alrobin

Sorry, Sam, my comments in the last 2 paragraphs weren't meant to be directed specifically to you, but to everyone in general, and particularly to anyone who might be frustrated that the parameters for the final 4.10 beta might not exactly match up exactly with previous shows. I was trying to be philosophical, but I guess as usual I came on a little too strong. I apologize. But, I'm glad you agree with me. And, I agree with you that Igor is bending over backwards to modify PTE in the most acceptable way in order to be able to give us more control over synchronized presentations.

Ray, does the music pause too? I use Win 2000 Pro, SP3, with dual 400-Mhz Celeron processors. The marker on the timeline usually pauses at each new slide, but I've never had it back up, everything sounds normal, with the transitions coming in where I want them. I suspect it is just the graphics being interrupted while an image is processed. What size images are you using? The optimum for your horsepower (and mine) seems to be around 150 kb. Anything over 200 kb will put quite a strain on the processor(s). The music, itself, does not take much processor time to function.

Bob, The mosquitoes must have addled my brain - it doesn't pay to take a holiday! Jim R confirmed that there is a problem in the case of a show automatically synched to music - and, to make matters worse, you must also be using "default" times for each slide, particularly the second one, for the change not to register. Adjustor treats a show which is automatically synched as a "non-synched" show, as there are no separate lines in the PTE script for customized times. So, you have to make your changes in column "K", not "F". If the time for the sequence you want to change is set as "default" there is a problem, as the only place where you can change the timing for this scenario is in cell "O3" ("default delay time"). However, this would set all "default" times to the same value, which would be unacceptable. One way to get around the problem is to first customize the time in PTE for the sequence you want to change, so that it uses a specific time instead of the "default" time, and save it for use in Adjustor, where you will now be able to adjust the "delay" time for that slide. (just customize the delay time, not the transition time, unless you want to change it too). Another way to overcome this problem is to change the show from "automatically synched" to "custom synched", save it under a different name, and then use Adjustor to add in the 24 seconds wherever you want. Sorry for all the confusion on this and the complicated solution. Hope you are able to get it to work.

Sam, For sure, if you have plans to go back and change a previously-created show, you should keep the version of PTE in which it was created. As you probably know, you can have as many different versions on your desktop as you wish. I don't think it is reasonable to expect Igor to keep the operating characteristics of each new version exactly the same as each prior version - else, how would we ever get to enjoy all the new features and improvements that we have requested? It's impossible to add new features and not upset somehow, and by at least a small amount, the way PTE operates. All we can count on is that each new version should create new shows better, faster, easier, more precisely, and with more artistic capabilities than the previous version.

Ken, I hope you're going to remind me what that is, because I seem to have forgotten!

Sorry, Bob, I got you mixed up with someone else! I seem to do that more and more these days!! Edited addition: I realized I should elaborate a bit more on my previous reply. There are two ways to accomplish what you are trying to do. Method #1: add the desired start-time increment in cell "F3" (i.e. 24 sec). Click on Calculate Sequence Changes. The changes in start time should show up for each slide below the one modified, in column "E". Method #2: increase the "delay time" for the second slide (i.e. the present delay time in Cell "J3" plus 24 sec), by entering the resulting value into cell "K3". Click on Calculate Delay Time Changes, and you should see the same modified slide-start times in column "E" as in Method 1. By "delay" time, I am referring to "time to the start of the next transition". So by adding time to this value, one is increasing the "delay" before the next change starts. It should be noted that in the case of synched shows, the "delay" time for a slide (or sequence) includes the present "length of transition" time for that slide plus its remaining time "on-screen". If the transition time is longer than the delay time, a glitch will probably occur. In the case of non-synched shows, the total time for a sequence is simply the sum of the "delay" time, as input by the user to PTE, and the "transition" time (also input separately to PTE). Hope this works for you.

Bill, Which button did you click to calculate? There are actually 4 of them, depending on the type of adjustment you are trying to make. Since you are changing the time at which the slide "appears", (i.e. time from the beginning of the show), you must click on "Calculate sequence changes". I tried it out, and it works for me! (of course, I've pestered it so much it does what I tell it to! ) Sorry for the inconvenience - but let me know if you are still having problems. Hope you have a good holiday. JRR: What rain? Algonquin Park has mostly sunshine all summer long! (we did have a little shower, but only enough to dampen down the mosquitoes).

Since you are in the professional portrait photo business, you will be looking for quality in the compressed photos as well. I would venture to suggest that only a professional program like Photoshop, Photopaint, etc., will give you the quality you are looking for as they use very sophisticated algorithms for interpolating, etc., in order to change image sizes, and to compress the resulting images even further for use in PTE.

Harold, I find that if I add 3 or 4 seconds of silence to the beginning of an mp3 file in Cool Edit and save it, then when I reopen it, most of the silence has disappeared. The silence in the original saved file, however, does show up in PTE. Have you experienced the same effect? By the way, speaking of Cool Edit, as you probably know, Adobe have bought Cool Edit Pro, and will be re-releasing it this fall as Adobe "Audition" for about half of what it costs now to upgrade to Cool Edit Pro. This offer only good for a limited time to current owners of 2000 or Pro.

Aha! This explains why, when I tried to create a super-large (over 400 different "objects") "dark-table" in Adjustor, Excel crashed on me!

Thanks, Igor! The dual-processor capability is a welcome fix.

Sounds a lot more complicated than just clicking "Open"!

Harold, What about the transition times - do they overlap the times-on-screen at any point? I find if I leave a little space between the end of the "grey bar" and the start of the next transition, everything works fine. Of course, large images take longer to process, too. On some of my tests, the processor usage was 100% for several seconds and everything went smoothly, so you are right, it is not just % usage that counts. I find, too, that "cuts" work more smoothly than short "fades".

Dana, I did a search both while the show was playing and afterwards, and there was no reference to "Project2.exe".

Welcome back, Guido! Good to hear from you - I was beginning to wonder if it was something someone said! Hope you have a good "sabbatical"! We will be sure to call on you, though, if we get stuck on something technical. You are still the "guru"!!! And, good luck with the show production - you have some great new features in PTE now to use for it. Looking forward to the final masterpiece!

Bob, I just clicked on "Open" and the file immediately started to download and when finished started playing! When finished, there was no such file left on my pc. Don't ask me how it works! Re "going to school", I feel like I'm still in school, too - I learn something new every day! And I like to be able to pass it on. And, being retired, there's lots of time to experiment! Life is good!

Thanks, Tine Glad you got everything working OK. And it worked fine without saving, after downloading to RAM. You have a beautiful view - where exactly is that? Nice big images, too.

Welcome to the forum, Dennis! The easiest way to set this up is to click on "Project Options" and under the "Advanced" tab, check "Show navigation bar". You can program it to appear where you want on the screen, and what control options you want. To add the image numbers, click on the "Comments" tab, and in the "Customize comment" frame, check "Set comments for all slides as", and choose "Slide Number" as the option.

Hi, Linda, You don't need to convert it if you have the space for it. However, mp3 format, being more condensed, is more manageable. I have experienced a case where a friend couldn't run the ".wav" version of a show, but the mp3 version worked fine for some reason (probably due to the smaller file size of the mp3.)

Sam, Click on "Project Options" and under the "Music" tab, ensure you have a selection of music listed. Then click the "Main" tab and check "Synchronize slideshow to music duration". Then click on "Custom Synchronization" and you will see the timeline with a buton called "New Transition". If you choose "Automatic Synchronization", and click "Timed Points" / "Add existing points", all the slides will be spread evenly over the timeline. However, if you select "Custom Synchronization", and "Play", the pointer on the timeline will start to move and if you click on "New Transition" you will see a blue numbered square added to the timeline. Regarding ordering of slides, you don't have to pre-order them, although it will help save some time if you do. You can "click and drag" slides up and down in the slide list on the right hand half of the main window to put them into a different order.

Jim, There is still no support for objects on the last slide of a synched show. However, Igor has added the capability to, on the last slide, customize it so it will open another application. You can accomplish something akin to what you are requesting by making that "other application" a new one-slide un-synched show with objects to go to whatever other shows you want. Put a similar reference to the same "other application" at the end of each other show referenced.

Ralvis, I get a "404" message when I try to log on to your link, "Pointer to Images".

Hi, Eddie, It works OK for me - the only transitions for which I see a horizontal grey transition bar after removing the "transition effects" check are the ones that I have customized. Maybe you have to first select "transition effects", with the "fast transition" as the only effect, and then press OK, and exit the Customizing window. Then go back in to the synch mode and try un-checking "transition effects". I know you have to save a change before it will be represented in the synchronization window, so maybe this is the case here, too.

Eddie, Are you selecting a transition length under "Customize Slide"? If so, it will appear on the timeline since you are de-activating the default "Quick" effect by not selecting "transition effects" as a default.

Sam, Note that the nav bar will disappear if you click on "Project Options" and select "synchronize slideshow" as this feature is not available in a synched show (it is assumed that if you are synching a show you won't want any external interferences with it). However, it would be nice to at least be able to pause the show and restart it and once Igor gets the bugs out of the new music player I imagine he will then be in a position to add a pause capability to synched shows.