alrobin

Hi, Leo, Welcome to the Forum! PTE is an audio-visual sequence "producer" or "editor". It does not provide for editing of the component images nor for the background sounds and music. This is best left for a specialist program of one's own choosing (e.g. "Photoshop" or "Pixbuilder Studio" for images or "Audacity" or "Audition" or "Cubase" for the music.) Other AV programs may provide simple editing for sound such as "fade in" or "fade out", but PTE (at the moment) does not. Usually in producing an AV one needs the services of a sound editor, anyway, so it is a simple matter to put the sound and music together in, say, "Audacity", and do all of the editing there as required. Usually in editing the sound, one is blending two pieces together, and, if done properly, this requires a greater attention to detail than PTE would be able to provide, unless it were a full-blown sound editor, too, which it is not. Also, in a proper sound editor one can also do other important things such as adjust the overall volume, add narration, fade in and out, add reverb, blend in sounds, control background noise, and apply many other special effects. "Audacity" is a freeware program that many people download and use for sound editing. Or, if you want a more professional program, Adobe's "Audition" is an excellent program. When I create a slideshow, I have "Audition" or "Cubase" and "Photoshop" open side-by-side with PTE so I can move back and forth from one to another as required. This works very well, and, speaking personally, I would never use a "fade" feature within PTE. There is one feature in PTE that does provide for some overlap capability, but it is not activated yet in version 5. In previous versions it is possible to dub in a narrative on a per-slide basis, that will run in tandem with any background music. This is implemented via the "sound" line at the bottom right of the main PTE window. However, all this being said, it is possible that the creators of PTE might see fit to add a fade capability someday if enough people want it. Hope this helps some.

JP, Thank-you for bringing this amazing 3D AV production to us, and please pass on our thanks to Bernard for agreeing to make his show and also his other superb AV's available to us. I just watched Paris 3D projected onto a 100-inch screen, and it felt like I was right there on the Champs Elysees and in front of the Eiffel Tower and the other great Paris attractions. Great photographs! The potential for PTE applications just keeps on becoming broader and more diverse all the time.

Ray, Re your question 1, PTE does not have this feature, per se. However, you can set up a slide to do what you want it to do, and then copy it umpteen times to a new slideshow, thus giving each of these slides in the new show the same characteristics. Re Q.3, you may be able to plug a VGA cable into the back of your laptop and the other end into the 15-pin jack on your TV screen, just like you would plug the laptop into an external monitor? Maybe through an adapter if not directly? Best of luck!

Tami, Obviously you are picking up too high an error rate on your burns. Have you tried reducing the rate (say to 2x)? Or, you may have to replace your burner.

Ray, Welcome to the Forum! Lin has already answered your questions, so I will just add my 2-cents to what he has already told you. 1. If by multiple images you mean several images panning and zooming at the same time, the answer is "yes" for version 5, and "no" for all other versions before 5. To achieve this you would use the "Objects/Animations" window in PTE. To add an image simply click on the "image" icon at the top left corner of the window. You can then resize them, move them, etc., and add "PZR" effects independently to each. The method for doing this takes a bit of experimentation, but it has been documented in the various mini-demos submitted by different Forum members. 2. Yes, you can have 2 audio tracks in the existing "official" version of PTE (version 4.48), but one is used mainly for narration. (the "sound" line at the bottom right of the main PTE window). This can be used in parallel with "background" sound. This will be available again soon in version 5. 3. Some large-screen TV's also function as computer monitors, and can be used directly to display PTE sequences. You may have to make some adjustments in your computer display properties to have it display properly on a TV monitor. Most new high-end video cards have the capability to display directly onto a TV set, but the quality may not be as good as with a pc monitor, or one of the more expensive LCD or plasma screens. The other way to go is via the DVD route. 4. Precise synchronization is possible now in version 5 by using the timeline to control the transitions, as long as you are showing the sequence only on your own system. The ability to sync it so that it will display exactly the same way on another pc, as is possible in v.4, will soon be available again in v.5. I have synched several shows in v.5, and the timing is accurate each time it is shown on my own desktop pc, and also on my laptop. Hope these help you get up to speed with PTE. It is a great program, and once v.5 is completed, I am sure you will have many hours of enjoyment with it. The learning curve is steep, so I would suggest you download and study each of the demos mentioned throughout the Forum messages. All the best!

Larry, Glad you resolved the problem! Looks like Ken had the right idea with his TV monitor settings.

All these components are relatively inexpensive these days. Even laptops are coming down in price considerably.

Larry, I have the "All in Wonder" video card too. Try this: Close all open windows. Right-click on the desktop (away from any icons). Choose "Properties". Select the "settings" tab. If you see two screens side by side, click on screen # 2. At the bottom left corner of the menu window, make sure that "Extend my Windows desktop onto this monitor" and "Use this device as the primary monitor" are un-checked. This should force everything onto your primary monitor. I've attached a screen-shot of the monitor display properties window. An alternate way to reach "display properties" is to double-click on "Display" in the Control Panel.

Dom, Congratulations in successfully fighting off the hackers and reopening your Forum! It's even more professional than before - especially the "subSilver" skin.

Larry, You could try adjusting the screen resolution of your monitor to the maximum value, to see if that brings the operating buttons of Media Player into view.

Tom, Having seen and heard it myself, I can vouch for Maureen & Robert's very compact sound system by Aego.

Thanks, Ken for the link. Nettleton, the grids aren't transparent so will show up when the slideshow is run. However, if you want to suppress them after using it to test or line things up, just set their opacity to zero. I have a simpler pair of grids on my website that I posted before v.5 came out, and which may be more to you liking. They're at http://www.alrobinson.com/grid_50p.gif .(note the underscore before "50p").

Tom, JP is probably busy right now, but if I may be so bold as to reply to your post, if you zero in on the Eiffel Tower in Google Earth, you should find that it is just as detailed as in JP's slideshow. Some places on the earth warrant more attention to detail than others!

JP, Apparently the second link cannot be found.

Larry, Both v.4 and v.5 do allow you to customize the transitions of all slides - either using "customize slide" or the "timeline" itself. But they have to be on the timeline, and before the end of the music. Can you please provide more particulars about your application? If you like, send me a copy of your .pte file (no music, no images), and I will see if I can spot anything amiss with the way the timing is set up. My email address is alrobin at alrobinson dot com.

Dave, Welcome to the Forum! When you are checking your images, don't forget to check and/or change the pathnames of any images you are using in "Object Editor". One way to track down the problem is to save the project file under a different name so you don't lose it, and then try deleting images until PTE no longer tells you it can't find them. Once you get it down to a single faulty image, it should be easier to trouble-shoot, too. Best of luck!

Cindy, Good response! It's too bad that a few hackers and doomsayers spoil life for everyone else. Re the Mac issue, the numbers usually rule. Also, it is not fair to expect every creator of shareware software such as PTE to have the resources to maintain an application in more than one operating system. And, what about Linux, which is increasing gradually in popularity? Besides, pc's being so reasonably priced these days, a lot of Mac users probably have a pc hidden under the bed, anyway (and vice versa). Nor is it reasonable to expect every purveyor of sequences to maintain two operating systems in order to reach the maximum number of clients - however, this option is available for those producers for whom universal access to the market is essential and affordable. There is also the dvd route which might be suitable for serving those without pc's at all.

Lin, I, at first glance, had the same reaction as Jason. However, I probably know you better, and knew you would never bad-mouth a forum member in public, so I read your post through more thoroughly. It's so easy to give a wrong impression in a posting, just like it is so difficult to conduct business through emails sometimes. Believe, me, I have been burned several times, but that's a long story! Probably the ambiguity arose because you referred to 2 posts, and there had been exactly 2 replies to Cindy's question. It always pays to be VERY precise in posting to the Forum. (Again, I have learned this, personally, from the school of "hard-knocks"! )

Cindy, The problem is only with downloading sequences created by someone you don't know - or else, why would a "friend" purposely try to sabotage your pc? So, if your clients trust you, then there is absolutely no problem, is there? There is a slight chance of infection from a show made by someone you don't know, but that show would be very quickly identified (if not by someone's virus checker, then by the experience of someone who downloaded it before you did). So, it would be very easy for that person to be found out, and ostracized by the community. So, why would someone take a chance? Most of the shows on Beechbrook and others' websites are produced by people already familiar to us in the PTE community, so there should be no problem with the sequences we are downloading. Just stay away from shows by some maverick contributor who you think might be suspect, that's all. But chances are that even in this case, someone else would have downloaded and run any problem show and reported it on the Forum. That person would no longer be welcome in the AV world. PTE exe's are not quite in the same category as widely published and distributed software programs, some of which have caused problems over the years. I have yet to hear of any instance of a PTE 'exe' causing a problem in someone's pc.

Michel, I re-booted, and voila! - all the PTE v.5 shows play OK again, including your demo. I must have been using a program which interfered with the proper operation of PTE, as it affected all of the v.5 shows I tried to run. Beautiful photography, beautiful scenics, and everything works smoothly and sounds great. See my previous post for system stats.

Michel, Guess Ken wins the prize - not only was he able to run your sequence, but he also replied with information about his sound card as you requested. I was able to access your site and the sequence, which I downloaded, but when I try to start it, all I get is a black screen. However, the system does not freeze up as with earlier versions of v.5, but returns me to the desktop after pressing "escape". I am using an "ATI Radeon 9600" video card with 128 Mb of VRAM, and an external M-Audio sound module.

Try "Timeline/Timed points/Arrange all points". Works even in v.5.

JP, That was an 11-mile panorama (from Paris to Champs). Too bad you just missed Dom's place - we could have looked in to see how he is doing with his restoration! It ran very smoothly on my advanced system (128 mb video card).

Dom, I can help too with some of the English wording if you need me.

Dom, This is tragic, and I know how bad you must feel. I can't help much with the recovery, but I'll take my turn at the whips! Did you lose any photos from your trips, too?