jevans

Stunning photography. Enjoyed the av. Would be interested in some details such as what camera you use and how much processing (if any) you do in Photoshop. Images are pin sharp and beautifully exposed like all your previous shows. Definately shows to look out for.

Hi Lin, Thanks for the clarification. I was getting confused between using an image as a mask and using a png file when you want a transparent object. I tend just to use PTE for fairly straightforward avs and do not use many of the special festures which you and the other experts are so good at. I have tried you suggestion with a jpg file and of course it works just as you described. Regards

Dave and Peter, Thanks gentlemen. Sorted.

Dave, I have tried that unsuccessfully! See my reply to Lin. What mistake am I making? Process used : Create new image in PS with transparent background. Create diamond shape and fill with white. Save as png. Open O&A window in PTE. Add mask container. Add white diamond as image to mask container. Now all that happens if opacity altered is diamond appears or disappears. What I want is a diamond mask, not a circular or rectangle one.

Hi Lin, I understand how to produce that sort of a mask, although I thought you would have to save the file as a png to retain transparency. However what I am trying to do is replicate the standard mask facility in the O&A window with an alternative shape to the circle/rectangle shape provided as the default. I thought I could produce a shape (e.g diamond) in Photoshop, fill it with white, save as png, then use this shape as an image in the mask container. (DaveG seems to be suggesting this process in his post above). But this does not work. Maybe I need a white rectangle with a transparent cutout in the desired mask shape.

I should know the answer to this question but cannot remember the technique and cannot find the right topic via a search in the forum or in the help file. I think you can create a special shape in Photoshop, save it as a png file and then use it in PTE as a mask instead of the built-in standard circular and rectangular masks in the mask container. At the moment I cannot get this to work. Any suggestions?

Dave, As you can see by my reply to Peter, we are indeed constrained by the PABG decision. However your comments on suggested aspect ratios makes me think that I will re-visit the standard ratio I will use for PTE.

Dave, The question of which resulotion to choose is a vexed one. Do I choose my monitor resolution (1920 x 1200 : 8:5) my club's projector resolution (1024 x 768 : 4:3)), my camera resolution (4608 x 3072 : 3:2) or the required resolution for our competition digital images (1400 x 1050 : 4:3)? As most of my AV's are shown via our club projector, I use 1400 x 1050. However as I export my images from Lightroom automatically to jpg files, the process produces files which are 1400 x 933, i.e. 1.5005 or virutally 3:2 and I set PTE, Project Options/screen, vitual size of slide to 1400 x 933. Images are set to "fit to slide" and this seems to work. the only issue is that I must remember that video files are a different aspect ratio.

Ken, Thanks for your comments. No the show is just for my enjoyment and (hopefully) otheres as well. I have never felt brave enough to submit any av's for competition purposes.

Hi Lin, Thanks for the comments. DaveG pointed out the same error re the sound finishing abruptly. Checked my original PTE file and found that I have inadvertently uploaded an earlier version which was not quite finished. I have uploaded a new version. Not sure I understand the comment re the mouse cursor as this is set to "Hide" in project options/control and there is no navigation bar selected. On my screen there is no mouse cursor!!. Jeff

Two weeks ago, three of us from our photographic club, visited the National Trust area at Allen Banks in Northumberland. It was a wonderfull day for late October and the autumn colours were very good. I have posted a short av on the Slideshowclub web site entitled "Allen Banks" as a reminder of our visit.

Useful to have this facility but I seldom use it now

I am reading this thread with interest, more particularly because Barry is coming to visit us here in the north east of England in October. In our club there is a only a small interest in av work using PTE, restricted to a few members. We have an av night in our programme and all submissions will use PTE (mainly due to me pushing the program). We also have a few member's evenings where members submit a selection of projected images using PTE in its simplest format. Some of the club members produce avs in various formats (including with or without commentary), and there is a Northern England AV group which meets twice a year with lecturers and members presentations. So far we have not introduced any competitive element in presentations. I sympathise with Lin's viewpoint in trying to develop the market and hence needing always to develop new aspects of the software. I also admire the skill of some of the very complex presentations made by some of the forum members and wish that I had the skill and imagination to do the same. Surely there is a market for this approach. However from the point of view of the average club member that I am familiar with, PTE already has far more features that we can ever use or want to use. It is a brilliant piece of software which can be used in a very simple way or can produce fantastically complex results. Those that I have introduced to PTE have found it reasonably easy to pick up the basics and although some simplication of the user interface might result in an increase in the user base, for myself the present arrangement is fine.

Very enjoyable show Maureen. just the type of show I like to do myself. Your photographs are excellent. Do you do much post processing in Photoshop? For example do you use any of the Nik filters such as Pro-contrast. Jeff

Hi Lin, Thanks for the reminder. I have used some of Panos' actions in the past, particularly his clock when I made a sequence about sundials. Jeff

Hi Lin, Thanks for your comments. I discovered the abrupt music ending too late after I had posted the show. I will try to update it.

Hi Lin, A technological "tour-de-force" : fantastic. Runs perfectly on my system : Windows 7 64 bit AMD Phenom IIx4 960T 8 GB RAM NVidia GeForce GT 440 Jeff

Just uploaded "Bowes Railway" to Slideshowclub. One of our local photographic clubs arranged for us to have an evening visit. It is a rare example of a rope railway which is now unfortunately defunct. Images were converted to mono as that seemed to suit the environment better that colour.

Like Frans, we use a similar procedure for av shows created by members of our club for showing to other organisations. The exe file name is of the form "AV Show Name_C(4m45).exe", where the "C" indicates whether the show includes commentary. When we present shows to other organisations, we like to have a varied programme , some AV with commentary and some without. Including the run time in each file name helps us judge how long the programme will be.

Gentlemen, This is an interesting topic. Here is my twopenyworth and some questions. I use Nero 11 and have used this to create a rescue cd. This cd allows me to create multiple images of my C:\ drive (a SSD). I make a new image after every installation of new software or any major upgrades. As so far I have had no C drive crash, I have never done a restore and am not sure how to do a test without buying a new drive and restoring onto this. Questions: 1.If I buy a new SSD which is a higher capacity than the existing one, will the image rstore correctly? 2. Cloning vs Imaging. I assume that if you clone your C drive, you must have to repeat the clone process for aany major changes in your current C drive. 3. Peter's solution of an effective continuous mirror drive looks interesting and makes sure that the mirror is up to date. But will the mirror drive be bootable? Jeff

Thanks Guys. I do not have a problem on my desktop and would not dream of using Norton there. But the Samsung tablet had Norton already installed and for the first year it behaved itself. However on renewing the subscription, it suddenly has become a pain. Probably best thing is to remove it and replace it with somdthing else.

I have just installed Norton Mobile Security on my Samsung tablet. When trying to access the forum site, Norton blocks access and states that the site is a malicious one. You can bypass the block but it is rather irritating. I have written a positive review on the Norton site but it does not seem to have made any difference,

Dave, I have downloaded two sets of your J-PD transitions. The set of 16-37 work fine. However the set 38-53 has a problem in that transitions 40,41 and 42 show and error when run. It is difficult to see the error text as it only appears in the preview window but it looks as if as if gif files are missing. Regards Jeff