alrobin

Lin, Have you tried the latest 4.10 beta? Igor has done some work on correcting this fault, and the latest beta may solve it for you.

Yes, Ron, it's "Create Beckground" by OGL@fromru.com.

Everyone should check out Oleg's excellent tutorial slideshow on Beechbrook on how to easily create dramatic backgrounds using Photoshop plug-ins and filters. Not only is this an inspiring description on how to make interesting special effects, but it is also an excellent example of how to use PTE to create tutorials using screen-captures and Photoshop editing.

Harry, Another possibility is to start the music playing through WMP and at the same time start up Cool Edit or Audacity, and set to record as a .wav or .mp3 file. Some sound cards will record internally from one program to another, and you won't even need to hear anything while this is going on. I haven't tried this where a .wma file is involved, but it's worth a try.

I have found the timeline pretty accurate as far as timing the transitions is concerned. Unless, maybe, the images are still a little too tight, in which case you would have more problems in the actual show than in the timeline preview. It may seem that they are not in sync after pausing, but probably it is also taking the blue arrow time to get started again, and the "setting back" of the music is compensating for this. You should find everything back in sync after a few milliseconds. Re adding silence at the beginning of the show, there are two ways (at least) of doing this. The first method (most preferable) is to add a few seconds of silence to the start of the first music selection using a sound editor such as Audacity, or Cool Edit 2000, or a similar program. The second way is to create a separate silent music file (either .wav or .mp3), either using a sound editor, or just recording some silence using the sound recorder which is included with newer versions of Windows, of the length you need (usually around 3 seconds or so) and add it as the first sound file in the list under Project Options. I haven't tried this as I prefer to have only one file which is a mix of everything I need for the show.

Cindy, It sounds like either your images are too large for the capability of your system, or they are too close to the end of the previous transition. I had a similar case and found that when I previewed from the timeline, the processor resources were used only up to about 50% of the capacity, but when I previewed from the main window, the usage went up to 100 %. So, if you have any images which are just a bit too large, or else too close together, things might hang up. Try substituting some smaller images to see if that helps, or rearrange things on the timeline. Also, make sure you leave a bit of time at the beginning of the show for things to get started (at least 3 seconds).

Tine, Sorry, my oversight - I didn't read all of your message carefully. However, first of all, you can't search for words only 3 letters long. Secondly, when you click "search" from the top of the main forum screen, you will see a fairly complicated window giving you several options. Under "Search Options", make sure you click "Refine Search / search posts from .. / any date". I get 4 replies when I search for "p2e files".

Tine, You didn't say what you are searching. If it's your computer system, then use "*.p2e" for your search, not just "p2e". This will give you all the files ending in ".p2e". Also, make sure you specify what drive or drives you want searched. If it's Google, or another search engine, then there should be lots of replies.

Tine, Just change the name of the file, using Windows Explorer or My Computer, from "bonus_800.p2e" to "bonus_800.exe" and double-click on it to open it. The ".p2e" is added just to help it make it past the firewalls and virus checkers.

I was having similar problems in Win Me a while back and thought I had plenty of disk space (about 1 Gb). However, I defragged my C-drive, and it helped, so it's worth a try. Also, if you are running Win Me (or, I think, Win 98), it might help to have a look at the system monitor which you can get to on the "Start" menu under Programs / Accesssories / System Tools. You have to set it up by clicking on Edit / Add Item and adding "Memory Manager / Allocated memory" and "Kernel / Processor Usage". While you are there you could also add "Memory Manager / Swapfile in use" to let you know whenever the system has to use the HD for overflow. These will give you an idea about what is going on inside your pc, and why it is slowing down. If Kernel Processor Usage is 100% a lot of time, then either you don't have enough RAM, or there is some process running in the background which is "hogging" your facilities. (Or, it could be caused by a C-drive which needs to be defragged. This was what I found to be happening in my case.) If Allocated memory is gradually creeping up and starting to overflow into the virtual memory space, then there might be a program which is not releasing RAM properly when it is closed. If you are using Win XP, you can see the status of usage on your pc from the task manager dialogue box which you can reach by pressing "Ctl - Alt - Del" once. Then go to the appropriate tab to see the various components.

Bob, It might be a good idea to try out the image in another installation of PTE. I can test it on my PTE if you want to send it to me. Jpegs can be funny sometime. I once had a show that ran flawlessly on my desktop and laptop from the CD, but when I tried to run it on another laptop, some of the images looked very bad. I couldn't even copy the show from the CD to the other laptop due to a CRC error. I suspect one or more images lost something in the copying to the CD as the originals were fine. The other alternative is to pack up the whole show and send it to Igor to have a look at.

Bob, It probably is damaged. I've had similar experences with image files, (even "tiff" files), particularly after I've copied them to a CD. Sometimes I get streaks all across the entire image and have to re-copy them and sometimes re-scan them when I find I don't have the original.

Dave, PTE doesn't yet support the .wma format. Try converting to .mp3 or .wav. If you still have complaints, try reducing the size of the images to max 200 kb. or check the transitions to make sure you are leaving a minimum of 1/2 sec or so between the end of one transition and the start of the next.

Hi, two2go, Welcome to the forum! You only use "file" in PTE to find your pte file. You have to double-click on a drive letter, and then a folder at the top-left of the PTE file window to find your jpegs.

Cindy, Your're very welcome! Glad to hear you have everything under control. Happy sailing!

Bill, why didn't I think of that? It'll probably take me the rest of the month to test it out! Thanks for the info.

Bill, As you probably know, you can go to a particular slide from a button in the object editor. So, you could set up the capability for custom "threads" by repeating slide sequences, and having the selection buttons at the start of the show go to the sequence you want. The problem of having the show return to the first "menu" slide could be solved by having another copy of the menu slide at the end of each sequence or "thread" which would then allow you to choose another path or "thread". If you set the time-on-screen for each "menu" slide to 1000 sec., it would allow you plenty of time to sit and think about which sequence or external application you wanted to select next. You could probably also accomplish this even more easily by using a short one or two-slide show as the introduction, and allow viewers to select individual mini-slide shows from there, each with their own set of end-instructions and menu-slides if desired. The only deficiency in this modus-operandi, as I see it, is suitable control over the music in having it start up in the proper place when jumping to other slides.

Good spotting, Bill! Igor hadn't mentioned the external application feature in his list of new features (unless it is included in "other various improvements" ). It takes a little care in setting this feature up - you have to be sure the current music has finished playing before calling up the slide with the instruction to "run external application" as the instruction seems to kick in as soon as the slide loads (at least in preview mode). There are lots of possible permutations here, so it will take some time in order to thoroughly test this application and all its possibilities. Great feature to have, though! Thanks Igor! Just a little picky problem in connection with this feature - the "browse" button doesn't seem to work. Haven't tried it in the new beta #2 yet.

Bill, I for one would be very interested in learning more about your solution to the scaling problem. Please tell us more.

Hi, Cindy, First, the display screen will be black until slides are added. You can add slides in two ways. First, you can select "Automatic synchronization" and then "Timed points" and either "Arrange existing points" or "Add points", whichever is appropriate to your situation. Alternatively, you can select "Customize synch", and add transition points by clicking on "New Transition" whenever you want a new slide to drop onto the timeline. Two suggestions re the preview: 1. Make sure you are using version at least 4.01 (you can see the number at the top left of the screen when you first open PTE). 2. Make sure you are adding the music in the "Project Options" menu, not the "Customize Slide" menu. Make sure there is no music added in the "Customize Slide" menu for each slide, if you are customizing any slides, and that "Continue playing current sound file(s)" is selected for each customized slide. If this doesn't help, I suggest you send me a copy of your ".pte" file, without any accompanying music or images, and I will be happy to have a look at it to see if I can spot anything amiss. my email: alrobin@alrobinson.com

Hi, Ian, Welcome to the forum! As far as I know, the object editor is the only place a transparent GIF can be used. Just size it the way you want it (in pixels) in an image editor such as Photoshop, insert it using object editor, and then position it by dragging it with the cursor. There is a problem with all objects however, in that they view differently on pc screens of different resolutions. That is something you either have to accept or compensate for by not having objects too close to each other, not putting them too close to the edge of the main image, etc.

Tine, For sure, save the images in the best possible format and resolution for future use. However, for use in PTE, first reduce them to the size you want to see them on the screen for your show and save them to another folder. If they are smaller files they will load faster in PTE and not interrupt the program.

Cindy, To see the timeline and the moving blue triangle, click on "Project Options" and check "Synchronize slideshow to music duration". Make sure you have some music added, under the "Music" tab. Then go back to the "Main" tab and click on "Customize Synchronization" and select either "Customize Synchronization" or "Automatic Synchronization". You should see a small blue triangle at the start of the timeline, which will start moving forward as soon as you click on "Play". The tiny "loaf of bread" is located in the main preview screen at the bottom right-hand corner. It only appears when you highlight an image in the "slide-show image list". Hope this helps.

Hello Tine, Welcome to the Forum! I would also suggest you reduce the size of your images unless your clients absolutely need that high a resolution. It is customary to set your jpegs at no more than 1024 x 768 pixels in size, compressed at around 50%. Using a larger image won't provide any better image quality unless your clients' monitors are also set at a larger pixel size, and may cause glitches in the running of PTE on some pc's. Another way to greatly decrease the file size is to find a MIDI piece that runs for the length of the show and use that to show off the pictures. Good luck!

Sounds great, Igor! I'll give it a try today. Thanks so much for all your efforts on making PTE even better for us. And thanks especially for the access to the slide and transition customization from the timeline! Am looking forward to future betas and more control over the pausing and restarting of finished synchronized shows. You should take a short holiday now, though!