alrobin

Hi, Bill, Yes, I did say in my reply to Pege that: "a music wave timeline would be useful in selecting the transition points, particularly when using "quick transitions", or "cuts". " I agree with you that even with slower transitions, one could have a chart that indicated the usual advance in the start of the transition to make the first visibility of it coincide with the accent of the music. (I was merely pointing out the fact, for those not as familiar with the fine-points of putting together AV shows, that it isn't quite as simple as it might sound on the surface.) You're correct, though - a coincident music wave timeline would be handy. (Provided that the magnification required to see accurately the music beats, is not so large as to interfere with the ability to readily follow the cursor on the slide timeline.) But, even here, the advance in the transitions is not strictly proportional to the length of the transition, for a given transition type, particularly a fade or dissolve. For example, a transition from a dark slide to a brighter one will be visible sooner than one from a bright slide to a darker one, hence adding another variable to the equation. So, in these cases, as you indicated, some trial and error will still be required. Of course for non-dissolve type transitions, the start of the transitions will likely coincide pretty closely to the beats of the music, regardless of the transition speeds, although, even here, there may be some tweaking required to get it to sound just right.

Pege, Welcome to the Forum! Sorry, I have to keep my remarks to English! Yes, just as when you are making one of the old-fashioned slide shows, trial and error is a large part of the process, and always will be. I agree with you that a music wave timeline would be useful in selecting the transition points, particularly when using "quick transitions", or "cuts". One way, as other members have already pointed out, is to run a wave editor simultaneously with PTE, in order to visualize the accent points, and make a note of their times, which can then be transcribed into PTE. However, even this would not be the final answer, as I found even with the old-fashioned AV shows, that the music sounds too stilted when the transitions are set exactly to the actual crescendos and beats of the music. This is somewhat similar to the idea of "groove quantization" in MIDI music composition, where the timing of the notes is set slightly off from the precise timing, in order to add character to the piece. In AV shows, particularly when using long slow dissolves, that if you set the start of the transitions to the beat of the music, they will be perceived by the viewer to happen too soon. This is due to the fact that in a slow transition (particularly a slow dissolve), the next slide takes up to a second in some cases to be noticed on the screen, over the image that is already there, and is starting to fade off. So, even if we can accurately pin-point the transition point in the music, we would want to delay the image transition a bit to compensate for this visual effect. There are other situations in which one would want to slightly delay the transitions, but these are more a function of the feelings of the AV creator in producing a particular effect.

Yes, the new Audacity looks pretty good, especially for a free program. In Audition, too, one can actually zoom in even further than thousandths of a second - like Audacity, right in to the actual samples themselves, which can be "plucked" and moved up and down to change the amplitude for a particular sample. Very cool! However, in Audition, the main timing indicator is in thousandths, about as accurate as you really ever need to be.

Bob, One way is in Windows "Explorer", highlight the compiled PTE ".exe" file, select "File" / "Rename" from the menu bar at the top of the "Explorer" window, and then type in the new name.

Hi, Bob - Happy Birthday! Hope I'm still playing around with PTE when I'm 80! Stu is right - follow the KISS principle. One further suggestion - when wanting to add a space in a file name, I usually use the underscore,"_", instead. It's a bit of a nuisance, but I have run into trouble using a space in filenames on my web page. The underscore is no problem - you can also use it at the start of a filename to put your file at the top of the list in Win explorer.

See PicturesToExe FAQ here. (Very much out of date, but answers some questions.) Doesn't help with objects, though

two2Go, Do you have a "PTE.KEY" file that is exactly 231 bytes in size? If so it should still be good for the new PTE version 4.11. Try putting all your files in one folder, including PTE.KEY. Download "apr.zip" from the WnSoft website (see link at the top of the forum), unzip, and copy all 7 files into the same folder as before (choosing "replace all existing files"). Then double-click "setup", and follow instructions. If you don't have the PTE.KEY file, however, this won't work for you, and you will have to get a new file from WnSoft support. Good luck! Edit: In the 2nd para. I should have said "... all your PTE files in one folder"!

I find, too, with the new "Audition" (formerly Cool Edit Pro), one can zoom in to the actual sine-wave components of a sound, and pin-point them accurately to the nearest thousandths of a second. Very cool!

Dave, Adjustor is an Excel spreadsheet model, which is automated using Visual Basic for Applications. So, the only real necessity is that you have MS Excel 97 or 2000 installed on your pc. It also helps if you are familiar with spreadsheets - you don't need to know VBA.

Hi, Dave, I would use Adjustor for this (it's available as a Beechbrook Cottage download). It won't help you directly sync the slides to the music, but it will help you spread the slides out so that the individual music selections coincide with the appropriate slides. In a nutshell, set up the music in PTE first, and make a note of the times where one selection merges into another. If you are showing the music selections individually in the music player list, then a blue vertical line will show up on the timeline at the start of each selection. If you have merged all the music together into one selection, then play it on the timeline and make a note of where the breaks between selections occur. Also, make a note of the slide numbers for those which you wish to have coincide with the music interval times. Next load the .pte file into Adjustor. Here you will be able to readily make adjustments to the overall timing whereby whole blocks of slides can be moved until the selected transitions occur at the desired times. If you wish, you can also "pin" these times, and then automatically distribute the intervening slides evenly across each individual song, thus making fine-tuning of the file back in PTE a simpler process. Hope this helps - if you need more-detailed instructions, please don't hesitate to contact me or post another message here. If all else fails, if you send me the .pte file (without music or image files) as well as the exact music interval times and slide numbers associated with these times, I can easily set the show up in Adjustor for you so that you can then put it back into PTE for fine-tuning. Good luck!

Oleg, ß èçâèíÿþñü. ß ïèñàë áû ýòî â êîäå. Ñåðäå÷íûé Ïðèâåò,

Barry, I hope you are kept busy! By the way, I couldn't find a web page for Digital Photo - do you know if they have one and what it might be? Keep up the good work.

That's what the timeline is for. And, it's not that difficult, even for a large show! Everyone should give it a try, at least. There are options to automatically spread the slides over the length of the music, (you don't even need to open the timeline to do this), or you can use the timeline and press the space-bar whenever you want the next image to appear, in perfect sync with the music. You may have to run through the music a few times in order to get it right, but if you want the music to coincide with the slide, you will find yourself doing that anyway before you get it to sound the way you want it. As for fading the music, the best way, with maximum control over where the fades occur, is through the use of a music editor - some are even freeware.

No problem, Bob! I learn something new every day - now I can go back to bed! Guido, you are full of great tips!! Again, that's probably why they call you the "guru"!

That's strange! It works fine for me on my old Celeron 3 system (even if I jiggle the mouse! ). By the way, great demo, Tom!

Good point, Guido! I'll have to check with him. Then turn in Oleg!

Hi, Jimphoto, Welcome to the Forum. The problem may be either images which are too large (should be no larger than 150 to 200 kb, depending on the "horsepower" of the pc), and/or transitions which are too tight (not finishing before the next image starts), particularly when you are running from a CD. Could you please provide a little more info on the specs of the other pc, the operating system, and the size of your images, and whether the show is synched to music or not.

Sam, You are correct - there must be a little bug in there. Very curious! Igor! We need your help again!

Guido, Can you then superimpose this with customized music for each slide?

They're special secret messages for the Russian terrorists coming over the north pole into Canada. Right, Oleg?

Cici, This isn't by any chance a synchronized show, is it? If so, the customized delay times are over-ridden. You should still be able to see them, though.

The only real application I can see for jpeg 2000 in combination with PTE is for those photographers who want to show their photos with the ultimate quality of resolution and colour (e.g. wedding photographers, for portfolio presentation), and who are not necessarily interested in synching to music, unless at very slow speeds. The advantage of using PTE over the many other presentation programs in this type of application is the ability to add sound and fancy titles, and enjoy the fantastic high-quality transitions which PTE offers.

Lenny, I must not have made myself clear. I am saying that you have to set the "slide duration on-screen" in either the Project Menu or Customizing menu for individual slides to values which "sync" your show to the music in order to use the nav bar successfully - otherwise, whenever you activate true "synchronization" to music, the nav bar will not function. And, you don't have to save the show before adding the nav bar. It should make no difference. Do a little test. Make a little show with the default slide duration left at 4 sec. Add a short music selection, so that when you select "synch to music duration", (you don't need to touch the timeline menu), the slides change every 2 or 3 seconds. Now, go through the process of saving and creating, and then open the show, de-select "sync to music ..." and add the nav bar. The transition timing will go back to the default of 4 seconds. But the music will still play. At least that's the way it works for me. In other words, in PTE, it is not possible to sync and drive at the same time!

Granot, I think that with the new sound player, Igor should now be able to program in the capability to rewind a show and have it restart at the proper place in the music, just like he does in the timeline preview. I think this should have a high priority in the next version.

Lenny, Yes, it is quite possible and normal to create a show which runs with music, changes slides regularly, and also has a navigation bar. When you reload a show as you described, the synchronization function will be disabled unless you re-activate it. Therefore, the navigation bar will work properly. However, I think if you time the slide transitions you will find that the intervals are not the same as for the synchronized show, but will be governed by the default (or customized) time intervals. This is no different than creating a show, setting the default and/or customized display times so the show runs through along with the music, and turning on the navigation bar, without touching the "synch" settings.