alrobin

Thanks, Marianne, With Babel Fish you're half-way there!

Hi, Rafaello, Welcome to the Forum! You wrote: Which version of PTE are you using? If you are using the latest "beta" version, then follow these steps: First you have to add some music (preferrably an "mp3" file) in "Project Options / Music". Then you check "Project Options / Main / Synchronize slideshow to music duration" and click on "Customize Synchronization". This will open the "Timeline" window where you can now click on "Waveform" to see the music waveform. If you have images in the "slide list" you will see a number of transition markers on the timeline. You can delete all of these by clicking on "Timed points / delete all transition points". Now you can click on "Play" and whenever you hear a drum beat where you want a transition, you simply click on "New Transition". Once you have done this once, you can then hit the space bar whenever you want a new transition. Hope this helps. Please excuse me for my poor Italian! You can translate this by going to: Babel Fish

markoc, There's a work-around you can use: - add a second appearance of the last image, and check "Play background music" in "Customize slide" without adding any music. This will stop the music for the first show (unless it's synched to music). Set "Customize slide / Main / Run external application" for this last image to call in the second show. - arrange to have the second-last image go to the next image (the last one mentioned above) when you click on the control button you are using to invoke the next show. When you click this button, the next slide will appear, but it will be the same slide as already showing (add a button to it, too, so no one will notice). When the last slide comes on, the second show will automatically start up, with no music playing from the first.

Dahol, When I run a non-synched show with music added to the first image in "Customize Slide" menu, with the navigation bar option selected, I don't even see the pause control, even though I have selected it in "Project Options". However, for a synchronized show, the pause icon does show, and works as expected, pausing both the music and the show. For non-synched shows, the music continues to play on uninterrupted if you forward or reverse the show, so I guess it follows that the same philosophy would hold if one paused the show. You do have the option of synching it to music if you want it to pause with the rest of the show.

Tom, The only time the customized values for "on-screen" image times are ignored is when you have "synchronize slideshow ..." checked in "Project Options". In all other cases, if "Use own time preference" is checked in "Customize slide", the value in "Project Options" is ignored. "Transition times" work slightly differently. Even if "synchronize slideshow ..." is checked, you can still set custom transition times by checking "Use own transition effect" in "Customize slide" and specifying a value.

I certainly won't laugh, Guido, because I know how much work is involved in putting something like this together.

Uncheck "Show image" for the first and last slides and add your art work in "Object editor".

Trouble is, beta eventually becomes zeta!

Michel, I hear you and having written lots of code myself, I sympathize with Igor. However, if he doesn't get it right with this beta, and continues to add features, make further changes, etc., it will be more and more difficult for him to correct this situation in the future. This is a beta version and that is what beta versions are for. If it takes a little longer to finalize it, then that is too bad, but IMO he should fix it now. Either go back to inserting transitions separately from slides the way it was, or find a way to have both options. The final product will be much improved if he does. You mentioned: One other advantage to the previous method of operation that hasn't been mentioned by anyone is that one could have more slides on the slide list than on the timeline and have both synchronized and non-synchronized methods of operation in the same slide show. This way you could have the synched show stop at the end of the music, and then advance the show manually to the next slide which was not on the timeline, and use it as a control point to go back into the show or ahead to other slides.

I just wanted to reply to one of Igor's questions about the recent improvements in beta 4 in which he asked how the changes to the timeline preview were working out. In the previous betas, the images in the little preview window on the timeline were very jerky, as it appeared that the processing of them was not keeping up with the music. Well, I'm happy to report that this has been resolved, and everything is very smooth again. There is one other feature I want to point out to everyone in case it has been missed. Now when you click on the timeline part-way through a transition, you see the combined result of the two images just as it would appear during the actual transition! Nice touch, Igor!

Michel, You and Andrew are correct in that if you do this you will position the new transition where you want it on the timeline. However, I find this an awkward method for positioning slides as you have to remember to delete the images at the end. And, I am used to "dragging and dropping" onto the slide list. Also if you are adding a number of slides you don't want to be going to the timeline for each one separately. Once on the timeline, you might forget how many you had repositioned and accidently click too many times, thereby re-positioning one of the existing slides. It's just a messy way to achieve something that should be very simple. The old method worked more intuitively, IMHO. However, this work-around does work, and I could probably live with it until Igor can combine both windows to allow us to drag and drop images directly onto the timeline as you suggested.

Dave, It gives you a wide gap because when you click on add transition, it doesn't add a new transition, but pulls the existing one to the right of it over to where your cursor is. This is the same problem that I have described in my 2 previous posts in this thread.

Andrew, I realize this is one way to get around this present dilemma, but when I add an image to the slide list I want to insert it in the slide list where I want it to be, not throw it into the pool and do the positioning on the timeline where I can't see the thumbnails. I reconfirmed the findings in my previous post. Maureen has also confirmed that she experiences the same situation with the new beta. The new image will be added to the end of the slide list if you highlight and press "add" or go to the "Project" menu on the top menu bar and select "Actions ..." / "Add selected ...". However, I usually drag and drop the image from the file list to where I want it on the slide list. Try this. Make sure you are using version beta 4 of 4.40. Take an existing show with as many transitions as you have images on the slide list. Make note of where the first 4 or 5 transitions are located on the timeline. Take a new image from the file list and drag and drop it over slide 4 on the slide list. Image 4 will move over and the new image will replace it. There should be more images on the slide list than there are transitions. In actual fact, one transition has moved over past the end of the music. So in fact, all transitions past #4 have moved to the right. But you want the new transition to lie somewhere between those for the original two images, #3 and #4 and all other transitions to remain where they were originally. Go to the timeline view, click on a point between transition 3 and 4 and click "New transition". When I do that, transition 4 moves over to where the cursor is and all other transitions stay put. There are still as many transitions as images, but one transition is still hanging over the end of the music, and there is no transition where transition 4 used to be and all other transitions have been shifted over a notch. To put a transition back where 4 used to be, and restore the other transitions to where they were before you added the new image, you now have to click and drag all slides to the right of #4 over to the left. It would be great if we had an option for applying the original operation for adding a new transition where if you click on the timeline and add a transition, no other transition markers will move. Myself, I would prefer to have an option where no new transition is added when you add an image to the slide list so that when you then go to the timeline and add a transition between two others, no other transitions will move, and everything will be set up exactly where you want it. This is the way it used to be, and I feel it is a more convenient operation than with the present design.

Not at all, Maureen - we Irish Canadians just like to make things more complicated.

Andrew, I don't have quite the same results with the new beta as you reported. I have a show with 10 transitions positioned at 5-second intervals (except for the last slide) i.e. 0, 5, 10, 15, 20, 25, 30, ..., 45, 48 etc. When I add an image to the slide list after image 3 (i.e. replacing image #4) and open the timeline, I still have image transitions appearing at the same times, but the previous images after #4 have been moved along by 5 seconds. (This is the way things used to happen, and it is OK). Of course the last transition is now off the end of the music, at 51 sec. Now, suppose I want the transition for new image #4 to appear at 14 seconds instead of at 15 sec., since it is between #3 and #5. I position the cursor on 14 seconds, hit "add new transition" . All that happens is that transition #4 moves over one second to the left to 14 sec, leaving no transition at 15 sec. All transitions to the right of #4 are still 5 seconds too far to the right. The easiest way to bring them back to where they belong is to highlight all the transitions to the right of image 4 and drag them back 5 seconds. For a large show this would not be a workable solution. What would be cool would be to go back to the old way where if you click on the timeline and hit "New transition", a completely new transition is created at that point but all the other transitions remain the same.

Hi, Tom, Thanks for the information - I didn't know that it was now possible now to add command line parameters to a run external file command. However, this is still not a serious problem since, as Granot said, the authors of PTE shows are identified and known, and if they were to insert malicious coding we would know who they are, so they are not likely to do this. Theoretically it is possible, but not likely to happen. However, I agree with you that now that the "cat is out of the bag" we need to protect ourselves, and Igor's suggestion sounds like a reasonable one to me. Another precautionary measure would be for PTE to be designed such that there was a warning message whenever a "run external application" command was used in a show. Most shows, particularly those on Beechbrook or those shows entered into competitions, would never have occasion to display this message, unless there was a problem. These shows do not usually use the "external application" feature as they are stand-alone shows, so the provision of such a message would not be a distraction to them as no one would ever see it.

At one time it was not possible to run external apps with command-lne parameters attached. When did this become possible? Was it with the latest beta only? Tom, did you actually test it by running a command line instruction and have it wipe out something? I know you meant well, but you have got a lot of people upset over this. Even if it is a valid concern, I feel that it is unfair to raise it at this time in the forum, which is read by many users, most of whom do not have the background to assess the seriousness of the claims. I am sure that Igor will respond when the current "Gordian Knot" is sorted out. This is what betas are for - to sort out all these problems, and I am sure Igor will do just that in due course. This type of potential problem, until it actually occurs, should be handled off-line. There are a number of ways to tackle this, and there is absolutely no reason for people to get upset about it. The solution should be explored fully first before notifying the general user group. The chances of a malicious attack is very, very slight. First of all, viruses and the like are created by a certain breed of people. They would have to be not only of malicious intent and capability in the first place, but they would also have to know about PTE and also be knowlegable enough to know about the "external application" capability (if this is indeed possible), and then they would have to upload a show for the PTE "public" to access. In other words they would have to be a pretty dedicated PTE user to start with. Very small odds, in my estimation. I have personally downloaded every show from Beechbrook, and can certify personally that all of these shows are safe, so let's not get too excited about this "tempest in a teapot" until it is a real problem. My 2-cents, anyway.

Igor, All of this comes about because PTE uses different windows for the slide list and the timeline. A simpler way to coordinate the addition/deletion of images and transitions would be to combine the slide list and timeline windows, so that when one added a slide, the position of its transition could be immediately controlled without having to first open a separate window. This would involve a major re-write, but it might be worth it in the end to have the timeline and wave form appear at the bottom of the main window, below the slide list.

Steve, Welcome to the Forum! You probably have "play new background music" checked in "Customize Slide / Music" for some image in your show. You can't have background music activated in both Project Options and Customize Slide if you are synchronizing the show to music - only in Project Options and the "Sound" line on the main screen.

Right, that would do it. However, I don't know why another button is even needed, especially since you can move a transition over by just grabbing it with the mouse and sliding it over.

Igor, #1 OK #2 I don't like the idea of a "dummy" slide as it might not be used. I would just leave the space there for the deleted transition, but delete the slide completely, as long as transitions for other images do not move from where they were before. If it is easier to insert the transition for the "new" slide back to where the old one was, then that should be fine, but if no slide is added, then just leave the gap as is on the timeline. However, and this is where the difficulty lies, if one adds a new image in between two other images on the slide list, its transition should be added, either between the two images on either side, or only added when one opens the timeline and clicks on the place between the two images where it is wanted. Perhaps it could be programmed to not do anything if one clicks between two images outside the order as shown on the image list. If one forgets to go to the timeline view to add the transition for the new image, there could possibly be a warning message to that effect when one goes to preview or create the show. #3 Right, this is OK #4 No - once all the points are added, pressing the "add transition" button should not have any further action. These are my views on this, anyway, and these suggestions should not add significantly to the re-design work. (this is easy for me to say, eh? ) Good luck with this, and thanks again for being so patient in doing your best to give us such a fine system.

I agree with Andrew and Den, When you remove an image from the slide list and then immediately add it back where it was, some points are pushed off the end of the timeline. IMO, it would be preferred if, when adding an image to the slide list, the transition point for the new image would appear somewhere between the transition for the image on its left and the transition for the image on its right.

okcjack, What happens if you fire up a sound editing program on your pc under this arrangement? Can you see the wave form on your TV and listen to the sound being played back on the Stereo? If so, it should work with PTE. If not, then I doubt that PTE would work that way, either.

Does anyone have any experience with "Picassa"? It's a new free image management system by Google. Search features and updating are very fast as one would expect. Not sure I fully understand the "folder" system they use, though.

Tom, Thanks to you now we are all losing sleep! I didn't realize that PTE would accept command line instructions other than the number of the image to jump to when calling in another pte file. Was this capability there before Igor added the new "go to slide #" feature?