alrobin

Hi, Lenny, Welcome to the Forum! I wish you had found a way to control synchronized slide shows. But, unfortunately, when you choose "Synchronize slide show to music duration" in "Project Options", the navigation bar disappears. You can add music, however, and play it, and as long as you don't touch anything, it will play and slides will slide, and if you have chosen music to last the duration of the show, everything will seem like it is in sync. However, this is not what we mean by "synchronized". You have to click on "Customize Synchronization" and either choose "Automatic" or "Customize" on the timeline in order to have a show that is really "in-synch" with the music. This lets one time the transitions to occur with the beats of the music, if one wishes, without specifically fiddling with the timing of the show to try to make them occur where wanted. The latter method is not accurate enough for most synchronization requirements. Igor has promised more control over a compiled show, so do not despair - we will have that capability soon.

cc, You solved the mystery! I must have jiggled my mouse while I was watching it! It works fine for me now, too!! Very nice effects! Tom, you're quite an aritist!! Even if you can't spell!

Tres sophistique!! Je ne l'ai pas remarque! But I still think you have too many images for the length of the music!

Hi, Michel, I suspect there may be a problem with OGG implementation in PTE. Igor should look into this problem when he returns from vacation. He may have checked only a few OGG scenarios when he built the capability into the PTE player. I don't use OGG (the new Adobe "Audition" doesn't convert to OGG ), so I can't help you much in trouble-shooting the problem. But I suspect that OGG may have variable length problems for different compression factors, just like MP3 does.

Michel, Maybe you are having the same problem with OGG that Harold and I were having with MP3. We could see it on the timeline - when we ran the show through it was fine, but if we clicked back on the timeline, or paused the show and then clicked back, the sync would be off (as much as 1.5 sec, for some MP3 sampling rates). So we couldn't depend on the sync results if they were modified while the timeline was moving. Try using different OGG quality settings and CBR. Or, try saving as MP3 or .wav to see if the problem is still there. Edit: Michel, I just watched your show, and quelle belles images!!! The photography is excellent, and the images are so sharp! I suspect part of the problem is the high quality and size of the images combined with the speed and frequency of the dissolves. You are changing much too fast! That could be the problem in trying to get it sync'ed. My head was spinning in some of the sequences - I wanted to stop the show and just enjoy the beautiful photographs!!

Hi, Oleg, There is definitely something strange about this show. I suspect that the problem is too tight transitions (new slide fading too close to the end of the previous one, possibly). Or else images too large? The first time I downloaded it I ran the show completely through (don't remember on which pc, but I suspect it was on the desktop with W2K.) However, the last time I ran it in Win Me, I resized my screen to 1024 x 768, and it got as far as the two policemen. Go figure!!! None of the other shows react this way!

Michel, Not a good idea to double-post . See my reply in the PTE forum. Best to post in only one forum, and then put a reference here to it, so some people won't reply here, and others in the other forum. Will download your show and have a look at it. I am sure that if it is like your other shows, it will be excellent! Glad you are synching to music now!!

Michel, What PTE version? What is your operating system? What kind of music (mp3, wav)? If mp3, what sample rate? (22,050 Hz, 44,100 Hz)? Was it constant bit rate or variable bit rate? If CBR, what bit rate? If you used MP3, try synching the show to a ".wav" version. MP3 can be quite variable. I found all these things affected the way the synchronization worked on my system. However, the latest 4.1 is pretty consistent. The other thing that affects synchronization ability is the size of the images and how close they are together. For instance, I can't put 1024x768 photos, using a "quick dissolve", any closer than about 0.5 sec apart on the sync timeline. Just some thoughts to help you trouble-shoot the problem.

I just tried Tom's "Metamorphose" show on my laptop with Win XP, and it got about 10 or 15 slides into the show before cutting out. The slide on which it quit was the picturesque street scene which metamorphoses from a line drawing into a photo, just after the portrait which in turn follows the Tower bridge scene. Tom, which version of PTE did you use to create it?

Harold, I have the same problem - in Win Me. Maybe it's the mis-spelling of the word "metamorphosis" on the next slide that's doing it??? (.... oh, that's awful - sorry Tom, it slipped out before I could catch it!!! )

I agree, Pete. I've been pushing for a spreadsheet-like table in PTE for a while now. One of the features of such a table would be the ability to print it or at least portions of it.

Bill, You said: The show timing suffers only when back-to-back events just don't have enough time to execute. And that does NOT have to mean that the MUSIC HAS SKIP TO MAKE IT UP! Be smart and shorten a programmed effect fade or wipe time to make up lost time. And/or shorten slide display time. I agree with you almost 100 percent on this. It's something I have been requesting of Igor for some time now. By the way, has anyone tested the ability of the new 4.10 to carry the timing for "non-synch" shows over to other pc's? One of the reasons Igor has gone to the new player is to be able to achieve precisely this type of control. Maybe it's not completely implemented in 4.10, but reserved for the next release.

Fred and Mike, Good advice, Fred. Please allow me to add one more point - make sure the "autorun.inf" file is in the root of the cd (not in one of the folders, if there are any in use). If you want to put the slide show in a folder, make sure the folder is included in the pathname of the file in the "autorun.inf" file. e.g. "open=MyFolder\MySlideShow.exe".

Hi, Ray, No, you are correct - synchronization is the only way to guarantee that the music will play exactly where you want it to on different pc's. I guess I was assuming that since you had so much silence in the show the sync wouldn't matter so much. (you know what they say about the definition of "assume" - "u make an ass out of me" ). However, out-of-synch problems do occur more noticeably at the end of a long piece of music. If you have short pieces of music started by certain specific slides, you will probably notice less out-of-synch problems than using a single long piece in a non-synched show. (I haven't tested this premise, but it sounds logical. Here I am "assuming" again! )

Michel, Great presentations! I particularly enjoyed the "Cinque Terre" (Italy) show. I have heard it is a very beautiful place, and now I want to go there!!! The sound of the waves in the background was very effective and well done. La photographie est tres belle, aussi!

Oleg, Great special effects as usual! I also found the "cry" very effective. I also like the transparent "metal" frame around each photo. Also the highlighting of the quadrants to introduce each of the four sections in the show.

Hi, Johnny, Could you please provide a little more info on your pc system (processor speed, vintage, operating system, RAM) and also on the version of PTE you are running.

Hi, Oleg, But you can't save in Photoshop as ".ico". So you would still need another utility like IrfanView to convert to an icon. Do any other popular image-editing programs allow you to save as an icon?

I would like to see the ability to open a spreadsheet-like table of parameters which could be used for trouble-shooting one's shows, and also for manually changing the times, file names, and other parameters. Then I wouldn't have to go to Adjustor each time I want to make a global change or tweak some parameter. One would be able to see at a glance the entire set of parameters without having to step through a number of windows every time one wanted to make a change, or check the value of a parameter. Such a table could also provide useful information about the show such as average delay per slide, total calculated time for non-synched shows, time for end of each music selection, technical information about the music used, etc, etc. Also, PTE is becoming very powerful and feature-rich, but it is poorly organized as features have been added one at a time like extra rooms on a house. Trying to find and remember where to change the various parameters for a show is getting too complicated so I believe the entire user interface needs to be revamped before going on and adding any new features. In particular, a better method needs to be implemented for visualizing and controlling mutually-exclusive properties. The program needs a few more "smarts", and also more visual aids to help manage the multitude of parameters which are now available to the user. I would like to see Igor sit down and plan ahead regarding which new features are going to be added in the next release, and then re-organize the entire user interface to display and implement these and existing features in the most useful user-friendly manner. IMHO, anyway!

I just set up a work-around for cutting off the sound when going from the menu to other selected shows. It uses the feature in PTE "Customize slide" where if "Play new background music ..." is selected, where the list of music selections is left blank, the sound from the earlier slide(s) is cut off. This feature is invoked automatically each time one clicks on a menu button, just before calling the external application (slide show). The menu show is set to "keep last slide on screen" so that one will return to it either when the next show ends, or if the "Esc" button is pressed during the next show. The new feature whereby one can "run an application after last slide" is not used in this procedure. The main limitation in the procedure is that it will only work satisfactorily if the length of time the viewer will be viewing the entire set of menu show and other shows is shorter than 83 minutes (5000 sec), as that is the longest time one can set a slide to stay on-screen. The second limitation is that the music in the intro show will not restart after returning to it from another show. The procedure itself is a little long and tricky, but seems to be quite effective. If anyone is interested in the gory details I will spell them out either here or in a separate email.

Another option for printing the list of slides used is to open the .pte file in the Adjustor model (available on Beechbrook), and print the list of slide names in column "B".

Oleg, What file type do you save it as?

Ron, This is the way I do my icons, too. IrfanView is so versatile! And I am able to get mine to work in 256 colours.

Charlie, Once you get the PTE files onto your laptop you will need to install PTE. Make sure you have copied the latest zipped file, "apr.zip", available at the top of this forum. This contains all the new files for the latest version, 4.10 of PTE. This can be put onto a floppy as cc has already said, and copied to your laptop. Un-zip the 7 files, and copy them into the folder on your laptop, making sure you answer "yes to all" when asked if you want to replace the existing file. Then double-click on "Setup", and follow instructions. Make sure your "key" file is in the folder before you run "Setup". Hope this helps.

Don't forget to transfer over your "key" file too.