alrobin

Manfred, you are very welcome. Those of us with some background in programming are naturally finding the new options in PTE easier to understand and implement than would someone without any previous exposure to these concepts. I'm not quite sure what you mean by your question about "ordering" objects. It is possible to order objects in the object list by right-clicking on a particular object, choosing "order", and then selecting one of the 4 "front" and "back" options. Also, when you add a new object it will appear automatically at the top of the list. If it is added as a "sub-object" or "child" of an existing object, it will appear under that object, but at the top of the list of any "sub-objects" already existing. The object list is therefore in order of levels, from "top to bottom". It is not possible now to order them in any other way, such as by "keypoint". Study some of the more complicated demos that people have contributed to see what I mean. Then, if things are still a bit hazy, come back and ask some more questions. Re the official version 5, Igor hasn't told us yet when it will be issued, along with any help information. There are already several excellent tutorials available here on the Forum from various members, however, on specific version 5 features.

Angie, As Ken says, if you only have Roxio LE, you can't create dvd "video" versions of your pte shows. You have to purchase a complete program. The ones that come with Dell computers generally are included just to let you save pre-arranged material (i.e. "burn") to the dvd. You have to have "rendering" software if you want to create a dvd from an "avi" file. You might consider purchasing a copy of "Nero" (around $100), or some other video-creating program (do a search on this forum to read up on the subject). Ken was referring to a separate tv and dvd player system, connected together to play normal dvd's such as the ones that are used for movies, etc. You are right - you will have much better quality if you stick with "exe" computer-based versions of your shows. DVD's are used mainly for passing your shows on to other people who may not be able to view them on their pc's. This will be especially important with version 5, as a pretty high-end system is required in order to play all the new special effects. Nearly everyone these days has a dvd player, and there is more likelihood that someone with a dvd player will be able to play your shows in "video" format. However, if you are creating your shows to play back yourself on your own equipment, you are better off to stick with the "exe" format.

Barb, Can you locate Dom's project files in "My Computer" or "Windows Explorer"?

Fish 2, I believe there are some restrictions on the type and size of file you can upload to this forum. You can include jpegs in your postings, and some small "zipped" files, but I don't know about slide-shows - they are probably too large. Best to upload to a site such as Beechbrook, mentioned in Ken's post.

Yes, Dom, if it is the "Main slide", it will be cropped in smaller monitor resolutions. However, in version 4.x, the main slide is automatically adjusted to fit the screen if the latter is too small.

Excellent, JP! I knew someone would come up with one soon - it was only a matter of time! My hat's off to you - you are a genius! Now may we have the solution, please?

Manfred, Instead of creating a totally transparent image as a base for "containing" objects, you can use a "rectangle" which can also be transparent as well as opaque, or a gradient. If you add PZR effects to a rectangle, any objects "contained" by it will move in the same way as the "parent" rectangle. Go through some of the tutorials and demos that members have created and linked in their posts to the Forum and study their examples to help understand these effects.

Nettleton, Do you have IrfanView installed? It has a player that will also show Flash "swf" files.

Lin, I just noticed than my "SnagIt" program (also one of TechSmith's products) will also screen-capture in video format, using DivX. The default codec is MS video 1, which seems to work OK on my system. When you get around to testing codecs, I would be interested in running some comparisons with SnagIt.

Lin, I wasn't able to open the site for your new tutorial. I'm sure it will be greatly appreciated judging by the requests for how to do the Star Wars effect. Lin, I'm in the process of downloaded the tutorial from your second post - the address was apparently wrong here. Keep up the good work!

Lin, Congratulations on the cube tutorial! Very well done, especially for a first attempt. No problem viewing it with WMP. It is professional, easy to follow, and thorough, and your speaking voice is smooth and pleasant to listen to - all important elements in a "live" tutorial. I'm surprised at how much winzip compressed the .avi files. Which capture software did you use for the AVI? Am looking forward to the rest of the tutorials you and Jeff have planned for PTE v.5.

John, Brian's advice is right on the money. I had a top-of-the-line laptop a few years ago, with so-called multimedia capabilities, but was using it only for business. Then when I started applying it to AV I realized that there was so much noise from the playback through the soundcard that the only way I could use it satisfactorily was by un-plugging the AC and running off of the battery. Of course this gave me only about an hour of playback time, but it was sufficient for most presentations. I ended up buying an external "MAudio" sound module which gave me much better sound quality. I am now using a newer HP multimedia laptop which has great sound, but when I try to play through a mixer (to combine live narration with AV background sound), again I find too much noise, so have to scrap the mixer and go with two separate channels into the sound system using a proper mic pre-amp. So, it really does pay to try out your sound system in the shop before you commit yourself, especially when you are using a laptop..

This is something Igor will want to have a look at. I haven't noticed it again myself, but am keeping an eye out for it. Anyone else still experiencing this error message with v.5, beta 5, should also report in.

Nadine, You don't need to check "Permit control of show" if you are not planning to synchronize the show to music. It is also possible to add a narration sound file to each slide using the "Sound" line at the bottom right of the main PTE window. This is the preferred way to add narration, as you can also include background music via the "Project Options" or "Customize Slide" menus, and the narrative will not repeat unnecessarily. Be sure to check "Don't interrupt sound comment when next slide appears" under "Project Options / Music" if you find that the next slide is cutting short some of the longer comments. However, you also have to make sure there is no comment for the "next slide" in these cases.

JFA, Welcome to the Forum! How are you attempting to load the files? Usually you can simply double-click on them, but if you still have v.4 installed you will get a "non-supported" message if you click on v.4 files. Also, you can't open version 5 project files in previous versions of PTE. You have to open up version 5 first, go to the "Files" tab, and open the project file via the menu. That should work - if not, please come back and we'll try to figure out why.

Peter, That is very strange - don't know what else to suggest, either. However, you do have a fall-back position, with the availability of the "Create backup in zip" feature.

Nettleton, This was a problem in the first beta of v.5, but Igor fixed it - until now, that is. I, too, received the same message (but only once) with the new beta. I'm waiting for it to repeat so I can give Igor more explicit details about how it occurred as I'm sure he will want to know.

Jeff, I detect a slight ambiguity in the information you gave us. 1280x1024 is not 4:3. Maybe you need to first set your monitor to 1280x960?

Peter, See my post HERE (#53).

Peter, You could also do a "search" in the "Start" menu and try to find all instances of your PTE project that way. It should lead you to where the template files are being stored.

Jerry, Welcome to the Forum! I second your comments re "Autostitch". Thanks to Bussty's original "heads-up" about the program here on the Forum, I have been using it for about a year, and find that with it's auto-blending capabilities, it is better than any other stitching algorithms I have seen and/or tried, even though the free "demo" version does have a limited interface. To add to your recommendations, instead of "100%", I usually specify the "long" dimension according to the size of the jpeg that I want as an output. This saves creating a huge file, and then cropping it down later. I also found that when the 30-day trial period expires, I just need to delete the program file and download it again. There doesn't seem to be any registry insertion, and so no need to "remove" the program via the Control Panel.

Both the "Preview" and the "EXE" versions look exactly the same (i.e. "normally"). Both cubes turn in unison in both EXE and project versions.

Cèlou, What difference do you see? They both look the same to me.

Robert, The template folders are no longer associated with the program files. They are located in "C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\PicturesToExe\Templates", just in case you lost track of this info.

I had no trouble downloading it - works very smoothly and is another good demo of the flexibility of PTE in the hands of a creative AV producer.