alrobin

Igor, To help illustrate the effect I am experiencing, attached is a screenshot of the timeline. Slide 2 is looped. I find I have to leave at least 20 ms between the end of the loop and the first sound on the timeline to avoid hearing it within the loop (in synchronized mode).

Igor, I understand the difference between "synchronized" mode and "not synchronized mode", and am quite happy that in "synch" mode the music re-cycles. However, I am finding that the music doesn't recycle properly - too much of the music selection is played during the looping, according to how the slides are set up on the timeline. In other words, there should be no music associated with slide 3 playing during the looping of slide 2 in sync mode. The plan for several projects in one EXE file will be welcome, and should eliminate the returning to the desktop between two separate shows.

Igor, The "loop" feature is certainly a handy feature for adding menu capabilities - however, it poses a few problems in "synched" shows (referring to the "synchronize" option in PTE). On my tests, the looped slide picks up the beginning of some of the music which normally doesn't start until the next slide transition starts. It would be nice to be able to add a short selection which would play during the looped slide, and then have the next portion of the music commence precisely with the start of the next slide ( in the case where one selects a button programmed for "next slide", for example ).

Howard, I confirmed your experience with Lucida Calligraphy - see attached screenshots. (by the way, you can capture the screen if you set "windowed mode".)

Stu, Welcome back to the forum! We missed you!

Ausmortay, Welcome to the Forum! When you first registered, you were sent an email with your "key" file attached. It would have been saved in your PTE folder as "PTE.KEY", or "REG.KEY", or something like that. If you have lost both the original email and your PTE folder, and you didn't back up the key file, then your appeal to WnSoft is the only option left, other than purchasing another copy of the program.

Igor, Thanks for modifying the nav bar to allow for proper functioning of the pause button - it now changes to a forward "play" arrow when activated - something that I didn't notice until now. Also, one can now use the forward and back buttons while "pause" is activated.

Judy, This is a limitation of the "ico" file specification, not PTE. Not sure why you would want it anyway, on something this small.

Colin, You're right - it's part of the PTE program download. When you install a new version of PTE it automatically installs Video Builder in a separate sub-directory. Then when you open the "video" portion of PTE, and choose the "DVD" option, you will be asked to browse to the VB key. It's a separate key from the one you use for PTE itself.

Les, I don't know what further to suggest - are you able to view the v.5 shows created by others (e.g. some of the demo shows advertised here on the forum)? There is no user manual as the program is still in beta - eventually instructions will be available in the Help file and through various members' tutorials. It might be useful to give us a "blow-by-blow" account on how you are attempting to set up your PZR effects.

Welcome to the Forum, Les! What happens if you reduce the size of the O&A workspace by selecting say "25%" or "10%" in the small box at the top-centre of the window on a slide where there are no other objects? Are you still unable to change the size of the main image? If this is still not possible, then your video card may not be able to handle such a large image.

Judy, You can rename objects by selecting the "Common" tab in O&A, and typing a new name in the "Name" box at the top.

Geoff, The only sure-fire way is to use "windowed mode". However, you can add transparent objects to the corners and then group them all together, and this will hold them for most resolutions. But there are exceptions. Best to use v.5.

Well, I guess I'm the odd man out. My flat-screen Dell monitor (for my desktop pc) is set at 1680x1050, but I make most of my shows now at 1280x768 (widescreen). This is also the native resolution for my projector.

Chuck, I'm working on it right now - should be available in a couple of weeks, once I get the bugs out. I'll post it on my site and advertise the link here on the Forum.

Peter, Maybe you are entering the wrong key - it's one designed just for VideoBuilder, and it's exactly 147 bytes in size. It's located in the VideoBuilder folder, and you select it when you are asked to do so after you click on "video" to create a DVD.

See attached demo and screenshot. (edited to add better example) frames_demo.zip frames_demo.zip

Stephane, I agree with you! This is the only area pertaining to sound where PTE is lacking at the moment. And I think I remember Igor vaguely promising to look into providing it along with the O&A timeline. This is an interesting thread. Being a long-time software developer, myself, I agree also with Lin and others regarding the provision of more sophisticated audio editing features, including multiple sound tracks. I also use Cubase for most of my sound mixing and editing, and even if these were provided in PTE, I would still rely on Cubase to prepare a single track in PTE, with some added sound effects or narration on a slide-by-slide basis. Even though video and still photography technology seems to be merging these days, it has always been the main objective of PTE to provide a means for digitally emulating the capabilities of the old analogue "slideshow" systems. However, with digital technology, we naturally have the capability to take the old analogue features many steps forward (some may disagree here), thus contributing to the current trend toward the merging of video and still-image photography. But I think most of us would still rather be able to display the highest-quality still image in an AV application at the expense, if necessary, of other animation and "video" capabilities. What I'm getting at here is the idea that in "video" photography, the most important feature is life-like motion, while in "AV" photography, as used by most of us here on the Forum, the quality of the still image is prime. So, in order to achieve these different prime objectives, the technologies for each have developed in slightly different directions, also. Granted, as technological capabilities through faster computers, more memory on video cards, etc., increases, the requirements and standards in each of these areas of photography will undoubtedly merge as is gradually happening already. In the meantime, however, because of the way "video" technology has developed, there is a need to be able to make some adjustments to the audio in order to match the video (frame-by-frame editing is very tedious, and not possible in some low-end editors), while in "AV" technology, as we know it, it is still very simple to adjust the individual images in order to match the audio. Thus, there is less of a need for audio editing in the case of "AV" systems like PTE than there is in the case of "video" systems such as "Premiere", or "Studio 10", etc.

Markus, You can also prepare a frame in photoshop, erase the centre portion, save it as a "png" file, open it on the lowest level in O&A, separate from all other objects, and then bring it to the front so it will always cover all of the other objects, including the main image.

Googull, Welcome back to the Forum! I've found that for me the biggest culprits in stuttering sequences with PTE are having monitor resolution set too high, and other processes running in the background. If my monitor resolution is set higher than 1280x768 (it's wide-screen), there is stuttering whenever one of the main slide transitions is in process, and then this smooths out for the rest of the duration of the image, until the start of the transition to the next slide. To eliminate other processes, I use "Enditall" to close down all non-essential programs. Nowdays there are a lot more of these than one realizes. Of course, there are many other potential causes, but in my case these are the two main ones.

Howard, The specifications that came with your monitor should indicate the options you have for various "resolutions". Failing that, you could look up the specs on the Internet. Make sure the setting matches the aspect ratio of your monitor. Older monitors are usually 4:3, so resolutions of 800x600, 1024x768, etc., will look "normal". My wide-screen monitor is 15:9 (e.g. 1280x768 pixels). One way to test for the optimum setting is to draw a perfect circle on an image of a certain size, (or photograph a circular plate or the full moon), and change the monitor resolutions to see which ones best retain the circle. Try inverting it to check that it is circular in both vertical and horizontal positions.

Howard, The problem could be that your monitor resolution settings do not match the monitor's actual dimensions. For example, if I set the resolution of my wide-screen monitor (1280x768) to 1280x960, the images will be distorted. Also if I rotate an image, it will look distorted in a different direction (width vs height).

The meaning of "synchronization" in a PTE context was described HERE by Igor. As Peter mentioned, in PTE terms a show is "synchronized" if the music exactly matches the transitions, even if it is paused part of the way through. At the moment this is the main use for the "synchronize" feature. Conversely, a slideshow can now be in perfect synchronization with the beats in the music even though the "synchronize" feature is not selected (as long as the show is not interrupted part way through, or the music does not repeat at the end).

Cèlou, 1. The popup note says that "when this option enabled, sorting, adding, or deleting of slides will not affect (on) timepoints which you've set on the timeline according to music." In other words, you can delete or add a slide without changing any of the timepoints on the timeline - just the identity of the images will change. However, this feature doesn't seem to work properly when deleting a slide from the slide list. 2. This has been discussed several times, and Igor indicated that it would be difficult to include this transition in v.5.

There's a delete button which shows up at the bottom of the post if it is yours. I don't think you can delete a post if it is the first one in a thread, though.