alrobin

Dougall, Have you set the opacity of the image in O&A to something less than 100%?

Cal, Does it act the same way with shows created by other people?

Mike, Post a message to the "Video" forum - that's where all the DVD people hang out. There's a similar message from someone else there already.

Peter, Here's some interesting information on PNG interlacing: http://www.atalasoft.com/PNG.aspx . Here's an example in motion: http://www.webdiner.com/annexe/gif89/adam7.htm

Tom, Have you examined Dom's demo (complete with project files)? The screenshots below show the effect of the two rectangles in twisting the rotor horizontally. You can look at their keypoints to see what values he used.

Peter, If your use is for a show designed for playback on a pc, then select "none". I don't know about one that is intended for video. I always use "none" for DVD use, too, and it seems fine.

Dom, That's very realistic! Nice work! I can see a whole series of video games coming up next, once actions are added to objects again - Igor see what you've started!

Thanks, Igor! This sounds great!

Maureen, There are two reasons for using transparent GIF's as buttons: 1. to make a button that is totally transparent (as a "hot spot" over an image), but with the capability to click on it to run external programs, such as another slideshow. 2. to give "text" the ability to be programmed. As you know, the text object cannot be programmed, but the image objects can, so if you want a button with text, but without the surrounding border, you either have to create the whole thing in PS, and use as an image object, or prepare the text in the object editor, and overlay a transparent GIF to make it programmable. In v.5, it looks like we'll have the best of all worlds. Igor, Will it be possible to assign a "mouseover" action to these buttons?

Hi, Marlene, Yes, you need version 5 to open project files using "Pan Zoom Rotate" features. You can download the latest v.5, beta "u", program from the Forum (select the "pinned" message from "admin" at the top of the page). If you unzip the file you will see 5 programs - just copy them to a folder and double-click on "setup", just as you did for version 4. The program will automatically install itself and open. You can tell that it is version 5 by the name at the top left of the screen. You don't need a new key - you are already registered for all updates to the program (except that there will be an extra charge for "PTE Deluxe", containing "Video Builder" for making DVD's, once the final program is released. Right now it's included along with the rest of version 5.)

Hi, Marlene, Glad to hear you got your key installed and everything working. Once you become familiar with PTE you will probably not need to use PSP at all - particularly after version 5 is finalized. But for now it will be handy to be able to use the best features of each one and so have the best of both worlds. I don't know too many PTE users in Toronto, and even fewer in Saskatchewan. I guess PSP is pretty popular in both places. We drive through Sask. every couple of years on our way to or from the west coast. The last time was last spring. I would strongly suggest that you play around with a few simple mini-slideshows now until you become familiar with where everything is, and how it works. At the same time download some of the tutorials, and go through them. And then ask lots of questions. Good luck with your templates! Don't forget that you need to download the latest "beta" (or "preliminary") version of PTE and install it before you can do anything with PZR effects.

Marlene, Welcome to the Forum! I'm not sure you can do this in PSP. All you do to get the key to work is save it to your PTE folder and double click on it. If you have any trouble getting this to work, let us know, and I'm sure someone can get you going. Where in Canada are you located? We could be neighbours.

Ronnie, Ken has already set one up! You can find it HERE.

Probably not - the codec used in the latest beta version of VB is probably as good as you'll find without getting into expensive professional equipment and software. But, it would be great if you had time to experiment with a couple of other codecs (e.g. MS MPEG-4, Intel "Indeo 5.1", etc.), using the "avi" route, and rendering with another software, such as ULead "Movie Factory", or Nero or Premiere Elements, just for comparison purposes. The current PTE beta is still in the experimental stage, so the jury is still out on the way to achieve the best results. Hawk and Ken and I, to name a few, have been attempting to keep abreast of all the recent changes in Video Builder, but it is very time-consuming, especially if one doesn't have all of the latest equipment on which to test it, so it would be great if you had some time to experiment a bit. Not everyone is using wide-screen, and even fewer using high-def. Of course, HD is not possible yet with Video Builder, but you may see things on your wide-screen HD set that the rest of us would not pick up.

eli, Welcome to the Forum! Unfortunately, the quality of an AV sequence, converted to a video and played from a DVD, even in "high-definition", will probably never be as good as that for one saved as an executible ".exe" file and played on the computer with a large good-quality monitor. There are several reasons for this, the main one being the restrictions on the capabilities of the TV system. It is designed with motion video in mind, where images don't have to be as sharp since we only see each individual image for 1/25th to 1/30th of a second, (and so the images are greatly compressed), whereas our AV productions are based on still-photographs, which we can stare at and admire for as long as we want. As an analogy, you know that a good 16x20 print is much much sharper, with better colours, etc., than the image on a TV set, no matter how expensive and modern it is. The same is true for an image displayed directly on a computer monitor. However, images on TV sets, and DVD's produced from PTE are becoming better all the time, and right now, v.5 of PTE and it's companion, "Video Builder", produces images which, when played back from a DVD player through a good quality TV set, aren't all that bad!

Ronnie, Leonard already posted a message this AM saying he is leaving the Forum - you can find it here.

Peter, The ability to run an external application isn't activated yet in version 5. Re the quotes, they are required if you have a pathname included, or if there are spaces in the filename. However, I don't think they are required if you just use a simple file name.

Sharon, glad you made it back to the Forum, and also glad to hear that the show for your sister-in-law went over so well. Also, happy to hear you found my tutorial - hope you find it helps get you over the steep part of the learning curve! Now to your questions: The $24 price is for amateur use - $30 for professionals such as wedding photographers, and others selling cd's and dvd's based on PTE. If in doubt, go with $30 - the difference is such a small amount it's not worth sweating over (Igor needs all the support he can get, and even $30 is peanuts.) The "beta" is just a new version of the program (version 5), which has not been officially released yet, but is in a "trial" format for people to play around with and test out. No problem - that's what the Forum is for. But, you are right, it is much easier to sit down with someone and have them show you the basics of the program. I have done this many times with people - some of them not newcomers to computers and slideshow programs. At least you have a head-start, having been introduced to a similar program. We all look forward to seeing your first show in PTE! "avi" refers to a type of video file often produced by a video camera, as well as video-production programs. It can be produced by PTE and then opened by a video program such as "Nero" or Adobe "Premiere Elements" for editing or burning a dvd. "cd/dvd" is the option to choose if you are burning a "vcd", "svcd", or "dvd". I wouldn't worry about getting into dvd or vcd or avi production until you are more familiar with the rest of the program. As you can tell by the fact that there is a whole section in the Forum dedicated to this, video is a complete study in itself. But if you are willing to learn, there are a lot of links mentioned in various posts to this section of the Forum. All the best!

Leonard, It might help if you listed your email address.

foto1, You are right, if you don't have text in the hyperlink, it will disappear when the project is closed out. About the only way to create a transparent control point is to use a small custom-designed transparent GIF image.

Mike, Welcome to the Forum. It's very difficult to point to specific threads - the information is covered in so many different places on the Forum. Just dive in and start reading, and following links to other information. Start with version 4.48, and go through the "Help" section. Then download some of the many tutorials available (I have one on my website that is a little out of date, but still covers the basics, and will expose you to some of the terminology, and basics for putting together a show. It can be pulled off at the following site: http://www.alrobinson.com/shows.htm , or from Beechbrook, the largest collection of PTE shows put together by Forum members: http://www.beechbrook.com/pte . ) On the WnSoft website there are also some excellent tutorials listed. And, thanks to JW Evans, and Maureen, who listed them in another thread, here are the addresses for some other basic tutorials, in pdf format, courtesy of the Bishopthorpe Camera Club: Getting Started with PTE v4.48 by Roger Walton Timeline Functions by JW Evans Producing a Title Sequence And if all else fails, please feel free to come back to the Forum for specific answers to any queries you might have. Best of luck! Sorry, I didn't provide the proper links for the basic tutorials listed above.

Well, an animation is more than just an image or a group of keypoints; we can save the images now in a central repository if we want, and reuse them for other shows but an animation sequence is a combination of so many different parameters and objects, that the most efficient way to save it would probably be to save the entire slide and all the associated images, objects, keypoints, etc. along with it. The easiest way to do this would be to use the "Create backup in zip" feature, or create a template with just the slides required in the animation. If some objects are extraneous, they can be deleted, and the slide saved as a single-slide show, with only the essential components of the animation represented. Some animations are very dependent on the length of the transitions, not only immediately before, but immediately after that slide, or on a number of slides (like JP's photo album, or cube), so these should all be saved too. You could put them all in a special folder, along with all the images required. With Hawk's method for copying slides, we already have the capability now to save slides with interesting and complex animations, and copy them to a new or existing show. It would be easy to replace slides with other ones in the new version, but I believe that just to expect a fresh group of slides and objects to be able to take on the characteristics of an animation, without actually copying the slides and objects along with it, would be expecting too much of the program. However, I could be wrong, and Igor might be able to come up with what you are suggesting - it has happened before! Yes, a spreadsheet is ideal for creating a complex action, where the time of one part depends on the time of the previous one, or where it is necessary to divide the time equally between two end points, etc. It can also calculate the number of degrees of rotation for each object at each keypoint, in order to achieve a smooth effect. Using a spreadsheet for this also displays the various calculations in such a way that it is easy to visualize just what is required. With a spreadsheet, a complex algorithm can be set up and applied to determine the required numerical values associated with each object's PZR activity. And, with a spreadsheet, once it is set up, it is relatively easy to apply it to another similar show, but with different quantities of objects or objects with different starting and ending positions. Sorry for being so long-winded - however now you have something more to read along with your breakfast coffee when you wake up tomorrow morning.

Tom, I'm sure Boxig would be able to create one, but as far as I know, he doesn't have anything yet for version 5. In fact, come to think of it, he has been very quiet on the subject of the new version. Granot, are you awake over there?

Tom, We already have one now - it's called "pte". It's possible to make a one-image show, add a bunch of objects and keypoints, etc., and save as a "pte" file, which retains all the component images and "layers". What might be useful in order to simplify things further would be a utility that could "stitch" two or more pte shows together without having to copy from one to the other.

Photos from most good cameras today are close to the 3:2 ratio, which I find is more satisfactorily adapted to 16:9 than to the "normal" 4:3 TV ratio, where so much of the images sides has to be cut off if one wishes to fill the screen. I prefer to cut off some of the top and bottom in order to fill the wide screen, but I also don't mind the side-bars if I wish to retain the entire image. This is the main reason I have switched entirely to wide-screen mode.