forum but I could not find the answer to my question. I made a slideshow with low-resolutions images. Many images have custom transitions. I now want to replace the low-res images with their original higher resolutions images. When I do this, I can't seem to just replace the images and keep the custom transitions I already have for the low-res images. Is there a way to just replace the images that have animation without having to re-do the custom transitons associated with each slide? Thanks... Gary

Thanks, Cor. I see now it means the "software mode" of the particular PC that the PTE is playing on (as opposed to the PTE software). I appreciate the info. Gary ===================

Yes... I apparently missed both page 2 and page 3... Still getting used to the new layout of the Forum. No complaints, just missed it. But I still needed an explanation of what "software mode" meant. But Cor answered the question. Thanks...Gary =============================

Greetings, I would like to understand better what the mouseover states about Hardware Acceleration when it says "In case of old video card, slide show will use software mode automatically." What does "software mode" mean? Does the "software mode" vary from PC to PC? Thanks... Gary =====================

John, Thanks for your comments. I tweeked the slideshow so many times trying to make it as viewable as I could. After I figured out at the last minute how to make the car travel around the map's route, I didn't want to push my luck so I just quit playing with it. I just did not think of your "intermission" idea. Sometimes you just don't see the forest for the trees! But I am glad you enjoyed it. Gary ===============================

Greetings, I finally finished putting our driving trip through Austria together. I had to break it up into 2 parts. In these shows, I added a few new animation tricks I just learned. I have a little car traveling along a route on a map. The shows are a bit on the 'quick' side, but I put in the navigation bar to make it easier to pause. I didn't want to drag it out too slowly. More like a 'home movie', but I hope you enjoy the trip and it gives you some idea what Austria is like if you haven't been there yet. Critiques welcomed. Gary http://www.beechbrook.com/pte/

Yachtman1... Which tab has the 'default font' in it??? I have looked until my eyes are sore. Gary ========================

It would be useful if we could set a default font, along with bold, shading, color, etc. This would allow us to change our mind and choose a different global font without resorting to editing the .pte file. In addition, for those fonts you don't want to be affected by a global change, it would be helpful to have the ability to set a custom font for individual slides, etc. that would not be affected by changes in the default settings. Thanks...Gary

Thanks...will do. Gary ==========================

TheDom... Very cool! I'll give that a try. Is there any reason that this can't be programmed into PTE to make it a selectable choice in 'Project Options'? Thanks... Gary =======================

Greetings, I have been putting lots of text throughout a slideshow. I want to change the font I used to a different font. I'd like to do this globally if possible (like changing the default font). Is there any way to do this? I have searched the Forum but I can not find any discussion about this. I'd hate to have to do this slide by slide. Is this the only way? It looks like it can be done for Comments, but not for text in the body of the images.(?) Thanks... Gary

Greetings, Budapest was our last stop on our 1,500 mile driving trip through the Czech Republic and Austria. The Navigation Bar is active if the pace is too fast. Image quality is not so good because I had to reduce the file size twice to get it below 50Mbs. But I hope you enjoy the trip. The show is on Beechbrook: http://www.beechbrook.com/pte/ Gary

Thanks for the clarification... Gary =======================

Greetings, I am a little confused about what Igor has stated about the change in how PTE handles unique fonts: "You can use any unique fonts for EXE file of slideshow now. PicturesToExe automatically will vectorize text objects and text comments and show text with highest quality at any display resolution. No need to use "Rasterize to PNG image" option in Objects and animation editor anymore." From reading this, I thought we would not need the "Rasterize text to PNG image" option in Objects and Animation anymore. However, it is still there. So I am wondering, why? If I use a 'unique' font now, do I have to do anything to it? Thanks... Gary

Morturn... Thanks for the comments. Yes, I do post-processing. Not too great at it but I try. I usually restrict it to Levels and USM. For other shots that need it, I might use Color Balance, Brightness and Shadow/Highlights. I have found that I tend not to take the shot as level as I should so lately I am using a lot of Transform/Rotate. I have never been satisfied with the results of my old Nikon D70 and my current D80. I was much happier with the results when I shot only slide film. But that was ages ago. Now, all digital. Yes...my shows tend to be too long. But I can't help it. This last trip was 3 weeks and about 1400 images. I was going to make it one looooooong slideshow but then I decided to do it in parts. So Czech Republic is one; Budapest will be another one; and I think I'll have to break Austria up into 2 parts. It is hard to remove images from a 'travelog' since each one means something to me. It is the most difficult part of doing a slideshow. My apologies for their lengthiness but they are more of a documentary 'travelog' than an artistic production. An artist, I am not. I do make the slideshow go pretty fast...about 2 seconds each image. But I always put in the navigational bar so anyone can stop to pause or to speed up through the show. I know this is a controversial issue. Most people want to make the show with NO controls for the viewer. I disagree...but that is just me. Many shows linger too long on each image and don't give the viewer the ability to stop to pause or to go to the next slide. I have heard your comment from others about not mixing landscape and portrait. My feeling is that all of one or the other would be boring. I like to mix it up. Especially if the subject is vertical, it calls for portrait mode. I make my shows mainly so that in years to come, I will be able to reminisce over the past trips and give other who might have gone there to see it from my point of view. And to encourage others who might not have been there, to go. Thanks for watching it...Gary ============================================================

Greetings... I finally finished this portion the slideshow of our trip through Austria, Czech Republic and Hungary. I didn't want to post anything until Igor figured out the bug I was having. He is brilliant and figure it out. So this is just the portion of our trip in the Czech Republic (Prague and Cesky Krumlov). Hope you enjoy the trip... It is at http://www.beechbrook.com/pte/ Gary

=========================== Igor... I tested the 3-slide sideshow in Beta 11 and the problem seems to have been cured!!!! I tried many times. I also let it sit on the last slide for a long time and it did NOT revert to the 1st slide. I tried it in Preview and as the .exe. No problems. Thanks so much for fixing it. Please let me know how this could happen in an .exe file. I am just curious, if it is not too technical. What was intriguing is that the flipping to the 1st slide was not consistent...sometimes it took only seconds, other times, minutes. And, why did it only happen to my slideshows? Was it just a combination of how I set up my slideshow??? Thanks again for looking into this. Sincerely, Gary

Igor... Thanks for reproducing the problem. I thought I might be going off the deep end! "How is it possible???...." I have asked the same question a million time... I hope you can figure out exactly what is happening!!!! Super Thanks... Gary ===================

Igor...see inserted replies below... CzechRep-Only 2009-TEST_Aug20-2009_10-35-09.zip

====================== Igor, Thanks for the reply. What is frustrating with this problem is that the situation occurs not only in Preview, but also occurs with the .exe file. I just ran the .exe file 5 times on my PC. The ending of the slideshow flipped over to the first slide at various and inconsistent times. The first time it took 1:47 (one minute and 47 seconds) to flip to the first slide; the next 4 times, it took: 0:25, :023; :57; and 1:14. It seems to me that since it occurs in the .exe file, there must be a bug in the program (maybe just my program or my PC)???? Just my guess. And it seems to be only happening to me on my PC. Later today, I was also able to play this same .exe slideshow on a laptop to see what would happen and the problem did NOT occur. So is it possible for my PC to be changing how the PTE's .exe file plays??? I didn't think that this would be possible. I just tried another test. I dumped all of the music files and reduced the slideshow to only 3 slides. The .pte and the .exe of this 3-slide slideshow will flip to the first slide after the end of the show (not necessarily immediately, but after a short time period). So I am completely at a lose of what is going on. I am willing to do any other tests but I have run out of ideas. Any ideas??? Thanks... Gary