alrobin

Steve, I tried to download it several times, and each time the download started, ran for about 5 seconds, and then quit. It could also be a problem with your web host.

Thanks, Robert. It was a lot of work, but also a lot of fun, and I would do it again if the opportunity arises. And, we saw some wonderful works of art in the four days - there was a good variety of shows on all sorts of topics - some very professional, and others (like mine) not so professional. Some people attending the Festival were upset with the large number of shows, and others with the number of shows in foreign languages without subtitles. A few others had expected more consistency in terms of quality of production. Most of the feedback which I received, however, was quite positive. I would like to be able to say that all works will be available on a web site, but then that would greatly reduce the incentive for people to come to the next Festival. Some of the shows submitted to the competition have of course been available for some time on various forums and web sites, while this was the first, and possibly last, exposure for others. They will only be made available as the producers themselves decide to post them. I still have not been able to find the winning presentation from last year's competition, "Vanishing Race". The list of all submissions and the names of the producers is posted on the main SuperCircuit website at: "http://perso.wanadoo.fr/supercircuit/ingles/presentacion.html" . Click on the flashing "Palmares Global". Sorry, I can't give you a complete list of forum members who participated as I don't know whether some of the authors are forum members or not. As you know, many of the forum members participate anonymously. 89 of the 125 presentations were created with PTE, 19 with Wings Platinum, 8 with M.Objects, 7 with ProShow, 1 with Lanterne Magique, and there was one "AVI" show. There were 48 shows from France, 27 from Britain, 10 from Italy, 7 from Canada, 7 from Germany, 5 from the Netherlands, 4 from Belgium, 3 from Argentina, 3 from Poland, 3 from Switzerland, 2 from China, 2 from Hungary, and 1 from Australia as well as 3 co-authored shows, from France/Netherlands, France/Belgium and Netherlands/Britain. I would like to encourage more people from other countries to submit entries to the competition, rules for which will be available on the main website (listed above) once the terms and conditions for next year have been worked out. Last year saw a large increase, both in the number of participants, and in the international scope of the competition, and it would be nice to see this trend continue.

Maureen, don't forget that Christmas comes later in Russia than in the UK.

It's called progress. The evolution of PTE over the past 4 or 5 years has been nothing but steady progress toward a better, smoother, more reliable, software system. I think everyone would agree with me on this. PTE today hardly resembles the awkward program that it was when I was first introduced to it. There was no timeline, and synching to music, and the ability to view the wave form, were non-existent. Now, with faster PC's and better video cards, we have an opportunity to realize even further improvements to the product. And Igor has guaranteed that if one does not wish to use the "video" effects, he will maintain the present system as is as a separate product line in version 5. What more could we ask for? I have just had the opportunity in the SuperCircuit to view several slideshows made with Wings Platinum. The effects available there, if carefully and judiciously applied, are truly wonderful. If anyone does not wish to use these effects, there is no reason why he or she will have to, thereby being able to continue to make shows that will still run on practically any computer. Furthermore, if one really objects to the improvements in version 5, he or she can still continue to use version 4 for ever. With PTE, we have, and will always have, the best of all worlds!

Just a note to translate what my three friends above have said: Ricardo: An enormous work by Al Robinson and his team to bring SCDiaporamas to Ottawa. The AV sequence as a form of communication and means of expression deserves to be better known in various countries and spread to even more people. The Diaporama Circuit does just this, and we are happy that works such as "Room 17", "Liquid gold", "the typewriter", "Point of view", and well as others, can be viewed on a large screen, with high-quality sound. Furthermore, the SC helps one to meet others and bind friendships. Alan: You're lucky your wife was with you on the front desk and not running around with some other bloke! Brian: With all that work, it's a shame you couldn't have scored just one point with your slideshow. Thanks so much for your kind sentiments, all three of you. You're right, Ricardo, this medium of AV art lends itself to Festivals and socializing and meeting new friends and celebrating the art of photography in general. Hope we can get together for another pint or two at Davey's pub again sometime, Alan and Brian, and Ricardo, I hope I can make it over to Hayange some day and get to meet you too, in person. Better still, why don't you all come over here for the next SC? Vive le diaporama!

Different strokes for different folks!

Marianne, There's a good reason for Photoshop opening all photos first in windowed mode. It allows you to see at a glance how many files are open, and the way PS stacks them all makes it easy to view different images in turn. Sometimes I open as many as 40 or 50 small jpeg files at a time. It also allows you to see at a glance how large each is, relative to the next. However, when you maximize one image, it maximizes them all. From then on, I usually view each image by clicking on "Window", which lists all of the files open, unless I want to step back down to the "minimized" view again to copy part of one image to another. I find PS's system works very well for me. I especially like the ability in PS to put the toolbars over on the second monitor, and it actually remembers to do that next time, unless I have played around with the screen resolutions in the meantime.

The AV SuperCircuit Festival in Ottawa the past weekend was a great success! We had a wonderful time, and it was very interesting to see such a variety of shows. It was nice to have a few people in from out of town, too. Paul Sparrow, the keynote speaker on Sunday morning, from Hamilton, ON, was very well-received, and gave us a very professional illustrated overview of how to put together an effective AV show. 125 slideshows from 13 countries were screened in five 3- or 4-hour sessions. It was a marathon event, but most people seemed to really get into it and enjoy it. There were no technical glitches (at least none that were not readily recoverable), so the early preparation paid off. And there were some wonderful shows. The 7 Canadian entries did not do as well as we had hoped, but at least we were not "skunked". We all know what has to be done in order to attain a better placement in next year's SuperCircuit. The organizers in Hayange deserve to be commended for their hard work and prompt attention to details, and were a pleasure to work with. You can see some photos from the Ottawa Festival on our website at: Festival Photos and overall standings on the official SuperCircuit website at: AV SuperCircuit 2005 I would heartily encourage everyone to think seriously about preparing an entry to next year's SuperCircuit, as, even with the hard work in creating and polishing up a short slideshow, getting involved in the competition is a lot of fun. It is even more fun to attend one of the Festivals and see first-hand how the different entries are "stacking up".

You can recapture all the images from the "exe" show, but it sounds like you already have them. So, no, there's no other way that I know of to rebuild it.

Igor, This is good news - all of these new features will be much appreciated, and we don't want to rush you. I know how difficult and complicated this must be, and it is best to have a product that works than one half-baked. Meanwhile, PTE continues to be a GREAT product as it stands!

If they are done with the latest versions of PTE, you don't even have to put your shows back in the same folders with the same pathnames. Igor recently added the ability to move entire folders containing one's images, music and project files, to a different drive without the need to adjust the pathnames.

Jim, Did he or she have the French version, by any chance?

Ken, You find the neatest stuff on the net! This is exactly what I have been looking for, as lately I have been having a lot of trouble with not being able to delete files because some other application is "using" them. "Tying them up" is more like it!

Amy, Welcome to the Forum! Another possible reason for glitches is image size. If you are not resizing your images down to around 500 kb max. (depending of course on the speed of the processor and the quality of the video card), then the pc may be working too hard to process these images properly and hence having to slow down the show or cause certain images to repeat over again.

Scott, It sounds like you may be using an SVGA projector (native resolution only 800x600 px). You will likely see jaggies at that resolution. If so, you should invest in the next size up (XGA, at 1024x768 px), and size your images as 1024 px on the longest side. Even at XGA you may notice jaggies for certain high-contrast images or text, but most of the images should be pretty clean.

Dave, There is a way to add all images to the timeline while retaining the customized times and transition times. (check the option "Auto adding of New Transition Points for New Slides" in the "View" menu on the timeline, highlight all slides in the slide list, and then click on the "Add" button on the main window.) The problem is that the timing is calculated differently for non-synched shows than for synched shows. (in the former, the transition times and delay times are additive, while in the synched mode the delay times include the transition times). At least this option will get you part way there - you will just have to manually adjust all of the delay times on the timeline. Igor, in PTE 5.0, could you please fix this discrepancy so that delay times and transition times behave the same way in non-synched mode as they do in synched mode?

"although seemed to be able to get it right " I had thought it was working for me, but only because I could easily move the smilie from the bottom and put it wherever I wanted so I hadn't realized there was a problem.

Steve, Welcome to the Forum! Sometimes if your transitions are too close together, the system will back up as it tries to process everything, and then speed up when it ties to catch up again. Or, there could be something else going on that is temporarily monopolizing your pc's resources. Try shutting everything else down, including email, virus protection, etc.

Ronnie shows at 329 for me. Mine seems to be stuck at 1621.

I hadn't noticed. One more little thing for Igor to add to his "to-do" list. Also, the smilies still go to the end when you first click on them.

Alan, Congratulations to both you and Kierann !! Well-deserved, I'm sure!

Good news.

Whooooopeeeee!!!!

Thanks, Igor! Works faster now for me, too!

Jim, I've only used Dropload, but there is another one that was used by someone in the Netherlands recently to send me some files. It's called "Bonpoo" (www.bonpoo.com) and is a service of "HeavyMail, Inc". It will handle files over 100 Mb. and seemed to be pretty efficient.